For you are not under law but under grace, what does it mean? Are good works bad? What Does it Mean to be Justified? Part 2

By John Foll, written 04/04/2019 to 04/05/2019, 4/12/2019 – 4/13/2019, 9/21/2019- 9/26/2019.
© Copyright 2019 John Foll

If you have not read our first article in this series: “What Does it Mean to Be Justified? Part 1”, we recommend that you read it first before reading this article.

To recap what we learned from Part 1:

For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

The just man is the one who does the law.

To be just means to be righteous.

The just or righteous person does the law.

Therefore to justify someone is to make them a doer of the law.

Therefore to justify someone is to make them righteous.

But who is the one who justifies a person to make them a doer of the law? Is it those who try really hard to obey? Or is it God alone? No it cannot be the ones who just try really hard to obey God, who haven’t given themselves to Him all the way yet and let His Spirit fill them, who are the ones who can obey Him! Because we discovered in Part 1, God is the only one who can make us righteous, because there is no one who is good but God alone. Matthew 19:16, Mark 10:18. So if you want to be good, you must get help from God to do so!

And as we discovered in Part 1:
Those who have faith in God will be made righteous by Him.

In Part 1 we pulled in Galatians 2:16, because it appeared by some to contradict Romans 2:13.

“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.

We have already addressed this apparent issue in Part 1, but we need to address other issues that may have arisen in your mind regarding this passage.

The thought that many have is that since ‘by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified,’ then it must follow that doing good works is bad. We want to see if it is really true that doing good works is bad or not, and if God still expects us to obey Him (if we are under grace and not under the Law). We want to find out if bad is really good and good is bad, which is the natural conclusion of what some people teach. Whether bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. Isaiah 5:20. Is this really true? Keep reading and find out.

So we will continue our topic of what it means when God justifies us – of being justified – of being made a doer of the law. In this article we will focus on some of the counter ideas which many teach that contradict the Bible.

Are “good works” really bad?

The belief that good works are bad is contradicted by Paul who declared that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 NASB. If God is working in you to will and to do His good pleasure, then these good works are acceptable to Him. Philippians 2:13. Notice that Paul said that ‘God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ What is he talking about here? God has prepared ahead of time that we should walk in good works. This really goes against what many people are teaching nowadays! How can it be that all good works are bad, if God prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them? This contradicts what many believe doesn’t it? God prepared beforehand a way that you and I can have good works! How did God prepare ahead of time? By Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins – to make atonement for them, and by providing the Holy Spirit to write His Law of love in our heart and help us obey Him. John 3:3,5,16-17;  2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Romans 5:8-11; 1 John 2:1-2; 4:10; Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 11:18-20; 36:25-30; Deuteronomy Acts 2; and Joel 2; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:37-39; John 7:37-39; Matthew 22:35-40.

Are we to continue in sin so that grace may more abound?

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:1-14 NASB.

Let us review again what brother Paul declared above: Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

Are we to continue in sin so that grace may more abound? God forbid! May it NEVER BE! Many people miss this point and simply pick up part of the phrase after it: “you are not under law but under grace,” while ignoring the rest of this passage - which contradicts their view. Let us not take Paul out of context here. Paul continues: If you died with Jesus (i.e. if you were buried with Him in baptism) and were resurrected with Him - your old self should have been crucified with Him, and you should have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life – this should have made you free. Dear reader, are you free? Have you died with Christ in the likeness of His death? Have you been resurrected with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, walking in the newness of life yet? If you have, you should not be a slave to sin anymore, and you should have the power to be a better, kinder and gentler person; you should be walking in newness of life. Are you walking in newness of life now? Are you dead to sin yet? If you have died to sin you will be freed from the slavery of sin, or else you have not fully died with Jesus yet. If you have died to sin, the body of your sin has been done away with as Paul declared.

If you have died to sin, you will have been raised up in the likeness of Jesus’ resurrection to walk in newness of life, as Paul declared.
Yes, we repeated it again, because we want you to get it.

What did Paul really mean when he said that ‘you are not under law but under grace?’

