60 THE
STORY OF NOAH TEACHES THAT SALVATION CANNOT BE LOST!
Rom. 15:4
“The things
which were written aforetime were written for our learning.”
The story of Noah is one of the most
fascinating and beloved accounts in Scripture. When you ask Christians why God
destroyed all but eight souls on earth, most will give an incorrect answer. You can read
the story to people verbatim and afterwards ask them why God destroyed so many
people in the flood and most of them will say it was because mankind became so
wicked and sinful. (Gen. 8:21) As a Christian radio announcer in
“From what I understand about the story of Noah, the
people drowned in the flood because they didn’t get on the boat!”
Correct! How
easily we overlook the
simplicity of Christ. People in Noah’s day perished because they did not get in the boat,
just as people today will perish because they are not in Christ. Sometimes we
forget that salvation is for sinners.
Even if the people in Noah’s day had climbed on his ark singing “Just
as I am so wicked and vile, just thought I’d come in and ride for a
while…” they would have been saved –
not as a result of being good. (Matt. 19:17) Jesus said, “There is none good….” These people would have achieved salvation
only because they believed the message that sounded like “foolishness to them
that perish.” (1 Cor. 1:18) Noah’s
is another testimony
that salvation is not
dependent on human character, integrity, or humanitarian effort, but “by the
hearing of faith.” (Gal. 3:2) For: “Noah being warned of
God of things not yet seen, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” (Heb. 11:7)
Noah’s
“lifted up above the earth,”
being buffeted for the sins of the world. In John 5:39 Jesus proclaimed that this
portrait in the Old Testament testified of Him, and in parallel to Noah’s Ark,
Christ quoted part of this passage when he stated, ”if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw
all men unto me.” (John 12:32) Furthermore, those
who come unto Him, He will “in no wise cast out.” Did we find Noah or anyone else “cast into
the sea,” like Jonah? No! Why not?
Because: “the Lord shut him in.” (Gen. 7:16) The same Lord who proclaims what
he shuts no man can open. (Rev. 3:7)
This meant Noah and his family couldn’t leave that ark until God let
them out, otherwise, His claim that what He shuts no man can open would be
false! As God shut Noah’s family inside
the ark so none
of them could escape, the Holy Spirit seals each soul He redeems inside the
body of Christ and none of us shall escape “till the day of redemption.” (Eph.
4:30)
Note: Though Noah’s family was saved, the Bible warns us to
“remember
60a WHAT
ABOUT THE PRODIGAL SON STORY? Luke 15:12
“Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.”
The parable of the Prodigal Son is one
bone the legalists
love to chew. Legalists use this parable as the prime example of a born again
Christian losing his salvation. However, such teachers have not “rightly divided the Word of truth.” Many teach that the two sons in the
parable represent two born again Christians – one godly and the other a backslider. This isn’t the case, because no one can slide out of son-ship. In this parable the father does represent
God, but the two sons do not represent born again believers, because while
Jesus was on earth there weren’t any.
Jesus declared that the Scriptures testify of Him, and the Bible
specifically cites two men and refers to them as “the son of God,” long before
the first born again believer came into being. God
proclaimed Jesus
was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. (Matt. 13:17) Later, Jesus announced that “before Abraham
was I am,” making him God's eldest son, since “he was before all things.” (Col.
1:17) Since Jesus was the “first
begotten,” He received a double portion of His Father's inheritance “all power
in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18,
Like the first son, God gave his second son Adam his due portion, which was “dominion” over the whole earth. As in the parable, Adam took his portion, left the Father, and joined himself unto “a citizen of a far country,” symbolic of Satan “the god of this world.” (Luke 15:14-15) Like the prodigal, Adam squandered his portion in “riotous living” through disobedience to his Father's will. The citizen Adam joined himself unto had authority over a pigpen, and our heavenly Father, who:
“humbles
himself to behold the things in heaven and in earth”
views this earth as a pigsty, for “behold even the
heavens are not clean in his sight.” (Ps.
