Religion's Message

When Paul talks about a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new, he is not talking about sin in an individual’s life, he is talking about all that they once were in Adam prior to salvation.

Paul was sent with a brand new message, and Paul would not to have wanted us to mix the message of the 12 Apostles in regard to God’s program to and with the nation Israel, with the message specifically given him for the Gentiles.

Tragically, most bible teaching pastors will tell us Paul was simply preaching what the 12 Apostles before him had been preaching. There is no more powerful message than that God was using what Christ’s death accomplished for the sins of the entire world as his criteria to no longer impute sins to the world.

Sin is no longer the issue, but many think sin is the issue, so they are looking for ways to keep short accounts. Many people involved in religion's domain are dealing with God on the basis of probation, rather than salvation. Then God must make a decision in their minds, whether or not to save that individual.

Those who fail to appreciate what God accomplished set the idea that new sin requires a new forgiveness. If they will simply dedicate themselves to no longer sin, that is the idea; their suitability for heaven depends upon their turning away from all of their sins.

God testing over and over again the validity of that dedication, then God will know if they are truly devoted to him, then he will be able to finally make a decision as to whether or not they are heaven worthy. That is the idea in most people’s mind; it is the idea being promoted by religion’s message; that is probation, not salvation.

God is not testing or proving people today in order to make a final decision as to whether or not to save them, or to keep them save. All of the saving work that God could possibly do, he has already done through Christ. God now holds forth the reconciliation that Christ has accomplished, offering man the choice to either accept or reject that gift of salvation.

Appreciation based on the reality of salvation, not apprehension based on religion’s message of probation. The believer today then, is to be based upon appreciation of what Christ has already done, and the security that they have in him, rather than apprehension based upon a supposition of what God may or may not do in the future for them.

On the other hand, many continue to hold on to the notion that they have insufficient worth to warrant what Christ’s death accomplished in the first place. Equally as dangerous, the foolish notion that Christ’s shed blood was insufficient to have fully satisfied God where their sins are concerned, thus the continual need for something further required of them to keep God’s justice up to date.

The issue with God is the son, not sin, what are they going to believe about what the son accomplished, or do they still think God is counting those sins against them and coming back to haunt them at some point and time.

Do you believe it was an all-sufficient reconciliation where the entirety of the world’s sin debt was concerned, or do you believe that you must obtain a new measure of reconciliation every time you sin, and that is by seeking a new measure of forgiveness from God, that he might be reconciled to you.

Who in the world are you asking for forgiveness from? From God! Therefore, the assumption is that he is not reconciled when you sin. In your mind, you are separating yourself from God by your sin.

Here is a chilling and sobering thought: when self-righteous moralizers harden their hearts and remain impenitent concerning what God’s son has accomplished, they will one-day stand at the judgment of God, where the merited righteousness they think they have will be put on display.

Their righteousness will be open for inspection, having only their own righteousness to show for themselves. Our deeds do not determine our destiny, our faith determines our destiny, and our deeds have nothing whatsoever to do with the security of our eternal position in Jesus Christ.

Grace is the foundation on which Paul’s entire ministry was built, and grace covers all the bases for the believer’s life and it certainly includes God’s love. There is a glory that belongs to God’s grace, and it is to be praised on the bases on what God’s grace has accomplished.

We are to praise God for what his grace has accomplished. A lot of groups believe that God’s grace as it relates to salvation is something that has to be tapped into. New sins requiring new grace and new forgiveness, but God does not construct a wall. It is not a wall that separates man from God today, it is the perception of a wall that keeps man from accepting what Christ has accomplished, and salvation is not possible when there is a wall up.

Religion is the main tool of Satan for building that wall. Religion is Satan’s invention. Religion says keep the wall torn down, get right with God, come back and get right with God next week once again. Keep coming back to keep right with God.

Satan’s ministers of righteousness use the word reform instead of the word transform, and they would appeal to people to reform, but God does not make that appeal. Transformation is entirely a work of God in the believer and reformation would be a work of the believer for God.

We cannot earn salvation, and we can never lose salvation, because salvation is based not upon what we do, or promise to do, but upon what Christ has already done for us! What an astounding truth to ponder and really come to understand; a gift declaration of righteousness to those who could never gain that declaration through performance.

Does that mean that once we are saved, we can just go out and do anything we want to do; live anyway we want to live and still be saved? Self-sanctification is sitting at the core in a negative way in the mindset of the people who are posing that question.

Paul proves that question to be just the opposite. Grace is a much greater motivator. It is the love of God that constrains us, not fear that God is going to strike us dead, or allow us to be a part of the second death if we perform what we should not be performing, or do not measure up through our performance.

Are people set apart as holy in God’s sight because of their lack of sin, or are people set apart as holy in God’s sight because he has joined them to his son? God has a purpose for those who believe, by placing the believer into his son. God did not predestinate us to believe, he predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son, because he knew who would believe.

We must understand that God has predetermined to glorify us. In fact, God has predestined us to that glorification. To predestinate simply means to decide and decree in advance the destiny of something. Should we just go out and sin all the more now that we know that God’s grace is given to us as a gift simply when we believe his son died for our sins, and put those sins off the table of God’s justice.

The natural man has his mind tuned in only to the channel of his own human perspective; satisfying the lust of his flesh; the lust of eyes; and the pride of life. If something is not logical to the natural man’s way of thinking, he refuses to believe it, whether God said it or not, he wants to remain in his comfort zone.

God is not giving out his righteousness as a reward to those who are sorry for the past and who promise to do their best in the future. At the point of our belief in what Christ accomplished where our sins are concerned, we are as closely associated with Christ as anyone could be, we are joined to him.

What an ingenious salvation plan, to take someone else that is righteous and join us to that person, therefore what is Christ’s is ours! It is a gift, a declaration of rightness with God, and this comes totally apart from that unrighteous person’s production.