Dispensations

I'm studying Ephesians right now and have come to verse 10.  In this verse we see the word dispensation.  What is a dispensation?  It is the Greek word is oikonomia.  It means the management of household affairs, or administration.  It's simply the rule of the house, the way things operate for this time.  It is used 4 times as dispensation (I Cor. 9:17, Eph. 1:10, 3:2, & Col. 1:25) and 3 times as stewardship (Luke 16:2-4).  Some translations will use the word stewardship rather than dispensation.  I use the NKJV, which is based on the Textus Receptus.  In Eph. 3:9 there appears a word for fellowship--koinonia.  But some translations are based on the Alexandrian text, which uses the word oikonomia in that verse instead  Just something to be aware of.  The NKJV reads, "fellowship of the mystery", the ESV reads, "plan of the mystery", and NASB reads, "dispensation of the mystery."

 

Heb. 1:1 – God works in different ways in different times. This does not mean that God tried one thing and it didn’t work so He tried something else. The reason for each of these periods is to lead man to the cross, until the final period where Christ will reign forever.

 

These dispensations help us understand the overall plan of scripture. They help us have a big picture perspective.  Understanding these dispensations particularly helps us understand how we are no longer under the law.

 

So, what are the different dispensations?  There are seven, here is a list.  I interpret them slightly differently than some.  You may ask, "who cares?"  Does this information really do us any good in our day-to-day life?  For one, I will use them to explain the Sheep and the Goats post.  And I see a very practical aspect applied to our parenting.  I will post about that soon.

 

1. Innocence (Gen. 1:28) – from creation to the fall. How long did it last? We don’t really know, but we do know it ended when they sinned. They were no longer innocent at that point.

 

2. Conscience/Moral Responsibility (Gen. 3:7) – from the fall onward. You now know good and evil, I will leave you to your conscience to choose between those. But man tends toward evil, so we get up to Gen. 6:5 and God says that ALL the purposes of man were evil continually.

 

3. Government (Gen. 8:15) – from the flood onward. After the flood there were consequences for evil. Man was still accountable to his conscience to choose between good and evil, but God added an incentive. He says that anyone that takes a human life will have his taken away. We see the value God is placing on human life here. If you can’t govern yourself, someone else will have to. See also Rom. 13.

 

4. Promise (Gen. 12:1) – from the call of Abram onward. This promise was not based on anything Abraham had done; it was unconditional. All Abraham had to do was believe. This promise is still available to us by faith, as well. So this dispensation, too, has not gone away. Gen. 12 & Gal. 3, 4. God is now teaching humans to trust in Him.

 

5. Law (Ex. 19:1) – from Mt. Sinai until Jesus (or specifically John the Baptist—Luke 16:16). Promise does not end and the Law did not bring justification. It brought a picture of the Savior. It brought many, many types and shadows to point us to the cross. You can study everything in the law, from the Sabbath, to the Feasts, to the elements of the Tabernacle, to the Dietary Laws, to the specific instructions to the priests on how to administer offerings, to the laws for declaring leprosy cleansed, and you will see Christ through and through. Beyond all the symbolism, the law was meant to frustrate man and show him he could never make it on his own, even with conscience and human government.

 

6. Church (Acts 2:1) – from Pentecost until the rapture. This is sometimes called the Age of Grace (I do not agree with this title) or the Dispensation of Faith (again, I don’t think this is entirely accurate), or the Dispensation of the Spirit. This is the mystery Paul is talking about, the secret that was hidden, not revealed in the OT, that Gentiles and Jews would be part of the same Body, and that the Spirit would indwell us. These were mind-blowing truths. This is one of the reasons Paul prayed for revelation for the people he was writing to. We need to pray this pray, too, that the Holy Spirit would open our eyes to these profound truths.

 

· Do we still have moral responsibility (#2)? Yes, but now we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, to give us the power to choose right and wrong, and our human spirits have been recreated in the image of Christ—it wants to follow after Him.


· Do we still have human government (#3)? Yes, we do, but if we walk according to the Spirit, we don’t have to be afraid of the government. If they put us to death for righteousness sake, the Bible says we’re supposed to be happy.


· What about the law? Does it still stand? I Tim. 1:8-10 says that the law is not for the righteous—we have been made the righteousness of Christ—but for the lawless, the ungodly, the sinners. The law still stands to point people to Christ, to show them their need. The law still stands as a standard in our world, that if people would follow it, our world would be a better place to live in. The law does not justify us, but it sets the standard and grace gives us the power to live it.

 

7. Kingdom (Rev. 20:4) – from Armageddon onward. The visible rule of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. We can see II Sam. 7:12-16, Is. 9:6-7, Luke 1:31-33, Rev. 3:21, and Matt. 25:31. He came once to die, the second to reign.