113:6, Job 15:15) The Adamic nature is nothing more than human nature, which is
hog-wild to “serve the law of sin” and hungers (fains)
after the unclean things of the world in its vain attempt to satisfy the void
that only the Father's love can fill. (Rom. 7:25)
It is not until the sinner (that’s you
and me in Adam, the second son) “comes to himself” realizing his unworthiness
to be God’s son because of his “sin against heaven” that the Father can accept
his plea of “be merciful unto me a sinner.” (1 John 1:9) As the father in this parable ordered a
sacrifice at the receiving of His son, our Father in heaven commanded blood to
be shed so we too could be received as His sons on the basis of sacrifice.
(Heb. 9:22) In the parable, the Father put the best robe
on his son. For you and I this is called
the garment of salvation, the robe of righteousness. Then, as in the parable, our Father commands
the angels of heaven to “Be merry: For this my son was dead, is alive again; he
was lost, and is found.” (Luke
15:54)
The younger
son typifies you and me “concluded” by the Father as “dead” in trespasses and
sins due to Adam’s transgression. (1 Cor. 15:22) When we returned in faith like the prodigal
son, our heavenly Father rejoiced to receive us “alive again” on the basis of
the sacrificial death, blood, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s
proverbial fatted calf,
for our souls’ restoration.
(2 Cor. 5:19-20) In this parable, being made “alive again” unto the
father foreshadows the “born again” experience Jesus spoke of to the Pharisee
Nicodemus. (John 3:3) We have been made
free from sin on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice and reckoned “alive again,” as
the second son, by being “born again!” (Luke 15:24, John 3:3) So, we see the parable of the prodigal son
isn’t the story of
a born again Christian losing his salvation.
For God has no dead sons, because all God’s sons “have
eternal life.” (1 John 5:13) As
written in this parable, the Father received his son “alive again” as “children
of the resurrection which dieth no more, death hath
no more dominion over them.” (Luke 20:36,
Now, for those who still believe this parable depicts a born again
Christian losing his salvation, allow me to explain further. When the younger son left home, he took his
inheritance with him, and eternal life is the inheritance of the born again
believer! Recall the rich young ruler who raan to Jesus asking what he must do to
inherit eternal life. (Mark 10:17)
Jesus told the man
he would have to do the impossible – keep the Commandments. (Gal. 2:21) Can you do the impossible? No.
Therefore, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.”
(Acts 16:31) The Father will adorn you
in a robe of righteousness, and give you an “eternal inheritance which fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you.”
Pay particular attention to the fact that the prodigal son had his
inheritance in his possession as he left his father’s house. This depicts a believer who parts company
with “the household faith.” Though a
believer may depart from the household of faith, he still takes his inheritance
with him. Eternal life is the born again believer’s inheritance! (Mark 10:17)
The inheritance of eternal life “is reserved (kept in trust) in heaven for you,” so your old man,
cannot squander it on his own lust. (Heb. 9:15)
Your new man shall receive his inheritance “that falleth
unto” him, and eternal life is his inheritance. (1 Pet. 1:4) Born again believers can never lose their
eternal inheritance that is reserved in heaven for them. It never fades away.
Note: Notice that the younger
son's wayward actions were never condoned, approved, or sanctioned on the home front.
Therefore, let every born again believer depart from iniquity for “now are we
the sons of God.” (1 Jn. 3:2) In the
latter portion of this parable the elder son typifies
60b WHEN A JEWISH FAMILY MEMBER DIES HIS OOR HER FATHER TEARS HIS
GARMENT, AND
OUR FATHER’S CLOTHES ARE NOT IN TATTERS. 1 John 3:2
"Now
are we the Sons of God....”
In Jewish custom, when a family member
dies, the head of the household stands and tears his clothing. This Jewish custom is called “keria,” and its practice is deeply rooted in
Scripture. When Jacob was given his
son's bloodied “coat of many colors” and told that a wild beast devoured his
son, “Jacob rent [tore] his clothes, and put on sackcloth and mourned.” (Gen.
