Have we substituted the traditions of men for the wisdom of God? Who have we depended on to give us instruction in God�s word? God or man? If it is man, can we trust then our interpretations? Have we allowed ourselves to be indoctrinated by the school of men, without waiting on God to guide us into all truth? For the bible was not written by the mind of man, so do we dare trust the mind of any man or group of men to interpret it for us?

Click on the Underlined Links below to go directly to the heading where you stopped reading before. But the first time you read it, you will need to read it through as it is written.

If you have questions or comments, I invite you to email them to me. Use the Contact / Feedback page. Although I suggest you read it through first, as the topic may be made more clear later in the book.
Thank you.
Kirk

Part 1  Bible Interpretation
            Indoctrination
            Our Primary Goal
            Where To Start
            Forgotten Method of Interpretation
                The One Teacher We Can Absolutely Trust
            It's Time to be Weaned from the Breast

Part 2  A Fresh Look at Our Modern Theology
            Drawing Near
            Worthy Means Worth It
            Abide in Me
            Abide? OK � But How Do I Do It With My Busy Life?
            Prayer Interlude
            Pushing Away
            Fear & Reverence
            Firm until the End
            I Will Never Desert You, Nor Forsake You
            Righteousness
            Christ�s Righteousness Credited to Our Account
            God�s Purpose for the Law
            Practicing Sin
            God�s Desires, is His Righteousness in our Account
            Clothing the Naked, Us
            Age of Grace
            "Chewing the Cud" (Reviewing the Chapter)
            Faith and Works
            Paul and James
            The Repentant Believer Is "In Christ"

Part 3  Our Experience
            Obsessing Over Relics
            How To Keep Your Heart Daily Filled with the Glory of God
            What Do You Want?
            The Understanding
            How To Do It!
            When The Old Desires Rise Up Again

Part 4  Our Modern Methods vs. The Biblical Mandate
            "Go...and Teach Them to Observe All That I Commanded You"
            What Would Discipleship Look Like Today?
            "Believe" (Calling to Life the Hidden Seed)
            Believing In
          
Epilogue

Indoctrination

If you read the Introduction and Prologue, you would have heard me mention how we have engineered our understanding of the Bible into our modern day belief system that enables us to remain in a serious malady of lukewarmness. Part One of this book will deal with what we need to change as we read the Bible in order for the Church to regain God's perspective on His Word. If you have not read the Introduction and Prologue, I would suggest you do so first.

I believe that all of us in the body of Christ have been indoctrinated by the mind and wisdom of man. Let me give you my understanding of how indoctrination occurs. First off, indoctrination is not a bad word. It simply means to be taught doctrine, and in this case the precepts of scripture. The problem then, is in who we trust to teach us. God, who wrote the bible or the mind of man, who can only, when left to his own devices, guess at it's meaning.

Indoctrination by man occurs when we accept an idea we hear from earthly teachers as truth before we hear from God that it is true. If we fail to wait on God for His instruction, we can not trust in what we believe no matter who we learned it from. So if we have jumped the gun and accepted something as truth either because we trust the human source or because it makes sense to us, we have abdicated the responsibility of waiting on God and we have built our house out of sand. We may have started out with a sure foundation, but have begun to build the structure, using water and sand as a trusted compound to build with�it's called a "Sand Castle" and will not stand even though we started to build on a solid rock.

Our Primary Goal

The main ingredient for any good and serious discussion about biblical views is to have the same goals at heart. Otherwise we will have difficulty in being able to understand the others view, let alone find any agreement.

We must be willing to sacrifice all for the sake of discovering truth. Our primary goal must be to find out what is truth, and not to prove that we are right. For if each party has as their goal to prove themselves right, neither can ever be sure that they are right, because they were not willing to accept the fact that they could be wrong, and then recheck the logical progression of their ideas. If a person will not do so, their belief system is suspect. People have to admit that they are fallible. If we will humble ourselves before God, then God will teach us and exalt us. One way to do this is to humble our hearts and minds before our brothers and sisters here on earth, even those we may view as having a lower place than we do in the Church. Then we may be able to learn from one another and God�s Holy Spirit.

Where to Start

Let us begin with our methods of interpreting scripture. We have heard it said that we must interpret scripture with scripture. This is an important ingredient for good bible study, but even this can lead to mistakes. When we interpret one passage by another, we have to remember that we may have goofed on the first passage, and so that will foul up our interpretation of the second passage. In addition to this, we may not see how two truths can co-exist, such was Martin Luther�s problem with Salvation by faith alone and the book of James saying that "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." He pert�near shot James right out of the canon of scripture. When we have two passages in scripture that seem to contradict each other we may revert to saying, "well this must mean something else, and we begin searching for an alternate view and in all likelihood force fit an interpretation to the text that fits our theology. This may very well lead us to an incorrect understanding of the text.

When we don�t see how any given passage is in harmony with our perception of the rest of scripture, we need first to wait on God for enlightenment. So often what we do, is not really interpret scripture by scripture but interpret scripture by our private (private in relation to God) perception of scripture. We must train ourselves to wait for God to put understanding in our minds, before we decide what is really meant by a passage. As it says in Acts 15:28 "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." We can learn to sense truth from God�s Spirit even when we don�t yet understand how it fits our present belief system. So, just because something doesn't make sense to us, does not mean that it isn't true. Likewise just because something does make sense or "sounds good" to us, that doesn�t warrant our accepting the idea as truth. We need to learn to get our sense of truth from God regardless of our being able to understand it, and also wait on God to verify or correct our interpretation before we accept it as truth.

We need to treat each passage as a word from God in and of itself and let it stand on it�s own merit. There are problems with both taking scripture out of context, and with trying to make it fit our perception of the rest of God�s word.

As we are reading a passage we need to back up to find the original thought the author is trying to make and carry that through to the text in question, and then read beyond it for added insight. Then we just take the passage for what it sounds like it means, this will usually be the best interpretation. Having done so, just let the chips fall where they may, even if it blows your theology out of the water. Remember we must trust the Lord to give us understanding and we must be careful, knowing that we are going to want to ascribe meaning to the difficult passage so that it fits our present theology. Instead of re-examining our whole belief system, it�s much easier to force-fit the obstinate idea that screws up our beliefs to mean something more palatable. For many, letting each passage mean what it seems to say, may seem like a scary way, but do not fear, God will helps us to handle it, if we are willing. We may not want to do this because we may come across a passage where, if we read it this way, it would mean that we might have to revamp our entire belief system, not to mention admitting to countless people that we were wrong about something.

