|
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:8) |
The Gospel was first preached to Abraham. In the following verses we can see that by faith he obeyed it. This Gospel was preached in this very specific way - God “CALLED” (Heb. 11:8-10).
|
“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).
“Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him” (Isa. 51:2). “Who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of the Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name Abraham” (Neh. 9:7). |
This gospel call to Abraham was historically recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, and Hebrews 11 cites it to be Abraham’s first saving response to the gospel call. After this time, through many trials for many years, Abraham maintained saving faith, and so he became a biblical beacon of salvation – an example for NT Christians to follow. God’s gospel call to Abraham was a call to “go out” (Heb. 11:8). God preached the OT type of the gospel in these very words: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Gen. 12:1). Abraham responded to the gospel call, and so, he was separated from country and kindred, both inwardly and outwardly, even as it is now for Christians in the NT. We too are separated from the devil’s country (this world). We too are born again into another family or kindred (God’s).
This call severed Abraham from his former kin, so that from him a chosen lineage could be established as a generational line of salvation. Abraham separated from the house of his father, Terah, and with Abraham was the company of God’s called out ones (The Church). To mark this separation, God instituted an outward sign to be put upon all the males of His newly born Church:
This call severed Abraham from his former kin, so that from him a chosen lineage could be established as a generational line of salvation. Abraham separated from the house of his father, Terah, and with Abraham was the company of God’s called out ones (The Church). To mark this separation, God instituted an outward sign to be put upon all the males of His newly born Church:
|
“And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you…And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.” (Genesis 17:9-11, 14)
|
Let my reader understand: outward circumcision was of such importance to God that, without it, “that soul shall be cut off from his people”! Circumcision was the very “token of the Covenant” of salvation that God was working in the midst of this called out company. However, it was not the physical circumcision that saved these men, was it?
Was the OT law a salvation which was wrought through the means of “earthly things” (John 3:12), to be understood by us as a Covenant of mere “carnal commandment” (Heb. 7:16) and “carnal ordinances” (Heb. 9:10) which are strictly physical, and that alone? Then one would conclude, wrongly, that a Jew is a true Jew who is one “outwardly”, and all the practices of the gospel figures and lawful shadows which reveal Christ were strictly “outward in the flesh”, meaning that, nothing ever touched the man in “the heart”, and nothing ever saved the man “in the Spirit”, “inwardly” and “by nature”, rather than “outwardly” (Rom. 2:25-29). If we were to conclude to this interpretation and faith, we too, like the unsaved Jews of the 1st century who were dead men’s bones, would have “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge”, and we would be “going about to establish [our] own righteousness” because we are “ignorant of God’s righteousness” (Rom. 10:1-3). The OT law is more than physical ordinances! Behind the physical ordinances are messages – messages which contain gospel powers, messages which hinge upon saving faith, and each one, according to God’s will, is “a figure” of Christ’s gospel message which was to come, so that, heretofore unto the New Covenant dispensation, all men were saved by grace through faith, apart from works, by a revelation of the gospel of Christ by shadow.
Was the OT law a salvation which was wrought through the means of “earthly things” (John 3:12), to be understood by us as a Covenant of mere “carnal commandment” (Heb. 7:16) and “carnal ordinances” (Heb. 9:10) which are strictly physical, and that alone? Then one would conclude, wrongly, that a Jew is a true Jew who is one “outwardly”, and all the practices of the gospel figures and lawful shadows which reveal Christ were strictly “outward in the flesh”, meaning that, nothing ever touched the man in “the heart”, and nothing ever saved the man “in the Spirit”, “inwardly” and “by nature”, rather than “outwardly” (Rom. 2:25-29). If we were to conclude to this interpretation and faith, we too, like the unsaved Jews of the 1st century who were dead men’s bones, would have “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge”, and we would be “going about to establish [our] own righteousness” because we are “ignorant of God’s righteousness” (Rom. 10:1-3). The OT law is more than physical ordinances! Behind the physical ordinances are messages – messages which contain gospel powers, messages which hinge upon saving faith, and each one, according to God’s will, is “a figure” of Christ’s gospel message which was to come, so that, heretofore unto the New Covenant dispensation, all men were saved by grace through faith, apart from works, by a revelation of the gospel of Christ by shadow.