If the idea that ‘you are not under law but under grace’ means that you do not need to obey God, then why is it that Paul stated ‘for sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace?’ This indicates that if you are under grace, sin shall not be master over you! Don’t miss this point! To ignore this is to not understand what Paul wrote. ‘Why did Paul write: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness’? The idea that some have is that since we are not under the law but under grace that this means we don’t need to obey God. This contradicts what Paul wrote. He said no such thing. Paul clearly states that we are not to let sin reign in our bodies, i.e. we are not to give ourself over to sin, or be caught up in repeated sinful addictions. If you are under grace, sin will not have the mastery over you. Paul does not mean that you are free from the need to obey the Law, ‘for the Law is good’ (1 Timothy 1:8 NASB), for you were created in Christ Jesus for good works! Ephesians 2:10.

So we see here that there is another meaning to being ‘under grace’. We learned from Paul above that God’s grace is not only forgiveness for your sins that you do not deserve. But we also learned from Paul above that:

If you choose to be ‘under grace’ (from God), sin will not have the mastery over you.

If you choose to be ‘under grace’ (from God), you will not have sinful addictions that you cannot break by His power.

If you choose to be ‘under God’s grace’, God will free you from sin and addictions.

Those who are not under grace or do not have the power of the Holy Spirit fully in their life cannot have true self-control over every aspect of their life, and will eventually be caught up in sin or addictions of some kind.

But Grace is both the power and the forgiveness of God! Note what Paul declared here: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 KJV. Now what is the gospel of Christ? It is the ‘power of God unto salvation’. To whom is this salvation given? ‘To every one that believeth’. Who else? No one else. The gospel of Christ is only the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. It is for no one else. Now what is salvation? Salvation is to be saved from sin. In a prophecy given by the angel of the Lord about Jesus in a dream to Joseph (Mary’s husband) he said, “And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 KJV. Jesus’ mission was and is to save ‘his people from their sins’, as the angel of the Lord plainly declared. And the apostle John plainly declared: “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8 KJV. From this we get that Jesus’ mission was to destroy the works of the devil, which is sin. And John the Baptist also declared: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29 KJV. Now what does this mean: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? It means that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world like John plainly declared! Amen! Hallelujah! Jesus came to take away your sins in the past and in the present by forgiveness, and to take away your sins in the future, if you let Him, by helping you to overcome. John 16:33; 1 John 4:4; 5:4; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7. Jesus came for this purpose – ‘to take away the sins of the world’ – literally! (For those who let Him.) He came to destroy the works of the devil which is sin. Amen! Hallelujah! Amen!

Without yielding to and obeying the Holy Spirit, no one can have complete self-control over every bad thought, word and deed in their life. Thus it is necessary for those wanting to be saved to keep their heart humble and contrite before God. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 RSV. Those who have not kept humbling themselves before God, kept confessing their sins to Him (1 John 1:9), or are living a careless life of indifference to His requirements, or trying to be good by themselves, have not died with Jesus in His death and have not been raised with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. They will not stay under grace or be under grace unless they repent. Those who don’t repent will come under the curse of the law, which is the penalty of death. But “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us -- for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’ -- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:13-14 NASB. The law condemns sin, but Jesus came to free you from your shackles to it.

What does the phrase ‘you are not under law but under grace’ mean?

That is the question. Some people have taught that all people will be saved, since we are now ‘under grace’. By this it is implied that all people good or bad after Jesus’ death will be saved automatically. This is universalism. Others teach that once we have our initial conversion and are baptized - from then on we are under grace. This is once-saved-always-saved. Then they teach that from then on we will remain ‘under grace’, implying that there is no more need of confession, humbling our heart before God, giving our heart to Him again every day, dying daily to sin (1 Corinthians 15:31), or for repentance - that we are automatically saved after this – regardless. There are a surprising number of people who believe one or the other of these two propositions or something suspiciously close to it. (They may deny it if you ask them whether they believe this.)

We learned from Galatians 3:13 above that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. What is the curse of the law? Death. Paul declares: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 KJV. When do we come under the curse or the penalty of the law? Do we come under the curse of the law: 1) every time we sin, 2) every time we sin before we gave our heart to the Lord and were baptized but after that never again, or 3) never since everyone is under grace, because of Jesus death on the cross?

