Jim's Footnotes

Thursday, October 26, 2006

One New Man (10-29-06)

One New Man
Bible Study Time 10-29-06

When Abraham was 85 years old, God told him that he was going to have a son. When Abraham believed the word of God, God counted Abraham as righteous. However, Abraham’s wife Sarah did not conceive a child for many years. Fourteen years later, when Abraham was 99 years old, he still had no child by Sarah, but it was at that time that God came to Abraham and told him that He was going to make an everlasting, unending covenant with him and with his descendants. Genesis 17 says:

Genesis 17:1-7 (NKJ)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Some people today think that God is completely through with the nation of Israel. They believe that God rejected the nation of Israel when Israel rejected and crucified the Lord. They believe that God has turned his back on Israel as a nation, and they believe that the blessings which were promised to Abraham have been given to us as members of the Church. They believe that our relationship with God is based on the covenant that God made with Abraham so many years ago.

To be honest, there are a few passages of scripture which seem to support this idea. In Romans, Chapter 2, Paul said:

Romans 2:28-29 (NKJ)
28 . . . he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

In Romans, Chapter 4, Paul brought to the forefront the fact that Abraham was saved, not by the Law and not by circumcision, but he was saved by grace through faith because he believed what God told him. Paul pointed out that Abraham was saved by faith before circumcision was given and before the Law was given. Then Paul asked:

Romans 4:9a (NKJ)
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?

In other words, if Abraham was saved by faith without circumcision and without the Law, then what would keep others from being saved the same way? Paul offered this conclusion beginning in verse 9:

Romans 4:9b-11 (NKJ)
9 . . . we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,

So, Paul says that Abraham is the father of all those who believe the word of God and have the kind of faith that Abraham had. If we go back to Genesis 17, we see that God made His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Therefore, if Abraham is our father, and we are the children of Abraham, this would bring us into this covenant relationship with God through Abraham.

However, this is one of those areas where we need to rightly divide the word of truth. Paul’s doctrine in the book of Romans needs to be seen in the light Paul’s Acts-period ministry. During the Acts-period, God sent Paul out as the Apostle to the Gentiles. He went out offering salvation to the Gentiles so that they could enter into the earthly kingdom which God had promised to Israel.

From the beginning, Paul stood firm on the issue of circumcision, saying that is was not appropriate to require the Gentiles to submit to circumcision. He said that the ritual of circumcision was given as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. Since the Gentiles were not participants in that covenant, the ritual of circumcision was not appropriate for them. In Acts 16, Paul allowed Timothy to be circumcised because Timothy’s mother was a Jew, but in Galatians, Chapter 2, Paul reported that Titus was not required to submit to circumcision because Titus was a Gentile.

When Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to defend this point of doctrine, James became convinced that Paul’s doctrine was correct. He realized that the Gentiles were not participants in the covenant but that they were to be blessed as a result of the covenant. James paraphrased the words of the prophet Amos who was speaking for God, saying:

Acts 15:16-17 (NKJ)
16 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.'

If we go back to the book of Amos, we see that Amos actually said:

Amos 9:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David . . .
12 That (My people) may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name," . . .

So Amos said that someday the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, while James paraphrased Amos saying that someday the saved Gentiles would seek the Lord. Actually, James did no disservice to Amos because both statements are true. Isaiah confirmed that:

Isaiah 11:10 (NKJ)
10 " . . . in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious."

But the fact remains that the verse from which James actually quoted indicated that the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, and it was on this basis that James was willing to accept the saved Gentiles of the Acts-period without circumcision.

Paul fully understood the political position that the Gentiles would hold in the kingdom. That’s why he said in Romans, Chapter 1, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also the Greek. However, Paul did not see the saved Gentiles as second class citizens of the kingdom. On the contrary, he said that the saved Gentiles were indeed the spiritual children of Abraham because they were saved by faith just like Abraham was saved, and they were being offered a place in the kingdom which was promised to Abraham.

God made His covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. When God promised the land of Canaan to the Jews, that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gentiles. That land was promised to the Jews, and God will someday give it to the Jews. That land will become an everlasting possession of the nation of Israel.

