Israel and Grace

"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" (Eph. 2:8,9). "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Tit. 3:5-7). I have to say, that's a lot of good stuff there if you ask me. I want to say a few things here about grace, faith, and works; in order to clarify what is required of us from God, and what is not. First of all I want to point out that whenever the apostle Paul mentioned 'works,' he was almost always referring to the ceremonial ordinances of the law. Reason being that most of his writings were to Gentile people whom he had established in the faith, that were being troubled by false apostles who told them that they had to keep the ceremonial aspect of the old covenant law, in addition to faith in Jesus, in order for them to be right with God. "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1,2). Paul's message was that faith in Jesus, who fulfilled all the law, was and is sufficient to justify the believer. That message may best be summed up in his letter to the Colossians: "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10). Paul didn't preach a passive faith that produces nothing, but rather an empowering faith that produces the love and the power of God's Spirit in the lives of believers (Rom. 5:5; Rom. 14:17; I Cor. 4:20). The Lord has been dealing with me a lot recently, showing me how that he wants to eliminate all 'works' from the lives of his people, so that his work alone can be manifested through us. In fact he has been showing me that for more than thirty years, and that is the message that I have preached of a long time. The body of Christ today is heavily steeped in a 'works' mode of living, though faith in Jesus is certainly not non-existent. However, the mix of faith and 'works' among the body of Christ is holding back the work that God wants to finish in his people, so that he can fully manifest his Gospel to this dying world. The 'works' mindset goes beyond just the natural ordinances that have been left among us. It goes all the way to faulty ways of thinking, as well as the erroneous doctrines that have crippled and divided believers today. One of the main things I have seen that halt the faith of God's redeemed, is the inability to fully accept forgiveness for things that have been forgiven. If we fall short, whether in a small way or a big way, we simply need to own up to our failure and ask Jesus to forgive us. That is what the scripture says anyway: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I Jn. 1:9).

There is a spirit of 'works' that would have us believe that there is always something more that we have to do before we're fully forgiven. When that spirit is allowed to linger, one will never be able to accept forgiveness for what it simply is, and will subsequently not be able to manifest the love of God in their life, which is our calling. It's usually when someone has sinned in a major way that the 'works' spirit is able to bedevil them. The thing we need to understand is, that Jesus died the same death one time for ALL sins. It's not a matter of the size of our sin, but rather it is only a matter of the size of the price he paid for our forgiveness and redemption. Faith knows and believes that, but 'works' refuses to accept that, because in reality it's never enough regardless of what we do, for the 'works' spirit. The 'works' spirit will never allow you to have peace about anything, because peace only comes by total faith in Jesus, and 'works' is not of faith. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). Going back to the false apostles that tried to impose the works of the law onto the Gentile believers, who in fact had never been under the law to begin with; we have this from Paul on the matter: "But that no man is justified by the [works of the] law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith" (Gal. 3:11,12). Don't misunderstand, the law of God under the old covenant was not AGAINST faith, but rather it was there to lead Israel up to the point of faith in Jesus, when he would come to them. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith [Christ] is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:24,25). The idea that we are not fully forgiven for something just because we ask for it, is ultimately the result of an old covenant mindset remaining in the body of Christ. I will tell you here and now by the Spirit of God, that the inclusion of the carnal ordinances of water baptism, 'communion,' fasting, Sabbath days, foot washing, and all the like; are preserving a spirit among us that both will not allow people to feel fully forgiven, and that tell us we cannot live without sin. Those things are old covenant ordinances, and the lack of true forgiveness and the inability to live without sin are old covenant conditions. "Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 9:9,10; Heb. 10:4).

If our conscience is not at peace after we've sought forgiveness for a sin, it's certain that a spirit of 'works' is present, trying to convince us that surely there's 'something else' we have to do in order to be right. By the same token, if we feel that we can't be free from sinning in our life, it's equally a spirit of 'works' persuading us about that. The proof of this is evident, because 'works' is something that is of man, or of ourselves, and if it's on us then OF COURSE we can't live free from sin. But if it's on Jesus, and he died to prove that it IS on him; then OF COURSE we can be free from sinning, by faith in his completed work and by the power of his Spirit that is produced BY that faith! "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13,14) Praise God!! I hope you're feeling what I'm feeling! I'm talking about real liberty my friend, not a 'word only' Gospel! "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3:17). Whatever is of man is 'works,' whether ceremonial ordinances, ways of thinking, erroneous doctrine, or anything else. The only thing that is 'of faith' is "Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). When Jesus was crucified he made a full end of the entire system of 'works,' which was the best that the law could offer. But he didn't put an end to the works of the law without providing something in its place. He provided HIMSELF in its place, and himself is more than sufficient to accomplish EVERYTHING that the law and its works could NOT accomplish. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4). "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2;14). "For the law made nothing [the hearts of men] perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Heb. 7:19). So let's just understand that the burden of all things is not on us. It's on Jesus, and he already bore the load of it all at Calvary. All that is left for us is faith in him and his completed work, and the resulting testimony that we should have by our faith. That testimony was most perfectly expressed I think by the apostle Paul, to whom God first gave this marvelous revelation of truth: "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. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:20,21). All I can say to that is, amen. That, and have faith in Jesus.