Author: Don Gerrity

Why Does It Seem That Unbelievers And Sinners Have Good Luck While Many Christians Struggle?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living

“But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” (Psalm 73:2-5 KJV)

Have you ever noticed how the ‘wicked’ and as yet ‘unredeemed’ people of the world tend to have some pretty amazing luck? How many times have you heard a believer ask “I am redeemed through Christ and I try to do good works for the Lord, but why is it I keep having major problems while I see so many wicked evil people doing so well?” It sure does seem that way at times, doesn’t it? This world is being ruled to a certain extent by Satan until Christ’s returns and bounds him for 1000 years. Anything that goes against the world system, or the worlds way, is going against the wind and it causes turbulence.

God loves people unconditionally right? Does he not love a person that is yet, unredeemed and who has not accepted Christ? The Bible is clear that God loves everyone, sinners included, unconditionally. And you know what? If a person is not recognizing their sinfulness and is asking God for mercy, saying to God “I WILL pay you back”, that person is trying to buy their way to freedom from their sin debt. That will NOT save that person. However, does God have the right to help them from their financial situation in compassion? Look at this Scripture,

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 43-48 KJV)

These are the very words of Jesus instructing us how to behave and live for God. This is how our attitude should be. He tells us here that God loves the unredeemed too and He sends good things to both the wicked and the good. Jesus is telling us plainly that this is how we should be treating others, both believers and non believers, after our Salvation. Where would we be without the forgiveness that God obtained for us through Jesus Christ? We would be hell bound for eternity my friend. Thank God for His forgiveness, now go and forgive others and God will highly respect that as He works through you to a lost world.

You have trouble while the wicked seem not to have troubles? Understand that God has given you ALL THINGS through Christ. You are Heaven bound forever. But what of the wicked and unredeemed? They may be having it good now but it is fleeting. Be encouraged because Christ said ,

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV).

The word ‘tribulation’ used here in the original Greek is the word ‘thlipsis’ which has a meaning of ‘pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined, a feeling of no way to escape” .

With the Holy Spirit residing withing us we are bound to go against the grain of the world system as it is today because it is an ungodly world system right now. And it will continue to be until Jesus returns to Earth to rule and reign. As believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit guides us and renews our minds over time and we start to see things through God’s eyes and not the worlds eyes. We need to have a heart for the lost. Do you not remember that you were once lost too?

One side of the coin is that the wicked prosper because God is good to the unbeliever and the believer. The other side of the coin at work is Satan and his fallen angels. The Bible calls Satan ‘the ruler of this world’ (John 12:31) And Satan is perfectly fine with a person that either rejects God altogether, or a person that bases his status with God on their own self effort and good works. Satan love sit when people do all kinds of ‘religious things’ and ‘rituals’ and ‘penance for sins’. He loves it when people compare themselves with others as a standard of righteousness instead of comparing against the true standard, our Holy God. He loves it because these people are having the same sin that Satan has; the sin of pride. It is all about self effort and self righteousness. If you think about it a moment; will Satan and his fallen angels work to continue them in prosperity and keep their mind off God, or give them troubles in life?

You see, it is a funny thing about life troubles. Many times it is only in these life troubles that people tend to cry out to God for help. We realize the trouble is way out of our control. When we are at the very bottom , there is only ONE way to look and that is UP! Up to God for help. Satan does not want people turning to God or thinking that maybe there is a God who will help me, who loves me. So, as ruler of this world Satan and his fallen angels may be assisting these people in being successful in the worldly and unGodly system, in which we live. And this being the case, if you are having troubles in life that just seem to gnaw at you and you are fighting one battle and then into another. You need to know where it is coming from. It is like Jesus says,

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 KJV)

Rejoice when you are being persecuted and people say all kinds of evil things about you? When they gossip about you and falsely accuse you? Why rejoice in that? Because God has given you ALL THINGS.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 KJV)

At the Rapture you will be as Jesus is! Immortal. Blessed for ever. The wicked do not have this long term blessed hope. All they have is FEAR in what is coming for them. But believers in Christ do! Jesus says to be exceedingly GLAD! GREAT is your reward in heaven!

This world and world system is fleeting. Most people have a life span of maybe 90 years? Most only around 70-80 years. What is that amount of time verses forever and ever and ever in the presence of God, with no more fleshly sinful mind in people? Where everything is a pure blessing. Where there will be no more tears even? At the moment of a persons Salvation our inner nature became a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) A heaven bound creation. We are just waiting for our bodies to be changed and then ZAP!.. we are in the presence of Jesus forever in immortality.

Where Will Believers Be During The 1000 Year Reign Of Christ On Earth?

Don Gerrity Q&A: Bible Prophecy & End Times
Where Will Believers Be During The 1000 Year Reign Of Christ On Earth?

“ In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” ( John 14:2 KJV )

The word ‘place’ in this passage of Scripture in the original Greek is the word ‘topos’ and is  a NOUN meaning  ‘a place, region, seat‘.  This is a real physical place  that Christ started preparing for us after His ascension 2000 years ago. It will be the physical dwelling place of Christ and home to the Saints (all believers from the Old Testament and New Testament times). The Bible calls this place the New Jerusalem, and the Heavenly City Of Jerusalem. At the Rapture event, believers will find themselves in this place, with new immortal bodies that are both physical and spiritual, just as Christ has (1 John 3:2).

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
(1 Thess. 4:17 KJV)

At the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation period, the Bride of Christ from our current dispensation come back to Earth with Christ leading them. Old Testament Saints will be bodily resurrected at this time.  When believers come then where do they come from? Heaven or the New Jerusalem?

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:2 KJV)

The New Jerusalem is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2). No coincidence there. Jesus calls all who believe and accept Him as Lord and Savior as the Bride of Christ to whom Christ is married in union forever.  And you see that it does not say the New Jerusalem is heaven, it says it is “coming down OUT of heaven”. It is clearly the physical dwelling place of the Bride of Christ. The New Jerusalem now resides in the third Heaven where God’s throne is located. This verse in Revelation 21:2 is going to happen when Christ begins His rule on Earth at His 2nd Coming. All on the Earth will see this place coming towards Earth. It will be the brightest thing in the sky! They will hide themselves from what they see coming from space. Previously raptured Church Age believers will find themselves in this ‘place prepared’ for us. It is where we will be going at the Harpazo Rapture event. It is the eternal dwelling place of Church Age believers. How blessed are we! Some teach the Heavenly City, The New Jerusalem, does not come down out of heaven until after the 1000 year Kingdom Age but it is a misunderstanding of reading. More info on that here.

We know the New Jerusalem is a physical place in our universe because this Scripture is telling us that after the Millennium it will land on the Newly created Earth. It is described as massive in size with length height and depth equally 1500 miles long each! (So it’s in our physical 3D universe). Likely a cube or possibly a huge pyramid. A massive place that would easily hold billions of believers with vast room to spare! Much too large to reside on the Earth in the Kingdom Age.

the New Jerusalem

If we look at Rev 20:9 it describes the final rebellion after Satan is released for a short time near the end of the 1000 year Reign of Christ on Earth.

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” (Revelation 20:9 KJV)

Let us look at this verse as written in the Greek to gain a better understanding about this beloved city.

It says that those rebelling against Christ  and being led by Satan, “went UP on the BREADTH of the Earth”. The original Greek word for  ‘UP’ is ‘anabainō ‘ and means ‘to climb..ascend ‘. The original Greek the word ‘BREADTH’ is ‘platos ‘ and means ‘a great extent’. The original Greek word for ‘EARTH’ is ‘gē’ and means ‘the earth as a whole, the earth as opposed to the heavens’.

This verse mentions two locations. One is the camp of the saints and the other the ‘BELOVED city’. It does not state one place being attacked in this final rebellion led by the devil. It seems to indicate an attack on the camp of the saints on Earth and a Beloved City. Is this the city of Jerusalem on Earth? Is that the beloved city? Another question comes to mind and that is, won’t believers be found all around the globe and not just in this camp on Earth? So who exactly is the devil and the rebellious humans trying to attack? Well, who is ruling and reigning on Earth? Who is running the world system at that time? Jesus and the resurrected saints, that’s who! Everyone else is still mortal from the start of the Kingdom Age, who are the ones who repopulated the Earth in mortal human bodies. It seems like the devil and those siding with him, will attack two places where Jesus and the saints reside.

“…and compassed the camp of the saints about, AND the beloved city…”

Ephesians 1:6 shows believers are the ‘beloved’ and it is the very same word as used here in Rev 20 in the Original Greek. It is the Greek word ‘agapaō ‘.

The Camp of the Saints is not a place of permanence. The saints place of permanence that Jesus is preparing for us (John 14) is the New Jerusalem which is right now residing in Heaven.  At the Second Coming, glorified Saints will return with Christ from Heaven, where the New Jerusalem is now located and will be ruling and reigning on Earth with Christ. Apparently, we will be ruling and reigning from this ‘camp’, which is headquartered in Jerusalem where Christ rules on Earth from. Just like an army has stations around the globe, it is a remote camp that is away from the homeland. This is a camp on Earth where the Saints reside while away from home in the New Jerusalem, ruling with Christ on Earth.

Satan and those who side with him for this final rebellion are where? They are on the Earth. So what is this great distance to the BELOVED CITY all about then? It seems to be the very city where Jesus is sitting on the throne on Earth; the city of Jerusalem on Earth.  Those siding with Satan will come from all over the Earth, wherever they are, in a final rebellion against Christ and the Saints. And they will be utterly defeated as God send fire from Heaven (space) and kills them all physically.

