Grace - Castrated Christians Will Never Reproduce

Hey Everyone,

I read something in a book and I thought it would be good to share, especially since I've had some conversations with people recently about how the heart condition of a person is changed once they become a believer. What follows are excerpts from "The Misunderstood God" by Darin Hufford, pp. 146-147.

"We want to believe that God rejoices in truth, but strangely enough, when I ask anyone if God rejoices in the truth about them, they almost always cringe. We are taught that the truth about us is B-A-D. We're even encouraged to abandon our hearts for His because there's nothing good in them.... We are bombarded with Scriptures about how evil our hearts are and how we should never trust them because 'the heart is deceitful.' Once we buy into this nonsense, we begin to behave like a castrated dog. We become docile and obedient.... It's a fine teaching if obedience is what you're after. But when spiritual procreation is needed, you end up with a bunch of impotent and sterile followers. And sadly, we accept this willingly because we're told that God doesn't rejoice in the truth about us.

"Think about that for a moment. If you are like most people, you probably believe that God knows the truth about you and He's repulsed by it. You think this because you're certain He's kept track of where you've been and what you've done.... Religion has taught us to confuse the facts our of lives with the truth about ourselves. You are not your sin.... The truth about you has nothing to do with what you have done or where you have been....

"God has taken your heart of flesh and given you a new heart of love. He has made you a new creation.... What sense would it make for you to reject your heart when you ask Jesus to live in it?"


I want to highlight two ideas here:

1. If you're the type of person who is introspective and tends to see your failures, please, please, please, realize that God does not remind you of your sins. It is not His heart for you to dwell on them. Yes, you may have sinned, but in Christ, God does not hold your sins against you. Nor does He call on you to exercise self-discipline to overcome sin. Why see yourself in a different light than how God sees you? As the author here might say, consider the truth of your position in Christ over your the fact of your sins, which God no longer remembers.

2. Did you see the author's description of how believing a lie about us can cripple us? The lie of our sinful status before God creates believers who are "impotent and sterile", when what's needed are believers who engage in "spiritual procreation". That means if we have a sin conscience, we feel condemned and unable to share our faith. I've seen that play out in so many people, it's ridiculous. Unfortunately, instead of loving others and reproducing their faith, those who feel condemnation within themselves usually never experience the joy of seeing another person grow in Christ due to their influence or, what may be even worse, they themselves walk away from a relationship with God.

If you're in Christ, find out the scriptural truth about you and stick to it.


Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

Grace - Hebrews: Consider Jesus, Part 3

Hi Everyone,

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,..."  Hebrews 1:1-3

I have some thoughts to share on the above passage:

• When the Law was given, God spoke through angels (Heb 2:2) and the word was unalterable--disobedience punishable by death.  This ministry of angels is contrasted to that of the Son:

• When God spoke through His Son, He did so, making Jesus the appointed heir of all things.  This is just as unalterable as the first covenant.  And although by the life and death of Jesus Christ the former covenant has been fulfilled and set aside (Rom. 7:18 and Eph. 2:15), the new covenant established through Jesus is a covenant of peace lasting forever (Isa. 54:10; Eze. 37:26; Heb. 13:20).

• We are co-heirs with Christ and that is precisely why we have no need of anything beyond Him; He supplies us what is needed!

• We are also part of Jesus' inheritance (Isaiah 8:18 - "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion").

• The ministry of the angels (the Mosaic Law) spoke condemnation to us and emphasized our trespasses and sins, actions normal for the unregenerate man.  But, the ministry of the Son and God's saving grace makes it normal for us to love righteousness and hate iniquity.  This can only happen by the life that Jesus gives to us (Himself) and His life is MORE POWERFUL than sin and death.  That is why the Christian can now live a sinless life!  Yes, it's true.  There is so much more than doing good and avoiding evil (men, you know exactly what I mean).
  

