Category: The Gospel of the Grace of God / Paul’s Gospel

Iniquity Not Yet Full #10

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

While the God of the Bible is unfathomably gracious (giving us what we do not deserve), incomprehensibly merciful (holding back what we do deserve), and unconditionally loving (what we do not deserve), He is also a God of justice (what we do deserve) and a God of wrath (what we do deserve). For the last 2,000 years, sinful mankind has grown comfortable with the God of grace, mercy, and love—too comfortable, actually. They have forgotten that He is also a just and holy God, and He will not let their sin go unpunished forever.

Indeed, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [reckoning, applying, incurring] their trespasses unto them: and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The God of the Bible is not pouring out His wrath today; rather, He is offering every person in the world a chance to be made right with Him. Jesus Christ wants all people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), so He died for the sins of all people (1 Timothy 2:3-7; Hebrews 2:9). By God’s grace through faith alone in Christ Jesus (His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for our sins), every single person has been granted an opportunity to have his or her sin debt paid, to receive salvation from the penalty of his or her sins (eternal hellfire)!

Alas, that Gospel of Grace has been largely ignored these past 20 centuries. The Gentiles in the Dispensation of Grace have largely done what Israel did in her program before God set her and it aside—discarded God’s Word to them, and preferred works-religion. Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice at Calvary literally means nothing to works-religionists: they offer the “good” works of their sinful bodies hoping to please Almighty God like Jesus Christ did! Accordingly, the lost Gentiles of our world today, with Israel, will also experience God’s wrath. Once our dispensation concludes, their iniquity will be full….

Iniquity Not Yet Full #8

Monday, May 19, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

It was truly God’s wisdom and grace to take the Devil’s primary human vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and transform him into the Lord Jesus Christ’s chief human instrument. Never in human history had the Creator God of heaven and earth done something so unexpected, drastic, and amazing. He had paused Israel’s program (and delayed His wrath) indefinitely, when nothing but wrath should have instantly fallen on Christ-rejecting mankind! Rather than coming back in wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ returned in Acts chapter 9—in grace, mercy, and peace, to Saul. Rather than whisking off Saul into everlasting hellfire, the Lord Jesus Christ began and revealed a new program, the Dispensation of Grace, and saved him! The man who had imprisoned and killed more Messianic Jews than anyone else at the time, became God’s apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9:15,16; Romans 11:11).

Saul, now the Apostle Paul, began preaching Jesus Christ as fervently as when he hated and blasphemed Him. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ personally commissioned Paul to preach to all people, every lost Jew and Gentile, “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24), the very grace of God that saved his wretched soul when he was an undeserving sinner (1 Timothy 1:13-16)! Paul’s Gospel, the good news Jesus Christ revealed exclusively to him on the road to Damascus (Romans 3:9–5:20; Romans 11:11,12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:11-20; Ephesians 3:1-11; et al.), communicated that God’s grace was being offered to the entire world apart from Israel and her program. Everything that God could do for every lost and dying sinner—forgiveness of sins, justification, new life, deliverance from Satan, a home in heaven, et cetera—was all being offered to the world through Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:3-7; Titus 1:1-3; et al.).

For 2,000 years, God has offered to all people His grace through Calvary’s finished crosswork. While often scorned and rejected, His continued longsuffering keeps His wrath in abeyance….

Iniquity Not Yet Full #7

Sunday, May 18, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

Israel’s religious leaders abuse God’s prophet Stephen, biting him and throwing him out of Jerusalem. Finally, the mob throws stones at him until he dies. With God’s wrath on mankind literally moments away, the greatest dispensational change to ever “grace” God’s dealings with man, occurs.

Saul of Tarsus—leader of Israel’s opposition to Christ and His little flock, holder of the clothes of Stephen’s murderers in Acts chapter 7—personally met the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 9. As Saul was traveling to Damascus to persecute more Messianic Jews, the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saul from heaven. There, Saul experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace; he trusted Jesus Christ alone as his personal Saviour, and became the first member of the Church the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ commissioned him as the Apostle Paul; thereafter, Paul had another extreme ministry—Jesus Christ crucified for our sins, buried, and resurrected (Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Years later, Paul wrote of himself: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief [first]. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:13-16).

In order to have mercy on Israel, God had to suspend her prophetic program. To save Saul of Tarsus, God had to begin a new dispensation, a new set of instructions to mankind, a new program, one He had in mind from before creation but had kept secret—the mystery program, or “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-11). God delayed His wrath again….

Heart Service #15

Saturday, May 10, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Christendom’s various false –isms—asceticism, ritualism, denominationalism, legalism, formalism, et cetera—are religion’s methods of reforming outward behavior (ceremonies, rites, and rituals are sin-maintenance activities). Yet, there is no change in nature, in the heart (cf. Matthew 23:25-28).