|
Of the Carnality (or Physically), Outwardly
“The law of a carnal commandment” – Heb. 7:16 “A figure for the time then present” – Heb. 9:9 “Carnal ordinances” – Heb. 9:10 |
Of the Spirit (or Nature), Inwardly
“For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” – Rom. 2:25-29 |
My reader, we have already looked at, with great detail, how the Israelites who were called out of Egypt in the Exodus generation were spiritually saved by a vital union to the pre-Incarnate Christ. Remember how the Passover sacrifice was not a dead ordinance, but it was a message of saving faith (Heb. 11:28)? Do you remember how the waters of the Red Sea were not mere ocean waters but a spiritual baptism (1 Cor. 10:1-2, Heb. 11:29), how the Manna was not a mere piece of bread but “spiritual meat” (1 Cor. 10:3), how the water from the Rock was not a mere river of waters but a “spiritual drink” (1 Cor. 10:4), how the Rock was not a mere piece of stone but a “spiritual Rock” – and “that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4)? Even so it is here, in Genesis 17, with the physical circumcision. It is not a mere physical circumcision that is “outward in the flesh”, but this is also a message of saving faith, resulting in a spiritual circumcision of the heart, in the Spirit, creating communion with the pre-Incarnate Christ! It has always been true, all throughout the OT generations, that a Jew “is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:25-29). The Lord preached that it was a spiritual circumcision that saved men all throughout the OT scriptures:
|
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” (Deuteronomy 10:16) “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” (Jeremiah 4:4) |
- Abraham, and all saved men in the OT, were of such that had their hearts circumcised, that had the Spirit of God within them, so that the chief token of the OT Covenant was a spiritually circumcised seed of Abraham that did “love the LORD [their] God with all [their] heart, and with all [their] soul” (Deut. 30:6). Therefore these men, who had circumcised hearts, did “keep the righteousness of the law”, which means they loved God so as to “fulfil the law” (Rom. 2:26-27), for if they had not kept the righteousness of the law, then their “circumcision is made uncircumcision” (Rom. 2:25)! The spiritual work of the law, spiritual circumcision, is what saves a man, and not the outward, physical circumcision – so much so that if a man is spiritually circumcised, then God will judge him to be as the physically circumcised, and vice versa: if a man is physically circumcised and not spiritually circumcised, then his physical circumcision will be counted as uncircumcision! Herein is the bottom-line principle validating the outward, carnal, physical precepts of the law which are kept – a spiritual salvation!
- This very reality can be seen in the subsequent generations after the physical ordinance was instituted in Genesis 17. Abraham’s seed did abound, and although all of them were physically circumcised, not all were spiritually circumcised – therefore there was enmity, division, and separation continuously – and Isaac separated from Ishmael, Jacob from Esau, Joseph from his brothers, all the way until the Exodus generation. Not all of the men who were the children of Abraham did inherit the promises of salvation (called the promises to Abraham and his seed), but only those who were the spiritual seed of Abraham…but this spiritual seed was mingled in the vast lineage of Abraham’s physical seed. The physical circumcision was the physical “token” (Gen. 17:11) upon all the “covenant” (Gen. 17:9) inheritors after Abraham; however, vast numbers of Abraham’s sons who were physically circumcised became disqualified from their inheritance in Abraham. This is because they were denounced from the family of Abraham altogether, as a father would renounce the existence of a son. Even so, these literal, physical children of Abraham came to have no spiritual inheritance in Abraham.
- I repeat, it must be understood that even in the midst of Abraham’s seed which became this chosen lineage, again and again the gospel call went forth, being preached over and over, to the end that Abraham’s seed was severed from Abraham’s seed, Jew from Jew, kin from kin; Isaac from Ishmael, Jacob from Esau, Joseph from his brethren. This continued in all the generations from Joseph to Jesus Christ. The chief example of all salvific divisions in the midst of Abraham’s seed is Jesus Christ, how He was severed from the Jews in the flesh. This “Jew severing from Jew” gospel call is of great significance in the New Testament.
- Study the centuries of history to trace the lines that came forth from Abraham’s flesh, and you will find that salvation is of the Lord and not of the flesh, and of the vast amount of carnal seed which came from Abraham, you will find that “the purpose of God according to election” did stand to call forth the seed, “not of works, but of Him that calleth” (Rom. 9:11). Therefore God chose Isaac rather than Ishmael, and said, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Rom. 9:7), and by the power of the gospel experience, Isaac was Abraham’s spiritually circumcised, and worthy, seed. “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11:7). As you may know, after Isaac was called and Ishmael was rejected, so also Jacob was called and Esau was rejected. God says of Jacob, “I have called him” (Isa. 48:15). And again:
|
“Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am He; I am the first, I also am the last.” (Isa. 48:12)
|
Several centuries after Abraham’s death, it came to pass that his seed was bound in Egyptian slavery, and from there God saved Abraham’s seed, both physically and spiritually. I repeat, God saved them spiritually and not just physically (as we have studied), and for this reason their Exodus from Egypt is exactly synonymous to the gospel experience heretofore described, when God said:
|
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt.” (Hos. 11:1)
|
God called this special and elect seed of Abraham into a spiritual salvation, so that God might be with them, dwell among them, and be in them. God spoke of His communing Presence as the very purposeful reason He saved Israel (the Exodus generation). God had a divine objective for the gospel call of salvation, and it was thus:
|
“I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” (Ex. 6:7)
|
To be taken by God as a people, for Him to be their God, is a very fearful and difficult thing! It is not easy for a sinful people to survive when an infinitely Holy God does come near to them, to be in their very midst. When the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai and “camped before the Mount” (Ex. 19:2), God gave them conditions for survival in His Presence:
|
“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep my Covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: And ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:4-6)
|
God did walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in a perpetual friendship, because of their sinless innocence. Adam and Eve knew the Presence of God well (Gen. 3:8). Yet for God to be Israel’s God, to dwell in the midst of a fallen, sinful, and guilty people, this was an astonishing and terrifying endeavor, and yet this was, and is, God’s very express purpose in salvation – “that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God” (Ex. 29:46). This great Covenant was initiated at Sinai, and here at the beginning, remember how the people scarcely survived the terrifying experience? How much more difficult will it be, and with how much more scarcity will Israel continue to dwell with God? My reader, you must see this purpose of God repeated over and over, emphasized and reemphasized by God, so that when you think of salvation, what it is and what it accomplishes, you will immediately think wondrously about a people in the midst of the Presence of God.