The Gentiles were not participants in the covenant, but from the beginning God promised that the Gentiles would be blessed as a result of the covenant. God simply promised the Jews that He was going to bless the Gentiles through the nation of Israel.

The saved Gentiles of the Acts-period will be among the saved Gentiles who will enter the kingdom after the tribulation period. They will inhabit the far corners of the earth, but they will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. As Zechariah said:

Zechariah 8:23 (NKJ)
23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

During the kingdom, the land of Palestine will belong to the literal descendants of Abraham, and during Paul’s early, Act-period ministry, Paul had this kingdom in mind as he went out to the Gentiles, preaching the gospel of the grace of God.

In the book of Romans, Paul said that in a spiritual sense there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He told them that God offered His son, Jesus Christ, as the sacrifice for sin so that He could forgive their sins and still remain just. Those Gentiles who believed Paul’s message were given the promise of everlasting life and the hope of entering into the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ.

However, during this period of time Paul repeatedly emphasized the Jewish position of privilege. In Romans 3, Paul said:

Romans 3:1-2 (NKJ)
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

In Romans 9, he said:

Romans 9:3-4 (NKJ)
3 . . . I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

In Romans 11, Paul confirmed the fact that God’s covenant with the Jews was still in effect when he said:

Romans 11:26-27 (NKJ)
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

This verse is most certainly talking about the literal descendants of Abraham. In this chapter, Paul was addressing the fact that very few literal Jews were being saved. He said that the nation of Israel was the tree into which the Gentile believers were being grafted. He concluded that although many of the dead, Jewish branches were being broken off, the entire nation of Israel would someday turn to the Lord in faith.

This is not a reference to the Church of our present age. It would be impossible for all of the Church to someday be saved in the future. By definition, the Church is already saved. It makes no difference if a person goes to church or joins a church, no one is a member of God’s church without a personal experience of salvation through a personal faith in Jesus Christ, but all those who believe are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church which is the Body of Christ.

The literal nation of Israel, on the hand, rejected Jesus Christ in Paul’s day, and for the most part, is still rejecting Christ today. But someday, the literal nation of Israel will come to the realization that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and that He came to the earth from heaven to shed His blood for the sins of the world. At that point Israel will be saved, and God will take away her sins for this is God’s covenant with them.

All of the spiritual blessings of Paul’s Acts-period message belong to us today. We are saved by simple faith in Jesus Christ and in His finished work upon the cross. But Paul’s Acts-period message stands in contrast to his message for today. After the Acts-period, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and in those books he revealed the Church which is the Body of Christ.

In those epistles, Paul never mentioned Abraham’s name even once. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we do not come to God as the children of Abraham. We come to God on the basis of the fact that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before Abraham was, we were, in the mind of God, predestined to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, Paul referred to the Jewish covenants only once. In Ephesians, Chapter 2, Paul said that we, Gentiles, were in times past:

Ephesians 2:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Then he said:

Ephesians 2:13 (NKJ)
13 But now in Christ Jesus (we) who once were far off have been brought near (to God, by what? By the covenants? No.) by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJ)
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Today, the covenants that God made with Israel have been set aside. It was the covenants that made such a strong distinction between the nation of Israel and the rest of the world. But now those covenants have been set aside. That which put the Gentile at a disadvantage during the Old Testament and during the Acts-period has now been set aside. God is now calling Jews and Gentiles alike into one new man, into one body through the cross.

Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

Thursday, October 05, 2006

The Passover (10-22-06)

The Passover
Bible Study Time 10-22-06

Last week we looked at the fact that Abraham was saved by faith. God declared him to be righteous because He believed in the Lord, and he demonstrated his faith by believing what God said. In Romans, Chapter 4, Paul pointed out that Abraham believed God and was saved by faith before he was circumcised and before the Law was given. This illustrates for us the fact that salvation by faith has nothing to do with religious ceremonies or with our own good works. Paul went on to declare in Ephesians 2:

Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
8 For by grace are (you) saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Abraham was saved by grace through faith, but after Abraham accepted that he was going to have a son, the Lord also revealed to Abraham that his descendants were going to be strangers in a strange land and that they would serve the people of that land for four hundred years.