I remember reading 1st John sometime in my early years as a Christian. I was rather alarmed at what I read. I remember thinking, "but how can that be?" I wasn't sure I fit the definition of Christianity there. You see I heard what the Word of God was saying and I needed to deal seriously with some issues in my life. But then man's theology came to my rescue and assured me that everything was alright, I didn't need to fear. This theological view gave me an alternative understanding to the very clear Word of God, and set my mind at ease. "Hey now I can continue with my life and not worry about what I heard God saying to me when I first read it, for man showed me how I just 'misinterpreted' what God was trying to say. Cool, the pressure is off. I don't 'need' to change." You see mans idea of repenting means that we only need to change our mind - not our actual lives. So I was taught. Well now verses like "Faith without works is dead" become meaningless. Oh, but of course man has an answer for it.

Have you so lost your hunger for truth that you are no longer willing to re-examine your belief system and consider that you could be wrong about certain beliefs you hold. You must be willing to change your mind, even if you have to tell others you have taught that you were wrong about a certain topic. This can be especially difficult for leaders, because they feel that people expect them to have the right answers. But wouldn�t it be better for us to be willing to admit it now than to face God one day and to give an account of how we taught many people false idea�s, just because we were not willing to change some of our beliefs. We must always be willing to reconsider what we hold as truth. We have the unchangeable belief that Jesus is Lord, God, and the only salvation we have, but let�s not give everything we believe that unmovable standing. Now having said this I will ask you to hold an open mind to the rest of this letter, specifically Part II, because it may challenge your belief system. Remember that unless you are willing for it to be true, you will not even be able to understand it, and so be able to give it a fair chance. If you find yourself looking for reasons why what is said here to be incorrect, force yourself also to look for reasons why it could be true. Otherwise your bias will prevent you from discovering what may be the truth, and self-deception will prevail.

Forgotten Method of Interpretation

Two questions to consider are, what should we use to interpret scripture, and what do we trust to interpret scripture. Or whom can we trust to teach, lead, and help us to interpret scripture.

We have many tools at our disposal, our own minds or understanding, books and commentaries, friends, and Pastors and Teachers. Now let me say in the beginning that these are important and useful tools, but we must not allow them to take the place of God in our life. The bible teaches us, "not to lean on (trust in) our own understanding." We are not to trust in it but we are surely to use it. Just don�t believe something merely because it makes sense to you. For we have all been wrong before about something that made sense to us, correct? Lets look at 2 Peter 1:20 "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one�s own (or private) interpretation." "Ahh here�s the answer, we should get a consensus of a larger group of believers, and then we can be sure we are in the way." But there are major problems with that line of thinking, because if that were the correct interpretation of that verse then it should hold true in all situations. Take the reformation for example, if this understanding of the passage is true, we should all still be in the Catholic Church, and Martin Luther was a heretic. Why do I say this? Because Luther was alone in his assertions and was going against what all the other authorities believed. In relation to man it was his own private interpretation. But let�s continue. When we take scripture at its face value it is still necessary to read it in its context, for this verse was only half of the sentence; read on.

2PE 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Do you see that little word "for" at the beginning of verse 21, it means that it is about to explain why no prophesy of scripture is a matter of one�s own (or private) interpretation. It�s because it wasn�t written by man�s will, but rather it actually came from the mind of God spoken through the mouth, or penned by the hand, of man. But it did not come from the mind of man, so why would you ask man what it means. You cannot trust in yourself or any other human to make truth known to you. When it says its not a matter of our own private interpretation, it doesn�t mean private in relation to other humans, but in line with verse 21, private in relation to God, without hearing from God�s Spirit who wrote it. When you want to know what someone means you ask the author. Listen to Jesus, "John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 1John 2:27 "and as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things�" Tell me how many verses can you find that tell us we should trust in the interpretations we get from people? I have sited a few that point us to God, and there are more. But I can�t think of any that tell us to trust in man for understanding. We are told to listen to those in authority over us. But we are not told to lean on them, but rather to lean on God Himself, for He alone is our infallible teacher. Before we turn to commentaries or ask our friends or Pastor what something in the Bible means, we should ask God. 1 Corinthians 2:5 "that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. And verse 11 "�even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." And James 1:5 "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." But don�t ask God and the next minute turn to a commentary and say "well this is how God is going to show me." Learn rather to wait for Him to give you understanding by His Spirit. But you may ask. How does He do that? Do you mean that God actually talks to us with His Spirit?

The One Teacher We Can Absolutely Trust

In this next section I am going to talk about a certain belief that some people hold. If you adhere to this please do not be offended, I am going to call it something that is not necessarily complimentary. But I want you to know that I used to believe something similar, and I have believed other things that I now see to be foolish. So again please do not be offended, we are all in the same boat and need to work humbly together and take a fresh look at what we believe.

Imagine the best father in the world, and this father was separated from his precious child, so he wrote the child a letter, and it was a great letter that contained so much wisdom that the child would need to learn to make good decisions. Then a way is made for the father to abide with the child again. The child says to the father, "oh thank you so much for the great letter, I read it every day, it has been wonderful." And the father goes and gets the letter and points to a passage but never speaks a word. For the next month this goes on. Here the child has the father abiding right under the same roof, and the father never speaks but just points to something that he has already written to the child, and this never changes. Would you think that a truly wise, loving and intimate father would ever do such a silly thing? And yet that is the belief that many people hold concerning the most loving father in the universe. Some people believe that God doesn�t talk to us, but somehow mysteriously directs us. The other belief thinks that God may talk to us, but he will only repeat His letter to us. Likewise if an angel should appear to us they too can only quote scripture. These beliefs are based on the doctrine that revelation is closed and we have no more need of hearing anything from God other than what He has already said. Well the bible may be finished but that doesn�t mean God is unable to say something other than a quote from His word, and yes it is His Glorious word. Of course if that belief is true, I wonder what translation He uses. For if He were only able to quote from His word, then He would have to do it from the original language and we wouldn�t be able to understand Him. In a popular end times fiction book the angels and the two witnesses can never address a person by their name, or tell someone anything specific that is not a direct quote from the bible, King James Bible to be exact. I suppose this is because it either doesn�t fit the author�s theology, or maybe the authors were just graciously making it palatable for people who hold this belief. Imagine the Greatest most intimate Father ever, the God of the universe, can�t say, "I love you Fred, or Sue, or Billy" because it�s not in the bible. When I think about it, why it�s just plain silly.

It's Time to be Weaned from the Breast

The people of God have become lazy and are not willing to give God the time it takes in His word and prayer to hear from God on our own. It seems much easier to just let our Pastors and Teachers teach us what the bible means. Or we may even take the next step and get one of those bibles with a built-in commentary so we can get our answers right away and not have to wait for Wednesday night or Sunday morning to find out what God is saying.