3) Do we come under the curse of the law anymore since everyone is under grace?
This is Universalism. This belief ultimately leads to the idea that there is no more sin, since Jesus died on the cross for us over 2000 years ago. Or it leads people to think that God is giving people a free pass on sin - that all will be saved whether they asked God for mercy and repented or not. (Because some say that we are now under grace.) This contradicts the Bible in too many places to mention. If there were no more sin and wrong or if everyone was given a free pass on sin, there would be no point in worrying about whether we are doing what is right or not. Are people still locked up in prison in our day for murder, theft and other crimes? Yes. Then sin and wrong are still with us in this world today. Are there still wars and atrocities being committed in various parts of the world? Yes. Then sin and wrong are still with us in this world today. Where would be the justice if the governments of this world held their citizens to a higher standard than God does? How could anybody believe that God will save everyone when there is so much sin and wrong in this world? Therefore the law still condemns all sin and wrong in the world, because God’s standard is infinitely higher than man’s.

2) Do we come under the curse of the law only when we sinned before we gave our heart to the Lord, but never again afterwards?

This leads to the two extreme ideas that Christians can no longer sin or that God now gives Christians a free pass on sin after they give their heart to Him.

Are Christians sinless after they give their heart to the Lord and are baptized? No! There have been “Christians” in jail or on death row for their crimes and some have turned their back on God and never returned to Him. The apostle John declares: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 KJV. So Christians are not without sin. If Christians are not without sin, then they will come under the law again after they sin, until they confess to God and repent again.

Do Christians get a free pass on sin after they give their heart to the Lord? No. If someone believes this they can stop trying to do the right thing and wait until the judgement comes, to see if God really gives them a free pass on sin or not... But this is a dangerous thing to do! This is once-saved-always-saved.

1) Do we come under the curse of the law every time we sin?
Yes - we come under the penalty of death every time we sin, because the law condemns sin! Every time you sin you come under the curse of the law again, unless you are forgiven by God. The law makes no distinction whether someone professes to be a Christian or not. Because ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23) and because sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4 KJV), it is plain enough that whether someone claims to be a Christian or not, if they sin, they earn the wages of sin whenever they break God’s law. This is because sin is the transgression of the law and the law condemns sin, not just for the unbeliever. The governments of this world don’t give their citizens a free pass on breaking their laws, so why would God give them a pass on sin? Much of what is written in the Bible would make no sense, if someone didn’t have to be concerned about going back to their old ways once they became a Christian.

You earn the wages of sin whenever you sin.

That is why it is a wage, because you earn it or deserve it. Whenever you sin you earn death. But the gift of God is eternal life.

Can Christians fall from grace after they give their heart to the Lord and are baptized?

Yes. We know that there are some who teach that after we give our heart to the Lord, that we can’t be lost afterwards because God is so strong – but this removes our power of choice. A related question is: Can someone stop believing in Jesus after they give their heart to Him? There are those who strongly assert that you can know if you are saved and that you cannot lose your salvation once you get it. But if you bring up the fact that there are Christians who have done very bad things or completely walked away from their faith - they will admit this can happen, but quickly add that those people who did that were never really saved. This leads to the question: How can someone know if they are saved, since a Christian can leave their faith never to return? (By their own admission.) Using their logic, the only way that someone could know for sure if they are saved or not is when they enter the kingdom of Heaven. But this contradicts their first proposition that someone can know if they are saved! This robs people of the comforting personal assurance of their salvation that God wants to give them. Did any of the people who left the church believe that they were saved? We think that many of them did. And did any of these people who left the church, who thought that they were saved, also believe in once-saved-always-saved? Yes, we think so. It’s hard to believe that none of the people who back slid from God, who were a Christian at one time, never had the belief that they were being saved before they back slid. So if someone believes in once-saved-always-saved, then they really hold a confusing belief, if they really think about it, - that they really don’t know if they are saved or not. Or they simply believe that they are saved, but this may not in fact be the case, since some Christians have left the faith (by their own admission meaning that they were never saved). They are not on the solid ground that they think they are on, and hold contradictory beliefs. This leads us to the question:

Can a Christian backslide from the truth and leave God?