In fulfillment of God’s promise, Abraham did have a son, and Abraham named that son Isaac. Then Isaac had a son named Jacob whose name was later changed to Israel. Israel then had twelve sons, and their families grew into the twelve tribes of Israel.

Just as God had predicted, the twelve tribes of Israel moved down into Egypt where they became the slaves of the Egyptians for four hundred years. As the four hundred years of prophecy drew to a close, God started setting the stage for Israel’s return to the promised land.

God determined that Moses would be the man who would deliver Israel from Egypt. When Moses was born, he was protected by Pharaoh’s daughter and ultimately raised in Pharaoh’s house, but Moses had to leave Egypt because he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Jew. It looked like Moses would never have anything to do with the nation of Israel, but after spending 40 years on the backside of the desert, God called Moses to return to Egypt and lead the children of Israel back to the land of Canaan.

When Moses returned to Egypt, Pharaoh would not let the people go, so God sent many plagues upon the Egyptians. He turned the water into blood. He sent plagues of frogs and gnats and flies. Boils appeared on humans and animals alike. There were plagues of hail and locusts and darkness. Then, finally, the Lord said that He was going to send one final plague, and that after that plague, the children of Israel would leave the land of Egypt. Before this last plague, Moses went to Pharaoh and said:

Exodus 11:4-8 (NLT)
4 . . . "This is what the LORD says: About midnight I will pass through Egypt.
5 All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest slave. Even the firstborn of the animals will die.
6 Then a loud wail will be heard throughout the land of Egypt; there has never been such wailing before, and there never will be again.
7 But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.
8 All the officials of Egypt will come running to me, bowing low. 'Please leave!' they will beg. 'Hurry! And take all your followers with you.' Only then will I go!" Then, burning with anger, Moses left Pharaoh's presence.

Moses then went to the children of Israel and said:

Exodus 12:2,3,5,6 (NLT)
2 "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you.
3 Announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice . . .
5 This animal must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no physical defects.
6 "Take special care of these lambs until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then each family in the community must slaughter its lamb.

This lamb was to be a picture of the Lord Jesus whom God gave as the spotless Lamb of God who came into the world to shed His blood for the sins of the world. Therefore, the lamb which was selected there in Egypt had to be watched for three days, from the tenth day to the fourteenth day, to make sure that it had no disease. It had to be without spot and without blemish.

After the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the Apostle Peter said:

1 Peter 1:18-19 (NKJ)
18 . . . you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but (you were redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Just like the lamb in Egypt was watched for 3 days, Jesus Christ was placed under the scrutiny of the scribes and Pharisees for 3 years. Jesus went about healing and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and at the end of that three years, they arrested Jesus and brought Him before the High Priest. However, they had no legitimate charge of wrongdoing that they could bring against Him. He was without spot or blemish. Mark 14 and verse 55 says:

Mark 14:55-56 (NKJ)
55 Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none.
56 For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

After three years of intensive scrutiny, the Jewish religious leaders could not find one charge that they could bring against the Lord Jesus.

In Exodus, Chapter 12, God gave further instructions to Moses, saying:

Exodus 12:7-10 (NKJ)
7 'And (the people) shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
8 'Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 'Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire-- its head with its legs and its entrails.
10 'You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

After the lamb was slaughtered, its blood was placed upon the doorposts and on the lintel of the doors, and then the lamb was to be roasted in the fire. In this same way, the Lord Jesus had to shed His blood and endure the fires of hell in order to pay for our sins. Before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus prayed,

Matthew 26:39 (NKJ)
39 . . . "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

The Lord Jesus came to do the Father’s will, and there was no other way to save us from our sins. The Lord Jesus had to take our judgment upon Himself to deliver us from the curse of sin. The lamb in Egypt could not be eaten raw, and neither could it be boiled in water. It had to go through the fire. Only then could it be taken into the home and eaten.