37:34) Job also performed keria, when he learned all his sons and daughters were
killed at a banquet, when a strong wind caused his eldest son’s home to
collapse on them.
"Job
arose, and rent [tore] his mantle, and shaved his
head, and fell on the
ground, and worshipped.” (Job 1:20)
Likewise,
when David learned of his father-in-law, King Saul’s, death:
"David took
hold of his clothes, and rent [tore] them.”
According to The
Jewish Book of Why, when death occurs in an orthodox Jewish family, they
tear (rend) their garments on the left side for the loss of a father or mother
or on the right side for a son or daughter. The tear is handmade.
Likewise, when God’s "only begotten Son" died on the cross for
our sins, what did the hands of God tear, but the veil of His temple.
"And
Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
And
the veil of the temple was rent in twain (torn in two)
from top to bottom.”
(Mark 15:37-38)
God
did not tear the veil on the left side or on the right side, but straight down
the middle, because Jesus was both Father and Son. (John 10:30, Isa. 9:6)
At his crucifixion, Jesus Christ was
stripped of his seamless vestment "woven from top to bottom
throughout.” The soldiers did not want
to "rend" (tear) this seamless garment, so they gambled for it.
(Matt. 27:35) Today, Jesus clothes us
with “the garment of salvation,” and like His earthly garment, our garment of
eternal salvation is
seamless, being without beginning and without end. (Isa. 61:10,
Heb. 7:3)
If born again believers could perish by the second death, the Father
would have to strip his children of their garments of salvation, plus tear His
own vestments. With legalists estimating
that over the centuries, countless millions of the redeemed have lost their salvation, our God who is “arrayed in splendor” would have a
wardrobe in ribbons. (Heb. 5:9, Ps. 93:1)
SALVATION IS A
Ex. 13:17-18
"When Pharaoh had let the people go, God led them NOT
through the way of
the land of the Philistines, although
that was near; for God said, Lest,
peradventure the
people repent when they see war and return to
God led the people through the way of the
When Moses shouted,
"Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord," he was also
addressing billions not yet born. God used this Old Testament event to show us
that His New Testament plan of salvation has no round trip options. (1 Cor.
10:11,
"they
might have had opportunity to have
returned from whence they came out." (Heb.
11:15)
However, passing through the
Presently, God employs another Red Sea in our
deliverance: He chose not to save us by
our works; otherwise, we could reverse those works and return to the world (
In Scripture, “
God knew He would risk losing members of the body of Christ
if He chose any
other way to save us. Therefore, He
routed our deliverance through the blood of Jesus, so we have no opportunity to
return to what Revelation 11:8 calls “spiritual
"Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left to us of entering into
his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.”
Through the law, God showed us we are forbidden to work for our salvation. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was the Lord's day and not one work you could do on His day could please Him. (Matt. 12:5) Works were forbidden on this holy day, because God demanded everyone rest. Once “a man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath,” and Moses asked the Lord what should be done with him. (Num. 15:32-35)
"And the Lord said
unto Moses, The man shall surely be put
to death: all the congregation shall stone him with
stones.”
Those skeptical of God’s plan of
salvation attempt to work to make sure they are saved, but their efforts profit them nothing.
(Gal. 5:2, Rom. 11:6) These people
refuse to confidently rest in the belief that God’s provision of Christ’s
death, blood, and resurrection are sufficient to save the soul. Instead, they have decided to rely on their
works of righteousness to get them into His kingdom. These souls live by the old hymn, “Let the
works I’ve done speak for me.” By doing so they
hold God’s rest in contempt, despising it as too easy.
"So we see
that they could not enter (his rest) because
of their unbelief.”
(Heb. 3:19)
In
lieu of faith in Christ alone, they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and
house the homeless, stop abortions, care for the sick, close porn houses, cast
out devils, and love God, family, and fellowman, all in the name of Jesus for
their salvation. (Matt. 7:22) Yet not
one of these works, in the day of
salvation, shall spare them from “the flame.”