• The Father has expressed Himself through Jesus; Jesus brings forth the light of the Father.  This is something the Law and Prophets could not do.

• Jesus made purification (meaning to purge) of sins and sat down.  "Every drop of blood offered from Eden to Calvary pointed to the blood shed by the spotless Lamb" (quoted from Oliver Greene).
  

Now, my question is this:  Why is there a need for anything further information after Hebrews 1:3?  I mean, don't you see it?  Purification is done!  Our Great High Priest, Jesus, is seated.  Nothing further to do!   Pardon my momentary musings, but the point of everything after Hebrews 1:3 is that we would KNOW this great salvation we have.

Lastly, look at Hebrews 2:3 - "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

We know that we cannot lose our salvation, for Jesus IS our salvation (1 Cor. 1:30-31), Jesus is the SOURCE of our salvation (or "author" or "captain" - Heb. 2:10), and Jesus holds us securely (Phil. 3:12b; 2 Tim 1:12; Heb. 7:25).  We can, however, neglect the benefits of our salvation:

Bless the LORD, O my soul and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion. Who satisfies your years with good things.... - Psalm 103:2-4

This is why I'm going through Hebrews with you:  that you would come to understand, fully embrace, and operate in everything we have as children of God and inheritors of salvation.  Consider finally, the words of Oliver Greene on the Hebrews:

"At the time of the writing of this epistle, those who had formerly followed Judaism found it extremely difficult to let go of that faith and fully embrace the grace of God....  To them, as to some people today, salvation by pure grace, through faith, minus works, was just too easy.  They preferred the demands of the law.  They simply could not accept the simplicity of the invitation, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:  an ye shall find rest unto your souls.' (Matt. 11:28-30).
"Today, many hear the Word of God with their ears, but never allow it to grip their hearts.  They say they believe that God is gracious and good--they profess, but they do not possess."

Now, some of you will say, "Jeremy, yes, we are saved by grace, and I completely agree with the above quote from Oliver Greene, but living our daily life is more than simple salvation by pure grace; we have to take action and do things for God."  Well, let me just say that we live out our daily life by the very same means through which we were saved:  We live by faith.  If you know and will apply by faith to all the benefits of salvation, you will learn that you already possess everything which we've all been taught we have to strive for.  Anyway, that's enough for now.  See you soon!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2012/09/grace-hebrews-consider-jesus-part-2.html

Grace - Special Heart-Felt Tuesday Edition

Hi Everyone,

Christians looking to themselves.  That's the problem.

I hear it constantly: 

"I need more discipline in prayer."

"I need to be more diligent."

"I need to not waste time."

"I need to be more committed."

"Despite myself, Jesus loves me."

   -- and the worse --

"I still sin, therefore I have a sin nature and/or I must be a sinner."

My heart breaks for these brothers and sisters who are constantly instructed by their leaders to look to themselves and judge themselves.  "Here's a principle", the leader says.  "It will help you be a better Christian, like me."

I see these brothers and sisters living a life of the never-ending circle of Striving, Success, Failure, and Repeat.  None of them ever tell me what the Bible really says about them.  None of them call themselves Overwhelming (or More Than) Conquerors.  None of them ever tell me that they died once-for-all with Christ *and* have been once-for-all washed, sanctified, and justified.  It's not a language they use, because it's a truth they simply do not know. They see only their failure, and they don't see Jesus.  Their sin is constantly before them, hence the phrase "despite myself, Jesus loves me."

Dastardly.  Demonic.  Deception.  Depression.

I can understand Paul's frustration at the Galatians, a church he started.  "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"  "Who has bewitched you?"

Consider the following quotes by Mick Mooney:

"Sin itself is not the problem in the Christian life.  It is following the wrong leader that creates the problem--even if that wrong leader is God's law (Gal. 5:18).  The only leader that will ensure a completely active and righteous life is Christ in us, our hope of glory."