Revelation 5 shows us that all glorified at the Rapture event may have been raptured to the third Heaven and the  New Heavenly Jerusalem, but we will also be made kings and priests and will be ruling and reigning with Christ in the Kingdom Age, which is the 1000 Year Reign of Christ and His saints on Earth.

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign ON THE EARTH.”(Revelation 5:9-10 KJV)

It may also be that ruling saints are able to travel between Earth and their real home in the New Jerusalem in Heaven during the Kingdom Age. We will already have been resurrected and have the same body characteristics that Jesus now has. That is a possibility too. Maybe, we go back and forth between the New Jerusalem and the temporary ‘camp’ on the Earth for our duties in the Kingdom Age as Kings and Priests. Whatever the case will actually be, God will give us meaningful and purposeful work in the ruling of the world during the Kingdom age; the 1000 year reign of Christ over the Earth. The Bible gives us some clues about what we will be doing in the Millennium Reign of Christ. The Saints will be judges (Psalms 149:9) and officers of peace (Isaiah 60:17). Some Saints will be made kings in helping Christ rule (Job 36:7) and some will be teachers (Jeremiah 3:15) likely all will teach to some degree). These Scriptures show us that these are very plausible ways working the Saints will perform in the coming Kingdom on Earth.

With in-corrupt bodies that never die, the Saints have the same kind of body that Jesus has since His resurrection. After His resurrection Jesus walked around on Earth for 40 days! He just appeared through a locked door when He greeted the Disciples and scared the gajeebies out of them at first. (Yes God does have a sense of humour!). Jesus could walk through locked doors. He appeared out of now where. He disappeared from one place and was in another place instantaneously. The Saints will have that same ability and will instantaneously be able to leave the New Jerusalem and appear on Earth to rule and reign. This is speculation though as the Bible is not really clear on this. We know that on Earth is a CAMP – not a place of permanence. It is a temporary dwelling.  That could be referencing just that we will be away from our real home, the New Jerusalem in the third Heaven until the end of the 1000 Kingdom Age when it will descend out of the third Heaven. Or it could mean we still reside there and go back and forth to the camp on Earth and it will still descend from the third Heaven later.  The Bible does not seem to be clear on this because the focus is the Kingdom Age and the fact that we will be ruling and reigning with Christ, and the final defeat of satan and his angels, and all who go alog with him will be done with and over.

There will also be vast knowledge about Christ and Salvation in Christ during the Kingdom Age. He is here RULING physically on Earth! The saints (believers Raptured) will be doing as Christ did in His first coming to Earth; teaching in love, the truth while also ruling in judgement to keep the Earth at complete peace. Toward the end of the 1000 years though we see that a massive number of people are rejecting Christ and Satan is released from his imprisonment to deceive them and gather them together for one final rebellion against Christ. They will be swiftly defeated and killed by Christ.

What About The Rebuilt Earthly Temple In Israel?

The Bible tells us that the Rebuilt Temple in Israel will be in full operation during the Kingdom period. During the Millennium Israel will perform daily sacrifices as was in Old Testament days. But didn’t Christ already pay for the sins? The Saints are already in their immortal perfect state of being now? Why go back to the Old Testament Sacrifices? For the same reasons the Jewish people did in the Old Testament days. It was never done to atone for their sins, but was done as a foreshadowing of what the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would do on the cross in their future. It was a remembrance of what Christ WILL DO to forgive them of their sins. Those in the Millennial Reign of Christ will do this, not to atone for sins; Christ already did that in the past tense. The sacrifices begin again as reminder to those mortal humans born in the Millennium Reign of Christ just how horrible sin is. As a remembrance looking back at what Christ did on the cross.

Christ will rule the nations with a ‘rod of iron’ (Revelation 2:5, Revelation 19:15). Jesus once came to us as a baby in a manager, as our Savior. At the Second Coming He comes as the Lion of Judah, in power. He comes to thwart Satan and take over the world. Believe me when I say that today Satan rules much of the world system. The media, the governments, religions, even many so called ‘Christian’ religions! Our music and television. The Internet. Advertising. Corporate marketing, corporate greed. Look closely and you can see how deceived we really are. Satan has deceived the whole world! (Revelation 12:9) The Bible is the only thing telling us the truth! And the truth in believing and receiving Christ’s atonement as Gods only begotten Son, is the only way out of receiving the wrath of God coming upon the world.

There will be swift and severe consequences for evil and disobedience to the mortal humans living in the Millennium.  Jesus will make the world such a wonderful place to be. There will be no more war (Isaiah 2:4). Mortal humans will live long lives. So long that living 100 years old will be looked at as a curse by God. (Isaiah 65:20-22).

Jesus is ruling in strictness now. Some who rebel against Him will be given short lives and others put to death even. Rebellion will not be tolerated. He will not allow vast rebellions any longer.

Satan has been bound for the entire 1000 years and can not deceive the people. Even though Satan is bound and unable to influence humankind, those born in the Millennium still have the fleshly sin nature. They can still sin. They still need to make a choice to accept the Salvation provided by Christ! They can also and will eventually die as mortals. The sacrificing  is restarted because they need to know how severe a consequence sin is. Blood is required. The blood of Christ! As the Old Testament Jewish peoples used the Sacrifices to remind them what Jesus would do on the cross in their future to forgive their sins, the Millennial people on Earth will have it to remind them the great sacrifice Jesus Christ accomplished in blood, in their past, to redeem them. To show them how terrible sin really is. To show them their need for Salvation.

MYTH: The Re-Filling Of The Holy Spirit

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: MYTHS
The Holy Spirit

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us with all spiritual blessings in HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him BEFORE the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein HE HATH MADE US accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3-6 KJV)

Take a close look at what is being said in this Scripture and it will surely bless you greatly and make you love God even more than you may already do. It is not saying anything about what we humans have done to make ourselves Holy and accepted by God as a son or daughter in Heavenly places. Instead it is saying that it is all, 100% the work of God to save us and keep us.

There is no condemnation being taught here by the Holy Spirit within a believer. It says it is Jesus Christ who has BLESSED US with EVERY spiritual gift and that these are already in the Heavenly places. That we are ALREADY Holy and WITHOUT BLAME before God in Heaven . That God already MADE US acceptable in the Beloved of God, that is within the family of God forever.

The question comes to mind, ‘How is that possible? I am still here in Earth and I am not in heaven in my new resurrected body. Well again the answer to that is also found in the above Scripture where it states, ” just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”. We humans have a limited view because we are here stuck in time and space. From our viewpoint we are here traveling through time in a forward motion and all these things promised by God for the believer are all ‘in the future’ for us. But here we see that from the very beginning, when God created the Earth, from BEFORE God created the Earth, the animals, plants and human beings. Before Christ went and nailed our sins on the cross even.

From way back then, God who is outside time and space sees everything as ‘NOW’. God says He declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He foreknew EVERYTHING that will ever happen as if it already happened. He foreknew who would accept Christ’s atonement for their sins from before time started. And so He also foreknew and predestined those that will accept Christ who at the very moment of their repentance and in their belief of their eternal Salvation would be saved, and sealed them with the Holy Spirit of God and placed them in Heaven with Him at the appointed time of the Rapture. God sees us as who we will be after the Rapture. He seen us from the very beginning of the Universe as those who we will be in Heaven, Holy, Righteous and redeemed! God is a spirit and He is outside of time because He created time! He is everywhere at all times and that includes our future. That is why God told Moses His name was “I am that I am”. God is the great I AM. God is already there in Heaven with us believers, in our future! It is amazing to think about the truth like this. It gives me a great hope and expectation. How about you?

We Have ALL Of The Holy Spirit From The Moment of Our Salvation

Believers have ALL of the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within them. Christ has truly given us ‘all things’.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 KJV)

Believers in the redemption through Christ’s atonement for sins on the cross are, from the very moment of their Salvation, both filled with the Holy Spirit and also sealed in Salvation.

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:20-22 KJV)

The Holy Spirit now forever resides with the believer and is our earnest (earnest: in Greek means ‘guaranteed down payment’) that we are forever to be with God in Heaven. The believer is a newly created being in the Spirit – never to lose their eternal righteousness of God, in Christ. Jesus describes this relationship of the believer with God like this,

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:” (John 17:20-22 KJV)

Oh my, what a promise! It is hard for us to believe in our fleshy bodies just how much God has given us through Christ! How deep and great is the unconditional love of God towards us? Absolutely AMAZING!
But What About The Sins Of The Flesh That We Commit After Our Salvation? Does That Disqualify Us From Our Eternal Security In Christ?

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:9 KJV)

That is pretty clear right? Believers are no longer in the Flesh but in the spirit. That is the Holy Spirit now dwells within us and we are now IN CHRIST. We are a newly created spirit being at our very core.

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17 KJV)

The debt of sins has been paid for in Christ on the cross. God is no longer mad about our sins. God is completely satisfied with the penalty for our sins when He placed it on Christ and nailed Christ to the cross, as our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).

What is the result of the New Covenant in Christ? Accepting the forgiveness of our sins through Christ and after the Holy Spirit dwells inside a believer. But what about their sins committed after the moment of Salvation? They too were all paid in Christ on the cross. Remember that when Christ died on the cross for you, all your sins were in the future tense, you were not even born yet right?