If you find yourself in one of these categories, I implore you to wean yourself from the breast of the Church and eat solid food. For milk is food that has been predigested for you, and you need solid meat. It is time for the people of God to be eating meat directly from the hand of God. So kill and eat. 1^st John 2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things�

Do you see why the bible says to not lean on or trust in your own understanding? This would have to include our own ability to figure out and interpret scripture. Again we do need to use our understanding, and it is good to listen to others and have good teachers, but we cannot trust in our own or a large group of men�s own private understanding. And as Proverbs says, but in all our ways we should acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths. How? His voice in our hearts is one way, and also He puts His desires in our hearts that make us want to do things. Our walk here on earth is He and me together, "My God and I".

Now having laid this foundation of having an open mind to God�s leading, I ask you to not believe what I have written in this book just because it may make sense to you, but rather, wait on God, for Him to�I�ll use the word illuminate your mind by affirming or discounting what I am about to say. No sense in opening another can of worms right now by saying something like reveal it to you, lol. So here I wish to get on with the meat of this letter.  (Well it was meat for me; but I guess it's "milk" for you.)

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Table of Contents

Part 2

A Fresh Look at Our Modern Theology

Worthy Means Worth It

We have a skewed idea of the word "Worthy", the word simply means worth it. What makes it worth it all to the Father to send His own Son to do all He went through to save us? It�s because of who the Father is. God says of Himself that He "is" love. His love, His heart, is a fullness that wants to give, out of His goodness to others. But the question is what makes someone worthy (now hold on before you say, "we aren�t worthy" until I define worthy). When we go to the store, and we look at an item with a price tag of $20. We then consider whether the item is equal to the value we have for the $20 asked for. This is similar to how we are worth it to God. Except God fills us with the amount that is equal to our emptiness. Or to the amount of our emptiness that we will open to Him. Our heart is an emptiness that needs to be filled with goodness. God�s love is a fullness that is desiring to fill an emptiness. If God�s love is a fullness that is looking for something to fill, what would it be that He is looking for? Someone else who is full of giving love just like Himself or even thinks they are? No, but what would He think is worth filling? Someone who is empty of course. Someone who knows that they are not good on their own without Him, without His goodness resident within them. This goodness is His own Holy Spirit. God�s Spirit is like rain on a mountain that gathers as a stream and begins racing down the mountain to the valley below, like an adventurous person on skis rushing down the slope with one purpose, to find the bottom. And so what is God looking for? But the lowest, emptiest place He can find. Like you and me. People who have no hope of being good on their own. Now we who admit our emptiness, our total depravity, are who are worth it to God. We are not worthy by being good enough, but rather worthy by being humbly aware of the truth of our inept state of affairs. And then, we open ourselves up for God to fill us.

It is after this that He washes us clean from sin and pours His Spirit into us. This new state of affairs, is how we gain a new heart. By His Spirit we now have His love in us, this is the new heart that we are to live by. Having Him in us is what the bible calls God abiding in us. But now if we want Him to continue to abide in us, do we need also to abide in Him?

Abide in Me

Abiding in Him has many elements. All of which are essential to maintaining intimacy with the one who truly cares for us with an undying love.

Have you ever wondered why God loves us so? Just think of the investment that He has made in us. First He brought us into existence. We seem to not consider how much God is involved in this process. The bible says that He formed us in our mother�s womb, He controls every atom, every molecule, and the growth of every cell. The bible says that He holds all things together. This means even every atom in the universe, so of course this includes the very atomic structure of every cell in our body. He knows every hair on my head; no mother or father in the world knows their child that well. He�s aware of every thought we think, and just as importantly, the motive behind it.

Whenever a person willingly invests a great deal of time in caring for a child or an animal or even a plant, there is a natural affection that results. One spring when I was living in the city of Minneapolis, my son who was about nine, came down with the chicken pox and came home from school for what I thought would be a couple of weeks. The temperature that spring was very hot for May, it was sunny and in the mid 80�s. As I went out into the back yard I found a little baby sparrow that had not even a feather on it. The mother had been nesting in one of our roof vents, and with the hot sun, the temperature on that roof was very hot. So the little sparrows kept wriggling out trying not to be fricasseed. I had been putting them back in, being careful not to touch them, to keep momma sparrow from rejecting them. But to no avail, they just kept finding their way out and landing in our yard. Well with the others tumbling to their eventual death, I decided to see if we could rescue this last hatchling from, what would be, a most probable doom. So this time I picked him up with my hands and brought him into the house. I arranged a little tissue bed in a shoebox, made a call to the University of Minnesota, and they suggested feeding him a mixture of beef baby food and some whole grain baby cereal. I broke off all but two of the prongs of a plastic fork, and I scooped up a smidgen of the food with this modified fork and, "Hey Mikey, he likes it." Course I had to stick it down his throat like his own momma would, but it worked, he ate.

So I said to my son, Michael I�ve got something for you to do while you�re home from school. I showed him how to feed him, and this became his out of school assignment. Now the bird needs to eat every hour or so, so it took a lot of care. And Michael did a good job; the little birdie lived and grew for the week that Michael was out of school. "You mean Michael is going back to school tomorrow? I wasn�t expecting this. Now what was going to happen to Spike? The name my son gave him. Well I guess he was going to be my responsibility. I would have to bring him to work with me, with his little jar of food and special fork. So he sat beside me at work, and he would cheep cheep cheep when he was hungry and I would feed him. Of course other people would wonder, "what is that noise?" To which I would reply, "Oh that�s just Spike, my baby sparrow." Well when you put so much care into something you get quite fond of it. And Spike grew rather quickly in his little shoebox, and began jumping out and hopping around, very cute he was. It wasn't long before I would get him to fly a little. A little later I began teaching him how to find his own food. I began by not putting the fork down his throat, instead I made him come to the fork himself and "take" the food from it. At first he would just stand there and chirp at it, as if to say, "Well come here already can�t you see I�m hungry?" When the food wouldn�t come to him, his hunger would drive him to the fork to get his food. After this I took him onto the patio or garden and would turn over a rock and take the fork and tap at whatever was scurrying around. It didn�t take him long to get the idea. He also learned to find and eat seeds in the same manner. That was a cool experience to teach him how to find his own food.

I began keeping him in a birdcage, as the old shoebox wasn�t able to protect him from harming himself anymore. Now that he was able to fly fairly well, I kept him outside at home during the day. And soon would leave the door open so he could fly around while I was gone. It was the neatest thing, I would come home from work, and I could hear him chirping up in the trees. Then he would fly down and sit on my shoulder. This went on for awhile. Until one day I came home, and it was very quiet. I mean sure there were other noises, dogs barking, kids playing, other birds chirping, but no Spike. I know the voice of my own, and he knows mine. I looked all around, but still no Spike. I went inside the house, changed clothes, talked to my kids and came back outside�still no Spike.