Accordingly, when the blood of Christ is applied to the door of a believer’s heart, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is able to enter into that heart. On the cross, the Lord Jesus accomplished everything that was required to prepare our hearts to be the dwelling place of God. Paul said (I Corinthians 3:16), “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

At the first Passover, the spotless lamb was sacrificed. It was roasted in the fire, and then it was taken into the home where it was eaten. Jesus said:

John 6:51 (NKJ)
51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

When we partake of Jesus Christ, the living bread, we are nourished and strengthened so that we can do all things through Christ who strengths us. However, before we can partake of His spiritual life, we must believe that He went through the fires of hell and that He suffered there on our behalf. We must open our hearts to His Spirit so that the life of Jesus Christ can flow in and through us, and so that we can show the light of Christ to those around us.

When Moses talked to the people about eating the lamb, he said (Exodus 12:11), “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD'S Passover.”

As they ate the lamb, they needed to be ready to travel. God was going to deliver them from the bondage of the Egyptians, and they needed to have their robes tied up and cinched with a belt around the waist. This was important so that as they moved rapidly out of Egypt, they would not stumble and fall.

After we have put our trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and after we have opened our hearts to His Spirit, we must have our waste gird about with the truth of God’s word. Without an understanding of God’s word, we are doomed to stumble and fall in our walk with the Lord.

As we feast upon the word of God, we become partakers in the life of Christ. This is how we open our hearts to Jesus Christ, by feasting upon the word. Jesus Christ is the living word of God, and it is the Spirit of Christ who brings to life the written word.

In our present day and age, we gain access to Christ through the written word of God. As we read it and study it, the Holy Spirit interprets it and applies it to our hearts. As we study the word rightly divided, we show ourselves approved unto God as workman who do not need to be ashamed. (II Timothy 2:15)

As the Jews in Egypt ate the lamb, they were to have their sandals on. Likewise, as we feast upon the word of God, we are to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace so that wherever God sends us we will be able to effectively share the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the gospel of peace.

Don’t you like that expression, the gospel of peace. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly is the gospel of peace. There can be no peace in this world without Jesus Christ, and there can be no peace in our hearts without Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life, and He is the One who gives the peace that passes understanding.

As they ate the Passover lamb in Egypt, they were to have their staff in their hand. The staff is a symbol of authority. It is used for stability, and it can be used as a weapon. Likewise, the open Bible is our symbol of authority today. In spite of the fact that it was written by 40 different men over 1500 years, it has never been proven wrong in any of its historical or scientific facts. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the Bible and about 2000 of them have already been fulfilled to the letter. When we speak the words of the Bible, we can speak with authority because:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJ)
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Bible is like the staff in that it gives us stability in our lives. The devil is the master of confusion and yet the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4 says:

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

When we get to know the Bible, we not only come to an understand of who God is, but we gain insight into who we are. Our peace with God flows from the spiritual unity which the Holy Spirit creates within us. The Holy Spirit takes a life that is fragmented and distorted and reshapes it into an integrated whole. This is what we call integrity. The Holy Spirit gives us integrity, and the result is a life which is stable even in unstable and stressful times.

Back in Egypt, God told the children of Israel:

Exodus 12:12,13 (NLT)
12 On that night (when you observe the Passover) I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons and firstborn male animals in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!
13 The blood you have smeared on your doorposts will serve as a sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Today, we live in an age of grace. God is not overtly demonstrating His wrath and His anger against those who live in sin, but someday the judgment of the Lord will come, and he who has the blood of Jesus Christ applied to his heart will be protected when the day of judgment comes.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) By nature we are far from God and from His salvation but now in Christ Jesus we who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)

Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJ)
13 (God) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

God is saying to us today, when I see the blood I will pass over you.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:

Everyone Needs A Savior (10-15-06)

Everyone Needs A Savior
Bible Study Time 10-15-06

In Genesis, Chapter 15, Abraham was concerned that he had no children, but the Lord assured him that his descendants would someday be as numerous as the stars of heaven. This was an amazing statement when you consider that Abraham was 85 years old at the time. But the Bible says that Abraham believed in the Lord. He didn’t just believe what the Lord said, but he believed in the Lord. Of coarse, with a promise that incredible, one would have to believe in the giver of the promise before he could believe in the promise.