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 KJV)

 

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:13-14 KJV)

ALL means ALL. EVERY means EVERY. Right? God knew every sin we would commit in our entire life, BEFORE He even created us right? All of a believers sins are 100% completely forgiven in the New Covenant through Christ Jesus. But how does our sinning affect God after our moment of Salvation? What is God’s view of our sinning in the flesh afterwards?

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:12-13 KJV)

I can hear some of you already.. ‘Wait just a minute here, Christians still sin. Doesn’t that mean we still have the old fleshly sin nature within? Don’t we still have a ‘sin nature’ within us? We have the Holy Spirit but we also have the Flesh and we still sin?’

Yes, we still do sin but that is because we do not yet have our new bodies that are not corrupt in the flesh. We still have the flesh, our bodies and our mind. But our REAL being since the moment of our Salvation is not the fleshy body, it is the inward Spirit. We were made a NEW CREATION from that moment. And the Bible is clear that in the Spirit we have been MADE Holy, Righteous and redeemed by and through Christ.

Some get confused by what I am trying to convey because many teachers (I once did too) are calling the flesh as a ‘sin spirit nature’ within us, as if it were a second nature to the new creation in the spirit. There is not two Spirit natures in a believer. One sinful and the other perfect. It is not two Spirits warring against each other that Paul spoke about in Romans 7. That is, our ONE true self in the spirit is not TWO opposites. Our inner man is now the Newly Created Spirit. It is the ‘New Us’.  But if that is the case, why do we still have urges to sin? That is the bodily FLESH nature which has not been changed yet. We need to understand this properly or all kinds of teaching can be off and not correct. It is the FLESH nature that sins, not the newly created Spirit of God within you.

That is why the Rapture to come is needed. In the Spirit we are already with God. He and Christ are one and we are one with Christ and so are now one with God. But we cannot be with God in our fleshly sinful bodies in Heaven.

When a believer dies he is immediately in the presence of the Lord. Is their body? NO. In the our spirit, YES! Our fleshly part stays behind at our death. Our inner spirit being has been recreated and is without sin and able to go to Heaven, a perfect place without sin.  But our flesh and body has not yet been recreated and that needs to happen before we can enter God’s eternal Kingdom in a physical form.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-53 KJV)

Paul made it very clear to the Corinthians, and you and me, that our Spirit has been made new and is righteous in the God’s eyes. That is why when we die our Spirit goes to be with the Lord. It is Holy, Righteous and Redeemed because it is IN CHRIST.

Our fleshly bodies however is another matter. When we die our fleshy body goes in the ground, 6 feet under actually. It remains here on this sin filled Earth. That is what Paul is saying when He writes, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”

The Bible makes it clear that Gods goal is not to keep us in our spirit for all Eternity. Heaven is not some spirit realm where we will reside forever. We do not become angels when we die neither!
That is NOT what the Bible teaches! Just the opposite. Jesus said He is going to prepare a PLACE for us. A place with REAL 3D dimensions. 1500L x 1500W x 1500H miles! A real physical place in the universe. (see my other article on the New Jerusalem here)

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare A PLACE for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3 KJV)

At the Rapture event Jesus comes back to Earth in the clouds and the spirits of dead Christians are coming with Him. Their PHYSICAL BODIES will be resurrected into NEW IMMORTAL and incorruptible physical bodies. Bodies without the fleshly sin nature we now have. Bodies that will be just like Jesus’ body! Imagine that! wow!

After our Salvation and acceptance of the atonement of Christ for our sins we can choose to walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh. To be truthful, we usually are doing one or the other depending on life circumstances because we have to make decisions in life as it goes right? We still have the SIN NATURE in the FLESH and it has a bent towards sinning. There is a struggle ongoing between walking in The Spirit or walking in The Flesh. The struggle does not have to do with us losing our Salvation. That was accomplished and we were sealed with the Holy Spirit at our moment of Salvation. Your Salvation cannot be lost. But there are consequences for when we are tempted and then DECIDE to walk in the flesh and sin. We still have free will after Salvation.

This following verse of Scripture makes it clearer that it is The Flesh that causes us to sin, not our newly created Spirit, that is already with God. I have some comments in brackets that are mine to help you see it more clear. They expand based on what is trying to be conveyed with understanding about the Two Natures of the believer that Apostle Paul taught in Romans 7. The comments are  my own thoughts on this, yet  Let the Scriptures be the truth. I am just trying to get you to see what I have been writing about. But once you start looking at other Scriptures it just becomes clearer and clearer.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (Comment: our flesh body is our Spirit’s tent [a tabernacle is a tent], a temporary place our spirit resides.) were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (Comment: this is the newly created Spirit of God within us from the moment of Salvation. Not created by human means in reproduction. Because the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us, we also are already eternal in the heavens.)

 

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (Comment: if we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, through Salvation in Christ) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (Comment: Not because we want to die physically. But that, we want our body to be made whole with the Spirit of God, without the sinful desires of The Flesh body. We have the Spirit but we want our body to match up to the Spirit and be perfect as Jesus is perfect.)

 

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. (Comment: God wants us to have a physical body to inhabit the New Jerusalem and the New Earth but it needs to be without the fleshly sinful desires. He will create this for us in our future and God has prepared us for that by giving us the Spirit dwelling within each believer as a guarantee that He will accomplish this at the appointed time of the Rapture! And God’s timing is perfect.)

 

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (Comment: Our body is physically not present with the Lord in Heaven like our new Spirit is. Yet we are confident that God will make that possible for us because we have the down payment, the Holy Spirit of God living within us.)

 

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (Comment: We walk by the Spirit of God in faith, believing not by what we see we are doing in the physical flesh which is sinful desires but by the promise of God.)

 

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (Comment: We want to get rid of this body that sins and has this bet toward sinning. The struggle is very hard. One day we will be bodily resurrected just as Christ was. Yet if we die we have faith in God’s promise that we will be united with a new glorified body at the appointed time of the Rapture.)”
(2 Corinthians 5:5-8 KJV)

God’s ultimate goal is for us to be both Spirit and Physical body in the universe God created, both completely sanctified and Holy enough to be with God for all eternity in the New Jerusalem (Heaven), a perfect place with perfect people, where there is no sin. So from now until the Rapture and our bodily resurrection to an immortal body, Christ through the Holy Spirit within us is sanctifying us and renewing our mind to see things from God’s world view and not from the current world view. Until one day, ZAP!.. we have new bodies without the fleshly sinful nature. Then we will be as Christ is. Physical body yet Spirit; complete finally. It is all God’s work in us. Such a promise! Such a hope! A hope that makes anything negative that we go through in life, completely PALE in comparison.

“Jesus tells the Apostles and to each of us plainly and truthfully, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV)

 

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)

The Holy Spirit Continually Sanctifies Us Until The Rapture

From the very moment of a person’s Salvation, the Holy Spirit within a believer now starts the process of sanctification and the renewing of our mind. The Holy Spirit starts from within the heart of a person, from within our newly created Spirit that is already completely filled and sealed as Perfectly Holy. And the Holy Spirit starts the renewing in our minds. You see our Spirit is newly created already. Our body will also be recreated at the Rapture and then we will be complete in who God has made us. In the meantime, our fleshly body and mind have not yet totally caught up to our new Spirit.

Paul describes that there is something in us that wars with our newly created Spirit in Christ. And that is called The Flesh. But is it us who are sinning? Is it our newly created Spiritual being, the real us, who does the sinning now? It is such an important Scripture that shows us that what I am saying here is correct. We are perfect in the Spirit from the very moment of Salvation. Our Newly Created Spirit never sins. It is The Flesh that is warring against our true being, in the Spirit. Our flesh tempts us to sin and has a bent toward sinning still.

“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

 

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

 

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

 

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

 

or I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

 

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

 

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

 

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
(Romans 7:13-24 KJV)

Paul is telling us it is The Flesh sinning and not the new real you in The Spirit. If you are saved and have the Holy Spirit within, you hate it when you sin. You feel guilty after you sin because the Spirit of God dwells within you and you are one with Him.
In fact, we are sinning when God is standing right there within us. We know it is wrong. We try to fight it but there are times when we just decide wrongly to sin. Then after,  we feel like we are HELPLESS and awful to do such a thing when God is dwelling within us right?  It’s a horrible feeling isn’t it? You feel full of shame, weak, helpless even. You feel as Paul, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this BODY OF DEATH.’!

What is God’s thought of this though?

King David puts it this way,

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. ” (Psalm 103:11-14 KJV)

Nothing takes God by surprise folks. NOTHING. He knows the end from the very beginning. He is the great I AM who is present everywhere, in every time and in every place! (Isaiah 46:10, Matthew 9:4, Psalms 44:21, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Proverbs 15:3, Joshua 1:9) He knows our frame, that is God knows what we are like. Frail. Unable to save ourselves from our sins in The Flesh. He knew when you would sin before you ever were born. That is why from the beginning He appointed Jesus to die on the cross for us and to forgive us all our sins, ‘As far as the East is from the West’! Thank God that His unconditional love is so far above what we think and feel, even in what little faith we have.