|
“And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:45-46)
“And I will set My Tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people.” (Lev. 26:11-12) |
Now, in a very real way, a true Jew is one that is with God, and therefore the Jews do keep the law by nature and Spirit. Also, a Jew is one who is with God so as to be in continuing fellowship with Him, one who is not separate from Him. A true Jew is a member of the “Church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), and all of them partook of the spiritual salvation of God (1 Cor. 10:1-4), and therefore, like circumcision, they were empowered “inwardly”, “by nature”, “of the heart”, and “in the Spirit” to keep the righteousness of the law (Rom. 2:24-29)! With the Mosaic Law, God made sure the holy seed’s separation from all once-born imposters. To keep the whole Church pure, holy, and clean, God instituted strict laws of execution for any Israelite who forsook the spiritual salvation of God, evidenced by keeping the righteousness of the law, by turning to a mere carnal expression of the carnal commandments, or a form of godliness, denying the power of God to keep the righteousness of the law. Therefore, anyone who sinned “presumptuously”, or willfully, would be “cut off from among his people” (Numbers 15:30-31), just like Ishmael was cut off from Isaac, and Esau from Jacob, which are examples of this in the generations before the Mosaic Law was instituted. After the Mosaic Law was instituted, the laws of execution ensured that all who were forsaking a vitally real and spiritual salvation, which is evidenced by men turning from heartfelt obedience to willful sinning, which is a failure to keep the righteousness of the law, were cut off from the congregation. Even so, the men would be separated from the rest of the seed of Abraham who were the spiritual seed of Abraham indeed, not merely the once-born physical seed of Abraham.
In this way we can see that to be in the Presence of God is salvation gained. To be cast away from God’s presence is salvation lost. The Gospel for the OT saints was to bring them to God, and so in a very typological way, like as from a shadow pointing to a reality, we are with God now by the work of Christ accomplished on the cross! So it is in the NT, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). God saves us by a gospel calling which calls us “out from among them” into separation (2 Cor. 6:17), for the express purpose to be of the number that dwells in God’s presence, and the NT inspired authors quote this OT salvific purpose as God’s stated purpose in NT salvation. The NT authors cite the OT gospel call: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. WHEREFORE come out from among them, and be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:16-17). Praise God! It is today in NT reality, as it was said in OT typology:
In this way we can see that to be in the Presence of God is salvation gained. To be cast away from God’s presence is salvation lost. The Gospel for the OT saints was to bring them to God, and so in a very typological way, like as from a shadow pointing to a reality, we are with God now by the work of Christ accomplished on the cross! So it is in the NT, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). God saves us by a gospel calling which calls us “out from among them” into separation (2 Cor. 6:17), for the express purpose to be of the number that dwells in God’s presence, and the NT inspired authors quote this OT salvific purpose as God’s stated purpose in NT salvation. The NT authors cite the OT gospel call: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. WHEREFORE come out from among them, and be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:16-17). Praise God! It is today in NT reality, as it was said in OT typology:
|
“But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:24-26)
|
|
The NT gospel calling is for sinners who were once “without Christ”, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12), but the Jews who were merely Jews by flesh and not by the Spirit, they too were lost and without God. They too had their “understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18), and why? “God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear… their eyes [were] darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway” (Rom. 11:8-10). Even so it was for Ishmael and Esau, and all those like them…they were enemies of the gospel calling. They were born unto Abraham after the flesh, yet never born into him, or God, after the Spirit. Paul cites the perpetuity of the second birth gospel as an OT and NT reality in Galatians 4:28-30. Paul emphasizes that the seed of Abraham was at enmity one with another in two representative spiritual families, and he states that as it was then, even so it is now in the NT dispensation – “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Gal. 4:29). The two different origins of birth represent two different, irreconcilable families, families that are without friendship, so that, for the sake of salvation for the second-born family of God, there is a necessity of separation. Thus it was said: “Cast out the bondwoman and her son” (Gal. 4:30). Did you know that the spiritual reality of being “born again” is here affirmed to be an OT and NT means of salvation (here in Galatians 4:28-30)? Jesus Christ shamed Nicodemus for his ignorance of the second birth gospel call of salvation! Christ Jesus understood this to reveal just how fallen and degenerate Israel was, that their pastoral rulers like Nicodemus knew nothing of the second birth. Jesus said – “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things” (John 3:10)? The second birth is the second circumcision, it is the spiritual seed which claims the spiritual inheritance in Abraham, and to be ignorant of this is to be ignorant of salvation altogether.
|
“…For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” – Rom. 9:6-7 “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Galatians 4:28-31) “Born After Spirit” – Gal. 4:29 “Children of the Bondwoman” – Gal. 4:31 “Children of the Free” – Gal. 4:31 “Children of Promise” – Gal. 4:28 |
This is how it has always been in the OT law, not for the law of circumcision only, but for all practices of the law. Take, for example, the law of sacrifices. It is not the physical sacrifices that save, is it? For, then, physical circumcision would also have the power to save a man, wouldn’t it? If a man has no spiritual reality with God, and he brings a sacrifice for atonement without any true repentance from sin, it is unacceptable to God (keep in mind that repentance is a spiritual gift given by God, granted as a fruit of saving faith). A man cannot repent unless, inwardly, the Spirit of God is working, therefore God disqualifies all carnal, outward, physical sacrifices which are without this spiritual work within the heart:
|
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” (Proverbs 15:8)
“The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?” (Proverbs 21:27) |
My reader, when a man is keeping the law physically, and not spiritually, then God will say, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:11-15). Why are the physical sacrifices such an abomination to God? It is because there is no spiritual sacrifice being made by the people! Without a second circumcision, there is no salvation; even so, here, in the law of sacrifices – without a second sacrifice there is no salvation! What is the second sacrifice? David explains it exactly in Psalm 51:16-19.