"The truth is that when preachers try to help people obtain the Christ-life by pointing them to laws, keys, principles, and rules instead of Christ Himself and the grace that came through Him, they do the body of Christ a terrible disservice."

"As a community in Christ, we can only uplift Christ and His greatness, His glory, and the power of His finished work.  We need to put our confidence in the Spirit in us and trust that He will give us revelation on how to live and act.  He is our teacher.  He is the teacher in us:  Christ in us, the hope of glory!  We can have confidence that He will open up the Scriptures to give us understanding and he is also committed to leading us in the ways of His love so that we can live and relate with God and others according to God's hear of love.

A preacher's role is to simply lift up the greatness of Jesus and the result should be that the church has even more confidence in who they are in Jesus and who He is in them."

Amen, I say.


"...I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."  Phil 3:12b


Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

Grace - A New Reality, Not Sanctified Self-Effort

Hi Everyone,

Below is an excerpt from the book The Cure:  What if God isn't who you think He is and neither are you.  Enjoy!


"The goal is not to change me.  I'm already changed.  The goal is to mature.  When I depend on the new creature I've been made into through the work of Jesus at the cross, I begin to live healthier, more free of sin, more free to love.  I learn to believe all His power, love, truth, and goodness already exists in me, right now.  Even on my worst day."

"...Jesus says we really are new people, completely righteous.  Jesus became sin so we might be righteous.  Jesus didn't become theoretical sin.  He actually became real sin, in every possible way that sin can be sin.  And if the corollary holds, then we didn't become theoretical righteousness.  We became real righteousness in every possible way that righteousness can be righteousness.  That didn't happen to anyone before Jesus.  Now we're free.  But it isn't the freedom to get away with stuff, to give ourselves permission to have three glasses of wine instead of one.   It isn't freedom to care less or walk the tightrope of right and wrong without remorse.  The motive of a righteous heart is not to get away with anything.  The motive of the righteous is to be loved and to love!  That's what we've all been wanting all of history for.  That's the freedom Jesus died for.  We can now love each other well, because it's who we really are."

"Nothing you believe and depend upon is more magnificently freeing than this single truth:  You are no longer who you were, even on your worst day.  Trusting and leaning upon 'Christ in you' is the source of every shred of strength, joy, healing, and peace.

"What we believe happened in that first moment of trusting Jesus affects everything.  That start is called 'justification,' which means to be made right.  Think about what it means to believe you were made right.

"Some believe they will eventually, through sincere diligence, change into someone better.  Their confidence to change centers on sanctified self-effort.

"Others believe the very essence of who they now are is completely changed.  They are convinced of absolute fused union with the God of the universe.  Their confidence to mature is place squarely in trust of their new identity in Jesus.  This does not mean they don't fail.  They do fail.  But in the end they trust who God has made them.

"If I follow the first path, I'm trying to change from who i was into who I should be.  If I follow the second, I'm maturing into who I already am.  In the first, I'm working toward becoming more righteous.  In the second, I'm already righteous, made right by God in the moment I believed."


Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

Grace - Hebrews: Consider Jesus, Part 2

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."  Hebrews 1:1-2

Hi Everyone,

In the beginning of Hebrews, the writer emphasizes the fact that the same God who spoke in the Old Testament is now speaking in the New Testament.  The God of the Old Covenant is the God of the New (and better) Covenant.  It is a divine fact that Christ is the substance of Old Covenant revelation.  Mankind was held under the Law until the fulness of time had come (Galatians 4:4) and could then place faith in Christ, the end of the Law (Romans 10:4 - "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes).

Below are some of the ways God spoke to man before the birth of Christ, revealing the Christ:

Genesis 3:15 - God revealed to Adam the manner of Christ's coming to crush Satan's head.

Genesis 12:1-3 - God made known to Abraham the fact that Christ would come through him and his nation.

Genesis 49:10 - God revealed to Jacob that Christ would come through the tribe of Judah.