Abraham knew that the God who had made that promise was the God of creation. The One who works everything after the counsel of His own will. Abraham believed in the Lord, and the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness. Just think about that. Abraham believed in the Lord and instantaneously he became righteous in the sight of God.

That was big. In fact, it was huge. God’s justice demands righteousness. God’s holiness demands righteousness. God can have no fellowship with unrighteousness, but because God is God and because He is sovereign over all things, He is the one who gets to determine who is righteous. When God saw Abraham’s faith, God declared Abraham to be righteous. It was just that simple.

When we read through the scriptures, we see that faith in the Lord is man’s only opportunity for righteousness. The Old Testament hints at this, but it is plainly declared by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. In Galatians, he said:

Galatians 3:21-22 (NKJ)
21 . . . if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

In Romans, Paul said:

Romans 3:21-23 (NKJ)
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Many people think that if they try as hard as they can to be righteous, God will accept them as righteous. They pin all of their hopes for eternity on their ability to live a righteous life, and many of these same people are fully aware of the fact that no one is perfect. They know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Maybe it’s their human pride or maybe it their religious background, I don’t know, but for whatever reason they continue to believe that their place in heaven will be determined by their good works. This is sad because God’s word plainly declares the fallacy of this point of view.

God will not accept anything less than total perfection. He will not accept anything less than complete righteousness. God will not compromise when it comes to His standard of righteousness; He requires absolute perfection. The Bible says, he who is guilty of breaking one law is guilty of breaking them all (James 2:10).

Some may think that they can play it safe by believing in Jesus and then living the best they can. They think that both of these things together will guarantee them a place in heaven. But is it really possible to trust in both? Jesus said:

Matthew 6:24 (NKJ)
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other . . .

When it comes to salvation, no one can trust in Jesus and good works. The second we throw in good works, the work of Christ becomes of no effect. Paul said:

Galatians 2:16-19 (NKJ)
16 . . . a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
17 "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
18 "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.

If we sin after we are saved, that sin does not come from God, and God will hold us accountable for our sins, but our relationship with Christ is based solely upon the work of Christ on the cross. Any good works that we have to offer to God must flow out of our relationship with Christ. Apart from our relationship with Christ, we have no good works to offer. That’s why Paul said:

Galatians 2:20-21 (NKJ)
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

If we try to add good works to faith for salvation, then we will be forced to come up with a standard of righteousness which is lower than God’s standard. We will end up focusing our attention on two or three things that we consider to be the worst sins, and then we will allow ourselves to feel satisfied with our performance as long as we stay away from those particular sins.

For instance, we may think that drug addiction is a terrible sin because we see how it destroys lives and tears at the fabric of our society. Now I think that we can all agree that drug addiction has terrible consequences, for individuals and for society, but if we focus on drug addiction, we may lose sight of the fact that by God’s standard any lack of self control is a sin.

To please God we have to have absolute control over everything we eat, and drink, and say, and think, and so forth and so on. This might make us feel a little uncomfortable because we know that no one can live up to that kind of an absolute standard, but if we, in our minds, lower the standard of God to something that we can do, we have robbed God of His glory. God’s perfect standard goes far beyond anything that we can accomplish, and that’s why the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone is so important.

The Lord Jesus was emphasizing God’s perfect standard of righteousness when He said:

Matthew 5:21-22 (NKJ)
21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
22 "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment . . .

We might be able to avoid the sin of murder, but what about anger? Have you ever gotten angry; I know I have. All of us have to plead guilty to that charge. God’s standard is so much higher than ours and way beyond our ability to live up to it.

I heard the renowned Bible teacher, R.C. Sproll, on television the other day. He was on a question and answer panel, and he was asked what he did to maintain his personal walk of holiness. His answer was this. He said, “I know that I will fool myself every chance I get. I will lower the bar and discount what true holiness requires, and at the same time I will inflate my own view of my own performance. That’s why I have to immerse myself in the character of God to really understand what He loves and what He hates. I need the word of God to minister to my own soul so that the old man can be put to death and so that I can put on the new man in a disciplined way.”