|
“For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.” (Psalm 51:16-19)
|
Before David endeavored to bring physical sacrifices, he brought before God the spiritual sacrifices of heartfelt repentance with a “broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart”, for he knew that, without this, God would despise the physical sacrifice. This heartfelt repentance, otherwise known as full surrender – offering your body as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1-2) – is a spiritual sacrifice which is acceptable to God, and saving, without which, all physical, outward, carnal fulfillments of the law become vain and unacceptable! Hosea calls repentant words and prayers, “so will we render the calves of our lips” (Hos. 14:2), for verily, to God, these are the spiritual sacrifices of “calves” which do save a soul in truth! Therefore God said to apostate Israel, unless they “put away the evil of [their] doings”, “cease to do evil”, “learn to do well”, “seek judgment”, “relieve the oppressed”, “judge the fatherless”, and “plead for the widow” (Isa. 1:16-17), then he would hate, reject, and be troubled by physical sacrifices. Whether in the OT or NT, it was a spiritually real and vital reality with the very Spirit of God – a walk with God – that saved a man! Could the prophet Micah make it any more clear for us that this was the understanding of all those who were “children of promise” and “born after the Spirit” in the OT (Gal. 4:28-29)?
|
“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8)
If a man is not spiritually saved, evidenced by keeping the righteousness of the law, then the physical circumcision becomes uncircumcision to God. Even so, without a spiritual salvation evidenced by keeping the righteousness of the law, the physical sacrifices become no sacrifice at all in the sight of God. |
“…if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision” – Rom. 2:25
If thou be a breaker of the law, thy sacrifices are made to be no sacrifices. “…if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?” – Rom. 2:26 If those who do not make physical sacrifices do keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his no sacrifices be counted as sacrifices? If a wicked man gets circumcised, my reader, the man must be circumcised again! If a wicked man makes a sacrifice, the man must make a sacrifice again! There is a second circumcision and sacrifice, spiritual in nature, which does save a man, and all physical institutions do show figures of these spiritual realities! |
Take, for another example, the law of washings. Wicked Israelites can wash themselves with waters, they can sprinkle themselves with lawful sprinklings, but if they have not been washed again, spiritually speaking, then the physical washing is vain. God will still say, again, “wash you, make you clean” (Isa. 1:16). It is not physical washings but the spiritual washing that reaches to the heart in the inner man that saves! Thus God said – “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (Jeremiah 4:14)
Take, for another example, the law of cleanness. One can make himself physically and lawfully clean according to the outward man, but God will say to him, “make you clean” again (Isa. 1:16)! How? Uncleanness is not merely a ceremonial transgression, but it is a matter of moral law as well! All manner of immorality, or the transgression of the righteousness of the law, is considered as uncleanness, whether it be in the OT or NT (Job 33:9, 15:14). Men are born unclean, therefore Eliphaz says, “what is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous” (Job 15:14)? David confirms this again, declaring, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). David cried out for the spiritual washings and cleansings which were of God by the Spirit of God, when, lo, he was in desperate need of it. He cried – “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:2, 6-7). David knew that he could not wash himself, cleanse himself, or make himself clean by the mere outward ordinances of keeping the letter of the law, but he cried out to God that He would wash him, spiritually speaking, “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). David knew that his heart was unclean, and that God was going to condemn him if he didn’t have truth in the “inward parts”, not merely the outward parts (Ps. 51:6). David specifically cried out for this need, saying – “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:10-11)! Cleanness must first be spiritual, “by nature”, “inwardly”, “of the heart”, and “in the Spirit” (Rom. 2:25-29)! Indeed, “who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin” (Prov. 20:9)? NOT ONE! But if God cleans a man, then it can be done! And God will save all those that “are of a clean heart” (Ps. 73:1), which is inward, and He will cast away all the rest into damnation, whether they are outwardly clean or not!
A man may lift up his hands and spread them forth in prayer, according to the law, but God will say: “…when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you” (Isa. 1:15). In other words, you must lift up your hands again, spiritually speaking, and the salvific work must reach to the heart, even that, in other words – “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41)!
A man may rend his garments so as to seek the attention of God’s salvific help, but God will say that you must rend your garments again! “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” (Joel 2:13) A man my likewise fast, but if it is not a turning of the heart to God, spiritually speaking, then God will say that the man must fast again, or in other words, He denounces the legitimacy of the first fast, saying – “did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me” (Zech. 7:5)? If a man fasts outwardly without the Spirit of God, then the people will quickly find out that God rejected it. They will then say as they once said – “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge” (Isa. 58:3)? They must fast again!
A man may begin to cry aloud to God, and pray, but God will say, “they have not cried unto Me with their heart” (Hos. 7:14), if indeed the deed is not done with the Spirit of God. God does most fearfully declare, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Prov. 28:9). All the men of God in the OT knew this truth, that “if [they] regard iniquity in [their] heart, the Lord will not hear [them]” (Ps. 66:18). Oh, how woeful is the condition, as the lamentation cried aloud – “Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer…Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through” (Lam 3:8, 44)! In such a case, the man must pray again!
