Eternal Redemption (Article 14 of 14) I have actually heard some professing Christians say, “Well, at least Im not as bad as that one over there...Im relatively good in Gods sight...I mean, at least I pray, I have prophesied, and I have even done miracles in Jesus name...so if God accepts anyone, He has to accept me...”. This is self-righteousness and to the self-righteous God says this, 2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” The Word of God plainly tells us that self-righteousness is not wise. If you have ever noticed, self-righteousness is all about what we are doing for God. However, in the New Covenant Church, its all about what God has already done for us by the sacrifice of Jesus. A self-righteous person will always want to take the glory for themselves instead of giving it to God, who so richly deserves it. If you are self-righteous you have rejected the righteousness which God gave you, His righteousness, and you are attempting to be righteous on your own merit instead of the merit of Jesus. The Word clearly tells us all that we are not to allow ourselves to be counted among them who do such things. In the New Covenant Church its not about what we do as works of righteousness by our own merit, and therefore our own righteousness. We are righteous only because Jesus has made us righteous by His merit and according only to what He has done for us all. My point is that self-righteousness behavior will inevitably come against the true redemption and forgiveness of God. God doesnt grade on a curve, as most of us were graded in our early years in school. With God, either you pass or you fail. You are either redeemed and walking accordingly or youre not. No man can ever be an adequate measuring stick for Gods idea of Holiness and Righteousness, so why do we compare ourselves with other men? We have all have sinned and fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23), so who would ever want to be the best sinner among those who went to hell? God is our measure of Holiness and Righteousness. My point here is that God would not say, “Thou shalt not...” if mankind wasnt. The mere fact that God has to say, “Thou shalt not kill...” shows man that he is a murderer. God saying, “thou shalt not lie...” convicts man that he is a liar. God says, “Thou shalt not covet...”, which shows man that he is covetous. Our righteousness which is the self-righteousness of the Old Covenant, is as filthy rags, but Gods Righteousness in the New Covenant Church is not. To claim Isaiah 64:6 in the New Covenant Church is to say that Gods Righteousness is as a filthy rag because if you are saved, its His Righteousness which is now in you. This is exactly why 2 Corinthians 10:12 says that people who do these things are not wise. They dont understand the difference between how God deals with men in the New Covenant as opposed to the Old Covenant, therefore they also fail to see the difference between their own self-righteousness and Gods Righteousness. The Biblical fact is that we have all sinned and fallen short of Gods glory (Romans 3:23), so why are we comparing ourselves with others who have also sinned and fallen short? In at least this respect, we are all equal. It doesnt matter what sin you have committed. All sin is equal and no sin is any greater or lesser than any other sin. For me to compare myself to my neighbor and consider that I am somewhat better than him in Gods eyes, or that I am more acceptable to God than he is, is self-righteousness. This viewpoint centers around self and not around what God has done for us through the sacrifice of Jesus. We are relying on our own righteousness and therefore our righteousness, not Gods Righteousness in us, is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We are all in the same boat, so to speak, and in need of a Savior who came forth and redeemed us from our sins and the curse of death imposed upon us by the Law. In the New Covenant Church, self-righteousness, or trying to make yourselves Holy and acceptable to God outside of total dependence upon our Savior, is a sin. Romans 14:23 says, “...for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” In the New Covenant Church literally everything we receive from God is dependent upon our faith in Jesus and what God has accomplished through Him. This may be a major reason why so many of us arent receiving from God. Our self-righteousness isnt of faith and merits us nothing with God. This is so simple. We have been redeemed from the Curse of the Law and there is no need for our own self-righteousness as God has given us His righteousness through salvation. The Apostle Paul taught, in Romans 14:23, that anything which is not of faith is sin. With that in mind, consider this also - Galatians 3:12 says, “And the law is not of faith:...” Lets put this into perspective then. The Law is not of faith and whatever is not of faith is sin. It becomes pretty obvious that attempting to live by the Old Covenant Law, here in the time of the New Covenant of Grace through Faith in Christ, is sin. Im certain that my last statement will upset a lot of people, but LOOK at it! Is that not what it says? How much more plain do these things