Where We've Been, Before We Move On

We've been on an interesting little rabbit trail for the last few weeks, and I hope it helped to resolve some issues.  I have to admit, there was a day when I would have enjoyed the spirited banter we've been having, but it carries with it a grave danger for offense, and the breaking of unity. There is also the danger of what we say being misunderstood by the young among us, and the spiritually weak.  I hope by now, that those who are among us understand that being in unity doesn't mean we all agree.  It means we are unified in heart even if we disagree.  It’s probably become clear to many of you, that our ideas of what we believe are shaped by man’s traditions as much as by the Word of God. It is important to discern the difference between the two.  Much of that has to do with the translation problem.  

THE PROBLEM:  We are taking another language and trying to translate it into our own.  I am not talking about taking the Greek or Hebrew, and translating it into English, I am talking about taking the language of heaven, and translating it into the tongue of man.

Spiritual truth doesn't translate well into man’s reality.  As the body of Christ, we have to be able to see things from the Kingdom perspective, not the carnal.  The Kingdom perspective isn't loftier because it comes from an elevated point of view, rather the carnal mind can’t comprehend it because it sees things from a ‘fallen’ point of view.  For most of us, even when we were in our ‘fallen’ state, there was a ‘gut’ feeling that Kingdom truths are ‘true,’ but. . . .they don’t jive with what our eyes see, our ears hear, and our ‘mind’ thinks.  This uncomfortable feeling forces us to confront the Kingdom principals from a MORAL point of view.  One of the greatest lies of the enemy of our souls is that ‘morals’ come from God. That is why the ‘carnal’ man enjoys WORKS centered religions.  Believe it, or not, Satan is a moral creature.  Like us, He knows he fails at living up to the morals he espouses, so he points his accusations at us.  His accusations against us are based on his perception of Kingdom principals.  His accusations are simple:  “You said-but they . . . .”   That is why none of us like a tattle-tale.  The carnal mind can’t comprehend ‘justice’ because it always confuses it with morality. Laws and morality are the carnal response to God’s nature. Our nation’s laws, are actually moral statements that define our social behavior.  If we don’t like a law, we change it or abolish it. 

GOD ISN'T MORAL, HE IS JUST. 

Morality by its very definition demands an alternative behavior.  Morality is a fruit of the ‘Tree of Knowledge.’  That is why the issue of ‘innocence’ is a carnal argument, and we can’t allow ourselves to be trapped into an argument about it.  I’ll say it again, God is not moral, He is JUST.   God is not ‘fair’, He is JUST.  The carnal mind can’t fathom this.  God never commanded us to be ‘moral.’  He simply instructed us to ‘live His way.’  There are no arguments, no debate, no moral dilemmas.  His laws were never about us being ‘moral,’  as much as they were about us seeing His manifold wisdom.  God will never use the term ‘innocent’ in reference to moral issues, but in terms of JUSTICE.  HIS commandments are not MORAL, they are absolutes.  When God looks at an individual, they fall into one of two categories; accountable or innocent.  The issue for God isn't what we abstain from, but what we do with HIS truth.  Babies, children, adolescents, and the mentally deficient, are innocent because they are unable to do anything with His truth, not because they abstained from doing wrong. 

Last week, we left our conversation with the resolution that babies, and children would not be judged.  Which brings us back to how we deal with the knowledge that all men will, and have sinned.  (Romans 3:23)  The issue is never what we have abstained from, but what we ‘fail’ to do.  Man wants praise for what he avoids, or the evil he doesn't do, and God wants praise for what you do.  (Let that work in you for a while.)  If we know to do good, and don’t do it, it is sin.  Our inaction makes us fall short of the Glory of God.  It isn't a moral issue.  Good people are moral.  Hell will be filled with ‘good’ people.  It’s like a child who tells you they didn't go to a drug party with their friends, but failed to clean the car as you asked them to.  While they did ‘good’ in not hurting themselves, they failed to do the one thing you asked them to do. Not doing drugs was a moral issue, and failing to wash the car was an obedience issue.

The Lord Jesus tells us we will be held accountable for what we did with what he gave us.  He gave us life, what did we do with it? 

The position of man before God is never one of innocence, unless they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Let me rephrase our Romans verse a little differently.  All men have fallen short of the Glory of God, and that, is their sin. 

Sinman will never be 'just'' before God, because Sinman is carnally minded.  The wage of sin is death, you earn death by failing to do what the Father wants, which is Justice.  The carnal man must always live by the rules of man, while the ‘Christ-man’ lives by the Spirit.  Rules, and laws are open to debate.  Being led by the Spirit is never an exercise in morality, and is never open for debate. It is always an expression of the Christ within us.  (James 4:1-17) That is why Christ came!  He came that we might do God’s stuff on this earth, and he gave us the authority through His redemptive work on the Cross.  Now we KNOW what to do, and He gives us the POWER, (grace) to do it.     