If a man has one pair of eyes and one pair of ears, and he tarries all day long before Nehemiah, before Ezra, before the teaching priest and the Levite, is it of any good at all if it be merely outward attendance? God will say, you need to hear again, you need to see again, and you need a second pair of eyes and a second pair of ears! A man can “have eyes, and see not”, and “have ears, and hear not” (Jer. 5:21). The Lord has to give them spiritual eyes, ears, and hearts, as it is written: “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day” (Deuteronomy 29:4). See also Isaiah 6:9-10, Ezekiel 12:2, Matthew 13:13-17, Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22, 13:9.
In the light of eternity, one pair of eyes does not matter, does it? Likewise, one pair of ears does not matter, does it? There is a spiritual biology behind salvation; even so, there is spiritual circumcision (a second circumcision), spiritual sacrifices (a second sacrifice), spiritual cleanness (a second cleansing), a spiritual Manna (a second Manna), a spiritual water (a second water), a spiritual Rock (a second Rock), a spiritual eyesight (a second pair of eyes), a spiritual hearing (a second pair of ears), besides all the physical manifestations of these things! Even so, is it of any wonder then that a man must be spiritually born (a second birth) into the family of Abraham, made into the spiritual seed of Abraham, a spiritual heir, inheriting a spiritual inheritance, following after spiritual deeds of righteousness, after the image of God the Father? Is it of any wonder that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Rom. 9:6-7)? Is it of any wonder that, by the spiritual salvation of God, manifest in the spiritual realities of the law and figures of gospel shadows, God separated the saved from the unsaved, the righteous from the unrighteous, the spiritual from the carnal, the second-born from the once-born, and so, Abraham from Terah, Isaac from Ishmael, Jacob from Esau, Joseph from his brothers, righteous Israelites from unrighteous Israelites (under the Mosaic Law), and finally, foremost of all, Jesus Christ from the once-born Jews of the 1st century?
All throughout the centuries, there was a spiritual seed and family in the midst of the literal, physical seed of Abraham, and they held sole rights to the spiritual inheritance of heaven. To denounce and be in oblivion to the second family of Abraham (the spiritual family), the second seed of Abraham (the spiritual seed), the second inheritance of Abraham (the spiritual inheritance), is to denounce and be ignorant of the second circumcision of Abraham (the spiritual circumcision). This second-born family, seed, company of heirs, who were second-time circumcised, spiritually speaking, was at enmity with the once-born family, once-born seed, once-born company of heirs, who were one-time circumcised, and they both were the Jews of Abraham’s literal physical seed. To believe and preach that literal, physical circumcision is what saves a man, instead of the second circumcision, which was spiritual and of the heart (Deut. 30:6), is the same message as preaching that all once-born, literal, physical children of Abraham are saved, irrelevant of whether or not they are spiritually born unto Abraham at all (“born again”). This is why Jesus Christ was astonished that Nicodemus didn’t understand the doctrine of being born again (John 3)! Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things…If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things” (John 3:10, 12)? Nicodemus was under the age-old, ancient deception that salvation was attained by making “clean the outside of the cup and platter”, even though the “inward part is full of ravening and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). Jesus Christ, alongside all the OT prophets, did rebuke the once-born Jews, saying, “Ye fools, did not He that made that which is without make that which is within also” (Luke 11:39-40)? But it was inevitable that the once-born men fall into heretical, damnable deception, because they are once-born, which means that they are a plant which the Father “hath not planted”, which means that they only have one pair of eyes – making them spiritually blind! Jesus Christ sought to expose the heretical teaching that they created about the law of cleanness and washings, and stated that the origin of this heresy is because they are not born of God into a second pair of spiritual eyes:
Take, for another example, the law of cleanness. One can make himself physically and lawfully clean according to the outward man, but God will say to him, “make you clean” again (Isa. 1:16)! How? Uncleanness is not merely a ceremonial transgression, but it is a matter of moral law as well! All manner of immorality, or the transgression of the righteousness of the law, is considered as uncleanness, whether it be in the OT or NT (Job 33:9, 15:14). Men are born unclean, therefore Eliphaz says, “what is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous” (Job 15:14)? David confirms this again, declaring, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). David cried out for the spiritual washings and cleansings which were of God by the Spirit of God, when, lo, he was in desperate need of it. He cried – “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:2, 6-7). David knew that he could not wash himself, cleanse himself, or make himself clean by the mere outward ordinances of keeping the letter of the law, but he cried out to God that He would wash him, spiritually speaking, “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). David knew that his heart was unclean, and that God was going to condemn him if he didn’t have truth in the “inward parts”, not merely the outward parts (Ps. 51:6). David specifically cried out for this need, saying – “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:10-11)! Cleanness must first be spiritual, “by nature”, “inwardly”, “of the heart”, and “in the Spirit” (Rom. 2:25-29)! Indeed, “who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin” (Prov. 20:9)? NOT ONE! But if God cleans a man, then it can be done! And God will save all those that “are of a clean heart” (Ps. 73:1), which is inward, and He will cast away all the rest into damnation, whether they are outwardly clean or not!
A man may lift up his hands and spread them forth in prayer, according to the law, but God will say: “…when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you” (Isa. 1:15). In other words, you must lift up your hands again, spiritually speaking, and the salvific work must reach to the heart, even that, in other words – “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41)!