I really appreciated Dr. Sproll’s honest comments because I’m afraid that if we put even a fraction of our faith in our own good works for our salvation, we will lose our objectivity when it comes to recognizing our own sin, and our ability to recognize our own sin is of utmost importance when it comes to allowing the Holy Spirit to create the righteousness of Christ within us.

John said (I John 1:9), “If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But if we have no incentive to discover our sins, we will lower the bar and inflate our own performance. This satisfies the flesh, but it will cause us to lose the joy of forgiveness.

David said (Psalms 139:23-24), “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Because God’s standard of righteousness is so high, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to identify and cleanse us from our sin. If God’s standard was just a matter of not committing murder or adultery, we could probably train ourselves to identify those sins, but God’s standard is so much higher than that.

God’s righteousness takes into account everything that we feel and everything that we think. When we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the results of his search, we will be surprised at what He finds. The Holy Spirit is going to find things that we never even thought about or that we thought were insignificant.

On the other hand, when Jesus taught that true righteousness goes beyond avoiding murder and adultery, he was not pushing for the Pharisees to adopt a stricter set of rules for the synagogue. Jesus said that the Pharisees were already too strict. He said that the scribes and Pharisees “bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matthew 23:4)

What a contrast between God and the Pharisees! God calls upon us to cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us, but Jesus said that the Pharisees would not even lift a finger to help those who were burdened with sin. The Pharisees had an abundance of rules but no compassion. They had a bountiful supply of regulations but no empathy.

The Lord Jesus did not point out God’s strict standard of righteousness to encourage a stricter code of conduct, but rather, He was pointing out the hypocrisy of those who try to enforce strict codes without recognizing their own shortcomings. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:20 (NKJ)
20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Even with all of their rules, the Pharisees could not live up to God’s perfect standard. Their only hope for righteousness was to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. When Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic man and his friends, He said (Matthew 9:2), “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

God is absolutely holy, and when God declared Abraham to be righteous because of his faith, it was not our standard of righteousness that God was talking about. No, Abraham was declared righteous by God’s standard. Abraham was made absolutely righteous in the sight of God.

As a result, Abraham became the friend of God. He walked and talked with God. Abraham knew God as his provider and as his protector. He had the kind of fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had with God in the Garden before sin ever came into the world.

The beautiful gospel message for us today is that we too can have that kind of fellowship with God when we come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul said in Galatians 3 that:

Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJ)
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us,
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We today, as members of the Church, the Body of Christ, are not promised all of the blessings of Abraham. We have no claim to the land of Palestine or the earthly kingdom, but we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. We enjoy the same close spiritual fellowship with God that Abraham enjoyed. We cherish all of the spiritual blessings of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

It may seem hard to believe that a person dying on a cross 2000 years ago could have anything to do with our eternal destiny, but that’s what faith is all about. The heavens rejoice when we demonstrate our faith in the Lord by believing what He tells us.

The gospel of Jesus Christ may not seem logical to our human minds, and it may be hard to accept because we can’t prove it scientifically, but when we believe, faith becomes the substance of the things we hope for, and faith becomes the evidence of the things we can not see.

I’m sure that Abraham thought it would be next to impossible for him to have a son at 85 years old, but Abraham knew the Lord, and he knew that with God nothing is impossible.

Today, God is telling us that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He was bearing the guilt and the penalty for our sins and that He was raised from the dead to give us everlasting life. All we have to do is believe.

John 1:11-12 (KJV)
11 (Jesus Christ) came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Well, I see that out time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to another broadcast of Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

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Satan Is Real (10-8-06)

Satan Is Real
Bible Study Time 10-8-06

The other day I was talking to a young high school student who told me that when he lived in California, he went with his friends to what he called a “demon church.” He only went one time because he said “it really freaked him out” and he didn’t like being around it. He said that they had a figure of Christ hanging upside down on a cross, and they twisted the Ten Commandments so that they said the opposite of the Biblical Ten Commandments. This reminded me once again of the spiritual battle that is going on in our world. Paul said:

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

In the past couple of weeks we have seen that Satan is the true adversary of all believers. That he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But in reality, Satan is not just the adversary of believers. He is the adversary of all people.