By despising God’s rest as too easy, in hell shall they lift up their
eyes being in torment:
“forever and ever, and
they shall have no rest day or
night.” (Rev. 14:11)
“Therefore
let us fear, lest a promise being left us of
entering into his
rest, any of you should seem to come
short of it.
For we which have believed do enter
into rest, and he
that has entered into his rest, also
ceased from his own
labors, as God did from his.” (Heb. 4:1,3,10)
If you are working to "save your life," stop before you lose it. (Mark 8:35) Jesus says, "Come unto me ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)
"For we
which have believed do enter into rest, as he
said, the
works were finished
from the foundation of the world...” (Heb. 4:3)
Our rest was made possible by the works accomplished by
“the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Born again believers are not laboring to stay saved, but are
at rest in the Lord. Born again
believers rest in peace. (Eph. 2:14)
Note: Those who search for and yet miss the
promised rest are those who work for instead of “believe unto the saving of the
soul.” (Heb. 10:39) The natural mind
cannot endure this sound doctrine, and labels it as “Easy Believism.” Nevertheless,
the Scripture is clear that salvation is “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:5) For those of you
who despise “the gospel of the grace of God” as easy believism,
did not Jesus say his yoke is “easy.” Was it not Jesus who stated, “Only believe.” Sounds
like “easy believism” to me. Repent or perish!
62 JOSEPH’S TREATMENT OF HIS BRETHREN SHOWS US
HOW CHRIST SHALL
TREAT HIS BRETHREN WHO DO NOT FOLLOW HIS INSTRUCTIONS IN
RIGHTEOUSNESS. Gen. 50:15
“When Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was
dead, they said, Joseph will
peradventure hate
us, and certainly requite us all the evil
which we did .....”
The
story of Joseph and his brethren is a miniature picture of Christ’s redemption
of the ungodly. (Rom. 4:5) Joseph was
the favored son of his father, and his brothers envied him so much that they
conspired to slay him. (Gen. 37:20, 1 John 3:15) They betrayed Joseph, threw him into a pit,
and planned to kill him. They changed
their minds and sold him to passing merchants.
(Gen. 37:27) His deceitful
brothers then willfully grieved their father’s heart with a well-maintained lie
that a wild beast had devoured his favorite son, leaving only a bloodied
garment.
The story has a happy ending, with
Joseph ruling second to Pharaoh in the
“I am Joseph doth
my father yet live? And his brethren could
not answer him; for
they were troubled at his presence.
Joseph said, I am your brother, whom ye sold into
ye sold me hither: for God sent me before you to preserve
life it was not
you that sent me hither, but God.” (Gen. 45:3-4)
Though Joseph’s brothers were filled with lies and
deceit and still
involved in the cover up of his alleged death, Joseph was not ashamed to call
them his brethren.
Conversely, when some Christians see a brother
overtaken in a fault, offense, or shortcoming, they are ashamed to call him a brother in the
Lord. Many Christians shriek at the very
thought that the offender claims to be part of the family of God, while
simultaneously ignoring the beam in their own eyes. Many Christians give lip service to the fact that we
are saved by grace through faith in
Christ Jesus, but when we see “the works of the flesh manifest” in one of the
brethren, we are quick to disown them. (Gal. 5:19, Rom. 7:17) Unlike Joseph and Jesus, many born again
believers disown their
brothers and sisters in Christ whose grievous wrongdoing has been
made known.
Whether we realize it or not, Jesus
Christ has more reasons to disown us than we can possibly find for Him to
disown the weakest or poorest example of any brother or sister in Christ. For the Word states “There is not a just man
upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not,” and
you are not the exception. (Eccl. 7:20)
For this reason, every believer should shout for joy when they read:
We are sanctified through the offering of
the body
of Jesus Christ,
once for all. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are
sanctified are one. For which cause
he is not ashamed
to call us his brethren. (Heb. 10:10,
2:11)
If Jesus Christ linked your brotherhood to Him based on
what you do, think, feel, or say, how long do you think you would last? Yet, Jesus:
“is not ashamed to call us his brethren.” (Heb. 2:11) Joseph did not base his love for His brothers
on their works, but on birth alone. In
like manner, neither does the Lord Jesus base your brotherhood to Him on your
works, but on the second birth. The birth of the spirit of God’s Son in you
made you a son of God and thus
His brother. (John 1:12, Heb. 2:11-12, Rom. 8:9) Joseph chastised, but spared, his ungodly
brethren from destruction, and Jesus Christ shall do no less to and for us.