A man may rend his garments so as to seek the attention of God’s salvific help, but God will say that you must rend your garments again! “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” (Joel 2:13) A man my likewise fast, but if it is not a turning of the heart to God, spiritually speaking, then God will say that the man must fast again, or in other words, He denounces the legitimacy of the first fast, saying – “did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me” (Zech. 7:5)? If a man fasts outwardly without the Spirit of God, then the people will quickly find out that God rejected it. They will then say as they once said – “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge” (Isa. 58:3)? They must fast again!
A man may begin to cry aloud to God, and pray, but God will say, “they have not cried unto Me with their heart” (Hos. 7:14), if indeed the deed is not done with the Spirit of God. God does most fearfully declare, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Prov. 28:9). All the men of God in the OT knew this truth, that “if [they] regard iniquity in [their] heart, the Lord will not hear [them]” (Ps. 66:18). Oh, how woeful is the condition, as the lamentation cried aloud – “Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer…Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through” (Lam 3:8, 44)! In such a case, the man must pray again!
If a man has one pair of eyes and one pair of ears, and he tarries all day long before Nehemiah, before Ezra, before the teaching priest and the Levite, is it of any good at all if it be merely outward attendance? God will say, you need to hear again, you need to see again, and you need a second pair of eyes and a second pair of ears! A man can “have eyes, and see not”, and “have ears, and hear not” (Jer. 5:21). The Lord has to give them spiritual eyes, ears, and hearts, as it is written: “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day” (Deuteronomy 29:4). See also Isaiah 6:9-10, Ezekiel 12:2, Matthew 13:13-17, Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22, 13:9.
In the light of eternity, one pair of eyes does not matter, does it? Likewise, one pair of ears does not matter, does it? There is a spiritual biology behind salvation; even so, there is spiritual circumcision (a second circumcision), spiritual sacrifices (a second sacrifice), spiritual cleanness (a second cleansing), a spiritual Manna (a second Manna), a spiritual water (a second water), a spiritual Rock (a second Rock), a spiritual eyesight (a second pair of eyes), a spiritual hearing (a second pair of ears), besides all the physical manifestations of these things! Even so, is it of any wonder then that a man must be spiritually born (a second birth) into the family of Abraham, made into the spiritual seed of Abraham, a spiritual heir, inheriting a spiritual inheritance, following after spiritual deeds of righteousness, after the image of God the Father? Is it of any wonder that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Rom. 9:6-7)? Is it of any wonder that, by the spiritual salvation of God, manifest in the spiritual realities of the law and figures of gospel shadows, God separated the saved from the unsaved, the righteous from the unrighteous, the spiritual from the carnal, the second-born from the once-born, and so, Abraham from Terah, Isaac from Ishmael, Jacob from Esau, Joseph from his brothers, righteous Israelites from unrighteous Israelites (under the Mosaic Law), and finally, foremost of all, Jesus Christ from the once-born Jews of the 1st century?
All throughout the centuries, there was a spiritual seed and family in the midst of the literal, physical seed of Abraham, and they held sole rights to the spiritual inheritance of heaven. To denounce and be in oblivion to the second family of Abraham (the spiritual family), the second seed of Abraham (the spiritual seed), the second inheritance of Abraham (the spiritual inheritance), is to denounce and be ignorant of the second circumcision of Abraham (the spiritual circumcision). This second-born family, seed, company of heirs, who were second-time circumcised, spiritually speaking, was at enmity with the once-born family, once-born seed, once-born company of heirs, who were one-time circumcised, and they both were the Jews of Abraham’s literal physical seed. To believe and preach that literal, physical circumcision is what saves a man, instead of the second circumcision, which was spiritual and of the heart (Deut. 30:6), is the same message as preaching that all once-born, literal, physical children of Abraham are saved, irrelevant of whether or not they are spiritually born unto Abraham at all (“born again”). This is why Jesus Christ was astonished that Nicodemus didn’t understand the doctrine of being born again (John 3)! Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things…If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things” (John 3:10, 12)? Nicodemus was under the age-old, ancient deception that salvation was attained by making “clean the outside of the cup and platter”, even though the “inward part is full of ravening and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). Jesus Christ, alongside all the OT prophets, did rebuke the once-born Jews, saying, “Ye fools, did not He that made that which is without make that which is within also” (Luke 11:39-40)? But it was inevitable that the once-born men fall into heretical, damnable deception, because they are once-born, which means that they are a plant which the Father “hath not planted”, which means that they only have one pair of eyes – making them spiritually blind! Jesus Christ sought to expose the heretical teaching that they created about the law of cleanness and washings, and stated that the origin of this heresy is because they are not born of God into a second pair of spiritual eyes:
|
“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came His disciples, and said unto him, Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” (Matthew 15:9-20)
|
Therefore, as Jesus said to the once-born Pharisees, who were at enmity with Him, “let them alone”; even so, Ishmael was at enmity to Isaac, Esau was at enmity to Jacob, Joseph’s brothers were at enmity to Joseph. Every time, in every generation, the same age-old method of salvific holiness was preached – “Cast out” the once-born, God says; thus we must cast out the castaways from the holy grounds of the Church! Have you heard the NT call?
