If you DO NOT DO the Word that you know, agree with and believe, It will do nothing for you and you will achieve nothing. You cannot even be blessed; rather, you will remain deceived within yourself even more. (Jam. 1:22-25)
Had you not DONE the Word in Rom. 10:9-10 confessing with your mouth, which is a work of faith, you would not be saved today. Period. Had you decided not to be baptized thereafter, you would not have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Period. (Acts 2:38) No human discussion, reasoning or even prayer will ever change the Word or Promises of God.
I give you a few examples to ponder in your own heart concerning the issue of your being-living IN Christ:
* I would not have to “grow up into Christ” (Eph. 4:15), if I were already in Him just by believing in Him! True?
* I would not have to “die daily to my old man” (1Cor. 15:31), if I were already in Christ… because my old man was already crucified with Him. (Rom. 6:6) True?
* I would not have to be formed into Christ’s Image (Rom. 8:29// Gal. 4:19// Col. 1:28,29), if I were already in Him because to be in Him means to be like Christ. True?
* I would not have to be “alway delivered unto death” for Jesus’ sake if I were already in Christ. (2Cor. 4:11) True?
* I would not have to be chastised or learn obedience to Him (Heb. 12:5-10; 5:9), if I were already in Christ for there is no disobedience or chastisement in Christ. True?
* I would not have to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14), if I were already in Christ. To be in Christ Jesus IS our high calling. True?
* I would not have to “do the Will of my Father” (Mt. 7:21), if I were already in Christ because to be in Christ IS the Will of Our Father. True?
* I would not have to “run the race set before me” (Heb. 12:1), if I were already in Christ because the race leads into Christ, and in Christ is its end. True?
* Christ would not have to “knock on my heart” and I would not have to “hear His voice” (Rev. 3:20), if I were already in Him. He would not have to knock on something, which is already in Him. True?
* I would have truly nothing to “overcome”, if I were already in Christ because to be in Christ means that I had already overcome! True? And so on… and so on…
* IF WE WERE TRULY IN CHRIST (IN OUR LIVING REALITY, NOT IN DOCTRINE ALONE), WE WOULD HAVE HIS CHARACTER. WE WOULD LOVE WHAT HE LOVES, HATE WHAT HE HATES AND WE WOULD LIVE HIS WORD.
VERIFY YOURSELVES IN THIS LIGHT AND SEE WHETHER YOU ARE TRULY LIVING IN CHRIST, AND TO WHAT DEGREE.
So, when you believe and come to Christ – you are NOT A NEW CREATURE YET! When you are baptized in water – you are NOT A NEW CREATURE YET! You will only receive the gift of His Spirit Who can THEN help you work out and attain what Our Heavenly Father has potentially given you in Christ – your NEW CREATURE! (Acts 2:38// Phil. 2:12; 3:14, etc.)
I beseech all ministers of the Word of God (including brother J.Swaggart) to ponder these spiritual facts in their hearts and allow the Spirit of the Lord to grant them the right faith about this important issue! The New Testament declares various conditions and the way how to obtain, experience and live everything what Our Father has prepared and given us in Christ Jesus and which is potentially ours!
Furthermore, had we been “new creatures” just by believing in Christ and being born-again, we could in no way lose our Salvation! Then we should cut out many verses of the Scripture, which I have already quoted at least twice, and discard them as if they were totally unimportant and invalid!
For those, that still cannot believe the above facts and cling to their old doctrines, I say the following. Most of the preaching and teaching and ministry that is being carried out in the Church of Jesus Christ especially in these last days before His Coming is clearly and predominantly a HUMANISTIC AND INTELLECTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF GOD AND OF HIS WORD AND OF HIS WAYS AND OF HIS JUDGMENTS!
This humanistic-intellectual understanding of God, of His Word, of His Ways and of His Judgments causes us to remain in our naivety about the true spiritual reality. It keeps us in a lazy, comfortable position with no responsibilities on us. It gives us a totally distorted picture of God, of His Truth and of our Salvation, and it comes from hell to deceive us. We need to be shocked out of our dreams and religious comfort and humanistic understanding. One such shock is also this:
GOD PUT INTO CHRIST THE NEW MAN FOR ALL PAGANS THAT WERE EVER BORN TO THIS WORLD! THEY ALL HAVE BEEN IN CHRIST TOGETHER WITH OUR NEW MAN! WILL YOU OPEN YOUR HEART TO THE LIVING WORD OF GOD?
Does this upset your beliefs and doctrines? If you can not believe this than tell me how else has God provided His Salvation for ALL MANKIND? (Jn. 3:16// Heb. 2:9, etc.) How else could Christ become a propitiation for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD? (1Jn. 2:2) Do you know?
Let us continue with the following statements…
EVERY MAN BORN TO THIS WORLD IS BORN AS A PAGAN AND MAY BECOME A BELIEVER LATER ON IN HIS LIFE.