Psalm 132:11 - God revealed to David that Christ would be of his lineage.

Micah 5:2 - God spoke that Bethlehem  would be the birthplace of Christ.

Malachi 3:1 -  God announced that the Christ would have a forerunner.

Daniel 9:26 - God revealed the exact time the Christ would die.

Zechariah 11:13 - God revealed that Christ would be sold for 30 pieces of silver.

Isaiah 53 - Christ would be wounded for our transgressions

Psalms 22:16 and 16:10-11 - The psalmist is inspired by God to describe the manner of death and resurrection of Christ.


Even with all these announcements, we see that among those who were waiting for the appearing of the Messiah, there were some who thought their salvation came through their knowledge of the scriptures.  I want to encourage you to listen to how God has spoken to us in these last days, and that you would especially know that faith has come!  (Gal. 3:25).  Let's look at Jesus.

Hebrews 1 and 2 compare Jesus with the angels.  Not only is He infinitely better than angels, but also is His ministry.  The Hebrews found it very difficult to accept the truth that Christ is heir of "all things" - Lord of the sabbath, Lord of the rituals, Lord of the sacrifices.  He is Lord of all, and in Him we are complete.  He is our sufficiency.  He is our first and only enthroned High Priest (Hebrews 8:1).  If our High Priest Who has secured for us a great salvation (Heb 2:3) stands in righteousness, then so do we!  Consider:

God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.  1 John 4:12b-17

I pray that you would consider Jesus and Jesus alone, so that He you would see the full effect of His benefit to your life (Galatians 5:2).

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2012/09/grace-hebrews-consider-jesus-part-1.html

Grace - Hebrews: Consider Jesus, Part 1

Hi Everyone,

Below is an excerpt from Oliver Greene in his commentary on the book of Hebrews.  Enjoy!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy


"The Hebrews were under the New Covenant, the 'better covenant' brought about through the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God; but they were slow to lay aside the Mosaic Law and the provisions of the Old Covenant.

"However, those who were truly born again by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ could not find peace and happiness in the old forms of worship.  They were holding fast to their profession in the faith once delivered to the saints, but they were becoming discouraged.  They were constantly criticized by the Judaizers, they were always under suspicion, and often were persecuted even by their own families.  Their trials and tribulations were great, and under such a burden some of them were becoming extremely despondent and discouraged.  But Paul exhorted them, 'Let us go on!' and the only way for believers to advance and grow is to keep their eyes upon the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that in Him we are complete and in Him we find our sufficiency.  It is Paul's purpose in this epistle to lead immature Christians to a deeper, fuller Christian life.  'Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection...' (Heb 6:1).

"Paul admonished the Hebrew Christians to put away the 'good things' of Judaism for the 'better things' of Christianity; to put away the earthly sanctuary for the heavenly building not made with hands.  The heavenly is better than the earthly, and the believers who had come to know that they were justified by faith were also to live by faith.  They were to learn that the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the author of our faith, but also the finisher of our faith.  He is the beginning and the ending of our faith, but He is also all that we need between the beginning and the ending.

"The Hebrew believers had not learned this, and Paul was attempting to drive home this truth.  (The Hebrew believers were not the last to need such admonition.  There are many today who trust Jesus to save them--but they are not willing to live by faith.  They believe that sinners are saved by grace through faith--but they are not willing to accept 'the just shall LIVE by faith...faith is the victory that overcomes the world...and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.')"

Grace - Faith in God's Goodness

Hi Everyone,

I believe that when we either don't know about God's goodness or have forgotten it, we lose flat-out. If I were to ask someone why they refuse to believe that God is good, I imagine the most basic response would include lists of unhappy and unfortunate situations in their life. Because of trials and hardships we question not only God's goodness, placing the blame on Him, but some even go so far as to doubt His existence. And even for those who believe He exists, sometimes the question is not "can He help?", but rather "will He help?".