|
“Get thee out” – Gen. 12:1
“Come out” – 2 Cor. 6:17 “purge out” – 1 Cor. 5:7 “put away” – 1 Cor. 5:13 “Cast out” – Gal. 4:30 “from among yourselves” – 1 Cor. 5:13 “out from us” – 1 John 2:18-19 “taketh away” & “cast forth” – John 15:1, 6 “take him away, and cast him into outer darkness”– Matt.22:13 “castaway” – 1 Cor. 9:27 “reprobate” – 2 Cor. 13:5 |
“So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee” – Deut. 13:5
“So thou shalt put the evil away from among you” – Deut. 17:7 “…thou shalt put away the evil from Israel” – Deut. 17:12 “…so shalt thou put the evil away from among you” – Deut. 19:19 “…so thou shalt put evil away from among you” – Deut. 20:21 “among you” – Deut. 13:11 “among you” – Deut. 13:14 “among you” – Deut. 18:10 “among you” – Deut. 19:20 “among you” – Deut. 21:21, 24 “among them” – Lev. 15:31 “among the children of Israel” – Lev. 22:32 |
“Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matt. 15:13-14)
Jesus Christ preached this with authority, persistence, and great opposition! In the 1st century, the land of Israel was crawling with Israelites who were children of Abraham by flesh and the devil by spirit, and Christ utterly shocked them with His fierce denouncement of their privileges, salvation, and inheritance as children of the Abrahamic lineage! Jesus addressed some of these very persons in John 8:31-47. NOTE: they were Jews which were called “believers”. Beginning in verse 31, He addressed those of the Jews that “believed on Him”, which is Christ. Since it says they “believed on Him,” what do you think Jesus did say? Will Jesus commend their faith? Many today profess to believe in Jesus Christ and God. Many do commend any individual who professes faith, but read what Jesus said to these men that believed:
|
“As He spake these words, many believed. on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, 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. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill Me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:30-47)
|
These Jews believed on him (v. 30) and yet were not free from the bondage of sin (vv. 31-32); therefore they did not savingly believe on Him, meaning therefore that they were once-born men. They were utterly unable to understand Jesus, because they had not the help of the Spirit of God (v. 33). They had an outward form of the gospel for the Jews, but it was this alone that they clave to for salvation. Their gospel was that salvation would come through the seed of Abraham, and thus they professed, “we be Abraham’s seed” (v. 33), thinking that this justified them. The scripture says, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made” (Gal 3:16). Jesus knew the Pharisees were Abraham’s seed according to the flesh (outwardly), but He showed them how they were not the spiritual children of Abraham (inwardly), and that they were rather the spiritual children of Satan (vv. 36-47).
Jesus said that the truth makes men free (John 8:32), and the Pharisees were truthless and carnal. They could not receive the words of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Without the aid of the Spirit of God, you cannot receive Jesus’ spiritual words. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). The Pharisees professed to be the children of Abraham and God (John 8:33, 41), but Jesus Christ rebuked them and said, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me” (John 8:42). And again, “Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:43-44). Jesus shows us a spiritual pattern that we can judge all men by – their deeds. A person’s deeds are a true indicator of what spiritual offspring they are of. Jesus said, “ye do the deeds of your father” (John 8:41). Deeds reveal the spiritual fatherhood and motherhood. Regenerate women must therefore be – “as daughters of Sarah” (1 Peter 3:6) – and they will be saved as long as they “do well”, as Sarah did. A spiritual son of Abraham is a son of God, and a spiritual daughter of Sarah is a daughter of God. Jesus Christ said: “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39), and so likewise, if ye were Sarah’s children, ye would do the works of Sarah.
Today, many claim to be the children of God, yet they live nothing like Him! As for the term “Abraham’s seed”, a true Christian has become Abraham’s seed according to Galatians 3:29: “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”. The question is not what you profess, nor whom you confess, but, what are the deeds that you do? Do you confess or deny Him by your deeds (Titus 1:16)? Multitudes of Jews that were Abraham’s seed after the flesh did worship God with lip service and confessions, but in their heart they hated Him and loved the devil! God said, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). Do you do the works of Abraham and the works of God, or the works of men and the devil? That question is the bottom line! The deeds you do will determine your father, your birth, and the validity of your salvation, even as the modern proverb goes, “many talk the talk, but do they walk the walk”? And if you don’t walk the walk, you will be damned! You will go to hell! Even as it is written, “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).
Jesus said that the truth makes men free (John 8:32), and the Pharisees were truthless and carnal. They could not receive the words of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Without the aid of the Spirit of God, you cannot receive Jesus’ spiritual words. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). The Pharisees professed to be the children of Abraham and God (John 8:33, 41), but Jesus Christ rebuked them and said, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me” (John 8:42). And again, “Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:43-44). Jesus shows us a spiritual pattern that we can judge all men by – their deeds. A person’s deeds are a true indicator of what spiritual offspring they are of. Jesus said, “ye do the deeds of your father” (John 8:41). Deeds reveal the spiritual fatherhood and motherhood. Regenerate women must therefore be – “as daughters of Sarah” (1 Peter 3:6) – and they will be saved as long as they “do well”, as Sarah did. A spiritual son of Abraham is a son of God, and a spiritual daughter of Sarah is a daughter of God. Jesus Christ said: “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39), and so likewise, if ye were Sarah’s children, ye would do the works of Sarah.