The Lord Jesus said that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. It was Satan’s desire to kill Adam and Eve from the very day that they were created. God created Adam and Eve in His own image, and He loved them with a special love. The fellowship that they enjoyed together in the Garden was beautiful, but it stirred up Satan’s heart with envy and jealousy. God gave Adam and Eve dominion over all the earth and all that was in the earth, and Satan’s hatred for Adam and Eve grew stronger and stronger.

God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and He said, “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.” When Satan became aware of this warning, he saw a window of opportunity to plot the death of both Adam and Eve.

However, Satan was unaware of the fact that God had chosen His words very carefully with Satan in mind. Satan heard the word of God and jumped to the conclusion that Adam and Eve would die in the same day that they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so he seduced Eve and she ate of that tree and then Adam also ate.

However, when God pronounced judgment upon Adam and Eve, He did not kill them that day. Instead, he pronounced the curse of death upon them. They went from immortal beings to mortal beings, and as a result, from that very day, they were sure to die. This was certainly in accord with God’s warning, but Satan had misinterpreted the word of God.

Without knowing it, Satan had actually opened the door for the procreation of man so that he would now have to deal not with two human beings but with the billions of human beings that would ultimately fill the earth. As would be the case with all Satanic activity throughout the ages, Satan had fit right into God’s perfect plan.
This speaks to my heart when I think about Satan jumping to quick conclusions about the word of God. As we read the word, and as we study the word, we need to pray that God will open our hearts to the truths that lie beyond the surface. We need to know the exact meaning of each verse and of each passage. Satan would tempt us to take a quick glance at the word and base our lives upon snap judgments because he knows the risks and the dangers that lie therein.

God never intended the Bible for light reading. God’s word is alive and powerful, but when we come to it, we must be prepared to search the scriptures, comparing scripture with scripture, and we must be prepared to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit so that we can receive the hidden treasures that lie beneath the surface.

God is not one to cast His pearls before swine, as Jesus said. If we seek the truth and study diligently, we will find ourselves approved of God, and God will make known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure.

As we can see with Satan in the Garden of Eden, God often has very specific reasons for not revealing the mystery of His will to everyone. In I Corinthians 2, Paul said:

1 Corinthians 2:6-8 (NKJ)
6 . . . we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

God very skillfully worded the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, just as He did His warning to Adam and Eve. The political leaders of Jesus’ day had no right to the hidden treasures of God. If they had known that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God and that He alone could provide eternal life, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

However, all through the centuries, those who loved and treasured the word of God were able to unlock the hidden treasures of the word of God. They knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They knew that He would suffer and die for the sins of the world. They knew that He would be buried and that He would rise again even before His body could decay. They knew that Jesus would be raised from the dead to sit upon the throne of David and rule over the Gentiles in a worldwide kingdom.

They knew all of these thing, but there was one mystery about which they knew nothing at all. That mystery was never hinted at in the Old Testament. It was not even hidden under the surface or between the lines of the Old Testament because it was a mystery which was hidden in God from the beginning of the ages. This mystery was the mystery concerning Israel’s rejection of the resurrected Christ and the subsequent calling out of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

The entire Bible, from the calling out of Abraham to the end of the book of the Revelation, is all about the promises that were given to Abraham except for those few books that reveal the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ.

God’s program for the Church, the Body of Christ, is separate and apart from the promises that were given to Abraham. All of the promises that were given to Abraham were intimately tied to God’s promise of an earthly kingdom.

The Church which is the Body of Christ reaps the spiritual blessings but without any hope of an earthly kingdom. We reap the heavenly, spiritual blessings but stake no claim to the promises that relate to this earth. We are grateful citizens of heaven, and we set our affections on things above.