(Rom. 4:5) It is by His mercy, and not
our worthiness, that Jesus saves those who believe in Him. Joseph’s ungodly brethren were saved by
Joseph’s undeserved favor, known as grace.
Like so many believers, Joseph’s brothers feared for their salvation,
but they were never in any danger, though they knew they deserved the worst of
fates. (
63 ALMIGHTY GOD HAS
INOCULATED THE BORN AGAIN AGAINST THE SECOND DEATH. Psalms
91:7
“A thousand shall fall at thy right side, and ten thousand
at thy right hand;
but it shall not
come nigh thee.”
(I was somewhat ambivalent in producing this
proof because of the force of logic it
carries.
Many will no doubt, attempt to discredit this as their predecessors tried to
malign Paul’s letters by slanderously reporting
that he was advocating, “Let us
do evil that good may come.” (Rom. 3:8)
My answer to them is the same response
“our beloved brother Paul” gave his opponents such as Alexander the
coppersmith.)
Nevertheless, I submit to you that if a
physician could vaccinate you against the deadly scourge of AIDS, once
inoculated, you could not contract this cruel disease even if you tried. In like manner, once inoculated against
polio, you could not
succumb to that virus though you exposed yourself to it on a
daily basis. Now, I boldly submit to you
that the reason so many born again Christians are insecure about their “eternal
salvation,” “eternal redemption,” and “eternal life” is because they are
ignorant of the fact that the Great Physician has inoculated them against the
second death.
In the Old Testament, God foreshadowed
the inoculation of his New Testament saints against the second death. (Rom.
15:4) When we study the ancient acts of
God, we find Him issuing various prescriptions and antidotes to His people so
they could avoid imminent death. God
commissioned Moses to warn the people that He was coming through
In God’s
second antidote, millions of Israelis provoked him to the point that he sent
poisonous serpents among them. Snakes
were everywhere; in beds, under pillows, in shoes, garments, and
foodstuffs. Many people died from
snakebite. The record in Numbers 21:8-9
states that Moses interceded on
“And the Lord
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent,
and set it upon a
pole: and it shall come to pass, that every
one that is bitten,
when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it
upon a pole,
and it came to
pass, that if a serpent had bitten any
man, when
he
beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”
Undoubtedly, Moses looked quite foolish preaching, “Forget about the snakes that are biting you and stop treating your snakebites, and look at this snake I just made and you will live.” The message of this gospel sounded foolish to those who perished. Those who tried to save themselves by treating their own snakebites (the equivalent of trying to get sin out of one’s life for salvation) died. (1 Cor. 1:18, Matt. 16:25) The snake-bitten who obeyed this “look and live” gospel became immune to the death that was at work in them. One look is all it took, not repeated looks. Regardless of how many snakebites they suffered, one look eliminated death’s power over them for whoever “beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” If any man had saved his own life by treating his own snakebites, then he could have boasted, but all boasting was excluded, “neither was there salvation in any other” method. (Rom. 3:27, Acts 4:12) Those who simply looked lived.
According to Paul, God staged this Old
Testament event as an example for New Testament learning. The master teacher, Jesus Christ, took full
advantage of this situation to illustrate
that just as natural death had no power over those who obeyed Moses, in
like manner anyone who believes the good news of Christ’s death, blood, and
resurrection for life eternal, “on such the second death hath no power.” (Rev.