  

Now, the thread that is common throughout all these dispensations is grace. That is why I do not call the Church Age the Age of Grace. Every single age has been the age of grace. It was God’s grace that blocked Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life. He did not want them to live forever in their fallen state. It was grace that God had on Cain when He marked him and sent him away. It was grace that saved Noah and his family. Grace called Abram out of Ur. Grace redeemed Israel from their bondage to the Egyptians. Grace came and dwelt among us. Grace will rule on a literal throne forever and ever. The other side of this coin is faith. You can read about people of faith throughout all the past in Hebrews 11. Just like them, we are saved by grace, through faith, in whatever age we live.

The Wise and Foolish Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
⁶ “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
¹¹ “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹² But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
¹³ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

I have been pondering this topic of the race for many months now and I see how many things in the Bible tie into it. If you want to read my post on The Race, click the link. Paul compared our Christian life to a race. He said he was pressing on to win the race and receive the prize. Later in his life, he said he had fought the good fight, he had finished the race, and he knew the prize was awaiting him. He told us in Hebrews 12 how to run that race, how not to get tripped up.

This is important because I know that a lot of Christians don't view their lives as a race. Rather they view Christianity as a ticket to heaven, a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, and that is the extent of their relationship with God. They hear about God's saving grace and sit back and don't ever find out anything else about Him and His plan. They sit around and don't ever do anything, telling themselves and others that they aren't saved by works (which is true). They don't ever take the time to enter into relationship with God, they don't even know him. They are like a bride that had a wedding, but doesn't want to live with the groom.

I heard something recently that was great -

"Between conversion and resurrection is discipleship."

Salvation is not the end, it is the beginning. How is your race going? Are you a disciple or a convert? Are you moving forward or regressing? I don't believe you can remain stationary in this race.

That is why I want to bring up this parable of the virgins. This story tells us of the consequences of running the race well, or not running well.

The general belief is that the wise virgins are Christians, but the foolish are not. I don't agree. Another view is that they are all Christians, but the wise virgins are the ones that get raptured, the foolish ones do not. Again, I don't agree. There are just too many things in the Bible that indicate that the WHOLE church is raptured. And that is a topic for another post.

I believe that all 10 are Christians. First, because they are virgins, they are pure. When we get saved, we are made new, pure, clean. We are made the righteousness of Christ (II Corinthians 5:21). We didn't deserve or earn our salvation (Ephesians 2:8).

Next, notice that all 10 virgins have oil in their lamps. Oil in the Bible represents the Holy Spirit. They would not have the Holy Spirit if they were not saved. Now most who read this (and I did before, too) assume that the foolish virgins didn't have any oil (because of verse 3), but notice in verse 4 that the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The vessel was apparently a separate container, so that they could keep their lamp full. And this is confirmed in verse 8 when the foolish say their lamps are going out. This tells me they did have oil at one time, but no reserves. Their lamps were lit, but they were going out. So they all started out with oil. They are all Christians that started out filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why did 5 of them get into the wedding and 5 did not? And what is the wedding? Revelation 19 tells of the marriage supper of the Lamb and the wife that has made herself ready. Verse 9 says, "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" I take this to mean there is really a literal wedding and marriage feast. And so only those that have made themselves ready get to enter. How do we make ourselves ready?

By keeping our lamps full of oil. This is walking in the Spirit (Romans 8:6, Galatians 5:16-26). Obeying the voice of the Spirit. Yielding in everything to the Spirit. Less of me, more of Him. This is a day-by-day, moment-by-moment decision. We don't just decide one day and then every day after that we are set. Again, it's not about starting, it's about finishing. There are many, many examples in the Bible of people that didn't finish well--Samson, Gideon, King Saul, Solomon, to name a few. These are to show us how NOT to live. (Romans 15:4)

Revelation 19:8 tells us that the bride is dressed in fine linen, clean and bright, and that linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So, you can't just sit still, you have to act! That is the only way you move forward in this race.

But...

You cannot just make up your own acts. This is what got Abraham in trouble. He had a son of his own will, Ishmael. That was not God's plan. Romans 14:23--whatever is not from faith is sin. What is faith? Faith is responding to God's grace. Is your action a response to God's grace, or is it an action to gain something from God, to get God to move? This is how you determine if it is of the flesh or of the Spirit. If it's in response, it's of the Spirit. If it is to gain, to make God pity you and do something for you, it is of the flesh. These works of the flesh will be burned up (I Corinthians 3:5-17). To obey is better than sacrifice (I Samuel. 15:22). You must be filling up with God's Word in order to know what His Spirit is asking of you. Remember my post on fruit? It fits perfectly with this post, click here to read.

Now, this does not mean that some of us attain perfection. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:12, "I have not achieved perfection." This is THE apostle Paul talking here. He wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, but he said he had not achieved perfection?!? None of us ever will. But notice his next statement, "I press on to possess that perfection." None of us will be complete and perfect until Christ comes back (Philippians 1:6). But we press on. This includes repenting when we fail (I John 1:9).