This mystery concerning the Church was never revealed in the Old Testament or by the Lord Jesus, but one does not have to read between the lines to see this mystery fully revealed in Paul’s prison epistles. Paul plainly declared that the mystery concerning the Church was revealed to him and through him by the power of the Holy Spirit. He said in Ephesians 3:

Ephesians 3:2-6 (NKJ)
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery . . .
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

In the program promised to Abraham, Gentiles were second class citizens with fewer rights and privileges, but in the Church, the Body of Christ, Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs and of the same body.

This does not mean that God is through with national Israel. Someday, after the Church is caught up to be with Christ in the glory of heaven, God is going to start bringing together a group of Jewish believers who will go through the tribulation period and then rule and reign with Christ in the kingdom that was promised to Abraham.

But for now, during this particular age in which we live, the Jew holds no special place of privilege. Jews who are saved today have no claim to the land of Palestine because when the Church is raptured, saved Jews and saved Gentiles will all be taken up to be with Christ in heaven.

Today, God has brought many Jews back to the land of Palestine, and God is apparently preparing this world for the tribulation period. He has caused the Arab nations to unite for the ultimate conflict between the Jews and the Arabs which will play out during the tribulation period, but all of that will take place after the Church is caught up to be with the Lord.

In Ephesians 3, Paul went on to say that God had given him this special stewardship of truth concerning the Church, the Body of Christ. He said:

Ephesians 3:7-10 (NKJ)
7 . . . I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship (or the stewardship) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,

Paul says that he is preaching not only to the human beings of this age, but he is preaching to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. God did not let Satan know the details concerning the curse of sin in the Garden of Eden. God did not let Satan know about the details concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. These things were hinted at, but not fully revealed.

However, God did not even give Satan a hint about the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ. There was no hint until it was revealed by the Apostle Paul. The calling out of the Church, the Body of Christ, was a complete and total surprise to Satan.

From all of these things we see that God is in complete control of all events, and He is a total believer in information management. He controls who knows what and when. He is able to work all things according to the counsel of His own will. God is in complete control, and He does whatever He pleases whenever He pleases.

Now those who follow Satan may say that God is a selfish god. They may say that He doesn’t care about people; He only cares about Himself. Does that remind you of anything? How about Satan’s lie to Eve when he said, God doesn’t care about you, He just wants to keep you from being as smart as He is. He told Eve that if she ate of that fruit, she would be as wise as God. In other words, God was just being selfish, according to Satan.

Obviously, the devil was not only a murderer from the beginning, but he was a liar from the beginning, and Jesus said that when the devil tells his lies, he is the father of those lies. Those lies don’t come from God. Satan is the father of all lies, but God is wise enough to limit Satan’s access to pertinent information, and God uses every lie of Satan to accomplish His own plan and purpose and bring glory to Himself in the process.

God does whatever He pleases, but we can praise His name that He is always good. Nahum said (Nahum 1:7), “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.”

God does not have to be good to us. He is bound by no law. There is no one to pass judgment upon His actions. There is no one stronger than He to keep Him from doing as He pleases. But still God is good. He is kind and compassionate, and it pleases Him to pour out His blessings upon those who love Him.

Satan, on the other hand, was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Satan hates even those who love him, but God loves even those who hate Him. Satan’s goal is to steal and kill and destroy, and those who consciously follow him will fair no better than those who unwittingly follow his leading.

Since the resurrection and ascension of Christ, Satan has known that his fate is sealed. When Christ was raised from the dead, He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them. Satan knows that someday he will be cast into the lake of fire, and his only goal at this point is to take as many people with him as he can.

Satan hates even those who love him, but the Lord loves even those who hate Him. While He was hanging on the cross, bruised from the rod and bleeding from the whip, with his hands and his feet nailed to the cross, He prayed that God would forgive those who had sinned against Him.

If you don’t know the Lord this morning, God loves you. In spite of your sin and in spite of your shortcomings, He loves you, and you can experience His love by simply putting your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, and believing that Christ died for your sins and that He was buried and that He was raised from the dead so that you could have eternal life.

Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

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