20:6) In light of this, Jesus said:
“As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the
Son of man be lifted up: That
whosoever believeth
in him should not perish,
but have eternal
life.” (John 3:14-15)
A thousand snakebites could not overpower one Jew who gazed on that brass serpent on Moses’ pole, whereas one bite overpowered anyone who did not. By the Savior’s use of this analogy, we know that no matter how many times the crooked serpent’s fangs prick us by poisoning our thoughts, habits, or attitudes, “Christ in you” makes you immune to the second death, and on such the second death cannot overpower. (Col. 1:27) This is because Christ, the hidden man of our heart, “keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not.” (1 John 5:18)
God used the
stage of the Old Testament to teach us, during the New, that after “looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” we will never need a second
look for another dose of salvation. God
only saves us one time. If God saved you
and you lost your salvation due to more sin, then Jesus would have to manufacture
more blood, put it in His veins, then “rend the heavens and come down” to die
on the cross again for your recent sins, so you could be saved all over again.
(Heb. 9:26) Beloved, Christ is not going
to do this! This is why He is called the author
of eternal salvation and “obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Heb. 9:12) “Christ in you” is your everlasting antidote, and as
in Moses’ day, anyone who “looks unto Jesus” will live, period! If a man looked at the brazen serpent, then
found he didn’t want to live without a loved one who died of snakebite, he
could have jumped into a pit full of those “fiery serpents” and he would not
have died. Those who looked once had no
further need to worry
about another snakebite erasing the salvation that their first look provided.
FYI: Christ Jesus made believers
immune to sin’s wages, the second death, but not because we deserve it. We are saved from the second death because
when the fiery serpent of sin bit us in Adam, we, like our snake-bitten
partners of old, obeyed the gospel. We
looked “unto Jesus” and were spared from the wages of sin (death), but not the natural consequences of
our sins. Recall that although the thief on the cross was promised paradise by
the Lord, he still received capital punishment for his crimes though he was
forgiven by God himself. (Prov. 1:31) Therefore, be not deceived; God is not
mocked, whatsoever your natural man soweth “that
shall he also reap.” Order
audio supplement: The Issues of Death.
ON ONE
APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.
Ex. 12:13
"When I see the blood I will pass over
you."
Imagine yourself as a firstborn Egyptian abolitionist in the
days of Moses who relieved the suffering of Jewish slaves at every
opportunity. Do you realize that if you had lived
a life far more moral than every firstborn Jewish slave, they still would have
been "saved alive" on that Passover night, while you would have been slain
that same night on authority of God. Not
because you were a bad person, but because you did not have the blood of the
lamb on your dwelling. (Ex. 12:23) God
would not have favored or pitied the slave more than you, the humanitarian, but
he would have spared the slave’s life only because of the lamb’s blood on his
doorpost, not for the kind of life he did or did not
live. (Ex. 12:13) Even the story of Rahab being spared when
If any firstborn Jewish slave had lived a life as righteous
as the sweet Lord Jesus, but that night did not have the blood of the lamb on
his dwelling, he would have been found dead the next morning. The death angel showed no respect for how anyone
conducted his or her life. The only
thing he respected was “the blood of the lamb.”
When God saw the blood, His destroyer passed over those in that dwelling
that night. You could have been the most
exemplary and upright Egyptian citizen ever to walk earth, yet you would have
suffered the same fate as the firstborn Egyptian who loathed every breath the
Jews drew. This is because benevolent
humanitarianism protects no one from the wrath of God. Nothing but the blood of the lamb does this
and you would not have had any. Many
sinners live a life far more upright than many believers in Christ, yet it
profits them nothing towards eternal life.
Only faith in the blood of "the lamb of God" saves us, not our
self-righteousness, as it is written, "It is the blood that makes
atonement for the soul.” (Lev. 17:11)
Although many theologians have trouble with the word “atonement,” allow
me to explain it in the New Testament sense, at-one-ment as in we are now one with the Lord. (1 Cor. 6:17)
As a believer, your salvation's "safety is of the
Lord" and not of yourself. (Prov. 21:31)
Out of the millions of ignorant slaves, not one of them ran outside to
reapply more blood in an effort to strengthen God’s salvation plan. This is because multiple applications of the
blood of the lamb are unnecessary. It
takes only one application of the blood of the Lamb to eternally "save a
soul from hell, and hide a multitude of sin.” (Heb. 9:12, James 5:20) The anthem of the redeemed still rings true
as it did for those slaves who trusted in the blood of the lamb that terrible
night. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness.” Any questions?