We had a wading pool set up in the back yard for the kids, and so they wouldn�t get dirt in the pool we had a little tub of water for them to step in and clean their feet before they would get in. Well I found out the neighbor lady had once given him a drink or a bath in the little foot tub, so I guess he remembered that and came back there for a little splash or drink. The sides were too tall for him to get back out. I can�t tell you how my heart sank, at the sight of him lying lifeless in that water.

I was so heartbroken over a little sparrow. I think of how God cares when even the little sparrow falls. How much more does He care for us, when He has put so much time and invested so much of His heart in us. We must have this idea that everything we get or anything that happens to us is because we, or another person here on earth, has seen to it. But God is the real provider. He holds the very atoms together of everything we have, including every morsel of food we eat. His care for us goes way beyond the care that I provided for Spike. He truly loves us so.

This is the God of whom we are told to abide in. It is intimacy with Him that our heart truly longs for. Man longs for the intimacy with Him that was once ours, which our hearts were built for and long for. Imbedded in the core of our hearts is the memory of God�s presence. A deep longing, an ache is what we feel. Our hearts were made to be the dwelling place for the Spirit of our loving Father. As an engram, planted in the hearts of our first parents, Adam and Eve, is the memory of His presence, we remember goodness resident within our being, and it is because of this memory that we instinctively want to be good. But alas the goodness is gone, and here we are left to try to produce goodness based on this memory of goodness. But to no avail, we fail miserably, our hearts without His presence are incapable of living up to what we long to be. This clouded vision of goodness that is burned in the memory of our hearts is like a specter, a ghost just out of our reach. We ask; "Why am I the way I am? Why can I not break free from the tyranny of the wretchedness that I am?" When at last our pride is broken, we finally, out of despair, reach out for help. But who can help us? We try marriage, but this only compounds the problem. We try psychology, but this too is unable to reach the depths for which we had hoped. Is there any hope left? Who can set me free from this body of death? We must return to someone long forgotten, to a hope for a love that can again impregnate our soul and give life back to our spirit; a life that has the power to produce goodness in and through us. This life is sustained through Him abiding in us, and by us abiding in Him. He will draw near to us, as we draw near to Him. When we come to Him, on His terms, in faith, we are walking in obedience to Him. This is how we abide in Him. It is as we walk with Him, wherever He goes that we are abiding with and in Him. As we stay close to Him, He abides in us, and it is His abiding presence, which is the life, the power that enables us to live good, holy, righteous lives. For we can do nothing good, we can bear no good fruit without abiding in Him. In order for us to abide in Him we must have Him abiding in us. These two principles of our faith and experience with God are dependent on one another, we cannot have one without the other, if we think we can, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. For "the one who says he abides in Him and yet does not love his brother is a liar and the truth is not in him." So it says in 1^st John.

There are a number of elements to consider when we talk about abiding in God. We will look at a few of these now and address them more in depth later.

We are given the command by Jesus and other writers in the Bible to abide in Him. This suggests that it is not something that is automatic but instead we have to choose to do so. John tells us in 1^st Jn 2:28, "And now little children abide in Him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."

Abiding in Him is just like the disciples choosing to follow Jesus. First He chose them, and called to them to follow Him. They had no doubt been listening to Him for a while and their hearts were already drawn to Him. They could see that this was no mere man, but was something so much more, and their hearts had been drinking in His words of life to the extent that they were willing to leave everything they knew to continue on with Him. They saw His love, and this spawned a hope for true love in their hearts. This is no different than when a young man sees a young lady and his heart ignites with hope of her being the one that will fulfill the emptiness, the longing for completeness that resides in the depths of his being. But this wasn�t just an imagined belief that fulfillment was so near as in infatuation, but rather this hope had more reality behind it. For it�s Jesus who is the answer to our inner longings, it�s He who has the true ability to complete and to fill the inner soul of man and woman. And it is this hope for real intimacy that has the power to bring a man or woman close to God and be filled with His Spirit. And it is God�s Spirit in the man that has the power to change man into something more than he is, a power, which no woman can attain in a man, or no man in a woman, no matter how much influence they believe they have on one another.

As I believe that God is my hope, then I become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus 2 Cor 5:21.

Abide? OK � But How Do I Do It With My Busy Life?

What would this abiding look like in a day by day practical way?

What we love is what we abide in. If we are loving the world, then it is the world that we are abiding in. If we are loving God then we are abiding in Him. In Luke 14:15-24 Jesus told the parable of the man who gave a banquet, and the invited guests were too busy with their day to day lives to spend time at the table of the lord. These were not allowed to taste of the dinner, just as the five foolish virgins who did not take the time to keep their lamps full of oil (the Holy Spirit) were told that the groom did not know them. Why? Because it takes time spent with someone to know them, and be known by them.

But how do we know we love God? When we are thinking about how we can please Him through the day. And when we put Him first in our lives by choosing to spend quiet intimate time with Him, we are making this time with Him the most prized thing in our lives. We have to give up what may be the natural thing we want to do. Instead we have become creatures of the wrong habits, and it is those habits that we are bent on doing that keep us from spending that time with the one we need most in our lives. I know you have so many demands on your time, it may just make you cringe to add one more. But Jesus said that if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, that He would add the other things we need to us. If we actually put God before everything else, then God will help you with the rest, and speaking of rest, this is how we enter into His rest, by resting from ours. There is no other way, to be "In Christ". This is how we give Him our burdens, by putting Him first.

Do you remember when you were first in love with someone? You couldn�t help but to think about them with every free moment you had. When you woke up you were thinking of them, on your lunch break you gave them a call, when you got off of work you couldn�t wait to see this person. Then after you were with the person for a year or two or more, that newness began to wear off, and in order to keep your love alive you had to choose to think of how you might please them. More often it became something you had to choose to do. As we choose to do so, we love by faith, and are actually cultivating the ground of our hearts for the love to grow again. We have to make time for those we love or that love will die away and we will find that we have grown apart, and we are not "In Love" anymore. Some may think that this is the time to end it and find someone new, and start the whole cycle all over again. This is all because the people in the relationship do not know how to bring their love to maturity, or are just too undisciplined to do so. Love then, becomes something we have to choose to do, or it will die. The same holds true with our relationship with God, we have to choose to actively put Him first in our lives, and cultivate intimacy with Him, if we want to cause our love for Him to grow, or even retain what we originally had.