You see unbelievers love to sin, it is just doing what The Flesh demands. Sinning is it’s very nature. You cannot make a dog act like a cat right? It is just not in their nature. And unbelievers do not have a conscience about their sins committed. They are not worried about their sins before a Holy God, as they do not believe in the God of the Bible. Is that not the way we believers once were? Do whatever makes you happy right? Today we live, tomorrow we die. If it feels good just go for it right? God never really was in the picture for us right? And non believers will continue living in their sins unless they are first confronted in the belief that God exists.

Do not misunderstand me. Believing that God exists alone will not save a person from their sins. Even the devil and his fallen angels believe there is a God – yet they tremble (James 2:19) at that fact because soon their sentence of an eternity in hell will soon come to be their reality.

But believing God exists is a step in the right direction to the possibility of being confronted with the truth. If they can stop comparing their goodness against other sinners and instead start comparing their so called goodness with the Holy Perfect God of the universe, there is a chance they will cry out to Him for mercy through Christ. They may drop their pride and instead be humble before God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). The Holy Spirit works externally for a person to give everyone the opportunity to choose. He confronts them with the utter impossibility to remove our sins against a Holy God through our own self righteous deeds. The Ten Commandments accomplished that for all us believers right?

We Do Not Need To Be Constantly Refilled With The Holy Spirit

What is all the teachings by some preachers and some denominations and religious groups that we must continually be refilled with the Holy Spirit then? Does the Holy Spirit run out and a person needs to be refilled again and again. Is the Holy Spirit dwelling in a believer like gasoline a car…that slowly gets used until we reach the point that the car starts reminding you that you are low on fuel. Better get refilled or the car will die on the roadside? Does that seem like a reality when God is indwelling us already? What is God, a tank to fill? No! The Holy Spirit within us is the fullest tank that keeps on producing! It is NEVER running on empty.

If the Holy Spirit is within you then YOU already have ALL of the Spirit of God dwelling within you. All the fullness of God. You even have ALL the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21 ), who lives within every believer. Believers do not need to be refilled constantly. We do not build up so many sins and then need a refill of the Holy Spirit to clean us again. We are ALREADY FULLY CLEANED in the Spirit, in our true being.

But we will run into what I call a dry spell of walking in The Spirit because The Flesh is still here and NONE of us can be completely sin free after our Salvation. NONE! At those times we need refreshing by the Holy Spirit to renew our mind about our sin and to help us get back to walking in The Spirit. The more we walk in The Spirit, the less we will sin. (Galatians 5:16)

Doesn’t the Bible Say Not To Grieve The Spirit?

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
(Ephesians 4:30 KJV)

Notice the words ‘YE ARE SEALED’. It was a past event and you ARE SEALED forever. Your Salvation cannot be lost. Jesus paid it all my friends! What is meant by ‘grieving’ the Holy Spirit then? Does this mean when we sin that God will get angry with us? Is that what this means? Does it mean that if you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you (which means you are in God’s eyes, Holy, Righteous and redeemed) that God will condemn you now because once again you failed and sinned in The Flesh? It does not make much sense given the truth of the Scriptures shown does it?

To God, the real you is the Spirit. In your spirit being you are in Christ. You are ONE with Christ and without penalty for sin. God already knew beforehand what sins you would commit. And He nailed them ALL to the cross in Jesus. So your sins are already done with and put away from God (Hebrews 9 & 10). Jesus took that punishment. You will never be condemned for the sins Christ already took the punishment for. NEVER! Christ’s sacrifice was 100% sufficient to God the Father for your redemption.
How Is The Holy Spirit Grieved When We Fail, And Sin?

Let’s use an analogy to see the truth. Before I was a father to my daughters, I did not understand this. But now I do! I get it! Here is me to my daughter, “Listen, do NOT run on ice. If you do you are going to get hurt physically and it will affect you badly.” So what happens when I get a call from the school that she hurt her ankle running on the ice in the playground? Am I ready to yell at her and disown her forever? Or am I firstly concerned for her as my daughter who I love? Do I feel grieved that she did not listen and she got hurt? Yes of course. I did warn her! Does that mean that I am going to disown her and kick her out of the family? Of course not.

Did she disobey me and cause this ankle issue? Yes she did. She has the consequence of the action to deal with (pain, healing time, loss of school studies, more time in school to catch up.) And what do I do? I try to help her in her healing and at the same time, she sees the consequence and hopefully learns from the experience.

God is not looking for robots. He gives us FREE WILL. In our fleshly bodies, we are going to be tempted. We can overcome the temptations but we will sometimes blow it. When we do it grieves the Holy Spirit. Of course it does! And the more a believer knows the Holy Spirit is within dwelling, that is He is right there while you are blowing it watching.. we do feel guilty afterwards right? God is not “out there somewhere”. He is ‘Emmanuel’ GOD WITHIN YOU and you cannot get much closer than that! Feeling guilty about a sin you commit is a sure way to know that the Holy Spirit is correcting you and disciplining you. It is not to condemn you of your sin as some are teaching these days. NO, it is out of love for you. When you blow it,

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1 KJV)

What If A Person Continues To Repeat A Sin?

As a believer, do you still have a body? The sinful flesh? Yes, you do! Should we try to resist sinning? Absolutely! In no way am I saying that because we are forgiven we should just go and sin all we want. Absolutely not!  If the Holy Spirit is within you He will correct you when you sin. If you are living in a continuous sin and not feeling any guilt about it when you know it is a sin, you need to question if you actually are saved. The Holy Spirit always helps to recognize and correct sins in a believer. It is part of the process of Him sanctifying you and renewing your mind. He will keep renewing your mind in the process of sanctification. But know this; this process of sanctification takes time, a lifetime. Resisting sin is a good thing. It is you trying to keep in line with what the Holy Spirit wants you to do (walking by The Spirit), as He is sanctifying you. Over time, the Holy Spirit renews your mind and as that happens, you will find that you stop repeating certain sins, or out right stopping them.

” What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

 

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

 

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
(Romans 6:1-14 KJV)

Paul is not saying that we lose our salvation if we sin. What he is saying is that Christ has redeemed us from our sins. He has made us DEAD to the Law. Now the Holy Spirit resides within us to help us renew our mind to the truth. Should we just continue going in the opposite direction to the sanctification process the Holy Spirit is working in us? That sure is the HARD way right? Do not look at not sinning as a requirement under the Law that we need to obey or we will lose our Salvation. Believers have been made DEAD to the Law. That is works did not save you right? Neither do they now to keep you saved! You are under grace and forgiveness. Instead we are no longer under the law as a means to be forgiven. We are already forgiven IN CHRIST right?

However, we should be working towards and willingly giving over sin temptation to the Holy Spirit and acknowledge it is wrong. It is good to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask for help in resisting. Asking for help to renew your mind over this temptation that you are struggling with. That is working with he Holy Spirit! God will help you! Even right when you are about to sin. And even pray about it after you already gave into it. It is not that you are asking God to forgive you – He ALREADY did that in Christ! It is that you ask God flat out in honesty, confessing your sin.. I blew it again. Please help me to stop this. Help renew my mind on this.

What should we do when tempted and we feel like ‘Uh oh.. this is a tough one to resist!’ One thing you can do in certain situations is to do as Joseph in Egypt as a slave when tempted to commit adultery with his master’s wife enticed him. He flat out RAN AWAY! Yes get yourself out of that situation and FAST! And of course, do not get yourself into situations where you know there will be a temptation that you have had difficulty.

Does that mean you will never sin again?
Does that mean it is possible to never sin again after Salvation?

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 KJV)

If I can be truthful in anything it is this.. you are going to blow it! You are still going to struggle with sinning after your Salvation. You are still in your fleshly sinful body just as I am. Anyone that says they have no sin after Salvation, they just cannot get around this one. They are actually calling Jesus a liar! All while they are flat out lying about this. Fighting sin is a daily struggle in this world. One of the greatest writers in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, struggled with sin. (Romans 7) So will we. However, it is a worthy struggle. Resist hard. Use your faith. Use the Word of God to renew your mind to the truth. Stand firm knowing what Christ did for us!  Now I say that as one who also blows it! But I keep trying. Not to remain saved.. but because it is just right isn’t it?

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1 KJV)

The Bible is clear that God disciplines those He loves. He will discipline believers as His children because He loves us and wants to build up our faith in Him, learn that consequences are real and that we should not do that again. But rest in faith that what God says is true in the Bible. Rest on His promise of eternal life and that you cannot lose your Salvation. Your new immortal body will come soon enough and this life we live in The Sinful Flesh body will be less than a second of time in light of us living all eternity with Christ and our fellow Saints.

In Salvation, you always have the Full Holy Spirit with you, from the day of your Salvation and for all eternity.

Want to help the Holy Spirit?

Fill yourself with the Word Of God! Read the Bible. Abide in Christ and His words (John 15). Decide to walk in The Spirit as much as possible to avoid the sins of The Flesh. And know this: when you blow it, and sin (and you WILL!) know God is there ready to give you a hand up to overcome the sin. Be HONEST with God.. He knows you better than you know yourself and He INDWELLS you as a believer to help change you and renew your mind from the inner man of the Spirit of God, which works outwardly into your life in good works God has prepared for you.

James 2: Faith Without Works Is Dead.

Don Gerrity James, Q&A: Difficult Passages, Q&A: Salvation
James 2: Faith Without Works Is Dead.

Does Apostle Paul and James Believe Two Different Gospels? Are They Contradicting Each Other?

