Friday, March 26, 2010

Our greater and more perfect Tabernacle in Heaven...

Matt 27:50-51...Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;

In the above account recorded by Matthew you will find the sacrifice of Christ on the cross at Calvary was God's last and final sin offering for the sins of humanity. According to the Law of Moses the Jewish people offered sacrifice to the Levite Priest to make atonement for the families of the Jewish people. Th Levitical priest would enter into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer atoning sacrifice for the sins of Jewish families.

When the veil was rent twain in the Temple (torn in half by God) the Levite priest was no longer necessary to make atonement for the sins of the Jewish people. Why? How? Christ purchased the Church with His own blood. A new dispensation began! The Law of Moses was done away with and Divine Grace brought forth the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The New Testament we now live under is better and greater Testament than the Law of Moses given to Israel. After Jesus died on the cross at Calvary He became our High Priest and entered into the Holy of Holies in Heaven to obtain eternal redemption for us today.

Heb 9:11-12...But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Heb 9:24...For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:


How blessed we are to be under Grace today and not under the Law! How blessed we are to have the Law written in our hearts through the blessing of the Holy Spirit's presence in our hearts and lives! What used to be written in the tables of stone is now written in the tables of our hearts by Christ Himself! Glory! We are a living book written by Christ Himself. Glory!

2 Cor 3:3-5...Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Divine Grace is perhaps God's greatest blessing that any man can recieve in this life. Grace comes through the power of the Gospel message that we hear! To be under the Grace of God consists of the action of God within the heart and soul of a believer in Christ! Grace is not what man does to reach God. Grace is what changes man into a new creature... forgiven and morally right in the eyes of God. Faith and trust in the blood of Jesus Christ brings personal forgiveness and the ability fo man to live holy. Grace gives man a holy heart. Unlike the Law of Moses where man always "strived" to reach God...Grace's Divine effect takes man's stiving out of the picture. Grace is the effectual work of God based on Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Faith is based on the word of God!

Thank you Chuck Staton for your input (last night at the Upper Room) about where man's faith comes from. I also thank God in Christ for the nice service last night, as we touched on the basis of faith, where faith comes from, how faith is grown, how faith is erred from, how faith is increased, how faith is built through knowledge, and how to fight the good fight of faith. Glory! Here was the opening verse brought to my attention by Brother Chuck Staton.

Rom 12:3...For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

I'm glad we Christian's today are not under Law but under Grace which is a better covenant. Glory to Christ! Who blesses us richly from the Throneroom. Glory! Christ lives! What the Law could not do because it was weak through the flesh...Grace "now" does through the power of a living Christ! Glory! Christ not only died for our sins but He ever liveth to make intercession for us in the Holy of Holies in Heaven. Christ is our High priest right now! Glory!

Heb 7:25-26... Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens:

Heb 3:1...Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

For this reason God tore the veil in the Earthly and Jewish Temple in half at the time of Christ's death. This is why we have the Church today that Christ purchased with his shed blood on the cross at Calvary! This is why we're under Grace today and not under the Law of Moses! This is why Christian's have the Holy Spirit's presence in their hearts and lives! What a blessing! Grace makes me happy! Goodbye sin..hello holiness and right living. Thank you Jesus. GLORY!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The believer's confession of Christ was different during the Earthly ministry of Christ than in the Church today...

(Pt.1)... Israel’s “Confession” of Christ in the Kingdom Age during Christ’s Earthly ministry…

Matt 10:32-39…Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Public confession showed Israel’s recognition and acceptance of the Messiahship of Christ. Remember, John the Baptist, Christ, the 12 disciples, and the 70 ordained of Christ, preached the Kingdom of Heaven message to Israel only. This message was forbidden by Christ to be preached to a Gentile or to a Samaritan. Why? The Kingdom of Heaven was promised strictly to the nation of Israel according to all Old Testament promises.

Acceptance of Christ as the promised Messiah allowed Israel to have a divine nature. The Divine nature made any man eligible to receive God’s promised Kingdom on Earth. After Israel received John’s baptism of repentance they became eligible to worship Christ as Messiah. Why? They obeyed the council of God which simply put is, “Israel obeyed the authority of the Torah!” Israel’s obedience to the Law of God opened their hearts to Christ and made them eligible to enter into the promised Earthly Kingdom. Both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven messages were preached to Israel simultaneously. The Kingdom of God was an inner work of God, invisible and spiritual which thus made gave the believer in Christ a Divine nature. The Divine nature is what made Israel eligible to receive the Kingdom of Heaven or God’s promised Kingdom on earth.

Israel’s confession of Christ was based on an acceptance of Christ’s Messiahship according to the Law of God. Public confession of Christ showed Israel’s repentance from their disobedience to the Torah (Law of Moses). Israel’s error was made by practicing traditional Talmudic teachings (Rabbi’s interpretations of the Torah) that had made the authority of the Law of God of none affect. Jesus preached against the teachings of the Talmud.

Israel’s hearing of the Kingdom message and obedience to the authority of the Torah led the penitent Jewish believer to a recognition and acceptance of the Messiahship of Christ. The public confession from these converted Israelites brought deep rooted opposition from the family, from the social life, and from the hypocritical religious Jews that rejected the true authority behind the Torah and Christ as their promised Messiah and King of the Earth.