The very term “back slider” indicates that someone fell from the truth or the faith! How could they backslide from the truth or the faith if they never had it? Doesn’t make sense. You can’t lose what you don’t have! There are examples of people in the Bible who were doing what was right, who later turned their back on God. And we have read about and have known some people who had a walk with Jesus, who backslid from the faith. We know without a doubt that at least one of them had the Holy Spirit in full! We can tell that by their writings – their writings were so wonderful and full of beautiful truth that touched our soul and many other people! But something terrible happened to them (persecution) and they fell and as far as we know they never returned to God before they died – only God knows. The writings they wrote before they fell had a profound effect on me! They helped me give my heart to God all-the-way and get the Holy Spirit! What? How could someone who was never really converted or saved help me or anyone else get the Holy Spirit? Spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV) – it is impossible for an unconverted person to impart the Holy Spirit to anyone else – they can’t give what they don’t have. Jeremiah 2:13; Matthew 13:12; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 1:12. To say that all of these people who left the faith never had a relationship with Jesus and were never saved is ridiculous and untrue. And we gave you our testimony of some people who were saved, who were most likely lost later.

There were times in my own life after my baptism as a boy, where I was doing my own thing and not living right all the way, and was drifting from God. But God brought me back. I know that I had a choice to repent and do what God was asking me to do, or go my own way. No one can convince me that I had no choice in repenting from my sins and asking God to help me be good again. That was my choice. God never forced me to return to Him, but He did not give up on me either. But He worked on my heart, and I wanted to be forgiven, and He changed my life again. God will not remove your choice either as long as you live: whether you are good or bad, righteous or wicked, young or old. The only one who can take your salvation away from you is yourself by your choice. But not choosing is also a choice.

Formula: Believe in Jesus = being saved

What does John 3:16 say? “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.” John 3:16 KJV.

1) Do you believe that Jesus can save you? Have you asked Him to save you?
2) Do you still believe (after many years since you were baptized) whether Jesus can save you? Have you asked Him to save you?
Yes. Then you are being saved right now!
See how easy it is to know for sure if you are being saved right now?

The soul that sinneth it shall die. The only way you can have eternal life is if your sin is taken away. Jesus has to die for your sins and you must accept His death for your sins. God declared, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4 KJV.

The formula is: Soul sins = soul dies: (Or Jesus death must be substituted by faith for the life of the sinner.)

If you stop believing that Jesus and His Father can save you from your sins, then you are no longer saved, unless you believe again and repent. This is because your salvation is conditional on believing whether Jesus can save you or not. John 3:16. God never removes your power of choice. It will always be your choice. If you do not want to be saved you will not be saved or go to Heaven – it is as simple as that. God will not make you be saved. If God removed your power of choice at any time, that would be unfair; that would not be real love. Real love depends on a mutual exchange of love and affection; the choice to love the other by both parties involved. Real love is only based on choice. When choice is removed, there can be no more love. 1^st John 4:8 says that God is love. God would never remove your power of choice, no never! He holds this sacred. Your salvation depends on whether you believe and continue to believe in Jesus. But Christ is well able to help you to continue to believe in Him so as to be saved. Philippians 4:13. You still have the power of choice. But as to why someone would choose to be lost after they gave their heart to God all the way, we cannot tell. It is a mystery that cannot be really understood.

Romans 6 Revisited and Expanded

The remedy for the curse of the law must be applied every time you fall. It will help you to read more of our passage from Romans 6 to get the full meaning: “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:20-23 KJV. When someone sins they need to confess, repent and forsake their sins again – because Jesus wants to make them free from sin, become a servant of God and have the fruit of holiness in their life – which leads to everlasting life. Jesus was your sin offering. He became sin in order to take away your sins. The curse of the Law is the penalty of breaking it – the wages of sin is death. Jesus wants to remove the curse of the Law by removing your sin, and by forgiving you, and helping you to overcome temptation, if you will allow Him to do this for you. Therefore Jesus came to free you from sin and from the transgression of the Law. Are you a servant of righteousness or free from righteousness? Are you a servant of sin or a servant of righteousness? Do you have the fruit of holiness in your life?