have to be made for us? How much longer are we going to not let the Bible get in the way of what we want to believe? Our eternal redemption doesnt and never will come by way of a carnal, Old Covenant Law, nor can we learn to live and walk in the revelation of our redemption by the Law. Eternal redemption comes only by way of faith in Christ Jesus our Lord through salvation. Heres something else the church needs to understand. There is no such thing as Relative Goodness, i.e. no relative Holiness, no relative forgiveness, no relative righteousness, etc. If there was, I would have to ask, Relative to what? Relative to how Holy my neighbors are? Relative to how righteous other church members are? In the New Covenant Church there is no relativity as far as the attributes of God are concerned. Either you are or you arent. Those who are Born Again are not a work in progress, as far as your redemption is concerned. Speaking of our spirit, the Word of God clearly states that you are complete in Him (Colossians 2:9&10). Yes, we are to renew our minds to the Word of God, we have been healed, prospered, delivered, and forgiven. However, these are things pertaining to our flesh and not our spirit. Our flesh isnt redeemed and therefore we have need of healing, prosperity, forgiveness, and deliverance, but our spirit is redeemed and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (Ephesians 1:13). The redemption of our spirit is a finished work, it is completed, and we have been made perfect in our spirit, even as He (Jesus) is perfect. Because we are Born Again only in our spirit, its only in our spirit that we are redeemed. One day our flesh will indeed be redeemed (1 Corinthians 15:52-55) and at that point our flesh will then also be a completed work, but as of now it isnt. There is no middle ground in this. Either you are saved according to Ephesians 2:8&9, and thus have received an eternal redemption in the Lord by which you are redeemed from the Curse of the Law, or you didnt and you arent. There is no state of being almost righteous. God has given all things to us by His grace and we receive them by faith, which includes our eternal redemption. Since there is no relativity in Gods giving, we are all the same, so we cannot look at one another and become snug in our self-righteousness, thinking we are more acceptable to God than someone else. Therefore, either we have redemption and its eternal, and it never ceases for any reason, including sin, or its a momentary or, relative to whether or not we have sinned, redemption and its not eternal. The entire idea of momentary redemption is totally irrelevant because the Bible has already concluded us all as sinners who have fallen short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23). So then, how can our redemption be, in effect, graded according to the presence of sin in our lives? The fact is that we have all sinned and have a great likelihood of continuing to sin, so how can our redemption be based on this, as a matter of whether or not we do it? An eternal redemption can never be seen as being relative to whether or not we have sinned, because we are already concluded as sinners in Gods eyes before redemption was manifested to men. The sin of our flesh, so long as this physical life remains, is a forgone conclusion. So if our redemption is based upon whether or not we sin, none of us can ever remain redeemed, because we have made redemption non-eternal. If we can sin away our salvation and therefore also our redemption, our redemption and our salvation have then become relative to our sin, which then gives sin center stage instead of the Salvation of the Lord. What can we say then? That sin has preeminence over our salvation and consequently also our redemption? I seriously doubt that anyone would say it in just that many words, but thats what is being indirectly said. So once again we can clearly see how sin consciousness and the doctrines and traditions of men, have taken center stage and acted to nullify what Jesus paid so high a price for, making the Word of God of no effect in our lives (Colossians 2:8). 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our God has sanctified us “wholly”. That is to say, we have been sanctified as a whole being, spirit, soul, and physical body. In the receiving of Salvation, 1/3 of our total redemption has been completed, and our human spirit has been redeemed and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Since our flesh is still committing sins it then becomes fairly obvious that our flesh, along with our soul, hasnt yet been redeemed. Its my firm belief that if we were originally sanctified by God as a whole creature, then we will also one day be redeemed as a whole creature as well. Therefore there also awaits us a redemption of our soul and our physical body. I believe that this is what 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 is describing. In these verses our redemption as been made “whole”, the adoption and the marriage have been completed and we go off to be with the Lord forever.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:51:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015