Settling the Issue of Innocence

Well we settled it among ourselves. Our men’s group took a stab at the "innocence" issue, and came up with a broad consensus. I'm sure it won't be popular, but then Christianity never was intended to. We all agree that we are born "into" sin, but aren't born sinful. We came to this knowledge from King David's words in 2 Samuel 12: 21-23. (Read passage) The gist being that he knew he would see his dead son when he too died. We came to understand that through Adam, sin came into the world, but it doesn't have to have dominion over us. (Genesis 4:6&7) However, we also know from the Word of God, that all men have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. This makes us all individually accountable for our own sins. So, when do we lose our innocence? When do we become accountable for our sins? God has an answer, but the answer is one that I prefer to leave in the intimacy of our men's group. (Some things though scriptural, can be divisive, and lead to misunderstanding when stood up against men’s traditions, this is one of those things.) Suffice it to say, we’ve resolved to our satisfaction that little babies and children won't burn in hell. 

As for all other peoples, we have to defer to Bro. Paul. (Romans 1:13-32) There is no excuse for anyone, no matter if they’ve heard the Gospel or not. However, there is God's mercy, compassion, and Grace. We can't find scripture to relieve anyone of the death sentence of sin. We simply know it isn't God who sends us to hell. We do that heinous task ourselves. All men, except one, have given in to the desires of the flesh. So, while we don't believe in TOTAL depravity, we do believe that all men sin. From the book of Romans, we know that the wages of sin is death. To repeat our earlier consensus, we aren't dying because of Adam's sin; we are dying because of our own sin. Each man will be accountable for his own actions. Which brings us full circle, back to where this all started. 

We are all dying because of our own sin. Innocent babies, the mentally challenged, and children to the age of accountability are not judged. 

 We are helpless to erase the death penalty that stands against us. The death sentence can’t be undone by our works. 

 Sinman (our euphemism for sinful man) is hopelessly lost in his sin. 

 The question still remains, how do we get Him into the Kingdom of God? 

 That question brings us back to 'all men have sinned.' Next week, we'll get back to the lesson sheet that got us here. 

 WHEW!

 Tough lessons, but worth the rabbit chase.

The Issue of Innocence

We're digging deeper than just a glossing over of ideas, and well worn concepts.  It was a small group this morning, but that lent itself to an intimate discussion of one of the basic issues of Christianity, innocence.

Throughout my years in college, and even in High School to some degree, the idea of faith in Christ being the only means of salvation has rankled people. The idea that a kind, and loving God would send people to hell just because they didn't believe in His Son, seems to grate upon our human sensibilities. Every college Philosophy instructor I've come across has a field day with absolutism of any kind, and especially Christianity.  The questions always arise about infants, children, and people who've never heard the Gospel.

'Will God banish billions upon billions of people to an everlasting hell?'

The question demands an answer, and not the vague fluffy type that eventually devolves into inclusion.  There are answers, they are hard to swallow, but they are based upon a real assessment of who we are, who God is, and what we believe.

Sunday morning, we asked the questions.  Believe me there were no answers.  Which proved to me, that taking our time with this subject is important.  The fate of billions of people are in the balance.  We have to know what we believe, believe it fully, and act upon that belief.  I truly believe once we become aware of the truth, we'll be a changed group of people.

In order to propel the discussion in the right direction, I will define what I know by scripture.

1.  God didn't create death.
2.  Sin is separation from God, separation from God is death. (Separation being defined as refusal to acknowledge him as Lord)
3.  Every person sins.   (We are not born sinful, but born into a sinful world)
4.  God is madly, deeply, passionately in love with his creation.
5.  Sin has separated us.
6.  God is a pro-active initiator of restoring the relationship between man and Himself.

We've allowed the discussion of God's role in our lives to be dictated by the skeptics, nay-sayers, and non-believers for too long.  Our watered down vision of a passionate Creator is built upon the sand of philosophy, reason, and to some sad extent Christian apologetics.   I will not express my opinions on the issue until our men have agreed upon the answer themselves.   Needless to say, it has been an interesting study so far.    
 

Getting To The Heart Of Salvation

I love it when the Holy Spirit brings us to a full stop and says; Get this right, and don’t leave until you do.  There are times when you discover something while searching for something else, and it opens an entirely new world to you.  Such is the case for what happened as we tore into getting Sinman into the Kingdom.  Because the Kingdom is everything, we must understand how we enter into it. Whether you call it salvation, being ‘born again’, being saved, or redeemed, the way we enter into the Kingdom is crucial. As we began looking at salvation, and the Kingdom, I became convinced that we were missing a deeper truth.  Let’s see if what I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me is borne out in the Word. 

Seeing the Kingdom, is not the same thing as entering the Kingdom. Christ said, ‘we must be born again to see the Kingdom.’  Entering the Kingdom requires believing into Jesus as the Son of God, being baptized in water, and filled with the Spirit.  Why isn’t believing in Jesus enough?  Let’s do this methodically, and see it’s purpose to the Kingdom. 