Eventually every believer is confronted with an apparent contradiction in the writing of James and Apostle Paul. In Apostle Paul’s writings he is clear that works have nothing to do with salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:20-28) and then we read James 2 and some verses seem to state that faith without works is dead (James 2:17) and that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:24). So which is it?

One thing I have learned in my Bible studying is that when I see a contradiction, I am wrong in my interpretation because the Bible does not contradict itself. It usually means that I need to watch the context of the writing more closely to see the truth. Context is everything when studying the Bible. By the way, I NEVER think I have all the answers (I am a constant learner too) but I know this, there is no contradiction between the Gospel Paul taught and the Gospel James taught. How do I know this? Because I was faced with this issue between James and Paul and I had to get to the bottom of it and settle my belief regarding this as with every other time I found what I at first thought was a contradiction. So I started to watch every word and verse in James closer.

WHO WAS JAMES?

James was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. During Christ’s ministry on earth, James actually doubted that Jesus was the Messiah, after all to him Jesus was his brother. Would you think your brother is God? After Christ died and rose from the dead, James could not deny the facts, and so believed in Jesus for eternal life. He soon became one of the elders in the rapidly growing Jerusalem church, and when we come to Acts 15, we read that he even presided over the Jerusalem council.

WHO WAS JAMES ADDRESSING HIS WRITINGS TOO?

Verse 1 says it was written to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Who is this? Jews. And there are two kinds of Jews; believing born again eternally saved Jews and unbelieving unsaved Jews. Which kind is this letter written to? Look at verse 2 where we read, ‘MY BRETHREN‘. Skip down to verse 16. ‘Do not be deceived, MY BELOVED BRETHREN.’ Verse 19. ‘So then, MY BELOVED BRETHREN‘. So who are his beloved brethren? Are his brethren just other Jews or believing Jews?

We read in James 2:1,

“MY BRETHREN, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”

So we know now by the context of James that he is addressing JEWISH BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. In fact, you can go through the rest of this letter and discover that quite clearly, James is writing to Jewish believers.

Remember that the epistle (letter) of James was not written in chapters and these were only added to the Bible for our reference. Even so, he also starts James 2 addressing them as ‘Brethren’, therefore he is not writing to believers about how to be saved from their sins nor about how to be justified before God.

WHAT IS THE REASON FOR JAMES’ LETTER?

The Jewish believers James is writing to were being persecuted by their fellow non believing Jews (we also see this in the book of Hebrews as well). They had tremendous pressure to go back to the Jewish faith under the Law of Moses. It could not have been easy for them! They had trouble getting along with one another. They had trouble knowing how much of the Old Testament law they still had to keep, if any of it. These are new believers in the early Jewish church. These new believers are learning the faith just as new believers do today, wondering how our good deeds and good works of the Law should play out in our life after we believe on Christ and are born again in the Spirit in salvation by faith.

James is writing about how we should live AFTER we are saved. Works do not save us. Paul makes that very clear in Romans, Ephesians, Galatians etc. We are not to boast of our good deeds nor good works of the Law  as what saves us.

“For by GRACE are ye saved THOROUGH FAITH; and that NOT of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should BOAST.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

“Now to him that worketh is the reward NOT reckoned of grace, but OF DEBT. But to him that worketh NOT, but BELIEVETH ON HIM (Jesus) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Romans 4:4-5 KJV)

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16 KJV)

Paul is very clear on this right? Let’s go back to James now and the context.

James 2:3 is another verse of importance to see the context here.

“And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:” (James 2:3 KJV)

In proper context James is chastising for ignoring the needs of the poor and instead being respecters of important people and the rich.

James goes on to write,

“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it PROFIT? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:15-17 KJV)

The word PROFIT is interesting for context and needs to be understood. Salvation is a GIFT not a reward (Eph. 2:8-9). In Strongs Concordance we see the Greek word ‘ophelos‘, meaning “to heap up, i.e. accumulate or benefit”. To profit means a reward earned.

The word DEAD in this verse in Strongs Concordance in the Greek is ‘nekros’ and used as a metaphor has a meaning of ‘being spiritually dead, destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins, inactive as respects doing right destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative.’

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26 KJV)

James uses a strong analogy here to make the point. A persons dead body is pretty much useless to help anyone in need or do anything useful. It is there, lifeless and useless to do anything. If believers are just living in constant sin and being carnal by living constantly in the flesh instead of walking by the spirit, they have become useless. Their faith is dead. Yes, they are still saved because our behaviour nor our works have anything to do with our justification in salvation. But they are not of much use in this life are they? How many go to church on a strict religious basis, never missing, and yet leave that church building and ignore helping those they see in need? How many church goers treat the person well dressed better then the one wearing ripped jeans, judging them in an unrighteous way? Are such not hypocrites? Are they even born again and saved? Well, that depends on how they think they are saved and it is NOT by their good works nor good deeds (Matthew 7:15-23, Eph. 2:8-9). Yet, there are many Christians that are saved by faith in the finished work of Christ that He accomplished on that cross, who are not living out there faith in love toward others. As Paul instructed we are to “work out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12) and we should be “renewing our mind” (Romans 12) and “Walking in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and not the flesh.

An inactive loving faith is dead; that is it helps no one and is useless. James says, What does it PROFIT? That is, how will that help the person? How will that help a believer if they are not living out there faith as well? James is talking about a believer either using his faith in love or not using his faith in love. This is not about Salvation nor justification before God but our good works and living by faith in love towards others after Salvation. Again, remember that James is addressing the brethren, who are already saved believers.

We should not claim to be Christian yet treat the rich and important in society any better than those who are poor and in need. That is not using our faith in the right way. It also makes us look like hypocrites and can ruin our witness to others (Eph. 4:29, Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12). Our faith should be active in an outward love for others and not be based on bias toward people. Jesus Himself said we should love our enemies. That is how extreme we should use our faith in love.

James is talking about the fact that as believers who have been saved by such a high cost to Christ that we should be living in a manner that our faith is a faith of love towards others, especially those in need. We should not be judging people in an unrighteous manner. Even Jesus said the same in Matthew 7 to ‘judge not lest you be judged’.

A living faith showing others the love of God through us. James is writing about our walk after being saved. We should have the right attitude and motives to help those in need. A living faith from a heart of thankfulness to God for what He has done for us. And without living our faith IN LOVE our faith becomes DEAD, as in useless, to help anyone.

Paul puts it this way,

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so WALK YE IN HIM: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7 KJV)

As believers we should have a THANKFUL heart because as Paul also taught us that “…God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Roman 5:8 KJV)

In thanksgiving, seeing and receiving God’s love in our need to be forgiven, we should also pour out such love for others. God is no respecter of persons, rich or poor. As believers, we should live our lives by faith in love, showing others the love of Christ through our lives.

Read Corinthians, a model of a church gone very wrong, yet still Paul addresses them as Brethren; believers. Our justification with God is not by works but Grace through faith in the only atonement for sin, Jesus Christ crucified.

Yet how we live after Salvation is a testament of our faith. Let our testament be that of a loving faith towards every person, without respect for how rich or important in society they deem to be. We should be doing good works in love for others. It matters for others who you could have helped. It matters for showing the love of God through us. It matters for our witness to others when sharing the Gospel. It matters because it affects the entire world with the Gospel unto Salvation through the grace of God.

God is no respecter of persons, neither should we be when it comes to showing the love of God through us with a thankful heart for what God has already done for us.

JAMES KNEW ABOUT THE BEMA JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST FOR BELIEVERS

Apostle Paul clearly taught that believers will one day, at the Rapture, receive our eternal resurrected bodies free from the sin nature we now have to fight against. But we will also, as believers, find ourselves at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ and will give an account of how we lived after Salvation. This judgment seat is not the Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers in Revelation 20 as that will happen a 1000 years after Christ’s return to Earth. It is for Church Age Believer’s alone and will happen just after the Pre-Tribulation Rapture event.

This judgment will not be about losing Salvation because of our sins. Those at this event are already in Heaven. In fact, the word sin is not even mentioned regarding this event. Our sins have already been PAID IN FULL by Christ on that cross. But there will be judgments made based on our good works; whether done in love with Godly motives, or done with self righteous motives. Rewards will be given and taken away because of how we lived.

“If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15 KJV)

James is talking about a judgment that will fall on eternally saved born again BELIEVERS. It became clear to me that James had knowledge that born again believers, though eternally saved, will face the Judgment Seat of Christ. How can I think this? Because James wrote this,

“MY BRETHREN, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the GREATER CONDEMNATION.” (James 3:1 KJV)

This is not condemnation in hell. James is not instructing them they will have greater condemnation in hell. What kind of pep talk would that be? He did not write they would be condemned neither. He is clearly showing a greater judgment about how they are living as born again believers. So James is talking about what does it PROFIT and then states a judgment for not living outwardly in love and thankfulness. James is talking about losing rewards at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ for believers which is a judgment of not salvation but of rewards and loss of rewards.

The English translated word in the Greek for masters is in Strongs Concordance, “didáskalos, from G1321; an instructor (genitive case or specially):—doctor, master, teacher.”

He is stating that born again believers teaching will face greater judgment.

A Quick Overview Summary…

  • To summarize by James own writing in context, James is writing to “my brethren”, saved Jewish believers.
  • He emphasizes ‘what does it PROFIT’. Something earned and not received as a gift.
  • James is showing he has knowledge of the Judgment Seat of Christ that believers will face one day as well.