Note: Skeptics and scoffers
undoubtedly will challenge you with questions like “What if a slave washed off
the applied blood? Would not this prove
that one could lose his or her salvation?”
The answer is: Of course not.
That slave would have never possessed salvation in the first place to
lose it. This scenario is akin to
someone who is taught
the plan of salvation, and, like King Agrippa, is almost
persuaded to believe. But as Agrippa did, they dilly dally and die, waffling in
their indecision. Almost persuaded, but
lost! (Acts 26:28)
65 BECAUSE EVERY BELIEVER’S SOUL HAS BEEN
CIRCUMCISED FROM THE
FLESH,
AND NO CIRCUMCISION HAS EVER REATTACHED ITSELF!
Matt.
5:30
“And if thy right
hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is
profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
whole body
should be cast into hell.”
Have you ever heard of a man
who had to beg his physician to circumcise him again, because he was
misbehaving and it grew back? Also, it
is highly unlikely that you will ever meet a man who was circumcised but
woke up one morning and found it had
somehow reattached itself. Men are
circumcised only once, not again and again.
Furthermore, flesh, once circumcised, does not grow back or reattach
itself!
We learn from the Old Testament that being “uncircumcised”
was offensive to God because it symbolized being in the flesh, and according to
Scripture in our flesh dwells no good thing.
(Rom. 7:18, 1 Sam. 17:26) Whether
you are male or female, in God’s sight you entered this world dead in
trespasses and sins “in the uncircumcision of your
flesh”, which made you offensive to God. (Col. 2:13) Recall Jesus’ statement that if one member of
your body offends the Almighty, it would be profitable for you to cut off that
one member, rather than remain offensive and have your whole body cast into
hell. Well, every human being has one
member in their body that makes us offensive to God, and this member is the flesh, an immaterial body of sin inside us also
known as the old man, human nature, or the nature of sin. (Rom. 8:8)
This is your Old Man’s
Anatomy
in God’s sight
·
his spirit.......drinks iniquity like water. (Job
15:16)
·
his works......are “the works of the flesh” accursed
before God. (Gal. 5:19-21)
·
his heart........is hardened, deceitful, and desperately
wicked. (Jer. 17:9)
• his
mind........is God’s enemy and cannot be made subject to God’s Law. (Rom. 8:7)
• his
soul..........is lost in the flesh, strangled in trespasses and sins. (Col.
2:13)
•
his eyes....….are full of
adultery that cannot cease from sin. (2 Pet. 2:14)
•
his ears..……itch to hear
salvation by self-improvement, works. (2 Tim. 4:3)
•
his scent....... is a
self-righteous stench in the nostrils of God. (Isa. 65:5)
•
his throat.......is an open
sepulcher (i.e., grave). (Rom. 3:13)
•
his tongue.....is full of
deadly poison that no man can tame. (James 3:8)
• his lips...........possess
the poison of serpents within them.