We are also loving Him, by looking out for the needs of our neighbor, like we look out for ourselves. We may have love (noun) for others, but unless we choose to put that love into action and actually love (verb) them, our love (noun) is not doing anyone any good. It is useless. Love is a commodity just like faith, and God gives them to us and He expects us to use them. If we don�t use them then we are useless, as the salt that has lost it�s flavor, and we are good for nothing but the manure pile. Special note: There are no manure piles in heaven!!

If we find ourselves too busy then we must prune the non-productive things out of our lives or they will suck the life out of us, and we will be useless to God and His kingdom. And the useless; the ones who hide their talent in the ground, the ones who don�t replenish their oil reserve, those who hear the words of Jesus but do not act on them, who do not love their enemies, who put their lamps under a bushel, who fear man rather than God, who have no firm root in themselves and in time of testing fall away, who hear the word but are carried away by the cares and worries of the world, those who commit lawlessness, those who did not forgive their brother, did not give to the poor, feed the hungry, invite the stranger in, give the thirsty a drink, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoner, Jesus will say to these; "depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;" -- and He will say; "to the extent you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to Me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matt 25:41-46.  Take note that the righteous are not those who merely have the faith added to the account of their heart, but rather are they who actually lived their faith and so were, in actuality, "Righteous".

These have been a few thoughts on abiding; we will look at some others later on.

As we discussed in the previous chapter, When we love, or are loved, the motivation is a drawing towards the object of love. This is one of the motives that keep us close to God. But there is another. We can think of the motive of drawing close as pulling ourselves up on a chin-up bar. We would use our arms to pull ourselves up and hold ourselves there in that position, close to God. As in the verse in James, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." We do not sit idly by in life and just expect God to pull us to Himself; our relationship with God is built on a two-way love. We draw near to Him, and He draws near to us. You may say, "Yeah but we don�t use our own strength, we do it by God�s strength." But is that what God teaches us in the bible? Are we not to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and all of our strength? This is our pulling towards Him with all of the strength of our love. As we do this He will fill us with His love and strength. But this too we will discuss later. The point I want to look at now is, think about how hard it would be for someone who is new at exercise to keep themselves in that pulled up position on the chin-up bar. Because of the constant strain on the muscles, it would be impossible to keep oneself in that position. And so when we are but babes spiritually it is just as difficult to keep oneself always close to God with only our love. We will falter. That�s why we go up and down spiritually. And that is why God in His infinite wisdom designed us with legs that push. So instead of only relying on our love arms to pull us toward God, we also have legs to push away from something; the world. When we push away from something we do so because we either just don�t like it or hate it or are afraid of it. Or if we do like it we may push away for fear of losing something that we want even more. This is what John was referring to when He said, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. For if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him." This should spark fear in us of losing the indwelling of the Father�s love. Just take the verse for what it says. If we love the world, then the love of the father is not in us, not abiding in us. And it is this fear combined with our love for Him, which will help us to stay close to the father. Most Christians will automatically disagree with this thinking, for our modern reasoning does not like to hear about negative motivations, and most have a fear of the word fear.

Fear was a gift given to us by God to help to keep us from doing stupid, harmful, even life threatening things where we put God to the test. We should fear to disobey God�s commands, because the outcome of disobedience can not only ruin our lives, but also have severe eternal consequences. Just like the ability to feel pain is a gift from God, which keeps the child from putting his hand on the hot stove. So fear is a gift. We may however fear things which God tells us not to, such as, Quoting Jesus in "MAT 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul�" This is an example of fearing man who God tells us not to fear, and if we do fear man, it shows that we are not walking by faith in God. But then Jesus tells us whom we should fear, He says: "but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This is not the devil, only God has this power.

Now you may say that the word fear here should be translated as "reverence" that we don�t fear God but we revere Him, or have reverence for Him. But then we have to be consistent in translating the word fear as always meaning reverence. So when Jesus says we should not fear the man who can kill our body, then that should say, we shouldn�t reverence him. And that does not sound like the idea that Jesus is trying to portray. If someone who hates us is trying to kill us that will initiate fear in our hearts, not reverence.  So you see when Jesus says that we should fear God, He means just exactly what He says. Don't mess with scripture to suit your theology. Rather mess with your theology to suit scripture.

Now I am really going to confuse you, for when I say that this word fear really means fear, which it does, it can also include reverence for God. But this does not mean that you can pluck the idea of fearing God out of the word fear. In order to understand this we will need to take a look at what reverence is.

We�ll use an example that God gave us in His creation - Colors; did you know that all colors are made from just three? These colors are called primary colors. Do you know what they are?

They are Red, Yellow and Blue, and all other colors are derived from mixing varying amounts of two or three of these together. Mixing blue and yellow together makes the color green. It is a mixture of two different colors.

In the same way reverence is not a primary motivation. But is a mixture of two different motives. Can you guess what they are? Jimmy you had your hand up first. No "The First Commandment" is not the right answer that was yesterday�s discussion. Lynn? Very good, fear is one of them; can anyone guess the other ingredient? Yes Jimmy? Yes, very perceptive, but Lynn already guessed fear. Anyone else? Jamal? Very good, yes love is the correct answer. Lynn and Jamal both get gold stars. We need fear and love to make respect.

Do you remember the proverb "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"? But then in 1^st John it says, "perfect love casts out fear." Now if you say that the word, "fear" in the Proverbs verse should be translated respect, then it should also be translated that way in 1^st John. So it would read that "Perfect love casts out respect." That doesn�t work. But should we really fear God? There is a man walking through life who says "I don�t believe in God, and I do what I want to do." But then that same man comes to a point in his life when he considers eternity and the inevitable outcome of being without God, which is death and hell. And out of fear of this he turns to God. Was this a wise choice? Of course it was. But did you notice that there was no mention of love for God in this decision? He came to God out of fear, and that was the beginning of wisdom. So now the man looks at God and says thank you for doing this for me, and a love for God begins to tint the fear making a new color. Changing it from all yellow to a yellow with a hint of green in it. When we add the blue of love to the yellow of fear, this new color is green, portraying reverence. But don�t say that fear is bad, for without it little Johnny can become a naughty boy, and turn into a son who may not have any respect for his father and eventually end up in prison. But with a wise and healthy fear in place, as the man�s relationship with God grows, so does his love for Him. The more his love for God increases, the less he needs to be motivated by fear in order to follow in the way with God. This is what the scripture is referring to when it says, "perfect love casts out (replaces) fear. It�s like having a glass full of air (fear), as you add water (love) to it the love displaces the fear. 1JO 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." But don�t expect a new believer to have a "perfect" (complete) love for God right off the bat. For if you tell him that he should have no fear, you are just inviting problems and sin into his life.