First, believing into Jesus as the Son of God, is the stated means of having eternal life.  This isn’t a head recognition type of belief.  We’re talking about believing INTO Him with your heart, soul, spirit, and strength.  WE were all Sinman at one time or another, and this is totally unacceptable to God.  The wages of sin is death, and God is all about LIFE. The creator didn’t create death. Death is the result of sin. Sin is anything that is outside of the life of the Creator. The problem is, there is no sacrifice that can remove our stain, (guilt.)  Once sin (death) is entered into, death lurks at the door. Paul the Apostle makes it clear when he explains that by one man, (Adam) sin (death) entered into the world, so also, by one Man (Jesus,) life has entered the world. God provided the means of satisfying the demand of death, by creating a completely new human being, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of woman. This new man, (Jesus) had to be totally human, and yet totally God.  He had to live a sin free life, be willing to be a substitute for Adam, and be cursed in order to bear everyone’s sin. In other words, He had to be our replacement.  Not an animal, (inadequate, and only able to suffice for each individual.)  The lesson should’ve been easy: You can’t offer up enough animals to cover your sins, it would bankrupt you, and decimate the animal kingdom.  Besides, animal sacrifices don’t change the heart.  No matter how many animals he offers up, Sinman continues to be sinful, filled with guilt, and bound for eternal death.  We need a better sacrifice. Christ is that sacrifice!   

We still haven’t answered the question of why we have to believe INTO Jesus.  Why couldn’t Christ have done all he did, and we simply be ‘Saved?’  This may be simplistic, or it may be over the top, but we have to believe Jesus is the answer to our sin, because it undoes the original unbelief of Adam.  We go back to a tree (the cross,) and we profess what Adam disavowed.  Through the cross, we see the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ for what it truly is. Christ took our sins and nailed them to the tree. The charges against us are answered by His death. The blood of Christ upon that tree answers the charges against us. He has covered the sin by His blood. The 2^nd Adam stepped into the place of death, and became our replacement.  By believing into Him, we proclaim that Christ is our source of life, I need nothing more, can do nothing more, to be more like him. HE DID IT ALL! We answer the lies of the serpent by our faith in Jesus, we cancel Adam’s unbelief.  The measure of faith (a gift from God, that allows us to believe,) gives us access to the fruit of the tree of life through faith in Christ being that tree of life. However, even this wondrous act of God’s grace is maligned and twisted by the evil one into his purposes to once again ensnare people to hanging out around the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  It is important for us (ESPECIALLY ME) to be aware of what we tell, and reveal to others about the Gospel.  The GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM is that the Kingdom is near, and that it is here, EVEN IN YOUR HEARTS and mouth.  We can no longer allow the enemy of our souls to pervert or misrepresent the wonder of the Gospel.  Salvation was bought once, and for all.  What follows is a simple word search for the common terms for salvation. I’ve listed all the common expressions of salvation: ‘Eternal life’, ‘Kingdom of God’, ‘Saved and Salvation’, and ‘Conversion’.  Surprise of all surprises, there is more to it than meets the eye, but we’ll figure it out with the help of our blessed comforter.

SALVATION 101

Everyman is given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 2:8)

Faith is activated (quickened) by hearing the Gospel message (Romans 10:17)

Someone must speak the Gospel (Romans 10:14) 

We must believe into Jesus (John 3:1-21)

WARNING THE FOLLOWING VERSES CAN MESS YOU UP.  (I’m glad I didn’t say them.)

ETERNAL LIFE

Mark 10:17-31, Luke 10:25, John 3:1-21, Romans 2:7, Romans 6:23

ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Matthew 5:20, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 18:3, Luke 18:17

SAVED/ SALVATION

Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Mark 16:16, Luke 7:50, Luke 18:12, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13, Ephesians 2:5

CONVERTED

Luke 22:32, Matthew 18:3

I left out REDEMPTION on purpose, we’ll cover it later.

When Sinman believes into Jesus, he becomes a new creation. HE is born from above.  His citizenship changes from the Kingdom of Man to the Kingdom of Heaven, by right of birth.  He becomes a NEW MAN.  Newman can enter the Kingdom, because he is born of water (baptism), and Spirit (indwelling).  He enters the Kingdom, but he still can’t inherit it.  We have one more problem.  We go to 1 Cor 15:50, Flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom. Just as Jesus had to die, our physical bodies must die, so that we might be as Christ.  He had to die so we could inherit Him, and we have to die that he might inherit us.  Within this physical body, we can see, and we can enter the Kingdom, but we won’t inherit it till we are on the other side of this vale.  We are still here so that we may point others to Christ, and while we are here, we have only one job; to spread the good news of the Kingdom, healing, and releasing people from demonic oppression.  Christ wants a big inheritance. It is a big universe and he wants to fill it up with himself. So, as you can see, here we are again at the statement that started all of this: THE KINGDOM IS EVERYTHING! 

HOMEWORK:  Look up the Greek and Hebrew definitions of GRACE.  No Vine’s definitions please.  You can Google it or Bing it, but I would prefer your own understanding of the word through knowing the Strong’s, and then comparing verses.  (How to do this: Take Ephesians 2:5, look up the Greek reference number for Grace in the Greek dictionary, follow only those numbered connections to verses in the NT. Look at how they were used by inserting the Strong’s definition instead of our translated word)  Bring your definition with you next week.   I believe that YOU will come away with a completely different understanding of Grace.