If you let Jesus make you free, you shall be free indeed.

Jesus Himself plainly declared, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 KJV. This is freedom! Jesus gives freedom to the believer who wants to be truly free, who hungers and thirsts after His righteousness, they are no longer a slave to sin when He frees them. How do we know that Jesus didn’t mean that we were free to keep sinning, no worries, and that we don’t need to be freed from sin? Because He also declared just before this: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.’ John 8:34-36 KJV. So those who are in bondage to sin and addictions are NOT free. It is impossible for someone to be freed by Jesus and be in bondage to sin at the same time! There are only two choices here: 1) To be a servant or a slave of sin, or 2) To be made free by Jesus – free indeed – not a slave of sin anymore.

Dear reader are you still a slave to sin?

Jesus came to free you from this slavery and bondage of sin. He came to free you from the lusts of the flesh and slavery and help you to obey Him! Do you long to be free and want to be free? It is yours if you want it! You will be so happy if you make this choice for yourself, Jesus will take away all of your shame, and you will be able to look yourself in the mirror again and be happy that He loves you and died to save you and is saving you! You have been freed by what Jesus already did for you at the cross. It is only a matter for you to claim this freedom that Jesus bought for you, if you would have it. Jesus didn’t just die to save you so that you can go to Heaven and live forever, He also died to save you now, so that you can be happy and have all of your guilt gone, buried in the depths of the sea, never to be remembered anymore. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 KJV. Is that what you want? To be free, guilt free? It is yours, Jesus bought it for you and wants to give it to you! So take it up! And take up the joy and peace of your salvation! Amen.

There is no reason for you to go around anymore with guilt, or to be a slave to sin or bad habits anymore, because Jesus came to make you free.

Do you believe that Jesus can make you free indeed like He promised?

Free from all sinful habits and addictions? Do you believe that He has the power to do this? Do you believe that all power was given to Jesus in Heaven and on Earth like He declared in Matthew 28:18? Do you believe that it follows that justifying someone makes them just (or righteous), which makes them a doer of the law? Do you believe that Jesus can make you righteous and a doer of the Law? Or do you think there is no help for you while you are living on this earth, and that Jesus can’t help you and that you are bound to an endless round of sinning and addictions? Do you believe that Paul taught that you were created in Christ Jesus for good works, ‘so that you would no longer be a slave to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin’? We hope so, because this is the blessed truth of the Gospel! This is our prayer for you. The other teachings that contradict this are ‘another Gospel’ and an anathema to the true believer.

Jesus came to free you from the guilt and shame of sin. It is your destiny, so take it up, and take up the joy of your salvation! It is yours to take up because Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Let Him have all of your sins, let Him take them all away and make you free indeed! What need do you have of any of these sins? Why not let Him take them all away from you?

To sum it all up:

Good works are not bad, and bad works are not good. You earn the wages of sin which is death whenever you sin, not just when you sinned before you gave your heart to the Lord. You come under the law whenever you sin, but under grace whenever you have received Jesus’ forgiveness. After you give your heart to the Lord, you must continue to humble your heart before Him, continue to confess your sins to Him and continue to give your heart to Him each day, dying daily to self. You must continue to believe that only Jesus and His Father can save you; you must continue to want their forgiveness and the eternal life that They want to give you, if you wish to be saved. When you are under grace you will allow Him to change you and help you to be good. God ordained ahead of time that you should walk in the path of good works, for you were created in Christ Jesus for good works. If you died with Jesus in the likeness of His death and were raised up with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, sin should not have the mastery over you; you should not be in bondage to sin anymore, because Jesus came to free you from that; He came to free you from sin and the transgression of His law of love. Are you under grace? Then sin will not have the mastery over you. If you have the forgiveness of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in your heart all-the-way, sin will not have the mastery over you. Are you a servant of righteousness or free from righteousness? Are you a servant of righteousness or a servant of sin? Do you have the fruit of holiness in your life? All who are justified by Jesus are made righteous by Him and will be righteous, as long as they allow Him to justify them; as long as they allow Him to make them righteous! Wow! This is intense! Wow! This is powerful! All those who are justified by Jesus have been freed by Him from their slavery to sin and gladly obey Him. They have died with Him and have been raised up with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, to walk with Him in newness of life. They don’t come under the curse of the law, which is its condemnation of death, because He has forgiven them and is helping them to keep His law of love. And if they sin they confess it and give themselves back to Him again. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1 KJV.