EVERY MAN IN THIS WORLD HAS HIS NEW MAN, NEW AND HOLY CREATURE, WAITING FOR HIM IN CHRIST!
OUR NEW MAN WAS ALREADY IN CHRIST WHILE WE, BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS, WERE YET PAGANS, SINNERS AND ENEMIES OF CHRIST! (Rom. 5:8) TRUE? OR NOT?
When ANY man comes to Christ (Jn. 3:16!), he always comes as a PAGAN WHO BELIEVES! So, if that pagan was not IN Christ, he could not come to Him with any hope for his Salvation! Hence, the difference between believers and pagans is that believers believe in their heart and freely decide to receive what has always been POTENTIALLY THEIRS IN CHRIST since the beginning of this Creation. Pagans refuse it all!
Children are an exceptional case. When children, who have not reached the age of their accountability, die they are ready to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as they are (Mt.18:3) since they had no chance to know good and evil and thus to sin and repent. They do not need baptism to be saved since they had no chances to do anything for their Salvation; just as the criminal crucified with the Lord did not have any chance.
So, how can we conclude this issue to the satisfaction of the Lord and His Truth? Let us ponder the following.
WE ARE SLOWLY (Is. 28:10) GETTING INTO CHRIST (IF WE ARE) WHERE OUR FATHER HAD ALREADY PLACED US.
WE ARE SLOWLY STARTING TO DIE TO OUR OLD SELF LIFE (IF WE ARE), WHICH DEATH WAS ALREADY EXECUTED FOR US IN CHRIST BY OUR FATHER.
WE ARE SLOWLY STARTING TO LIVE ETERNAL LIFE (IF WE ARE), WHICH WAS ALREADY FULLY GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST BY OUR FATHER.
WE ARE SLOWLY STARTING TO SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS (IF WE ARE) WHERE WE WERE ALREADY SEATED BY THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF OUR FATHER! (Eph. 2:5,6// Rom. 8:29,30)
WE ARE SLOWLY WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION (IF WE ARE), WHICH WAS ALREADY FULLY EXECUTED FOR US IN CHRIST JESUS! (Phil. 2:12)
WE ARE IN CHRIST AND LIVE HIS LIFE ONLY TO THE DEGREE TO WHICH CHRIST LIVES IN OUR SOUL! (NOT ONLY IN OUR SPIRIT)
PAGANS ARE NOT DOING ANY OF THE ABOVE… NEITHER ARE CARNAL, INTELLECTUAL, SOULISH CHRISTIANS!
We are doing all of the above BY OUR FAITH AND WILL, by the desire of our own heart, by our obedience to the way prepared by Our Father and by the mighty power and strength of the Lord’s Spirit who was given to us for that main purpose. And if our willingness, desire of our heart and wilful obedience are not found in us, then we are not getting anywhere and we are not obtaining any of the potential of our Salvation; that is the real danger!
This is my faith about being IN Christ. It would be an extremely comfortable religion if all I had to do was to believe in Him and do nothing else. It would be squarely against all His Word! We are not saved by “dead faith” but by the works of faith, by a living action based on our faith. (Jam. 2:17-24// Rom. 10:9,10// Heb. chpt. 11) The Salvation of our soul is the “end of our faith”, and of our works of faith, not the “beginning of our faith”! (1Pet. 1:9// Phil. 2:12) And how many believers keep walking after their (religious) flesh and not after the Spirit? Are they IN Christ? NO! They are under a potential condemnation! God says so, not me. (Rom. 8:1) Believing in Christ does not make you walk after the Spirit and follow Christ! (Mt. 16:24// Jam. 2:19) You judge this in your own heart.
Furthermore, Christ is Holy, Sinless and there is no darkness in Him at all. (1Jn. 1:5) How can we be IN Christ when we are yet filthy, with powers of darkness ruling in our soul, with hearts full of hypocrisy, wickedness, pride, disobedience, arrogance, jealousy, envy, stubbornness, fears, etc.? Can anyone tell me? How can we be IN Christ with this kind of filthy soul and live and move in Him and not contaminate Him? I believe that His Spirit can come to us and dwell in our spirit without being contaminated by the filthiness in our soul – but not the reverse. In Christ we are already complete and circumcised so our body of sins is already put off. (Col. 2:10,11) This is my faith because this is the Word of God.
Would anyone of you put a rotten apple into your apple pie? I could not believe this. Our old man is rotten, how can you place him into Christ while he is still living and producing his rotten fruit in us? After you put him off and your New Man on (Eph. 4:22-24), THEN you can be IN Christ in your own experience. But I have no power to change your faith except share mine with you. So, LET YOUR POTENTIAL DESTINY BE ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH.