This is where it is helpful to know the difference between spirit, soul, and body. Our spirits are complete, they are made perfect. It is our soul that takes a lifetime to be regenerated, transformed, and sanctified. Our bodies on the other hand will be made perfect, in an instant, when Christ returns.

So those that sit around and say you're not saved by works, you are right. But that is justification and that is your ticket to heaven. However, your sanctification takes an effort on your part. It is the Holy Spirit that does the work, but you have to yield to it. This seems to determine whether you get in to that wedding feast or not.

Now is your chance. It's never too late. You can start moving forward in this race. You can fill up with oil. You can be ready for when the bridegroom comes!

So then, is this wedding one of the prizes that Paul referred to? Could it be one of the rewards? I don't know. This brings up an interesting question that may rattle you a bit. If you are like me, you have been taught your whole life that if you are a Christian you are part of the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. But Revelation 19 and this Parable of the Virgins seems to indicate otherwise. But don't listen to me, dig in and be like a Berean--search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11).

Why Did God Save You?

Why did God save you? Or rather, what did He save you for? Have you ever thought about it? There are general answers and specific answers, and this is beyond the basic answer of, "God is love, God saved me because He loved me."

Let's think about this a different way.

Why did you marry your husband? Why did he marry you? Was it so you could keep his house clean? Was it so that he could keep your car running right? Or move heavy objects around the house? How about opening those tough jars? Why did you have kids? Was it so there would be extra hands to help around the house? NO.

Relationship is primary. We married our spouses because we enjoyed spending time with them. We had kids to have more people in our family, to spend time with.

Marriage is the picture of our relationship with God, the church is called the Bride of Christ. See Ephesians 5. God wanted a family, that is why He saved you. See Galatians 4. He wants to spend time with you. He knows all about you, He wants you to know all about Him.

Let's flip this around--what if I never have time for my husband or kids because I’m too busy serving them. I'm doing the laundry, the dishes, the cooking, but never stop to spend any time with them. There’s not much relationship, is there? Many in the church are doing just that. They are in up to their eyeballs with service, but never make time for relationship with God. God wants Marys and Marthas, but Mary comes first. Read about Mary & Martha in Luke 10.

God wants to be your all in all. He wants to be the most important thing in your life. He will not take second place.

So, how do we spend time developing that relationship? Will it grow with a once a week meeting? (i.e. church) How would your marriage do, if you sat down to spend time together just once a week? How well would you know your children, and they get to know you, if you only saw them once a week?

Spend time with God in conversation. That can be prayer, He talks back through His Word and sometimes a still small voice. That voice needs confirming, most often through His Word, sometimes through experiences. I have a friend that wanted to bless a practical stranger, at the gym where she works out. She asked God to show her what flavor of ice cream to buy this girl, so that she would know God's love. She distinctly heard the word strawberry. She would never have thought of that on her own, my friend is a big-time chocolate lover. She bought the ice cream and sure enough, strawberry was this girl's favorite flavor. This opened the door for my friend to tell this girl how much God loves her, He loves even the little things about us, He cares about what flavor ice cream we like. This is an example of hearing from God that could not be confirmed directly in His Word, but was confirmed in a sure way.

Now on the topic of prayer--what is it? Again, back to the easily understood picture of the family. Do you get together to spend quality time with your husband and then run down a list of things you want from him? Things you want him to do? Does he take you out on a date night and then proceed to tell you he has a big meeting in the morning and needs his shirt ironed, and lunch packed? Or do you sit and complain to him of your miseries? "I’m not paid enough, I can’t ever catch up on the laundry, the kids are wearing me out!" Do you sit down with your kids and go through a list of what is to be expected of them? NO! You spend time with your spouse and kids getting to know them, talking about your dreams, ambitions, goals, sharing fun experiences together. There are times for requests, but this isn’t our primary communication! It should be the same with God. We spend time in His Word, getting to know Him. Not out of our sense of obligation to Him, not to be worthy, but to be in relationship. Not to complain, not to run down our list of wants, but to get to know Him more. And the more we know, the more we trust.

What other ways can we communicate with God? Through worship. We were created for His pleasure. Rev. 4:11 KJV Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. This is not a forte of mine, I am not a gushy person. When I want to worship, I open the Psalms. I do sometimes listen to worship music, but I am very, very picky that the lyrics be scriptural—and a lot aren’t.

Study of His Word The Bible is God's Word, it is God speaking to us. You want God to talk to you more? Read more. He's given us 66 books that reveal Himself to us. All we have to do is open it up and we can hear from Him anytime. The Jews believe that study is the highest form of worship. Us Westerners think of learning and study as a chore, and we think it ends when we finish school. In the Jewish Talmud, the term education was synonymous with "heavenly work." Yes, it is work. You have to work at your marriage. You have to work at being a good parent. If we don't put in any effort, then we don't really love.