For those who accepted Christ as the promised Messiah they had to be willing to lose everything they had in society for the cause of Christ. To love God above all things was obedience to the first commandment. Tragically, Jewish people hated their own Jewish kinsmen who accepted and confessed the Messiahship of Christ.

Matt 10:32-39…Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.



(Pt.2)...“Confession” of Christ in the Church now during the Grace Age…This confession is made by both Jew and Gentile…because they’re saved by Grace…

…Rom 10:9-10…That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation

After the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ a new and better dispensation with a greater blessing than the Law of Moses had been given to humanity. It’s called the, “Grace dispensation where the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts and lives of believer’s in Christ.” In the Grace Age Christ as King does not rule physically on Earth as He did during the Kingdom Age of His Earthly ministry to Israel. Today, in the Church, Christ as King rules spiritually from the Throneroom in Heaven where He’s exalted with all power in Heaven and on Earth.

Since Christ died on the cross and arose from the grave... this present Grace Dispensation birthed the Church, the body of Christ where children of God are created and made nigh to God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness for our sins is only found through personal trust in Christ’s death on the cross and the effect that the Cross has on our personal hearts and lives.

The confession of a believer in the Church today is so different under Grace than it was in the Kingdom Age during Christ’s earthly ministry. Under Grace today… men “do not” confess Christ to be saved like they did in the Kingdom Age during Christ’s Earthly ministry! Men of God today “confess” Christ because of a work of God’s Grace they receive within the believing heart.

The effectiveness of Calvary through the precious blood that Christ shed is personally given to each individual believer that repents, and believes. This effectiveness of Calvary has power to change man morally and give him a good confession about the power and holiness of Christ in the heart and life of each individual believer. The effectiveness of Calvary by the Grace of God is for both Jew and Gentile…not just Jew only as it was in the ministry of Christ. God’s righteousness is bestowed upon the heart of any believer because of the effectiveness of Calvary within the human soul for personal forgiveness of sins. The believer in Christ knows every sin is forgiven and that heart is cleansed from sin by the divine power of the Grace of God.

Therefore a confession of Christ is made with the mouth of a believing Christian because that heart and that life… are made right… by the Divine power of God’s Grace.

…Rom 10:9-10…That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation

Monday, March 22, 2010

What does human reasoning, human intellect, and human works have to do with God's plan of Salvation

Nothing!

As hard as it may seem within your human reasoning...man's works cannot gain favor in the eyes of God...outside of Christ. Human works are in no way necessary for salvation of the human soul. Why? Human works leave out the work of God. Man's reasoning and human intellect can lead man away from the truth of the Word of God. To be honest...human reasoning and human intellect can cause man to miss the Divine Grace of God. The human intellect has nothing to do with salvation of the human soul...whatsoever. Philosophy (not Christianity) is based on human intellect and reasoning. Philosophy has nothing to do with the Spirit of God whatsoever! No matter how good you think or how good of works you do ...without Divine Grace in your heart and without God given righteousness you cannot gain one single ounce of credit from God by your works or your intelligence. Only Christ can put man in right standing with God.

Did you know God's Grace is what cleanses the human heart from sin and disobedience to God. Did you know God's Grace is what changes the moral character of man...not man himself. God's Grace is what God does in the heart of a believer. Grace is the action of God! Actually, God's Grace is a Divine operation that morally changes the human soul, the human make-up, and the human character. Grace gives fallen man a divine nature. Grace changes the unsaved man into a child of God that is holy and right in the eyes of God. No believer can achieve the Grace of God by works, intelligence, or human reason. No believer can gradually advance toward the Grace of God by good deeds or human effort. Human effort defies the Grace of God and forms religion! Grace is a Divine operation performed by God upon the heart and life of a believer in Christ. Grace is reflected in the life of a believer in Christ through the holy life. How? The believer morally changed by by the Grace of God. This is what the Bible teaches about God's Grace.

Did you know that it is the Grace of God that keeps the Holy Spirit present in the life of a child of God? Did you know that the Grace Covenant started after the death and resurrection of Christ? Before Christ died and during His earthly ministry...men and women lived under the covenant of the Law of Moses. Yes, my brothers and sisters Grace is what ushered in the Church the body of Christ we now live in today in 2010! The four Gospels only teach the Grace of God through the Gospel message, "after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ!" This great truth is taught in the books of Mat. 28:19, Mark 16:16, Luke 24:44-49...but only at the end of the books...not during the earthly ministry! After Calvary, after His burial, and after His resurrection did Christ command that the Gospel be preached. The Gospel is actually the, "Great Commission" given to both Jew and Gentile. The gospel allowed the Grace of God to save, redeem, justify, and sanctify all humanity (Jew and Gentile) through the death of a Saviour on the cross and the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit.

I like Christ's own words when he predicted His holy presence and universal contact in our lives that would come from Him after He was exalted to the Throneroom.

Matt 28:20...Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

The Grace of God gets beyond human reasoning, human intellect, and human works. Divine Grace gets beyond the action of man. Why? Divine Grace is the action of God in the heart and live of a Christian! Glory!