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I am at this point constrained by the Spirit of God to conclude this matter by declaring another important and also practical fact applicable to us all. We will never feel or believe or declare at any point in our future that “I am now perfect and thus ready to meet the Lord.” So, no matter how true all the above spiritual facts are, we will never be able to achieve them during our earthly life and pilgrimage in our conscience and understanding! Is it true?
The facts (in the above frame) tell us that we are slowly achieving all the potential, which Our Father has already given us. But in my honest opinion, we would need about one million years to live and get to the end of such a transforming, renewing and quickening road, if at all. How then shall we ever meet the Lord after our meagre struggle of a few years? How shall we ever become acceptable to Him?
I greatly praise the Lord for His Grace and Wisdom. The Spirit of the Lord leads us into another truth at this place, which should bring us a very needful comfort and light in the question pondered above. Namely, that…
ONCE WE ARE FOUND ON THE NARROW WAY, ONCE OUR HEART IS PROVED “PERFECT” (see again pp. 21,22), WE ARE ACCEPTABLE TO MEET THE LORD AND BE WITH HIM FOR EVER.
WE DO NOT HAVE TO FINISH OUR “PERFECTION” ON EARTH TO OUR SATISFACTION BUT TO HIS SATISFACTION, NOT ALONG OUR WAY BUT HIS WAY OF UNDERSTANDING AND PROVING OUR HEART, OUR LOVE AND DEVOTION TO HIM.
To be “found on the narrow way” also means to be “found working in HIS vineyard”, not in OURS. Please, read and understand in your heart the whole Word in Mt. 20:1-16.Furthermore, it means to be “found in the boat rowing against the wind” (Mt. 14:22-25) where the wind means spiritual pressures, and the rowing means conflicts, battles, works of faith. Once the Lord enters “our boat”, we shall immediately be in the land where we are going – the Kingdom of Heaven (Jn. 6:21), we shall know Him (Mk. 6:54) and shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. (1Jn. 3:2) Let us not forget that we will have another thousand years to complete our perfection at the Lord’s side before entering (or becoming) New Jerusalem. Even His disciples who, when the Lord entered their boat, had their hearts still hardened. (Mk. 6:50-52) Also in our earthly marriages, man may marry a “perfect” woman only to find out later on that his assessment was slightly defective. (Of course, the same applies to women.) But then, both have many years to improve their imperfection to a mutual satisfaction. Is this true? Or do you doubt it?
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Before I abandon this point, I want to return for a brief moment to the word “slowly”, which I used liberally in the above declarations.
It may seem strange to many believers that we must go on slowly and seemingly forever and the road never seems to end no matter how hard we walk or press forward. Yet, the “mystery” may not be complicated at all. It can also be seen in our physical and mental nature. After we are born, we need years to “slowly” learn, acquire knowledge and experiences and the tools for our chosen profession. We do not become an engineer, doctor or a scientist in one “big bang”, but after years of hard studies and much effort.
In my understanding, it is all a matter of our CAPACITY. We do not acquire our capacity at our birth nor do we inherit it. We may inherit some talents. Our capacity to acquire knowledge, skills, experience and other needful things in our life grows with our own efforts. True? Why can’t we then see it in our spiritual life?
Our SPIRITUAL CAPACITY after our Redemption is next to zero! And unless we keep increasing it through works of our faith, we shall never have sufficient capacity to acquire spiritual knowledge, to battle or occupy spiritual territory or to gain spiritual benefits and blessings and keep them. Our faith at our beginnings is also much, much smaller than the mustard seed (Mt. 17:20) and it also needs to grow and become stronger.
The above is also the reason why the Church is unable to occupy the Lord’s (spiritual) territory or property even in this world because it has precious little spiritual capacity. The Church is full of spiritual babies desiring to play in their “religious sandbox” and not to battle anything. Believers try to avoid anything where the Lord would put them through demanding tasks or experiences. Especially in these last times, there exists an enormous spiritual immaturity and childishness and thus lack of spiritual capacity in the Church of Jesus Christ. (1Cor. 3:1-3// Heb. 5:12-14, etc.) Very few believers have a strong spirit or steady devotion, PERSISTENCE or PERSEVERANCE to keep going on through sunshine and storms and not to quit at the first sign of trouble or danger.
Israel had to conquer their Promised Land “little by little” as the Lord promised them and as their capacity to occupy increased sufficiently for another conquest. (Ex. 23: 29,30// Deut. 7:22// Is. 28:9,10) Therefore, believers who never fought spiritual forces of darkness and evil have no capacity for such battles and can not retain territories in their soul, which may have been evacuated by those forces. You see, those forces of wickedness will always try to come back and reclaim what they lost! If you do not believe, try it. I saw many believers lose what they received from God. But once we develop a “fighting spirit” and become angry at the evil powers, the Lord will lead us to battle and build within us the capacity to occupy His property in our soul, our house, our fellowship, our nation. (Lk. 19:13,17// 1Cor. 1:27)
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To be continued next week in part 7
brother Hanola
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