Action We cannot simply think in our hearts that we love God and we cannot simply say with out mouths that we love God. There must be some proof. It costs us nothing to say it. Notice Revelation 2:5 says to get back to the first work. Relationship is work. Our marriage’s won’t work if we just tell our spouse’s we love them, but never show them. Our kid’s will not feel our love if it is never backed up with action.

God proved His love to us, by His action. We prove our love to Him, by our action.

And this is where the motives of our heart are very important. Are we sitting down to pray and read our Bibles to check religion off of our “To Do” list? Are we trying to earn God’s favor? We must have pure hearts when we come before Him, for He knows our thoughts afterall. See Hebrews 4:12 and John 4:24.

What about service? Aren't we supposed to be doing a job for the Lord? I'm glad you asked. The answer is yes, but it must be in proper priority, and with the proper motivation of heart. If all God wanted was servants, He didn't need to create mankind, He could have stopped with the angels. Remember the story of Mary and Martha from Luke 10. We are to be Marys first (sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning and worshipping), then Marthas (serving). Again, I bring up the comparison of the family. Husbands, wives, and children all have duties in the home, but we discussed previously how if service was all they did, the relationships in the family would break down. Service is a form of worship, but if we don’t have these other things in place—prayer and study time, service doesn’t mean anything. I Samuel 15:22 – to obey is better than sacrifice. We cannot just make up things to do that are in service to God. We must be doing things out of obedience. Romans 14:23b—whatever is not from faith is sin. So, if God didn’t tell us to do it, it is not from faith, it is not out of obedience, EVEN if it is a good thing, then it is sin. Did we hear God tell us to do such and such? Are we sure that is God’s will for us? How do we know? We only hear from God if we are spending time with Him, regularly. We can sacrifice all day long, all year long, all our lives, but when we stand before the Lord, He says, “I never asked you to do any of those things.” See I Corinthians 3—those works will be burned up in the fire. See also the Parable of the Virgins in Matthew 25. The virgins (Christians) that didn’t keep their lamps continually full of oil (the Holy Spirit) did not get to go in to the wedding (see Revelation 19:7-9). Revelation 19:8 tells us that the wedding garment is the righteous acts of the saints, but are these acts we just come up with on our own? I don’t believe so. Back to I Samuel 15:22—obedience is supreme, how are we to obey if we never take the time to listen to what God is telling us? Therefore time for prayer and study is key.

Revelation 2:1-7

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”’

Let's get back to our first love. Let's repent and do the first works.

The Pendulum

I see the pendulum swinging, always to one side or the other, rarely does it rest in the middle. The pendulum I speak of swings between grace and faith. It seems people want one or the other, but rarely a mix. They want to lean to one side or the other, but not balance between.

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

I see a mixture of grace and faith here. I see balance. It does not just say we are saved by grace, it says by grace, through faith. And grace is not just for salvation. This is how we get through each and every day--by God's grace, through our faith. This is how we do anything we do--by God's grace and through our faith.

It is when the pendulum stops in the middle, it is at rest. This is the place of rest mentioned in Hebrews 3 and 4, and the yoke mentioned by Christ in Matthew 11:29-30.

I see many that latch on to the faith aspect, they want to do something, but then they discount the grace side. They do things in their own strength and don't give God the glory. Or they give God the glory, but turn around and tell others how to rise above and don't include the key detail of God's grace.

It seems grace isn't welcome in a lot of churches. Pastors would rather tell their flock about faith, what they can do, but without grace this is just willpower. The word grace has become taboo because, to a lot of pastors it is equated with sinful living. If people know all about God's grace, they will just do whatever they want! But we can't pick and choose topics from the Bible, like it's a salad bar. We must teach the whole counsel of God. Teaching faith without grace is humanism that has crept into the church.

Grace is what Paul is talking about in Galatians 5:16. When you rely on God's grace, and take the step of faith He is asking of you, you will be empowered by His spirit, to rise about the lusts of the flesh.

Remember Rahab in the city of Jericho (Joshua 2). The two spies came to scope out the city. She told them she believed they knew the one true God and asked them to spare her family. She has faith here. The spies tell her they will spare her if she will hang a scarlet cord out of her window. She does--that is the act of proving her faith (James 2:17). Her family is spared (saved) by grace, through her faith.

Remember Moses with the Israelites at the Red Sea (Exodus 14). They were cornered with no way out. The Egyptian army was behind them, they had mountains on each side and in front of them was the Red Sea. God already told Moses He would save the Israelites. Moses had faith in God's promise. God tells him to lift up his rod. Moses obeys--this is the act of proving his faith. God parted the Red Sea and the Israelites traveled through to safety. God saved them by His grace, through their faith.

Remember Joshua preparing to conquer the city of Jericho (Joshua 6). God promised the Israelites the land over 400 years earlier. Joshua believes this, as he told Moses 40 years earlier, when he was one of the 12 spies. And God confirmed this word to Joshua just before this battle. God tells Joshua to have the army and the priests march around the city of Jericho. How very strange? They were to march around the city once each day for six days. Then on the seventh day, they were to march around seven times and then blow their trumpets. All of this was what proved their faith. God brought the walls crumbling down. God gave them the victory by grace, through their faith.