This is a source of major problems in the modern day church. We have taken the teeth (the more serious consequences) out of scripture and have become co-dependant by enabling the church to get away with sin, or so she thinks. Just remember how Jesus said, "�depart from me, you workers of iniquity."

PRO 16:6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.

Have you ever stood at the edge of a cliff and been afraid you might do something foolish and fall or even jump off? I think we are afraid because of our propensity to foolishness. Inside we know that we cannot always trust ourselves not to do something foolish. So we are afraid we might just spontaneously jump off to our death.

With this in mind we also need to fear getting close to falling into sin. Like Eve we may begin looking at temptation thinking about how it will please us and we might think that we could dabble in it and get back out and still be cool with God. So we have no fear of being trapped by sin, when we should be afraid that we might content ourselves with the passing pleasures of sin and continue in sin, and not turn back to God before we die. See if this verse doesn�t seem to warn, and inspire a godly fear in the heart. 2PE 2:20 "For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first." This verse states this last state is worse than the first. And what was the first? The first was before they knew the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and were trapped in the defilements of sin. They were not saved, and their last state has become worse than this. There is no way that they could still be saved and be worse off than being damned to eternity in hell. If this be the case, if we die in our sin having not confessed and turned from it, then our end will be the Lake of Fire. So tell me, is not "The Fear of the Lord the Beginning of Wisdom"? Ok now you have a problem with the idea that a person who appears to have started out with God could end up in hell; this will be the subject of our next discussion.

Return to: Prayer Interlude

We have permitted ourselves to not live wholeheartedly for God by interpreting His word so that it allows us to live as we want without the true eternal consequences with which the scripture warns us.

We have this concept of salvation that sees salvation from a single point in time, the beginning of our said walk with God. This viewpoint believes that a decision we made at one point verifies our salvation in the end, no matter if we continued walking with God or not. Scripture over and over states that when God views our life, He doesn�t merely consider our standing by when we first asked Him to forgive us, but regards our salvation by how we end our walk. Because we don�t understand this, but rather have invented a means for us to live as we like, we have no or not enough fear of sinning because we think God automatically forgives us anyway.

Now it is true that God does forgive us when we confess and repent or turn from our sin. But if we allow ourselves to give in to sin, we will be sowing sin in our lives, and whatever we sow will grow, and as sin grows in our life it can overpower us and we may not turn back from it. If we continue in sin without repenting, we run the risk of dying in our sin. If we die without repenting from rebellious sin and had full knowledge that we were sinning, we have not continued in the faith as is the condition the following scriptures show as necessary for salvation. The word IF shows a condition that must be met for the statement to be valid. ROM 8:17 and (as) children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. GAL 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 1TH 3:8 for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 2TI 2:12 "If we endure, we will also reign with Him;" HEB 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house � whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. HEB 3:14 "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end," So if we do Not hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, we are Not partakers of Christ. Notice that it says "if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance�"? This would mean that the person had to have the assurance, the boast of our hope, to begin with, and then had to hold onto it until the end to be a partaker of Christ. This implies that a person could have the assurance of salvation, and then lose it. And if he lost it then he is not a partaker of Christ. Paul says, Colossians 1:21-23 "And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach - if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel�" Here again the promise depends on whether we continue in the faith, and he adds that we also must be firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the gospel. These are requirements for us to be reconciled to Him, and for Him to present us holy and blameless before the Father. Look at 1 Corinthians 11:32 "But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world." Here Paul shows how the Lord disciplines us for correction to bring us to repentance � so that we will not be condemned along with the world in the day of judgment. Don�t bother arguing with me, this is what God�s word says. Your old line of reasoning may not be able to deal with this. You just have to be willing for it to be true, in order to understand it, then you will put yourself in a position for God to give you that understanding. If you are not willing for it to be true, you will never even understand the concept and you won�t be able to hear from God as to whether it has any potential for truth. Or you may reason that you have dealt with the concept of eternal security before, and you don�t need to re-examine this issue again. And you may think that we can�t base this reasoning on one or two verses, but if you read through the New Testament with an open mind you will find evidence in every book usually more than once. People say; "but what about Paul saying that even if we are faithless, that He remains faithful?

Many people use the following verse to say that even when we do not continue in the way, that God is still faithful to save us. Which is adding to what the scripture says, for it does not say that He remains faithful to save us but that "He remains faithful," to what? To what He says, listen to the verse; 2TI 2:13 "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." Let us look at the previous verse to see what he remains faithful to; 2TI 2:12 "If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;" and so, "if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." And what does He remain faithful to? "if we deny Him, He will also deny us." If we continue in sin disregarding His word, we are denying Him. And so He remains faithful to His word, which says, that He will then deny us. But having said this, if we do turn back to sin and continue in that way, by His love He does remains faithful to His heart of love and continues to try to lead us back to Him, as long as we are on earth. But if we do not respond, in the day of judgment He will be faithful to His word to deny us. And so we ascertain from Col 1:23 that He will present us holy and blameless before Him, only if we continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel. If we will not pursue Him with all of our heart, and not aggressively fight off the evil in our hearts, and instead give in to the corruption of our flesh, and allow ourselves to walk after sin, and if this results in our giving up on walking with God, and if we die in our sin� then we have no salvation. HEB 3:14 "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,"

The verse in Hebrews "I will never desert you nor forsake you." Is a quote from the Old Testament, Deut 31:6-8 & Joshua 1:5 and is similar to the promise made later in the Old Testament that God made concerning Solomon�s Temple.

2CH 7:16 "For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."

If God says His eyes and heart will be there perpetually, and His name forever, this is the same as saying that He will never leave nor forsake. At first glance it sounds unconditional. But there are conditions to it just like there are to the New Testament verse, this we will see as we continue with the verses following.

2CH 7:16 "For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.

2CH 7:17 "And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked even to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,

2CH 7:18 then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying,' You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.'

2CH 7:19 � "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them,

2CH 7:20 then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

2CH 7:21 "As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?'

2CH 7:22 "And they will say, 'Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.'"

God states that His name, eyes and heart will be there with the temple forever. Just like He promises to be with us forever. But if His people turn away and serve other gods, then He will cast it and them out of His sight. God�s dealings with His people in the Old Testament gives us a picture of His relationship with the Church today. He will not allow anyone to snatch us out of His hand, but even though Jesus says that He will never leave us, He does not hold us prisoner to Himself against our will, He will allow us to leave Him, if we so choose.

At this point we need to look at another scriptural concept, which is the promise God makes to forget the past. We see this when He says that He will remember our sins no more. This fulfills the promise God makes in Ezekiel that the sins of an unrighteous man will not be counted against him or remembered when he repents from his unrighteousness and turns to practice righteousness in Ezek 18:21-22. Now remember the only righteousness there ever was, is Christ�s righteousness. And it has always been received by putting ones faith in God, and that God by His mercy would save us. Adam, Abraham, David and every one who is or has ever been accepted by God, is accepted by faith in God�s goodness and the person had to determine in his own heart to follow God�s Word, His Righteousness, whom we know now to be Jesus of Nazareth.