We trusted the Gospel of Grace, “we obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered [us].” Thankfully, in God’s mind, today’s Scripture says we “were the servants of sin”—past tense. God gave us a new nature: He took us out of Adam and He placed us into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Thus, He does not see us in Christ as sinners; God sees us in Christ as saints, set apart unto His purpose and will (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; et al.). Father God does not consider us servants of sin, so does it make sense for us Christians to now serve sin? The answer is unequivocally, “NO!” (The renewed mind of Romans 12:1,2. It is not “reasonable” [logical] to serve sin; it is only “reasonable” to let our identity in Jesus Christ impact our daily living, for He alone deserves praise!)

Literally everything Father God could ever give us—including a new identity/nature—He already gave it all to us, in Jesus Christ! “Ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:10; cf. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:3). Dear saint, may you never, ever, EVER let the various –isms in religion deceive you and rob you of your spiritual wealth in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:4,8,18).

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in [their] hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17). May we read, study, and believe Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, to the end the indwelling Holy Spirit works mightily in the hearts of us who believe those Scriptures, that the very life of Jesus Christ becomes more evident in ours!

So, dear saint, will you “obey from the heart [this] form of doctrine which was delivered you?”

FINIS! 🙂

Heart Service #13

Thursday, May 8, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

The immediate context of today’s Scripture (verses 1-23) defines our position in the Lord Jesus Christ (the identity we received once we trusted the Gospel of the Grace of God delineated in chapters 1-5). You are greatly encouraged to read all of Romans chapter 6 in your own personal study, but here, suffice it to say that that chapter can be summarized as “we are dead unto sin with our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When considered in its broader context, today’s Scripture highlights the first chapter of the three-chapter section of Romans that deals with our daily sanctification (Christian living). Romans chapter 7 (which you should also read in your own time) explains that we have not been placed into Jesus Christ and accepted in Him to then return to the miserable bondage of works-religion to make ourselves accepted of God (rules, regulations, ordinances, rituals, rites, ceremonies). The Christian life never began because of our performance (Romans chapters 1-5), so it only follows that the Christian life will never function based on our performance either (Romans chapters 6-8). In fact, our performance will only frustrate/hinder Jesus Christ—the only Person who can live the Christian life!—from living in and through us (Galatians 2:20,21).

The out-working of the Christian life goes back to the perfect, sinless work Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary, the Gospel that we believed, not in rituals or ceremonies we perform. It goes back to the Gospel of the Grace of God and the grace doctrines Jesus Christ delivered us through the Apostle Paul (today’s Scripture). Romans chapter 8, another passage you should read on your own, explains that the Holy Spirit will work in us to produce “the fruit of the Spirit” of Galatians 5:22-26.

The indwelling Holy Spirit Himself works in us to accomplish the righteous deeds the Law demands we produce in our own strength (which the Law proves we cannot do)….

Heart Service #11

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Christendom’s greatest blunder has been to willfully disregard Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, and prefer other Bible books and/or extra-Biblical church tradition. Beloved, once we abandon Paul’s epistles, we have nothing but the Bible’s legalistic (Law-keeping) passages—almsgiving, food restrictions, water baptism, fasting, tithing, prosperity prayer promises, confession of sins, Sabbath-day and feast-day observances, et cetera—the very practices and ceremonies Christendom loves. No wonder Christendom avoids Paul—the doctrine God revealed through him does not profit their denominations (yea, that doctrine would literally bankrupt their systems instead)!

In the books of Romans through Philemon, Paul, “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13), tells us what the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ has to say to us on this side of Calvary’s cross (not in the Old Testament); in this, the Dispensation of Grace (not the Dispensation of Law); as members of this, the Church the Body of Christ (not the nation Israel); in this, the mystery program (not the prophetic program); and in this, God’s heavenly plan (not His earthly plan). Dispensational Bible study—“rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)—allows us to recognize the passages that describe how the Christian life operates today.

Just as we trusted Paul’s Gospel—Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—to be saved from everlasting hellfire, so we trust in it to be saved from daily sins. When Jesus Christ resurrected, He was raised to give us new life, eternal life (Romans 6:1-23, the context of today’s Scripture), life “filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11). We are righteous before God in Christ; by Jesus Christ’s resurrection life, God will produce fruit in our lives to reflect that identity. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the Person who (literally!) “brings to life” the life of Jesus Christ in our lives….

Heart Service #8

Saturday, May 3, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Religion—that is, ceremonies, rites, rituals, et cetera—is very appealing to our flesh—that is, our natural tendency to rebel against God’s Word and will. Israel was guilty of “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness” and having “not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3). The Apostle Paul knew this firsthand. When he was a Jewish religious leader—and a lost man!—he had done more religious works than probably anyone else in his day. Read his “worthless religious résumé” found in Philippians 3:4-6. If anyone could brag about all his achievements in religion, it was Saul of Tarsus!

Now, writing as a saved man—that is, saved from himself, his useless religion, his sins, eternal hellfire, and Satan’s policy of evil—the Apostle Paul informed: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (verses 7-11).

