But, what is our hope? Is it the fix of these old bodies? Or, is it the new body? What is the manner of our deliverance according to our apostle in this age of grace? Will we be delivered from the suffering situations in our lives by the preacher on TV? Is our hope the removal of the suffering circumstances we believers and unbelievers alike face from time to time? Are we delivered from our suffering circumstances based upon the number of people praying for that deliverance? Are we being delivered from the suffering circumstances to which we’ve been subjected such that God will allow us to see our deliverance and tell those around us that we’ve just witnessed a God-thing? Is our deliverance the repair and the escape of the problems of the old or is it the hope of the new? When we get our new bodies, we’ll be delivered from the suffering circumstances that adversely affect this old tent in which we must dwell until we die or we meet Jesus in the air occurs,whichever is first.
Paul tells us the body God has in store for each of us believers is a body that will be fashioned like unto the Savior's glorious body. It isn’t the deliverance of the old, it’s the hope of the new today. And all the while, we’re seeking deliverance from the suffering circumstances we face and we’re seeking it all the time. We want a deliverance that we can see. Our apostle, our pattern, prayed three times for a deliverance that God would allow him to see, to witness. There has been much speculation among theologians as to the manner of the affliction from which Paul suffered, but it really doesn’t make a difference. God’s answer to Paul is much more important for us to understand than the nature of Paul’s affliction. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Does God have a particular direction he wants every believer to somehow discover when it comers to every detail and every area of direction that believer might take? Or, does God want believers to apply Scripture where Scripture can be applied and where no Scriptural principle can be applied, to make the choices that they desire and then take responsibility for choices they made? God isn’t saying choose A, choose A, but you’ll first have to discover that choice A is the choice that I want you to make before you choose it. God isn’t saying pray and I’ll give you a feeling of peace, or watch closely and I’ll provide you a sign so that you can make my choice your choice. That’s how people are operating with God today. God can work through any choice a believer makes, the choice is theirs. God is not micro-managing believer’s lives today.
Place your faith in Jesus’ faithfulness and that alone. Any kind of works at all, even if they appear to be good works in your mind, that are done for the purpose attaining salvation or for the purpose of maintaining salvation or for the purpose of proving one’s salvation is a slap in the face of God who had to provide the gift of salvation, because people’s righteousness would be totally incapable of meriting it. Israel had a problem when it came to learning the lesson of their inability and the futility to gain righteousness through performance, and this needs to be perfectly clear in people’s minds lest they fall into the trap that many have fallen into today. God completely took works out of the equation when it came to gaining or maintaining salvation.
Some people are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they fear learning. Knowledge of the truth may cause them to have to change the truth they’ve been standing on for who knows how long, and that’s frightening thing for lot of people. It is much easier for many people to avoid learning then change in mid-stream. Paul’s message is unique and distinct from the message of Jesus and the 12. What traditions of the human race must be left behind in order to take the doctrine of Paul seriously. Pride will not let people swallow their own pill. What does it mean to die in your sins? It means to die with your identity in Adam number one, the Adam in rebellion; to die with that identification intact. Reconciliation and Sanctification, two different judicial transactions. God reconciled the entire world; believers and non-believers alike to himself through the blood of the second Adam. Now, a person needs to be placed into God’s son, so that they can have his son’s righteousness attributed freely to their account.
Good or bad has to do with being useful or worthless for reward. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul’s not talking about good and bad in the sense of judgment of moral goodness or moral badness, he’s talking about usefulness or uselessness when it comes to reward at the judgment seat of the Savior. Paul’s ministry was distinct, because Paul was the head architect for the age of grace for the building called the body of the Savior. The judgment seat of the Savior has to do with the building project. You as member of the body of the Savior are co-labours with God in the building project. The blueprint for the proper construction of this building has been given to the apostle Paul for the work crew of which you are apart, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Whenever you see that word labour or work in Paul’s epistles, they are always in direct connection to the judgment seat of the Savior.
The maturity of the believer is what the evaluation at the judgment seat of the Savior is all about. Three evaluation issues at the judgment seat of the Savior when it comes to your reward worthiness or not being worthy of reward; work of faith, labour of love and patience of hope. The believers effort in those three areas will be scrutinized. Most people think salvation is the end result, but salvation is the starting point. Paul was given the blueprints for the building. Most are still trying to operate with the blueprints of another program. God committed unto Paul the responsibility to lay the blueprint on the table before the work crew, so we might build in a manner worthy of reward.
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