Whenever someone turns to God in such a manner, God wipes his or her sin from the record, just as He proclaimed in the Old Testament Ezekiel verse, and restates in the New Testament. Now keep in mind that the biblical definition of repentance is to change our mind with a determination to practice a life accordingly. And repentance is the requirement which must precede the promise of forgetting what lies behind. So it looks simply like this: We turn from our sinning and determine to live by faith in God�s word, and receive and practice Christ�s righteousness. And when we stumble we confess our sin and turn back to Him, this is how we continue to repent (turn to, and follow God, trusting in His saving goodness). This is walking "IN" Christ, with His blood covering our sin. God�s word NEVER fails; it is true yesterday, today and forever. The word He spoke in Ezekiel about forgetting what has been repented of was true then, now and forever. God and His word doesn�t change.

This principle continues on the reverse side also, for in Ezekiel 18:24 God also say�s, "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done, (Christ�s righteousness which he practiced by faith), will not be remembered, for his treachery which he has committed, and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die. So just as when a man departs from sin and turns to God his lawless deeds will not be remembered. So too when a man turns from His righteousness (Christ) and begins and continues to practice lawlessness, and dies in that state, God will not remember the righteousness that was his salvation, and if it is not remembered, then God will say, "I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness." Matthew 7:23

Not convinced? Listen to these:

1JO 3:6-10 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Now some may say "I may not be practicing righteousness but I have Christ�s righteousness and it is by His righteousness that I am saved." 3:7 "Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous" (this is saying we do not have Christ�s righteousness unless we practice or do it.). "The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

MAL 2:17 "You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, "How have we wearied Him?" In that you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them�" 1 Jn 3:7 "Little children let no one deceive you, the one who practices righteousness is righteous�the one who practices sin is of the Devil."

Some ignore God�s word and say, "Oh but I am saved by Christ�s righteousness, it�s ok if I sin, I may lose some rewards, but I am still saved because I am under the blood." This idea about just losing some rewards comes from 1 Cor 3:15 "If any man�s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." The works that will end up being burned, which Paul is speaking of are not works of sinful rebellion, but rather Paul is referring to a person wanting to do God�s work and some of the work he does is done by the Spirit of God, and some he unwittingly does by his own wisdom in ignorance. So the work, probably teaching, that he does by God�s Spirit stands the test of fire, but the work resulting from teaching he does, not knowing that he is in error, does not stand the test of fire, and is burned up. Do you see the difference between these two types of works?

Let�s say a man has two children, and he says to each of the two, "Jimmy I want you to help your little brother to do his homework, like I have helped you with yours" and Jimmy goes and helps his brother. Now as he helps him, part of the time he does it like his father helped him and part of the time he tried his own methods which were not really helping the brother to learn, but the homework got done. When Jimmy used his own methods he was not rebelliously disobeying his father, he was merely doing this part in ignorance. So some of his work will endure the test of fire, and some will be burned, but he will be saved, yet so as through fire.

 Likewise the father told his daughter to help her little sister to do her homework. But she went and told her sister to get busy with her homework, and her little sister said, "But dad told you to help me" so she slapped her sister in the face and told her to get busy and that if she told her dad, that she would beat her up. This was sinful rebellion and is not an example of a Christian who works for the kingdom and part of their work will stand the test of fire and some will burn. For "the one who practices sin is of the devil." Read all of 1^st Corinthians chapter 3, wait on the Lord, and see if that doesn�t make more sense.

It is absolutely true that it is only by Christ�s righteousness that we are saved. So now let us discuss righteousness.

"All men�s righteousness is as filthy rags." This quote from Paul is saying we have, on our own, no righteousness, because there is no such thing as filthy righteousness. Righteousness is how God acts. So our righteousness quotient is rated at zero, then when you add in our evil deeds it brings it down into the negative numbers.

We or any one else, as hard as we may try, cannot produce any good works by our own motives. God alone is good, and until we realize this, and understand that we are poor in spirit and wretched and blind and "naked of righteousness", we cannot receive God�s Spirit to produce Jesus� righteousness through our lives.

When an unsaved person comes to understand that they are poor, wretched, blind and naked. When they finally understand that they are not good, and that God alone is good, and that He will forgive us for our sins, and offers His Spirit to us which will give us the opportunity to be good. It is at this point that we can receive His Spirit, and are cleansed from our sin. Then He credits to our account His righteousness. The word for this transaction in the bible is "imputed righteousness," I remember it this way, He puts or "putes" it into our account. Now this righteousness that he puts in our account He expects us to use. Remember the parable of the 10 talents? The talents refer to money. But in the Kingdom of God, it is not greenbacks, but Christ�s righteousness that�s used for tender.

Matt 25:14-30. One man was given 5 talents, another 2, and another 1. The guy with the 5 used them and made 5 more. The guy with 2 used his and doubled it. While the guy with the one buried his, and when Jesus asked him to give an account of the Masters goods, he said "here you go, here is the talent you gave me I hid it in the ground so I wouldn�t lose it." Jesus answered. "You worthless slave, you should have at least put it to use in the bank and accrued some interest on it. MAT 25:28 �Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.�
MAT 25:29 "For to everyone who has shall {more} be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away."

What does this mean, "but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away"? First the "what he does have" this is what was put into his account to use but was still owned by his master. He does not yet possess it for it is in the account. He will not possess it until he withdraws it from the account and puts it to use to earn more. But since he did not withdraw the money and put it to use Jesus said he does not have it. Then Jesus says even what he does have in his account to use, this will be taken away also. So the master says, "but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away"

Here He is saying that if we don�t use it we lose it. And if we lose it then the next verse gives the outcome: MAT 25:30 "And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Could this be any other place but hell? We are saved from death by Life, God�s Life, His righteousness, which He puts into the account of our heart. Life must be lived or it ceases to be life. We only possess what we use. It is only by Christ�s righteousness that we are saved, and we have no righteousness apart from His. And if we do not live out that righteousness we don�t have it and are not saved.

Psalm 40:10a "I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart." Yes it is only by Christ�s righteousness that we are saved, but God is saying that if we don�t live out that righteousness, yes by faith, then we don�t have it. Our relationship with God is us following Him. He does not follow us into sin. If we sin and we repent and turn back to following Him, we are forgiven. If we persist in our ways and will not turn again, then we are as the seed that fell on something other than the good soil, and have fallen away. So we must follow Him to maintain this relationship. If we do follow Him, then we live out the righteousness that He has credited to our account, and it adds to it or it multiplies, and God is glorified.