On the road to Damascus, in Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus had died to self, and he submitted to God’s righteousness. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Saul from heaven, and he relied exclusively on the Gospel of Grace revealed to him there. Over 30 years later (the context of Philippians), Paul was still attempting to fathom Christ’s resurrection life given him….

Heart Service #6

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

When he wrote Romans (circa Acts chapter 20), Paul had never visited the saints in Rome (he was imprisoned there years later in Acts chapter 28). One or more of his ministry coworkers, perhaps Aquila and his wife Priscilla (Acts 18:2; cf. Romans 16:3-5), had shared the Gospel of the Grace of God with these pagan Romans.

Paul rejoiced when he heard about the Romans’ salvation, their trusting in the finished crosswork of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for their sins, their forsaking of worthless idols and vain religion. He yearned to visit them but was hindered; he was forced to write this epistle to them instead (Romans 1:8-15). Thank God He had Paul write to the Romans instead, or we would not have this wonderful, simple book of grace doctrine to study today!

After discussing our new identity in Christ (Romans chapters 1-5), Paul proceeded to ask in Romans 6:1,2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Our position in Christ has permanently made us dead to sin, that nature we inherited from Adam. Saints, sin is not who we are anymore. “Likewise reckon [conclude] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 11).

In today’s Scripture, Paul reminded the Romans how they were saved unto eternal life, received forgiveness of sins, had a home reserved in heaven. They heard some sound Bible doctrine—the Gospel of God’s Grace, everything that God did for them in Christ at Calvary’s cross—and they believed it in their hearts. The Apostle made it clear that their salvation from daily sins (the context of Romans chapters 6-8) would operate in the same manner. It would be Jesus Christ’s resurrection life, His power, His righteousness, His strength, His faith, His work. Him, Him, Him, not them, them, them!

NOTE: We will briefly suspend this devotionals arc. Stay turned!

Heart Service #5

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

How should we deal with daily sins as Christians? Religion says, “Confess your sins (either to a priest or directly to God), and then follow our church’s/denomination’s ‘code of conduct’ to do better next time.” They even direct us to obey Bible verses such as the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. While these religious people are often well-meaning, they overlook a simple fact: It was our performance that got us into those sins in the first place, so we must look beyond ourselves, beyond our capacity, to have victory over daily sins. We must go back to the basics of the book of Romans, its first five chapters, and re-learn the simplest doctrines of grace.

Delineated so clearly in Romans chapters 1-5, the Gospel of the Grace of God—“Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3)—plainly declares that we sinners do not and cannot please the God of the Bible. As sons and daughters of Adam, we have no natural, internal capacity to do the works that He wants done. Moreover, we naturally do not have the attitude and motives that He accepts when those good works are accomplished. Despite all our “piety” (“goody-goodiness”), God’s righteous verdict concerning mankind, us, is “Guilty!” (Romans 3:19).

In the context of today’s Scripture, our Apostle Paul already discussed salvation from sins unto eternal life (Romans chapters 1-5). Today’s Scripture is a highlight of the second section of Romans, chapters 6-8, which focuses on daily Christian living. The serious Bible student would never conclude that Romans chapters 6-8 teach that we must follow rules and regulations to make ourselves accepted of God, to have victorious Christian lives, for it would go contrary to what the previous five chapters taught. If we are to have victory over daily sins, we look not to our religious performance, but we recall how God worked to save us unto eternal life (today’s Scripture)….

Heart Service #3

Sunday, April 27, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Dearly beloved, we avoid today’s apostate Christendom by hearkening unto today’s Scripture, a verse that, had Christendom followed, could have prevented them from winding up in the mess in which they are today! They rejected “that form of doctrine which was delivered [them]” through the Apostle Paul. Like Israel in Jesus’ day, Christendom still prefers to follow the traditions of men (Mark 7:1-13). Sinful man never improves anything God does; he only spoils it.

The Romans were pagan Gentiles, lost and going to hell. The, they heard Paul’s Gospel of Grace—Jesus Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—and they believed it with their heart (today’s Scripture; Romans 10:10). They were no longer slaves to sin and Satan, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11)! It was not their efforts, their struggles, that saved them from their sins, so it would never be their performance, their struggles, that caused their Christian lives to operate. Religious rites, rituals, ceremonies, program-building, organization-forming, denomination-starting, that was not the Christian life, the grace life, the life of Christ living in and through those who believed His grace doctrines revealed in and through Paul. Nay, those were counterfeit good works.

“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10a). Just as we were saved unto eternal life by trusting Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork at sufficient payment for our sins (today’s Scripture), so we trust Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork (His resurrection life) as our means for victory over daily sins. Only God Almighty can see into our hearts (2 Chronicles 6:30; Psalm 26:2; Romans 8:27; Hebrews 4:12; et al.)—He is most certainly capable of seeing who has faith in His Word to them, and who is merely religious (fleshly, living in their own strength). He can see if it is truly “Christ liveth in us” (Galatians 2:20), or just vain religious tradition….