Today, many claim to be the children of God, yet they live nothing like Him! As for the term “Abraham’s seed”, a true Christian has become Abraham’s seed according to Galatians 3:29: “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”. The question is not what you profess, nor whom you confess, but, what are the deeds that you do? Do you confess or deny Him by your deeds (Titus 1:16)? Multitudes of Jews that were Abraham’s seed after the flesh did worship God with lip service and confessions, but in their heart they hated Him and loved the devil! God said, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8). Do you do the works of Abraham and the works of God, or the works of men and the devil? That question is the bottom line! The deeds you do will determine your father, your birth, and the validity of your salvation, even as the modern proverb goes, “many talk the talk, but do they walk the walk”? And if you don’t walk the walk, you will be damned! You will go to hell! Even as it is written, “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).
|
“14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
(2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1) |
The gospel call to holiness is a conditional command bound with promises. The call is a break of yoke! Why? The power of the gospel establishes this purpose of God through regeneration, which is a supernatural severing from unbelievers. The break of yoke is a break of fellowship, communion, concord, and agreement, and this can be understood when a man understands the work of salvation as a transformation and separation from the world. A “divine nature” segregates fellowship, voids commonality, and establishes spiritual enmity with all unbelievers and this world (2 Peter 1:4). Reception of this gospel is a reception of “come out from among them,” and so we become children of Abraham who did obey his gospel, “get thee out” (Gen. 12:1, Heb. 11:8). If you receive this gospel, a gospel that is, in this way, a gospel of holiness, you are received by God and He becomes your new spiritual Father, being born again His son or daughter (2 Cor. 6:18). This is the unavoidable purpose of God in the gospel, past, present, and forever. Such an imputation of holiness by the indwelling of the regenerating Holy Ghost begets holy living in deed as the manifest qualities of Abraham’s seed.
Now we must understand that the gospel is called “A Calling”, and this gospel is a saving union with Christ – “at-one-ment” – where man is placed in Christ. Thus we are separated from the earth and are born into a life and conversation from heaven (Php. 3:20). We have a new Family and Father, and we do become “strangers and pilgrims in this world”, because we crucify our flesh (1 Peter 2:11, Col. 3:5). Therefore the gospel call is a call to be Abraham’s spiritual seed, which is also Christ’s seed, and therefore we are called to be the sons of God – spiritually circumcised – “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).
Those that are savingly “called” (Rom. 9:24) by the gospel calling are then called, God says, “My people” (Rom. 9:25) and “children of the Living God” (Rom. 9:26). If you are a child of God, then you are like God’s child – Jesus Christ – Who was called the “firstborn among many brethren”. If you will be called God’s child, you will be a man who is “conformed to the Image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29). Jesus Christ repeatedly explained the various ways in which Christians are made savingly one with God. He prayed for Christians and said, “As Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us” (John 17:21). We are one in Him and Them! This oneness with God is spoken of as the glory of God (John 17:22), the love of God (John 17:23, 15:9-10), the saving knowledge, or intimate knowing, of God (John 10:14-15, 17:3, 1 John 2:4), and it is a life that lives by God (John 6:56-57). Read how Jesus Christ explained NT salvation:
Now we must understand that the gospel is called “A Calling”, and this gospel is a saving union with Christ – “at-one-ment” – where man is placed in Christ. Thus we are separated from the earth and are born into a life and conversation from heaven (Php. 3:20). We have a new Family and Father, and we do become “strangers and pilgrims in this world”, because we crucify our flesh (1 Peter 2:11, Col. 3:5). Therefore the gospel call is a call to be Abraham’s spiritual seed, which is also Christ’s seed, and therefore we are called to be the sons of God – spiritually circumcised – “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).
Those that are savingly “called” (Rom. 9:24) by the gospel calling are then called, God says, “My people” (Rom. 9:25) and “children of the Living God” (Rom. 9:26). If you are a child of God, then you are like God’s child – Jesus Christ – Who was called the “firstborn among many brethren”. If you will be called God’s child, you will be a man who is “conformed to the Image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29). Jesus Christ repeatedly explained the various ways in which Christians are made savingly one with God. He prayed for Christians and said, “As Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us” (John 17:21). We are one in Him and Them! This oneness with God is spoken of as the glory of God (John 17:22), the love of God (John 17:23, 15:9-10), the saving knowledge, or intimate knowing, of God (John 10:14-15, 17:3, 1 John 2:4), and it is a life that lives by God (John 6:56-57). Read how Jesus Christ explained NT salvation:
|
GLORY -->
LOVE --> KNOW --> ALIVE --> |
“And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One.” (John 17:22)
“I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” (John 17:23) “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” (John 15:9-10) “I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.” (John 10:14-15) “He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.” (John 6:57) |
Can you see the pattern?
|
ALIVE -->
LOVE --> KNOW --> GLORY --> |
“as We are One”
“as Thou hast loved Me” “as the Father hath loved Me, so I have loved you… “as I have kept My Father’s commandments” “abide in My love” “I…know My sheep, and am known of Mine” “As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father” “As… I live by the Father: so…live by Me” |
So also it is written:
|
“as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” (John 20:21)
“He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me.” (Luke 10:16) “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.” (Mat 10:40) “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.” (John 13:20) |
There is a sense in which all of these verses are true. The gospel call is a man’s saving connection and union to Christ. This “calling” of God still goes forth into the world that is crawling with professing Jews, now called “Christians”, and like as the 1st century, most of these professing believers ARE NOT THE SPIRITUAL SEED OF GOD! People do not understand it! What happened to the Jews in the 1st century is prophesied to happen to the regenerate Church after the 1st century, which is NOW, and it is called a God-sent delusion for the preparation of “The Great Falling Away”! The spiritual climate of the 1st century Jewish people is like the spiritual climate of the Church in the last days, and not just upon those professing believers of religion, but by a Great Falling Away from those regenerate believers who were the true Church indeed!