One thing I see in all three of these stories is how miniscule the part we have to play. We do have to act, we do have to obey, we do have to step out in the natural, but it's always something so much smaller than what God is going to do. That way, there is no question who did the saving, who gets the glory. And our step is not of our doing. It's not something we make up. This is not where you set rules for yourself. You will end up breaking your own made up rules. For example, "God I really need you to help me out. I promise to read my Bible an hour a day." We are not bargaining with God, or manipulating Him. We are asking for His help. He will ask you to take a small step, to test your faith. You take that step, and then His grace kicks in and empowers you to overcome.

The pitfalls I see of using my faith, without acknowledging God's grace--it's all me, this leads to pride, I'm not as likely to give God glory and trust in Him, I trust in myself. I do achieve a pseudo-abundant life, but it's a false success, built on a sandy foundation. There are not many storms, because I have chosen to build my house in the prime location, far from the beach. After all, life is all about my choices, right? But one day the storm will come, something big that is out of my control. Then my house will come crashing down because I have been in the habit of fixing things myself, not turning to God. Hopefully at that moment I will repent and see my need for God. If not, I may blame God, when it wasn't His fault.

The pitfalls I see of solely relying on God's grace, yet never exercising faith--I don't have to do anything, Jesus did it all (and that is true, but we have to prove our faith), I don't have to commit to church, I don't have to study my Bible, I don't have to ask you for forgiveness, because God forgives me. I don't have to teach my children, God's grace will keep them in church. I stay bound up in my strongholds, I never see true freedom. I never achieve the abundant life, because I never build any foundation. The wind and the waves tear my house down in every storm. Hopefully, during one of these storms, I will think to ask God what I need to be doing, to show Him I do have faith.

I hope you see that you will walk in victory, you will be building on the rock (see Matthew 7:24-27) only when you walk in the balance of grace and faith. It is shifting sand on either side of the middle. This is a moment-by-moment, day-by-day decision. We will all be tempted at one time, or another, to shift to either side. If you do, simply repent, and get back on track.

Christmas Prophecy 2

The Messiah was to be of the seed (family/descendant) of Abraham.

Prophecy -

Genesis 12:2-3 & 22:18

[God is speaking to Abraham]

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you and make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Genesis 22:18

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

Fulfillment -

Matthew 1:1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham...

Galatians 3:16

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

All the families and nations of the earth have been blessed through Abraham, because Jesus was born of Abraham's family and salvation is only through Jesus. Salvation is for Jews and Gentiles (all non-Jews). (John 14:6, Acts 26:23, Romans 3:29)

This is a continuation of our Christmas Prophecy series. You can read the first post here.

Say the Same Thing

Hebrews 4:14-16

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Mixture of KJV & NKJV)

I want to focus on the word profession, in this passage. In the Greek, it is the word homologia, which comes from homologeo. It literally means same word (logeo is word, homo is same). It means to say the same thing.

You see, Jesus is our High Priest, that means He is our intercessor. An intercessor is someone that is a mediator. A mediator is a go-between. Jesus is between us and God. He is interceding on our behalf, to God the Father. Just like the priests of the Old Testament, would go to God on behalf of the people. The difference, now, in the New Covenant, is that we are actually in Christ, He is in us, we have a union with Him, and so we are able to go boldly before the throne, too. But He is there, praying for you. He is telling the Father what He has done on your behalf.

We need to hold fast our profession. We need to say the same thing about ourselves that Jesus is saying about us. What is Jesus saying about us? Well, John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh, so the Word of God is the Word of Jesus. Pick a scripture, any scripture, He is saying that about you.

When we contradict what the Word says about us, we are contradicting Jesus, our High

Priest. It's like being in a courtroom as the defendant. Jesus is our defense attorney. God the Father is the judge. Satan is the accuser. Satan tries to accuse us of all sorts of things, he tries to accuse us of sin. Jesus says, "I have given them My righteousness." When we say anything different, we are disagreeing with our attorney. In our world, we know that is unwise. We need to use that wisdom in the spiritual world, as well. Get in agreement with your attorney. Find out what He is saying to the judge. Start saying those same things about yourself. That is the only way we can get the help we need, the mercy and grace mentioned in the latter part of the passage.

Here are some good references:

II Corinthians 5:17 - I have been created a new creature in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away, behold, all things are new.

Romans 3:22 - I have the righteousness of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:11 - The Holy Spirit dwells in me, and He gives life to my mortal body, just as He raised Christ from the dead.

I Peter 2:24 - By Jesus' stripes, I was healed.

Ephesians 4:24 - My spirit has been recreated in true righteousness and holiness.