Hence, the only imputed righteousness that we have is the righteousness that we live out by faith. But if at anytime we turn back to following our old nature, and do not repent, and continue in this way, and die unrepentant� Listen to James 5:19-20 "My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, (he could not stray unless he were once in the truth and remember Jesus is the truth) and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his SOUL from death, and (then) will cover a multitude of sin." It doesn�t say save his body from death but his soul is still saved. But his soul shall die, and so the word of God remains true, which says, "the soul that sins it shall die" and "the wages of sin is death." God says to Ezekiel, for his iniquity which the righteous man has committed he will die. Read the passage, EZE 18:24 "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die. EZE 18:25 "Yet you say, �The way of the Lord is not right.� Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? EZE 18:26 "When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, (Turns from following Jesus� Righteousness that is in his account) commits iniquity, and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die." You say, "that was the Old Testament and does not apply to us, but we are in the age of grace." Oh contraire, this is still true even after Jesus died for our sins. Jesus did not come to invalidate the word of God, but to fulfill it. And He did this, but not so that we wouldn�t have to fulfill His word, but rather to pave the way being lead by the Holy Spirit so that we can also fulfill the "righteousness of the law" empowered by the same Holy Spirit. Romans 8:3&4

Aaahhh - Return to: Prayer Interlude

God�s purpose for the Law is simply to show us what we will look like when we walk by His Spirit. For His Holy Spirit most certainly will not lead us into immorality by breaking His moral commandments.

When God first gave the Law, His intention was not that they, the children of Israel, could prove to Him how good they were. But rather to show them what goodness, righteousness, looks like in real life. (Through this book when I refer to Law I am speaking of God�s Moral Law, as in the Ten Commandments, and not the Ceremonial Law, which were instructions concerning sacrifices, holy days, ceremonial washing, circumcision and things like these. When I speak of this law I will specify "Ceremonial Law"). But the Nation of Israel thought they could establish their own righteousness by keeping God�s ceremonial law, which the more religious kept stringently. But they were never able to keep God�s Moral Law. The ceremonial law was given to them to be a picture of the salvation that was to come through Jesus. So when Jesus came and fulfilled this picture, for them to continue keeping the ceremonial law, thinking that they would be atoning for their sin, would be a slap in the face to Jesus, and would say, "what you did was not good enough and we will continue in our old way." This concerns the "Ceremonial Law". This is similar to what Jesus was saying when He said to the Pharisees that they would "strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel." They would keep the ceremonial law, but break the weightier provisions, God's moral law. With the same reasoning, David was not chastised by God for breaking the ceremonial law by giving to his men the holy Bread of the Presence. But it would be preposterous to even think that David would not be punished for breaking God's Moral Law like he did by committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband to cover his sin up.

Here we see the Ceremonial Law being fulfilled by Jesus and we are no longer to be following it. For if we did we would be saying to Jesus that His atoning sacrifice wasn't good enough and we have to continue atoning for our own sins. So of course we no longer follow those requirements. But as for the "Moral Law" certainly they were not to begin to be immoral after Jesus came, were they? No, of course not, but on the contrary, now that they have received God's Holy Spirit, they would automatically fulfill God's moral law, as long as they were walking by the Spirit.

ROM 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God {did:} sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and {as an offering} for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
ROM 8:4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Did you hear what Paul said? That the righteousness or morality that the law requires would be fulfilled in us as we walk by the Spirit.

So here I see Paul saying that the Righteousness that the law spells out for us, meaning what one looks like when he acts righteously, will be fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit. The law then is a picture of righteousness, and shows us what we will look like when we abide in Christ and follow Him, living out His righteousness.

Now keep in mind that the law cannot produce righteousness, anymore than studying and looking at a picture of Abraham Lincoln will make us look like the picture. But say we were to die, and then be born again from the seed of that person, we would have that person's genes in us and we would be conformed into the image of that person.

So also the law was given as a picture of what righteousness looks like, whereby we cannot attain to looking like this picture of righteousness by merely looking, no matter how intently at it. But if we are born of the same Spirit that produced the righteousness that this picture (the law) portrays, then this same Spirit will motivate us to live in such a way that fulfills the righteousness of the law. So we will look like the picture the law portrays, which is a picture of love.

But we as Christians who are born of His Spirit, are still susceptible to being deceived by our own resident evil (our flesh) not to mention the devil. So it is helpful to us to have some picture to study so we know whether we are living by the Spirit or are being deceived by our own flesh and not doing what God wants. Hence we have the New Testament purpose for the law, to help to keep us walking by the Spirit.

Even after saying these things you may still be having a hard time with the idea that the law has a purpose in our lives. You may at one time have had a legalistic heart, or been under a legalistic Church or parents and you are fearful of returning to anything that even reminds you of it. But do not let anyone's misuse of God's word keep you from His intention for it. Remember that God's purpose for the Law is to simply show us what we will look like when we walk by His Spirit.

The secret is not to spend allot of time studying the Law and and thinking that you can make yourself righteous by trying to keep it. But rather the key is to spend allot of time looking with your heart, to God, thinking of Him as you would a newfound love. As you do this you will be looking for the things that He likes and you will want to please Him. This will include reading His word daily, even the Law, for it reveals God's heart also, His likes and dislikes. Don't just read certain favorite parts, for you will end up unbalancing yourself. Read the whole word, even the prophets that pronounce doom to the people of God who wander and go astray, for it will help you to walk circumspectly, and will keep you from disappointment or worse; falling off that treacherous precipice to your own destruction.

GAL 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucifiedthe flesh with its passions and desires.

But if we are still knowingly practicing sin we have not crucified our flesh with it's passions and desires, and so we do not belong to Christ Jesus. Because it says, "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

GAL 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

GAL 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

GAL 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Note, when he says that we are not under law, this means that the Law is not our master, it is not the one who enables us to be good and holy, like God. So our faith is not in the Law, but is in Christ, who we regard as our master, and so we will look like Him when we do His works here on earth. Thereby since He fulfilled the righteousness of the Law, so will we, by faith in His enabling Love power - the New heart that He has put within us.)

GAL 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

GAL 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissension's, factions,

GAL 5:21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If we are practicing such things we will not inherit the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is wherever God is King. This includes the hearts of those who follow Him & heaven.

In Romans 9,10 &11 we find Paul speaking figuratively to Gentile believers, about Israel being the natural branches of God's olive tree, being cut off because of their unbelief, so that they, the Gentiles, could be grafted in. And he tells them about this, ROM 11:21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.

ROM 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.