Conclusion By Context…

Therefore, by context of his own writing, James is talking about the Bema Judgment Seat of believers where Christ will judge believers. This is the judgment he is talking about and not condemnation nor loss of salvation. He is writing about losing rewards in judgment and not losing salvation.

Seeing these contexts within the writing of James and also the truth of the Gospel of Grace that Apostle Paul taught, is when a light bulb went off for me and I started to see the truth about what James is writing about and it is not salvation by works. It is about evidence of our salvation by works after being saved and not losing our reward while helping others in love as Christ loved us.

WHAT ABOUT ABRAHAM IN THE BOOK OF JAMES ?

“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was
not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made perfect? “ (James 2:20-22 KJV)

Here again, if we were to stop reading James 2 at this verse it seems like the meaning is that it is the works that save. That is not what James is conveying. He is again writing and instructing about the faith that is head knowledge only. He is bringing up Abraham who is known as ‘the Father of our faith’ right? If we continue to the very next verse we see,

“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and
it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the
Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only.” (James 2:23-24 KJV)

Abraham was not justified and saved by the act of the works. It was his FAITH in what God had previously PROMISED HIM that pushed him forward to do the works that God commanded. But God worked on Abraham’s faith for a LONG time before God tested his faith in telling him to sacrifice his only son. Abraham learned what the true God was like and what God’s character is. God never changes and He is a good God, amen? A perfectly righteous God. A perfectly JUST God! God had made a promise that “…for in Isaac your seed shall be called” (Genesis 21:12). Long before this when God called Abraham to leave for a new
land God made promises to Abraham and by his works we can see the evidence that he believed them in the proper saving faith,

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew
thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.” ( Genesis 12:1-3 KJV)

How are all the families of the Earth today blessed because of these promises of God to Abraham and the faith that Abraham had to do what God told him to do? God is promising Abraham that through his seed and blood line he would make a nation which we know today as the nation of Israel. And how do we know that Israel has blessed all the families of the earth? Because of the one that came out of the bloodline of Israel, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world. It is because of Jesus Christ that the world is blessed.

In Genesis we see what Abraham says when he decides on going to the place God told him to go to Sacrifice his son Issac,

“And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I
and the lad will go yonder and worship, AND COME AGAIN TO YOU. ” (Genesis 22:5 KJV)

What stands out in this verse? It is some VERY important words ‘I and the lad‘, in essence ‘WE’. You see God had taught Abraham who He really is. Abraham had complete trust in God to always be good and do the just thing. Over the years, he learned that God is faithful and can be trusted. He did have a son as promised by God, even though his wife Sarah was in her older years and baron. It was not as Abraham expected the promise to be fulfilled by God, but it was fulfilled. It increased his faith in God.

Abraham tells his young helpers that ‘we will come back to you ’ . He did not say ‘I will come back to you’. Abraham is showing his faith! That is his complete faith that God would never allow him to actually murder his son unrighteously. And even if he did, he knew that God would have to raise him from the dead because God had already promised Abraham that it is through Issac’s bloodline, ‘I will make you a great nation’. Later we see Issac asking his father Abraham,

“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:7-8 KJV)

Again we see Abraham exercising his full faith and assurance that God would provide a Lamb in place of his son for the sacrifice. Abraham knew this must be a test of his faith and trust in God. God has never shown himself to be like this. He moved forward with full faith and trust in God and knowing the attributes of God. He believed the character of God and His trustworthiness so much that he would have killed Issac. This is why he is known as the Father of our Faith.

WAS IT WORKS THAT SAVED ABRAHAM? OR FAITH IN GOD?

Abraham was justified by belief in God alone. Not by his works. In fact, if you look at some of Abraham’s ‘works’ you will quickly find out he was as flawed as us sinners today! Read what Abraham did to his wife in Genesis 20. Oh my! He was a sinner just like us all, even after he believed God for righteousness. And even in this great wrong doing, it was Pharaoh who was innocent in what happened that God punished and Abraham who caused the problem, was rewarded. Why? Because Abraham was saved by his belief on God and favoured but Pharaoh was an unbeliever. All because of God’s grace! Have a read of what happened in Genesis 20 and see for yourself. It seems God uses sinners we would not expect to be the very ones He uses in their weakness to show His strength. I mean, look at the Apostle Paul who was the greatest persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus on that road to Damascus and became the writer of what we have today, 2/3 of the New Testament.

Abraham was far from a perfect guy full of good works. But he certainly had faith in God’s promises! It was his faith and the works of carrying out what God said to do was the evidence of his true faith in God’s promises. This is what James is talking about. It is that evidence should exist in those that have saving faith. But not that the evidence is what saves you. Just as Apostle Paul wrote, we should be walking by the spirit, not the flesh (Gal. 5:16). And we also see that James is using the same exact Scriptures as Paul did in Romans 4 where Paul writes,

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; BUT NOT BEFORE GOD .

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:1-7 KJV)

Paul continues,

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13 KJV)

If James is teaching a contrary Gospel why is he using the same example Scripture as Paul? It is because James and Paul are teaching the very same Gospel. Paul also talks about works after Salvation many times in his letters.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we SHOULD walk in them.“ (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)

At first glance, it can seem like Paul is contradicting himself. First he says Salvation is NOT OF WORKS. Then he says ‘God prepared works for us to do beforehand’. But which came first? The GIFT! Salvation is a GIFT for all who believe in Christ and have accepted his pardon for our sins. But in verse 10, Paul is saying that we are now created in Christ and we SHOULD be doing  good works. This verse 10 is what James is writing about to the early Jewish believers.

James said,

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. ” (James 2:26 KJV)

Now we start to see the real context of what James is teaching. A truly saved person has accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells in every true believer. Such a believer can be a carnal Christian, living in the flesh and sinful ways OR a believer can be walking in the spirit and living as we should in good works, as Jesus did. If you are living carnally, your faith is dead ; that is, it has become useless to God and you will have to deal with consequences and loss of rewards at the Bema Seat of Christ. Believers should be abiding in Christ and His words which will help in the renewing of your mind to God’s view and which leads to good works in love for others (John 15, Eph. 2:10). We should be seeking God in the word and we should be doing unto others what we would have others do unto us, in love. That is a faith that is alive and working!

A Faith, That Works.

I hope this helps anyone struggling with the book of James. God bless.

The Bema Seat Judgement Of The Bride

Don Gerrity Q&A: Bible Prophecy & End Times, Q&A: Judgement Of Believers
The Bema Seat Judgement Of The Bride

Are All People Judged By God At The Same Time?

I see this many times where a person mentions that everyone will be judged and that those not found in the Lambs Book Of Life will not enter heaven. Where does this come from? What Scripture are they referring too? If you do a search for the phrase “Lamb’s Book Of Life” in the Bible there is only ONE VERSE containing this phrase. That makes it a very specific Scripture and we need to look at the context of the verse to see who this is speaking about.

” And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelations 21:27 KJV)

Where is it they will ‘in no wise enter’? What is Revelation 21 speaking about? Let’s go back a few verses to see. Let’s go to the very first two verses in Revelation 21 where we find the answer to this question.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:1-2 KJV)

It is very clear that Revelation 21 is talking about the NEW heavens and the NEW Earth that God sends us to AFTER the 1000 year reign of Christ on the current Earth on which we now live. This is not talking about those of us now living in the Age of Grace. It is also not talking about Old Testament Saints. It is talking about those after the 1000 year reign of Christ.

There Are Two Returns Of Christ

A time is soon coming that Jesus will return for His Bride, that is all believers in Christ. Those who have accepted His gift of eternal life through the atonement provided by Christ on the cross. He will return first in the clouds and will call all believers in the graves to rise again with immortal bodies and meet Him in the air. Then those believers that remain and are alive on Earth will instantly be changed to immortal bodies and will also meet Christ in the air. (see, 1 Thessalonians 4) This event is referred to by many as the Rapture of the Church, or the Rapture of the Bride. You can read more about this event in my other article The Rapture.

After a 7 year period on Earth for those left behind (known as the Tribulation Period in the Bible) Jesus Christ will return, along with His Bride that was Raptured. Christ will this time set His feet on the Earth. This event is called The Second Coming of Christ. There will be many events that take place in the Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ that are too vast for the current topic but you can read up on these events as there is a lot of material on this subject. It is a fascinating topic and very relevant to our current time and on God’s timetable for history.

During the Tribulation time period many will come to Christ and be saved. Most will lose their life in doing so as the Antichrist persecutes them.(Revelation 6:9) Those believers who survive the Antichrist’s assaults will remain on the Earth to repopulate in the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth. Christ will have His Arch angel grab Satan, bound him in chains, and cast him into the bottomless pit for 1000 years. (Revelation 20:1-3) Christ and His Bride return and take over the world governments and the world system. Christ will flip everything back to the way it was in Eden, before the fall of humankind. For 1000 years Satan will not be able to affect, nor infect, people with his deceptions of pride.

First The Rapture, Then The Bema Seat of Christ

After the Rapture of the Bride of Christ believers will find themselves at a ceremony called the Bema Seat of Christ.

At the Bema Seat Rewards Judgement (1 Corinthians 3) of believers by Christ Himself, you can see that believers may lose rewards and gain rewards by their good works for Christ. However, understand that this Bema judgement is similar to an athletic competition ceremony. It is not punitive against sins committed because those at this judgement are already Raptured and have new immortal bodies without the fleshly sinful mind present.