So we go to His Word:

Psalm 145:15-17 says: "The eyes of all wait for You and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with favor. The Lord is rigidly righteous in all His ways and gracious and merciful in all His works."

We have difficulty believing that God is good and gracious to us. We have difficulty believing that He will give us what we need. Even more importantly, we sometimes fail to recognize that what we need comes from Him because we have favor with Him. We don't look to Him; we rely on our own abilities. We do not know that God is rigidly righteous, gracious and merciful. This ferocious faithfulness toward us is unrelenting. It covers not only our salvation, our need for righteousness at all times, but also our need for provision in life. I describe it to one friend as "fierce loyalty". I refuse to accept anything less that than from God.

A.W. Tozer puts it this way: "The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and quick of sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes total pleasure in the happiness of His people".

So by now you may be asking the following question: "If God is so good, then what can I do to merit His goodness in my life?"

Well, I can tell you three things that will NOT work: repentance, prayer, and faith.

Before you close this email in fear of heresy, consider the following: None of these obligate God to move on your behalf. He is not impressed with how well you are able to repent, pray, and believe in faith. He doesn't hear you because you have done good deeds or prayed for three weeks straight. He doesn't answer you because you've filled out the proper forms, crossed your Ts and dotted your Is. Even your faith can be worthless if it is placed in the wrong thing. God is good to us for one reason only: it is fully within His nature to do so. True faith, then, is a confidence in His goodness, not a formula we have in our faith.

So how do we respond to the truth of His goodness and graciousness? It's easy: 1. Realize that your pre-conception of God was a misconception--that you did not believe He was good and change your opinion. 2. Rest and place your confidence in His goodness and care. 3. Risk: what would be possible in life if it really was true that God was 100% for you and your welfare. Would you see Him as the source of all your needs? How would you represent Him to a world in need?

Consider the following passages:

"But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the Lord. "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people....And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins." Jeremiah 31:33-34

"Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you. For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken," says the Lord, who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:9-10


Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

It's amazing to me how much room for sinful behavior is made in a person's life when they believe: 1. They are a sinner; 2. They are not completely righteousness; 3. They have a sinful nature; 4. They are not sanctified and made holy; and, 5. That God's opinion of them is based on *their* behavior. Such a person is weighed down with so much responsibility to put forth effort to obtain something they already have. Thus, they are always burdened, tired, striving, and never fully joyous and free. Watch them closely--you'll see what I mean.

Grace – Different Audiences and the Message of Holiness, Part 2

Hi everyone!

Please take the time to read this. You will find it very helpful.

Just as I discussed in my last email, that certain messages and teachings are being mixed and given to both believers and non-believers, so we also have the problem of misunderstandings of certain words in the Bible.

Take, for example, the confusion people experience when they don't understand the biblical uses and definitions of the words "holy" or "sanctified".

If we hear in our minds "I need to sin less" or "strive to sin less" when we hear these words, we do not understand the word in its biblical use. The words "holy" and "sanctify" stem from the same Greek/Hebrew word and simply means "to be set apart or consecrated"; apartness, sacredness; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, declare as holy, treat as holy; to be selected, to be pure, be holy, be sacred, be regarded as holy.

It signifies an act or state in which people or things are set aside for use in the worship of God, i.e., they are consecrated or made sacred for that purpose. They must be withheld from ordinary (secular) use and treated with special care as something which belongs to God. This word is used with various objects: the altar in the temple, the priest, the mountain, the Sabbath, buildings, fasts, wars and battles. It was anything which was reserved exclusively for God, and its opposite is secular or profane. The above definitions and clarification overwhelmingly describe holiness/sanctification as a condition. (The above two paragraphs are taken from the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary.)

My point on this is as follows: when we hear the words holiness or sanctification and tack on our own interpretation of "to sin less", we are adding a definition that the Bible does not support.

The ultimate result of this is that Christians refuse to recognize the full meaning of having been proclaimed holy and sanctified by God.