Romans 12:2 - I will not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but I will let God transform me (my soul/mind) into a new person, by changing the way I think. Then I will learn to know what God wants me to do. (taken from NLT)

Ephesians 2:8-10 - It is by grace that I have been saved, through faith, and that is not of myself; it is a gift of God, it is not by anything I have done, so that I cannot boast. I am God's workmanship, His special creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has already prepared for me.

Philippians 1:6 - I am confident of this, that God has begun a good work in me and will not stop working on me until Christ returns, then it will be complete (this is referring to your soul, it's called sanctification).

Philippians 4:11-13 - In whatever state I am in, I have learned to be content; I know how to live humbly and I know how to live in prosperity. I can do all things (everything God has called me to) through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:6-7 - I will be anxious for nothing, I will make my requests known to God, and His peace, that is so great I cannot even understand it, will guard my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 - My God supplies all my needs, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus (this speaks not only to material needs, but help to avoid temptation, our need of redemption, healing, and more).

Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Romans 8:1 - I cannot be condemned because I am in Christ, He was condemned and paid the penalty for me.

I Corinthians 3:16 - My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit dwells in me.

Romans 8:31 - God is on my side, no one can be against me.

Romans 8:28 - I know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:37 - I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me.

Romans 8:38-39 - Nothing can separate me from the love of God.

And there are so many more. These are coming to me almost faster than I can type them. That is what happens when you fill your heart with God's Word. His Holy Spirit will bring it back to your mind, when you need it most. So dig in and start filling your heart and mind. Find more of God's promises and add them to this list. Write these out, print them out. Post them where you will see them most, on the refrigerator, on the bathroom mirror, etc. Start to say these things about yourself, because that is what Jesus is saying about you, right now, up in heaven, before the throne of God!

Delivered

I love all the pictures we have in the Old Testament. When I was growing up, it seemed, that the entire Old Testament was just stories for kids. I don't recall sermons preached from the Old Testament. The thinking was that we are New Testament believers that have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13), we aren't under the law (Romans 6:14), so what use is the Old Testament to us? (Now my memory could be skewed, but that is what my perception was.) This is, however, entirely false. The Old Testament is chocked full of wonderful stories with so many layers of depth--many, if not all, explaining truths in the New Testament. So, as I said, I LOVE those illustrations that are in the Old Testament.

I was explaining a concept to my son today, so I used an Old Testament illustration. (On a side note, if you have kids, one of the best things you can do for yourself, is teach them the Bible. Light bulbs will go off in your head. It is a wonderful thing, how it works.)

If you recall, in the story of the Exodus, the Israelites were in slavery to the Pharoah. Moses was sent by God to deliver them. God did numerous signs and wonders in the process. After the 10th plague, God led them out of Egypt and out of their slavery to Pharoah.

We can analyze the significance of the details.

Slavery in Egypt = slavery to sin--this is a picture of us before we come to a saving knowledge of Christ

Coming out of Egypt = getting saved

Now there are pictures of two types of Christians after the Exodus.

1) A Wilderness Wanderer - this is someone that is saved, but they don't walk in victory, don't have peace and joy, they go around the mountains in their life over and over and over.

2) A Promised Land Dweller - this is also a Christian, but they walk in victory. They don't go around the mountains in their life, they fight their battles with God on their side. They enjoy peace and joy.

Something significant stuck out to me this morning, that I had never thought about before. At what point did the Israelites "get saved"? I noticed two important events.

1) The Passover--The Israelites were commanded to spread the blood of a lamb on their doorposts in order to be "passed over" by the death angel. So they were saved from death by the blood. We are saved from death (the penalty of sin) by the blood of Christ. This is a once, for all, atonement. See Hebrews 7:26-27, 9:11-12, & 10:9-10.

2) The Crossing of the Red Sea--The Israelites left the same night of the Passover. They traveled until they were trapped by mountains and sea. Pharoah came after them to get them back. God did a miracle by parting the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to cross over on dry land. The Pharoah and his army chased after them, but God let the waters cover them, drowning them, assuring the safety of the Israelites. So this is the point when the Israelites were truly free from their slavery. It happened through water. We are delivered from our slavery to sin by the water of the Word. See Ephesians 5:24 We must wash in this water as often as we can.

Something else to note, that I find very interesting, is that once the Israelites were out of Egypt, God never sent them back (that would be a picture of losing salvation). There were lots of people that disobeyed and there were consequences, but no record of anyone going back to Egypt, either voluntarily, or by command of God. Neither do we "lose" our salvation when we sin. We can lose our inheritance, like the Israelites. The majority of them didn't get to go into the Promised Land (their inheritance). They didn't have faith, they didn't obey. In fact, Moses was one of them that forfeited the inheritance, he did not get to enter the Promised Land.

I am fighting to keep this a short blog. There are so many things in this I want to develop, but I will leave it at this. I encourage you to read the story in Exodus, in light of these things I have brought out. There are even more analogies I could draw. Can you find them? You may also do a word study on reward and/or inheritance. Do you want to be a Wilderness Wanderer or a Promised Land Dweller? Read the story of Joshua and Caleb, in Numbers 13 and 14, to see what it takes to be a Promised Land Dweller.