In fact, the words “sin or sins” is not even found regarding this judgement of believers. Their sins on Earth were already judged on the cross in Jesus Christ. The Bema Seat is where Christ will have us give an account of our lives after our moment of salvation and is based on our MOTIVES for the works we do for God.

God always looks at a persons motives. Those works that were done in the flesh (that is by us attempting to do them for the wrong human reasons) will mean a loss of reward. Those works done with the right motives for God and by the Holy Spirit through us will receive reward. That is, by what we do and why we did the works. So yes, it is important to want to please God and be involved in His work. Yet, even a person who accepted Christ with no works will still be saved and in heaven yet with little or no reward. (1 Corinthians 3:13) Everyone will suffer some loss of rewards and gain of rewards. Some may not receive a reward and feel some shame about it. But overall the feeling is like that of school graduation or an Olympic rewards ceremony. It is a positive event and all at this Bema Seat event are all in Heaven where joy abounds in ways that we cannot yet even comprehend fully right now here on Earth.

Paul describes life after salvation as a race to press toward knowing what awaits at the finish line. As a new believer, your number one goal is to learn about God and His ways (Here is a Quick start for knowing about what God is really like). Start reading the Bible. Use the free study guides found online – there are thousands! The more you know the Bible, the more the Holy Spirit is working in you and guiding you in your life. Your salvation happened in a single moment in time, appointed by God and now the Holy Spirit of God lives within you and will teach you all things. He will start to sanctify you which continues increasingly throughout your life until that day when you will be resurrected at the Rapture. Just pray to your heavenly Father for Him to help and He will. I guarantee you that!

Jesus says to believers,“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” (Revelation 22:12 KJV)

The Great White Throne Judgement Of The Unredeemed

After the 1000 year reign of Christ that starts with The Second Coming Of Christ Satan will be set free from the bottomless pit for a short while. He will again start to deceive people and turn some against Christ. This is Satan’s last effort to take over the throne of God. Christ defeats Satan and all those with him and utterly destroys them all and they all die. Something that most in the reign of Christ will not do, that is be killed and die.

The next event we see is called The White Throne Judgement. This is what Revelation was speaking of when it tells us that only those in the Lamb’s Book Of Life shall enter the NEW HEAVENS and the NEW EARTH. At the White Throne judgement all the unredeemed and who the Bible calls ‘the wicked’ will be resurrected. But for these, it is too late. They never accepted the pardon for their sins through Christ and so they will be judged by their sins. The books of John and Mark make this clear,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3: 16-19)

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)

No one at this judgement will be the Bride of Christ. No one here being judged will be saved and enter the NEW HEAVENS nor the NEW EARTH that God has prepared for the redeemed. They all stand condemned. Some would say, how can a loving God condemn someone to a lake of fire forever? That is so wrong a question to ask. God punished us through Christ so that we would not perish an eternity in hell. A person asking this does not know God. Nor God’s never changing attributes.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:14-18 KJV)

The deciding factor in being found in the Lamb’s Book Of Life is not whether you have ever sinned. We ALL HAVE SINNED! The deciding factor is not the works you do after you have been saved. The deciding factor is whether or not you have accepted Christ’s free gift and pardon for your sins through the atonement He provided on the cross 2000 years ago!

You see here that it mentions when ‘Moses lifted up the serpent’. What does that mean? This is referring to what happened during the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt as slaves. During the Exodus we can see how the Hebrews saved out of Egypt grumbled against God. They just seen some pretty amazing works of God to save them from Pharaoh right? Water turned to blood. Frogs gone wild. Grasshoppers galore. And let’s not forget the Red Sea PARTING and they went across it on DRY LAND! And yet we see this…

“And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” (Numbers 21: 5-8 KJV)

Notice that it took an unpleasant event to make them come to their senses. In this case, it was such unbelief in RESTING in God, that God sent a severe punishment and it says ‘much’ died‘. How about your life? You know, God disciplines those He loves. What loving father does not discipline their children? If we do, how much more does God?

When they were remorseful they came to Moses and admitted they sinned. Then God had Moses do something you may not expect. He did not tell Moses to tell these people they had to do penance. He did not tell them they needed to ‘do this’ or ‘do good works’. No God instructed Moses to create and lift up a serpent and whoever was bitten by a deadly snake, shall live. God required only two things from the people. These two requirements are to admit your sin, and to look at the serpent (by doing so you are believing it can save you). Repent and believe. If you know the New Testament this should sound very familiar to you!

“And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15 KJV)

Now you can see more clear what is being said in John 3, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

What happened in Numbers 21 was a foreshadowing of what Christ would do at the cross and to be saved from eternal death we need to repent and believe in the COMPLETE and finished work of Christ on the cross to forgive us ALL our sins.

And that is done not by what you do. But by looking to Christ, in belief, that as the Son Of God He will save you.

The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant. Proper Application For Believers.

Don Gerrity Q&A: Christian Living, Q&A: Forgiveness, Q&A: Parables Of Jesus
The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant. Proper Application For Believers.

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” (Matthew 18: 21-35 KJV)

Context matters greatly when reading difficult verses of Scripture and verse 34-35 are certainly difficult if not using proper context. There are those ignoring the context and focus of the Gospels based on verse 35. You must admit, verse 24-25 are some harsh words from Jesus right? Does this mean if we do not forgive a person as Jesus forgave us that we will be condemned to hell then and lose Salvation? It is so important to understand that the context here matters greatly. And what is the context in Matthew 18?

First we must realize that passages in the Gospels that are before the cross are addressed directly to the Israelites; the Jewish people and Pharisees of that time who were believing that Law keeping is the way to be favored by God. There are certainly learning to be had in this parable for believers about how we should be forgiving others as Christ forgave us but to make verse 34-25 about a believer who loses Salvation is just not in proper context for the Body of Christ.

Jesus is talking to His early disciples (early learners) here. Earlier, Peter is asking Jesus about forgiveness to his brother (fellow believers, starting at verse 22). Just how often am I to forgive a brother who sins against me?

The debt here represents our SINS. It is a debt that we cannot repay. The servant owed 10,000 talents. That is a massive debt, truly massive. That would be like several million dollars today. This shows us just how sinful we are in the God’s sight. We have an absolute impossibility to repay our debt of sins, through our own efforts.

The King/Master is Jesus Christ. This scene looks almost like a court room. The servant is brought in to give an account for his sin debt to God.

The servant owed an enormous debt (had a lifetime of sins) and the King demanded that payment be made but it was such a large debt that the servant could not pay it. The King’s judgment is to sell the servant and his entire family to regain the money owed to him. Not that just the servant will be sold but his entire family. It is a severe judgment. As is judgment for a persons sins. We are all hopelessly guilty before God with no way to repay. God keeps an account of sins and every sin is added to an account and logged.

At the appointed time that God has set, He will open this account to settle it. Each sin debt will either be paid in punishment or forgiven by God. The terms by which this will happen are in perfect alignment to the perfect character of God who never changes. God will ensure that His character remains intact. We have to be accountable to God, but God is accountable to Himself, as there is no other higher being that exists.

In verse 26, the servant pleads to God saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.’  This verse is a tell tale. What I mean is, the servant is saying he will pay back this enormous debt if given more time, as if he could through his own efforts, yet knowing it has already been a long time without repayment because he has been brought before the King.

Again, this parable is addressed to the Jewish people who believed their Law keeping would justify them and gain favour with God by their deeds and self righteous efforts; it is not addressed to believers of the New Covenant of the Grace of God through Christ crucified, died and risen. This servant is not a believer on Christ for Salvation. He is a servant because He is one of God’s chosen people; a Israelite. This particular servant is just like all of us in that we have a huge sin debt against God. But this servant, in his plea for mercy, does not seem to admit that he could never pay back this debt. He outright lies about doing so. It is utterly impossible. Then again, when we first come to the Lord Jesus we may not always see just how bad things really are in God’s sight. Isn’t that true? Yes we acknowledge we have a huge sin debt but I am willing to bet you the debt is MUCH LARGER than we think it really is!

So what does this King do? Remember, the King is really God in this parable. The King forgives his entire debt, all of it! Millions of today’s dollars! And then RELEASES and FREES the servant! The King gives him a free pass! This my friends is the very nature of God and shows how much he loves us in His perfect compassion and love, even when we are yet sinners. Now something to also realize is that it was only after the servant cried out and begged for mercy, in fear of the King’s righteous punishment, that the King was moved to compassion and forgave all this servants debts.

Notice that the King did not PAY for the servants debt in this parable; the king forgave the servants debt.  Jesus however PAID for our sin debt completely and this is another point showing that this parable is not addressed to saved believers today nor about a believer’s loss of Salvation as some are teaching. It is addressed to God’s chosen people, the Jews who were under the Old Covenant of Law keeping.

You would think that after being forgiven the debt and being made completely free that this servant would have had some serious gratitude and a very thankful heart. After having been so forgiven while he was seriously guilty of not paying his debts you would think that he would have such compassion on others as well. Unfortunately, this particular servant shown a complete lack of caring, feeling as we see when he runs into another person who owes him just 100 denari, or in the Greek 100 denarius . A denarius was around the equivalent to a days wage being around $20USD. So that equates to just about $2000 USD in today’s modern economy. Now if yo compare the millions of dollars this servant owed and was forgiven of when he asked the King for mercy, what is a debt of $2000? This forgiven servant in anger grabs the guy an demands that he pay him back NOW. The person that owes him money, “…fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Here we see a fellow servant, another person living under the Law of Moses. And did this forgiven servant remember what it was like to owe a debt that you cannot repay yet? I mean, he could never have paid back the millions. Here it is only about 100 days of work. Surely a payment plan could have been arranged over a couple years or more. But what does he do instead? “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.” He threw this guy in prison! Not nice at all is it?