Again, since even things could be proclaimed holy, that alone destroys our definition of "to sin less". Would we say that Jesus needed to "sin less"? Of course not. But in John 17:19, He says that He has "sanctified" Himself. Clearly, the word does not mean to sin less.

Furthermore, and most significantly, the condition of holiness or sanctification is something we can't even do (or manage or maintain) ourselves. Once again, God gets all the glory and credit for this (2 Thess 2:13).

We are not sinners and should never refer to ourselves as such, especially since Paul did not either. We are Saints, even though we occasionally sin. And guess what, even when we sin, we remain holy, sanctified, and clean (ceremonially and morally) for one reason and one reason only: our holiness, sanctification, and cleanliness is not something for us to procure and keep: it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the state in which we abide and for which He remains faithful.

And I must declare the following most emphatically: any idea that supports the notion that we become holy or sanctified by our behavior is idolatry, for it refuses to recognize the completed work of the cross:

"Jesus' last cry from the cross, Tetelestai! ("It is finished!") is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense, namely, "It [the atonement] has been accomplished, completely, once and for all time."

I am against sin and sinning, but we must recognize the biblical use of words such as I have addressed here and how they apply to us and affect our lives.

I hope these two emails have introduced you in a greater way to the peace that exists between God and you. Knowing that, you should now be able to stop striving and rest in your permanent condition in Christ. May you enter His rest by faith.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace – Different Audiences and the Message of Holiness, Part 1

Hi Everyone,

May I suggest that not everyone who goes to church is a Christian?

If this is true, then we must realize that while the writings of Paul, John, and the other authors of the books in the New Testament were addressed to both believers and unbelievers, those writers at times wanted to convey different messages to the separate groups. For example, if a preacher says to a congregation "You need to be saved", he is addressing unbelievers who are not currently saved, whereas if the same preacher were to say "You needed to be saved", he is addressing believers who have been saved.

I know this is ridiculously simple, but that's the problem. We have not heard a clear separation of messages in the writings contained within the Bible. Therefore, believers are receiving messages meant for unbelievers, and thus losing confidence in their reality in Christ. Likewise, unbelievers can be receiving misinformation about their condition.

We simply want recognize that there are those who visit church communities who have not yet placed their faith in Christ, and the proper message should be given to the proper group for which it is intended. This is a true situation today, as it was for the churches to which Paul and others were writing. Among the receivers of all these letters were also unbelievers who were investigating Christianity.

Paul, for example, urges unbelievers to not neglect salvation (Hebrews 2:3), or in the case of 1 John 2:9, John targets the unbeliever, that he should not claim to be in the light and thus be lying. We need to differentiate in this epistle those who "claim" and "say" from those who "abide" and "are".

Consider the following fact that the Bible states about Christians: We are ALWAYS in the light.

Ephesians 5:8 "…you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord…"

Thessalonians 5:5 "…you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness"

1 Peter 2:9 "…so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

Additionally, in the first chapter of 1 John, John speaks to people who say (claim) they neither have sin nor have sinned. These particular people are not Christians, but rather Gnostics who are associating with the believers to whom John is writing. In other words, he is telling the unbelievers to recognize their sin condition and sinning, just as much as he tells his little children—the believers in chapter 2—that they are secure and have an advocate when they sin.

The fact that multiple audiences can be addressed by the same letter is seen in other places, for example, Hebrews 6:4-8. Here the writer speaks to people who have not been saved, only enlightened. This means that they have heard the truth of Gospel: that they should place their faith in the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ instead of the sacrifices of lambs, bulls, and goats, but they have not done so.

In the next verse, Hebrews 6:9, the writer makes it clear that he changes his audience and is now addressing a different group of readers--those who have salvation.

My point is this: don't confuse and apply to yourself what was addressed in these letters to unbelievers who were among the Christians, for there were certainly differing messages to those who were in differing conditions.