Law vs. Grace

While I work on another post for my series, I thought you might enjoy this. I have to give credit to Chuck Missler.

Law versus Grace

The law is perfect, that’s why imperfect men cannot keep it. (Psalm 19 & 119)

The law is holy, that’s why sinners are condemned by it.

The law is just, that’s why it can’t show mercy to the guilty. Showing mercy is not just.

The law condemns the sinner, but grace redeems the sinner.

The law reveals sin, but grace atones for sin.

By the law is the knowledge of sin, by grace is the redemption from sin.

The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The law demands obedience, grace bestows and empowers us to obey.

The law says do and do not, grace says it is done, it is finished.

The law says continue to be holy, grace says it is finished.

The law curses, grace blesses.

The law slaves the sinner, grace makes the sinner alive.

The law shuts every mouth before God, grace opens the mouth to praise God.

The law condemns the best man, grace saves the worst man.

The law says pay what you owe, grace says “I freely forgive you all.”

The law says the wages of sin is death, grace says the gift of God is eternal life.

The law says the soul that sins, it shall die, grace says believe and live.

The law was done away (fulfilled) in Christ, grace abides forever.

The law puts us under bondage, grace sets us free.

What Are The Consequences of Sin?

I am continuing my series on the relevancy of The 10 Commandments. You can read part one here, part two here, part three here, and part four here.

In summary, keeping The 10 Commandments will make your life here on earth easier, but you cannot earn your salvation by keeping them. You earn no points with God, and He doesn't stop loving you when you break them. None of us is able to keep them perfectly and so they were never given to show us how to be saved. They were actually given to show us how miserably we will fail and are in dire need of a Savior. Christianity is about freedom. God came to set the captives free. We have been slaves to sin, we had no choice. But God sent His Son to redeem us (buy us back) and His Spirit to empower us to conquer sin.

Some may think I'm condoning sinning since I preach grace. I say you have the choice to battle sin in your life and rise above it (and it is God that gives you this ability). I say you have the choice to be free from it. But many don't and God still loves them the same. I truly think that those people are ignorant of the power that God came to give them, to break the bondage of sin. If you are one that justifies all your actions by saying, "it's okay, God has to forgive me", I question whether you are really saved at all. If you have any concern about pleasing God, then you probably are saved.

No, I don't preach liberty in the sense that you think. We have liberty in Christ to live free, joyful, peaceful lives, but the paradox is that this liberty is stronger the more we submit to His will and not our own. After all, we were bought with a huge price, our lives are no longer our own. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

So what are the consequences of sin?

1. Repercussions from this world.

2. It opens the door to the devil.

3. Our flesh grows stronger.

4. Our soul is tarnished.

Think about the world we live in. If you steal, you suffer consequences in our society. You risk being injured or killed by your victim. You risk being arrested and convicted by our justice system. Let's talk about adultery. The natural consequences of this world we live in are such that your marriage will most likely fall apart, you may lose your children, you will definitely ruin your witness with your children, your chances in another marriage are greatly diminished, and you may catch a disease.

Secondly, sin opens the door to the devil. If he knows you bow to temptation easily, he will ruthlessly tempt you all the more. He also likes to throw scriptures in your face (used wrongly, of course) to beat you down and condemn you. He will tell you you're not worthy, unloved by God, and make you even question your salvation and entrance into heaven.

Now for the third category, we have the flesh. That is the part of ourselves that wants to do wrong. Before we're saved, we are slaves to it, but God sets us free, if we believe on Jesus. Unfortunately this part of us doesn't go away. It hangs around and tempts us. If we continuously give in, it grows stronger and stronger and becomes harder to resist. (I give more detail in my last post, click here to read.)

I will explain point four in detail next time. It will take a bit of space.

What are not consequences of our sin?

1. God stops loving us. (See Romans 8:38-39)

2. God punishes us.

3. God is unable to bless us or protect us. (Now it may seem that way, because you have opened the door to the devil, but God is able to do whatever He sees fit. Read all the Old Testament stories where people were in direct disobedience to God, yet He showed them grace, especially Ahab in I Kings 20. Ahab was a wicked king, but we see God calling to him, helping him win a battle, even in the midst of his sin.)

4. You can lose your salvation. And this is the controversial one. Some believe that there is a point where you can sin and lose your salvation. I don't believe that. Some believe that if you are one that has reached a high level of maturity, in Christ, and genuinely know what you're doing, you can reject your salvation. I'm still not sure about this one. But I do know that in general, people mess up, some mess up really, really badly. They still believe in the work that Christ did on the cross, they are not in danger of losing their salvation.

Tune in next time where I explain Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death. Does this contradict what I have presented here?