May the grace of God be with you all! May you be justified by Jesus’ blood; may you allow Him to make you righteous! May you have and do good works for Him. May His name be forever praised! Amen.

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow!

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow!

Amen!

* From the Hymn: Jesus Paid it All, by Elvina M. Hall.

Listen to this hymn on YouTube.

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Abraham's Promised Possession Could Only Come Through the Resurrection Part 2

By John Foll, written between 8/11/2017 and 8/13/2017, 9/14/2018 - 9/25/2018.
© Copyright 2018 John Foll

List of Articles

If you have not read Part 1, we recommend that you read it first: Abraham's Promised Possession Could Only Come Through the Resurrection Part 1

God’s Conditions for the Everlasting Possession:

After the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, after many of them lost faith in God and rebelled against Him. See Hebrews 3:5-19, and see the book of Numbers, starting with Numbers 14:20-35, and onward throughout the end of the book. Then they came into the Promised Land. See the book of Joshua for this. But they lost a lot of their promised possession after the days of David and Solomon, when the Israelite kingdom was at its peak, power and size. They were not able to get or continue to keep all of their inheritance after they came into the Promised Land, because of lack of faith, fear, and slackness at times to do what God had commanded them to do, in conquering the land that was given to them, and repeated infidelity to God. After Solomon died, because of Solomon’s sins and the sins of his wives sacrificing to the pagan gods, Israel was split into two different kingdoms, with * 9 ½ tribes going to Israel and 2 ½ tribes going to Judah. See 1 Kings 11:29-39; 2:1-17. Then later these tribes left God, never to return again as a whole back to Him, and many of them lost their national and religious identity as Israelites, and served other gods and idols! In the Old Testament, these 9 or 10 lost tribes are generally referred to as ‘Ephraim.’ But Ephraim was actually a tribe itself, the largest tribe of Israel, who defected from God as a tribe, along with the 8 other tribes. And since then, the remaining tribes of the children of Israel have lost even more of their inheritance, until we get to our day. Throughout their history as God’s chosen people, there was almost a constant round of backsliding by them, then God would raise up someone to help save them and help them to return to Him, then later they would backslide again. But this constant round of backsliding also describes much of the history of Christianity as well. This is human nature at its best, when they don’t continue to put their trust in God all-the-way. That is why Isaiah later declared that ‘all we like sheep have gone astray,’ because humanity is prone to wander from God. Isaiah 53:6 KJV.

* We say 9 ½ tribes instead of 10, because part or all of the tribe of Benjamin returned back to God we believe. See 2 Chronicles 15:1-7, where God uses the phrase king ‘Asa, all Judah and Benjamin.’ And there is other evidence as well. Note that Paul himself was of the tribe of Benjamin. Philippians 3:5. And though the Levites were scattered throughout Israel, many of them were in Judah and its surrounds because of their service to the temple, for the sacrifices for sin, and we also believe that some of them left the areas where the 9 ½ tribes were, to return back to Israel. See also 2 Chronicles 15:8-9 too. In that text part of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon returned as well.

So we see that the ‘everlasting possession,’ promised to Abraham, is held on the condition of obedience to God. This concept that God’s best blessings are given only to the faithful, can be illustrated by the fifth commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12 KJV. This commandment can also be worded as: ‘Obey and love and cherish your father and your mother, that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God gives you.’ What does this have to do with the everlasting possession? We think that when the children of Israel were departing from God, that they were rebelling against the teachings of their parents. We think that a lot, if not all of the ills in this world can be linked to people not obeying their parents, ‘in the Lord’. Obviously if the parents are teaching something wrong, their children should not heed these teachings, but they should still respect them and heed what they were taught that was right. This commandment declares that those who want to live forever must love and obey and respect their parents. Thus obedience is linked to eternal life. So obedience is linked to ‘the everlasting possession’ that God had promised Abraham.