When the King finds out what he has done (and God knows everything that we have done!) the reaction is swift and harsh indeed.

“Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?”

Does it seem like the King was fair or unfair? Would you say, more than fair? Now we are getting to the bottom of this parable to the disciples. The forgiven servant is now called ‘wicked’.  This unforgiving servant has sinned against his fellow Jew and the King’s justice is falling upon him just as the Law requires.

Jesus then says something that we really need to take to heart that is of great importance.

“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

This parable is not saying that once a person is saved and forgiven their sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ that their Salvation can be revoked. That would go against so many Scriptures that show we are secure in Christ from the moment of our Salvation. That would even contradict the words of Jesus Himself many times in Scripture. Again, all of Matthew 18 is Jesus burying the Jewish peoples in their Law keeping to have favour with God. Jesus is not addressing us today who are saved by the blood of Jesus.

The way the servant asks the King for mercy and the request to give him more time (be patient) to pay back the debt shows that this individual does not grasp the reality of the situation. He thinks he can pay back the debt of sin in self effort but we cannot repay for our sins ourselves. Only Christ accomplished this for us on the cross. And being forgiven by the King, he then thinks arrogantly and that he is better than others who are sinning and have a sin debt, as if he does not have sin still. And treats them harshly based on their debt as a sinner. Too full of PRIDE just like Satan is. The King calls this servant ‘wicked’ and that is not a term ever used for the Body of Christ, for believers in Christ’s atonement.

God forgave us with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. It was not just an easy pass. Salvation is a free gift for us to receive without self effort. But for God and Jesus it was hardly free; it was an extremely painful act in love towards us. As a redeemed person we need to have a forgiving heart towards others, even when they sin against you in a vial manner; forgive others to the extreme! Pray that God open their eyes and save them. Only God can do it!

Does Forgive Mean To Forget?

And do not think that to forgive means to forget. Forgive and do not repay them for their wrongdoing, that is forgiveness towards others. It does not mean that you have to go back and continually take abuse of any kind. But just WALK AWAY and know that God is right there with you. Recognize that you too sin against others at times and forgive them. But do not take revenge yourself against such a person,

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19 KJV)

Give that task to God but ask Him to forgive them as Stephen did, even while they were stoning him! As Christ did even as they were mocking Him and hanging Him on the cross! Pray for them, pray for even your enemies, and for God to bring them repentance unto Salvation in Christ. In other words, “Let go. And let God.” By doing this you are doing right as a forgiven child of God.

The Tragedy Of The Wicked

“But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” (Psalm 73:2-5 KJV)

Have you ever noticed how the ‘wicked’ and as yet ‘unredeemed’ people of the world tend to have some pretty amazing luck? How many times have you heard a believer ask “I am redeemed through Christ and I try to do good works for the Lord, but why is it I keep having major problems while I see so many wicked evil people doing so well?” It sure does seem that way at times, doesn’t it? This world is being ruled to a certain extent by Satan until Christ’s returns and bounds him for 1000 years. Anything that goes against the world system, or the worlds way, is going against the wind and it causes turbulence.

God loves people unconditionally right? Does he not love a person that is yet, unredeemed and who has not accepted Christ? The Bible is clear that God loves everyone, sinners included, unconditionally. And you know what? If a person is not recognizing their sinfulness and is asking God for mercy, saying to God “I WILL pay you back”, that person is trying to buy their way to freedom from their sin debt. That will NOT save that person. However, does God have the right to help them from their financial situation in compassion? Look at this Scripture,

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 43-48 KJV)

These are the very words of Jesus instructing us how to behave and live for God. This is how our attitude should be. He tells us here that God loves the unredeemed too and He sends good things to both the wicked and the good. Jesus is telling us plainly that this is how we should be treating others, both believers and non believers, after our Salvation. Where would we be without the forgiveness that God obtained for us through Jesus Christ? We would be hell bound for eternity my friend. Thank God for His forgiveness, now go and forgive others and God will highly respect that as He works through you to a lost world.

You have trouble while the wicked seem not to have troubles? Understand that God has given you ALL THINGS through Christ. You are Heaven bound forever. But what of the wicked and unredeemed? They may be having it good now but it is fleeting. Be encouraged because Christ said ,

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV).

The word ‘tribulation’ used here in the original Greek is the word ‘thlipsis’ which has a meaning of ‘pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined, a feeling of no way to escape” .

With the Holy Spirit residing within us we are bound to go against the grain of the world system as it is today because it is an ungodly world system right now. And it will continue to be until Jesus returns to Earth to rule and reign. As believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit guides us and renews our minds over time and we start to see things through God’s eyes and not the worlds eyes. We need to have a heart for the lost. Do you not remember that you were once lost too?

One side of the coin is that the wicked prosper because God is good to the unbeliever and the believer. The other side of the coin at work is Satan and his fallen angels. The Bible calls Satan ‘the ruler of this world’ (John 12:31) And Satan is perfectly fine with a person that either rejects God altogether, or a person that bases his status with God on their own self effort and good works. Satan loves it when people do all kinds of ‘religious things’ and ‘rituals’ and ‘penance for sins’. He loves it when people compare themselves with others as a standard of righteousness instead of comparing against the true standard, our Holy God. He loves it because these people are having the same sin that Satan has; the sin of pride. It is all about self effort and self righteousness. If you think about it a moment; will Satan and his fallen angels work to continue them in prosperity and keep their mind off God, or give them troubles in life?

You see, it is a funny thing about life troubles. Many times it is only in these life troubles that people tend to cry out to God for help. We realize the trouble is way out of our control. When we are at the very bottom , there is only ONE way to look and that is UP! Up to God for help. Satan does not want people turning to God or thinking that maybe there is a God who will help me, who loves me. So, as ruler of this world Satan and his fallen angels may be assisting these people in being successful in the worldly and ungodly system, in which we live. And this being the case, if you are having troubles in life that just seem to gnaw at you and you are fighting one battle and then into another. You need to know where it is coming from. It is like Jesus says,

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 KJV)

Rejoice when you are being persecuted and people say all kinds of evil things about you? When they gossip about you and falsely accuse you? Why rejoice in that? Because God has given you ALL THINGS.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32 KJV)

At the Rapture you will be as Jesus is! Immortal. Blessed for ever. The wicked do not have this long term blessed hope. All they have is FEAR in what is coming for them. But believers in Christ do! Jesus says to be exceedingly GLAD! GREAT is your reward in heaven!

This world and world system is fleeting. Most people have a life span of maybe 90 years? Most only around 70-80 years. What is that amount of time verses forever and ever and ever in the presence of God, with no more fleshly sinful mind in people? Where everything is a pure blessing. Where there will be no more tears even? At the moment of a persons Salvation our inner nature became a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) A heaven bound creation. We are just waiting for our bodies to be changed and then ZAP!.. we are in the presence of Jesus forever in immortality.

Forgive everyone that sins against you!
Even when it is very hard!
Especially when it is very hard!
Give it to God.
You do the RIGHT thing and leave all the rest to God.

RELATED ARTICLE:

 

Parable Of The Lost Sheep Explained | Parable Of The Lost Coin: God Loves You As An Individual

Don Gerrity Q&A: Knowing God, Q&A: Parables Of Jesus
Parable Of The Lost Sheep Explained | Parable Of The Lost Coin: God Loves You As An Individual

The Parable of the Lost Sheep Explained

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” (Luke 15:1-7 KJV)

The Parable of the Lost Coin

“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (Luke 15: 8-10 KJV)

How Important Are You, As An INDIVIDUAL to God?

How loved and precious are you to God? Even while a sinner? Just look at what God did; sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for your sins in His blood on the cross. That is how much!! Jesus paid the ultimate price for you! All that pain and suffering is how much God loves you, as an individual. If you were the only person on Earth Jesus would still have come and died for you. You are that precious. That important. That LOVED!

The World

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17 KJV)

In John 3 when it speaks of ‘the world’ what or who is that referring to? Let’s look at this from the original Greek.

‘World’ in the original Greek is the word ‘kosmos‘. The definition for the word has different meanings, ‘ the world, universe; worldly affairs; the inhabitants of the world; adornment.’

In John 3:16-17 the meaning is by context. One use is talking about the kosmos- the universe. The other two are talking about ‘the inhabitants of the world’.

So go ahead right now and replace ‘world’ with your name in the following verses. I have placed an underline instead of instances where ‘the world’ means ‘inhabitants of the world’. It is Scriptural and sound. And say it out loud so that you brain hears it externally as well. ‘Faith comes by hearing’.

“For God so loved the –your name here–, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn –your name here– ; but that –your name here– through him might be saved”

Jesus is not RELIGION. Jesus is grace. Jesus does not want you to do all these ‘religious things’ to be accepted and loved by God. Jesus wants to save you from all your sins and have a REAL intimate relationship with you, as an individual.

Parable Of The Lost Sheep Explained. How awesome is our God ?!?

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