I also encourage you to read through Romans and Galatians in light of what I have presented here. Don't take my word for it. Search the scripture for yourself.

Lazurus

Last post, I promised to list the consequences of sin, but I feel I need one more example of how we can choose to live a free, peaceful, joy-filled life, or choose to be bound up in strongholds.

Let's look at the story of Lazarus, in the Gospel of John, chapters 11 and 12.

The story should be familiar to you. Jesus was friends with Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus became sick and his sisters asked Jesus to come, since they knew that He had healed so many. Jesus waited a bit and then came, but by this time, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus came up to the tomb and commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb. My focus is on verse 44, of chapter 11.

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

I want you to notice the three states that Lazarus was in.

1. He was dead.

2. Then he was resurrected, but was bound with graveclothes.

3. He then was loosed from the graveclothes, and therefore fully free.

We can go through these stages as well. We are dead in our sins, until we believe on Jesus. We are then given eternal life, our spirits are made new (II Cor. 5:17), we are saved. It is as if we have died, were buried, and have resurrected, with Christ. (Romans 6:3-6) Now at first we are still bound by our graveclothes, this means our fleshly desires are not done away with. We have to learn how to resist these lusts, and as I said last post, we don't have the willpower, this power only comes from God. It is through reading the Bible and starving our flesh that we grow stronger and can resist.

Now we can live the rest of our earthly lives in that bound up state (and unfortunately a lot of believers do, because they don't know the freedom they have), but that is not what God wants for us. He wants us to be free from these constraints. This will only happen when we get to know God better (through prayer and reading of His Word) and realize what being saved really means. It happens when we learn that God has put His Holy Spirit on the inside of us, to empower us to overcome sin. It happens when we learn to yield to the Holy Spirit.

Now if you are walking around your whole life, bound by the graveclothes, does that mean you are dead? No, you are alive, like Lazarus, you just won't live a full, complete, abundant life. You will be hindered.

This is what I mean when I say that Christianity is about freedom. God want you to be free--truly, wholly, completely free. Being saved is not about a ticket to heaven, it is about so much more.

I just finished reading Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris, and it was so wonderful. In it, he illustrates this concept. He shows that before we're saved, we are chained to our flesh (that is the part in us that wants to disobey God). At this point we have no choice but to be a slave to it and obey it. But once we are saved, the chains are broken, we are free, but that flesh doesn't go away. It is still around (as long as we're on this earth) and will tempt us. We must fight our flesh, attack it, deny it and kill it (Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24) with the power of the Holy Spirit that comes through diligent, continuous time in God's Word. But too many people actually feed their flesh (and I love his cartoon drawings of this--this little guy bringing a feast to this monster). They think that since we've been freed by the Cross, it's okay to indulge the flesh, but that's not true. When we feed the flesh, it becomes bigger and stronger and pushes us around all the more. We actually need to starve our flesh, so that it will become weak. It will never be completely gone until Christ returns, but if we keep it weak, it's tempting us won't be nearly as hard to resist.

What state are you in right now? Are you still bound up? Need help to be set free? Let us know.

Freedom Part 2

This is a continuation of related posts. You can read the first installment here, and the second here.

God wants you to be free--wholly, utterly, completely free.

God's laws bring you freedom. (Now before you think I'm contradicting my last post, read on.)

Think about it, if you obey the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery" you will be free from diseases, heartache, strife, guilt, and more, for example.

Rules actually give us freedom. When you follow a budget and set rules for yourself with your spending, you are free to buy bigger ticket items, go on family vacations, relax in your retirement age, etc.

The problem is that we cannot, in our own power, keep God's law.

The law was given for a few different reasons, but one of those was to show us how utterly we can't keep it!

Romans 5:20a

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.

Now that's not to say that God's law is evil.

Romans 7:7,12

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!...The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Keeping the law will make your life more peaceful, as I mentioned previously, but it is not how we are saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

But as I said, we have no power to keep that law. The law shows us that we cannot save ourselves, we need a Savior. When we believe on Jesus, His Spirit actually indwells us and empowers us to overcome sin.

I Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

See also John 14:17, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:11, Ephesians 2:22, II Timothy 1:14, and James 4:5.

And we get a brand-new spirit. Our spirit is recreated, in the likeness of Christ

II Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

You are no longer a murdering, lying, adulterer. You are now clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

You do, however, have a choice (the freedom) to live in your old ways. You can choose the abundant life God has for you, or not. You can choose peace and joy, or misery.

Jesus says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

You don't have to live that abundant life, if you so choose. You can choose to live in hell here on earth.

Read this parable of The Lost Son, from Luke 15.

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Your sins are forgiven you (if you believe on Jesus Christ), God loves you. He wants you to come home, He wants you to choose the abundant life He has for you. You are not kicked out of His family. You may think that true freedom is doing whatever you please, but true freedom actually comes from submitting wholly to the Lordship of Christ.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

I will explain next time the consequences of living a sinful life, and it's probably not what you may think.