If we confuse Paul's admonition to unbelievers (or the admonition of any other writer in the Bible) with instructions to believers, then we will certainly experience confusion in our secure position in Christ, including that we would begin thinking that we are a sinners, and not saints. This is, in part, what is meant when we are to "rightly divide the word of truth".

In my next email I will cite a few more applications of this issue. Just remember: if you are a Christian, then there are certainly messages in the Biblical writings that no longer pertain to you. (If you've been saved, do you really need to be saved again? Or, if God has completely forgiven you of all your sins, past, present and future, do you really need to be forgiven again?)

Grace=Peace,
Jeremy

Grace - Video by Bert White

Hi Everyone,

Here's a link to a great sermon on YouTube.  It's about 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWUHOKcaECI&sns=em

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Is Sinning Inevitable?

Hi Everyone,

Here is an interesting thought by Ryan Sletcher:

"Most Christians believe that they will only be completely free from sin when they die. They believe it is impossible to live on this earth without sinning. Think about it like this:

If you have the capacity to sin, then you also have the capacity to stoop down and eat sand for lunch. Sinning and eating sand: both totally possible, but is it inevitable that you would eat sand? Not at all.

If you think it is inevitable for you to sin in this life after becoming a Christian, then your thoughts are inconsistent with scripture, primarily that you are no longer a slave to sin. If it is inevitable for you sin, then you are still under sin's power. This is simply not the case. For more info read Romans 6:6-7; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 2:11; and Romans 6:14.

So, when most Christians believe that they will only be completely free from sin when they die, they're actually right. They just don't realize the full truth: they already died with and in Christ. Let us now agree that sin has no power over us and let Christ's life flow freely through us."

Grace=Peace,
Jeremy

Grace - Noah Rested

Hi Everyone!

Isn't it interesting that Noah, whose name means "Rest", was sealed by God into an ark covered on the inside and outside with pitch (representing Jesus' blood) which prevented any of the waters of God's judgment from touching Noah? Noah may certainly have tripped or fallen down while he was in the wooden ark (wood represents humanity), but he was safe secure by God's doing and not his own.

It's not like God told Noah to install pegs onto the outside of the ark and hold on for dear life!!!

Noah, trusting in God, was sealed by the blood of Christ.

Grace=Peace,
Jeremy

Check my blog, "Strengthened by Grace" for all my posts!
http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/

Grace - A Matter of Life and Death

Hi Everyone,

Correctly discerning whether or not a Christian is under and should live by the Law is a matter of life and death:

"...for the letter [the Law] kills, but the Spirit gives life.". (2 Cor. 3:6)

Grace=Peace,
Jeremy

Grace - The Game Has Been Called Off

Enjoy the quote below. And remember, the game has been called off!

Grace=Peace,
Jeremy

"The entire human race is profoundly and desperately religious. From the dim beginnings of our history right up to the present day, there is not a man, woman, or child who has ever been immune to the temptation to think that the relationship between God and humanity can be repaired from our side by our efforts. Whether those efforts involve creedal correctness, cultic performances, or ethical achievements, whether they amount to little more than crassly superstitious behavior, we are all, at some deep level, committed to them. If we are not convinced that God can be conned into being favorable to us by dint of our doctrinal orthodoxy, or chicken sacrifices, or the gritting of our moral teeth, we still have a hard time shaking the belief that stepping over sidewalk cracks, or hanging up the bath towel so the label won't show, will somehow render the Ruler of the Universe kindhearted, soft-headed, or both....

The point is, we haven't got a card in our hand that can take even a single trick against God. Religion, therefore, despite the correctness of its insistence that something needs to be done about our relationship with God, remains unqualified bad news: it traps us in a game we will always and everywhere lose. But the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is precisely Good News. It is the announcement, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that God has simply called off the game."

By Robert Farrar Capon, "The Parables of Grace"