Not convinced yet that obedience to God is linked to ‘the everlasting possession’ that God promised Abraham? Note what Moses told the children of Israel, in his final message to them before he died: * “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.” Deuteronomy 28:1-10 NASB.

Now when could this promise that Moses gave to them from God have been fully fulfilled in the Israelite kingdom? If you study their history, you will never see all of them being faithful to God or for very long, just like Christians for a very long time have had a problem with their faithfulness to God too, with round after round of backsliding in many of the ages past. And there is so much infidelity and backsliding in our day as well! So the children of Israel did not have all of these blessings, or for very long. So you will never find a place in time where this promise, which was given to the Israelites by God through Moses, has fully taken place or fully happened yet, or for very long! Why haven’t these promised blessings by Moses fully taken place yet? See Deuteronomy 28:15-68. This is a very long list of curses for disobeying God, and we don’t wish to list them all here, but if you read it you will see. To summarize it, God’s best continued full blessings are given on the condition of continual obedience to Him. All of the above blessings in Deuteronomy 28:1-10 were removed when they disobeyed God and didn’t repent and return to Him fully. This is what happened, unfortunately. So we think that it is clear that God’s promise to Abraham and to His children has not been totally fulfilled yet at any point, since ‘the everlasting possession’ must be everlasting, and because only those faithful to God can have it forever. We see here that the promised blessings of God, including the ‘everlasting possession’ that was promised to faithful Abraham, can only be had and kept by obedience to God. For these blessings to be everlasting, there must be and everlasting obedience to God.

Now to explore this concept more fully, especially note what Moses declared in our above passage of Deuteronomy 28:1-10: “and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.” Take this with the beginning of this passage: ““Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God.” Also especially note: When Moses gave this last message to the Israelites, it was just before they went into the Promised Land to receive their inheritance, that God had promised Abraham! Do you see here that their ability of living in the land of their ‘everlasting possession’ was granted, if they wanted to obey Him? Can there be any doubt here? Also note here that God’s word was that His people, if they obeyed Him would be a holy people for Himself. When has this ever fully happened? And it says quite clearly here, that the only way that God’s people can be holy, is if they obey Him! Those who don’t want to obey God should not expect to have an ‘everlasting possession’, which is eternal life in Heaven and on the earth made new. We believe that this promise of God’s people becoming holy would start to be fulfilled when John the Baptist, Jesus and His disciples began to preach the word, with great power, but this will not be complete until Heaven.

* Note: For all who believe that the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament are only for the Israelites or the Jews: They should not be able to argue here that the Israelites or the Jews were not to keep and obey all of God’s commandments. Moses clearly told them that the blessings of their possessions and life in the land of Canaan were dependent on their obedience to God. Thus for the children of Israel to hang on to their ‘everlasting possession,’ that God had promised Abraham, they had to obey God. But it is a grave mistake for anyone to believe that God doesn’t want Christians to obey Him too! Or for anyone to believe that they can be saved, who knowingly or willingly disobey God. Or for anyone to think that they can be saved without confession and repentance. But there is forgiveness and mercy and help for all who want it, so there is no reason for anyone to be disobedient to God or to be lost. Because God has made a provision for everyone, through the forgiveness of sins and through the power of the Holy Spirit – through the power of a changed life that He will give to all who really want it.

To Be Continued…

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Blog Edited by John Foll.

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From the Editor: “The Everlasting Covenant” has had a very great impact on my life! These articles, with its stories from the Bible, led me to fall in love with God, there is no other way of putting it. The thing I was needing the most in my life was given to me after I learned how much He loved me in “The Everlasting Covenant” by E. J. Waggoner.

It is my prayer, dear reader, that God will richly bless you, as you learn more and more about His great love for you as presented by E. J. Waggoner in “The Everlasting Covenant”, as we continue to present more articles from it.

May the grace of God, and the priceless, precious fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, as you go down this journey of falling totally in love with God! Riches beyond measure await you, if you will just get to know Him and His great love for you!

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Watchword:

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.'” John 14:23 NASB.

 

White Raiment Evangelism Revelation 3:18:

In Revelation 3:18 Jesus said, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, and white raiment, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and that thou mayest see." (Paraphrase of the KJV.)


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