(Rom. 3:13)
•
his neck.........is stiff, not
willing to bow unto God. (Acts 7:51)
• his
arm..........is the cursed arm of flesh. (Jer. 17:5)
• his belly.........is his god, for he is ruled by fleshly appetites. (Phil. 3:19)
• his
trunk.......is full of dead men’s bones (corruption). (Matt. 23:27)
• his
hands......are against other men and guilty of Christ’s blood. (Pro. 6:17)
•
his feet......... are swift to
do evil, and cannot walk in the Spirit. (Pro. 6:18)
•
his flesh........serves the law
of sin, and in it dwells no good thing. (Rom. 7:18)
•
his vital signs declare him
dead before God. (Matt. 23:27)
Being “in the flesh” made you offensive to God, and it
was in this light Jesus said:
“if thy right
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee:
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy
right hand offend
thee, cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not
that
thy whole body
should be cast into hell.” (Matt. 5:29-30)
Since every member of your old man’s anatomy offends God, in order to save you the Great Physician had to sever “this old man” the flesh, from your soul lest “thy whole body be cast into hell” as a result of this one offending member. The operation God performed on this offensive member is called “the circumcision made without hands in the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” (Col. 2:11) This occurs when a sinner believes the gospel and God, in turn, severs that soul from its old man (flesh nature) and grafts it into the new man, better known as the body of Christ. (Rom. 11:17-23, Eph. 2:15)
Before you
believed the gospel “you were dead in your sin and the uncircumcision
of your flesh….” (Col. 2:13) However,
after you believed, Paul wants you, “Knowing this, that your old man was
crucified (cut off, circumcised) with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed ....” (Rom. 6:6) This
operation of God was performed at the cross, where our flesh was cut off being
“crucified with Christ.” (
Like earthly circumcision, our spiritual circumcision is
performed only once. The Christians’
sin-loving flesh nature can never refasten itself to their soul that has been
washed in the blood, raised in the newness of life eternal, and preserved
perfect in Christ. (Jude 1:1) Though the
old man (human nature) has been forever circumcised from his former “soul”
mate, his immaterial “body of sin” has not been ousted from the physical bodies
of born again believers. (Rom. 7:17) And
like a jealous ex-husband, the old man wages war against the soul’s new
marriage partner, the indestructible new man, the divine nature of Christ in
you. (Rom. 7:1-4, 1 Pet. 2:11) This is not a war he can win, hence, the
believers’ circumcision can never become uncircumcision”
and therefore they cannot lose their salvation. (Rom. 2:29, Phil. 3:3) Order audio supplement: If Your Hand Offends Cut it Off: Spiritual
Circumcision Explained.
Note: If
we took Jesus’ words literally concerning cutting off, or rather circumcising,
offending members of our bodies, we would literally do a hatchet job on
ourselves by nightfall. The first member
to go would be our heads, for in it resides the wicked works of our mind that
alienated us from God in the first place. (Col. 1:21) The second member missing would be our
tongues, for “the tongue can no man tame.”
Isn’t it ironic that
though many Christians
brag about observing God’s Word
to the letter, you haven’t met a Christian yet who observes this Scripture literally. Hmm?
66 BORN AGAIN BELIEVERS HAVE
BEEN ORDAINED INTO AN UNCHANGEABLE PRIESTHOOD. 2 Chron. 6:41, Rev. 1:6 Let thy priest O Lord God, be clothed
with salvation, and Jesus Christ…hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Jesus
Christ is heaven’s high priest, but not heaven’s only priest, because he made
born again believers “kings and priests unto God.” (Rev. 1:6) The priesthood of the redeemed is a royal
priesthood because its founder is a king, “Melchisedec,
King of Salem and priest of the most high God.” (Heb.
7:1) The writer of Hebrews describes the
differences between the only priesthoods the Scriptures recognize: the Levitical and the Melchisedecian
orders. Aaron the Levite was the first
high priest of the Levitical order. Aaron only ordained Levites into his
priesthood, but not one of them was allowed to continue by reason of death.
(Heb. 7:23) Death prevented Aaron and his priests from continuing in his
priesthood. According to Hebrews 7:11 and 8:8, perfection was not of those
called after the order of Aaron, because God found fault with them. The fault
was that Aaron and his priests died.
“They were not suffered [allowed] to continue by reason of death,” because
death, sin’s wages, seized them. “It was, therefore, necessary for the
priesthood to be changed,” along with the covenant that supported it. (Heb.
7:12) Aaron’s Levitical
priesthood was replaced by the Melchisedecian order,
the oldest priesthood known to man. (Heb. 7:3)
A most peculiar characteristic of the Melchisedecian
order is that its priests cannot die.
They are “made priests forever by the power of an endless life.” (Heb. 7:16-17) After the new birth granted you “the power of
an endless life,” Christ ordained you as a king and priest unto God into the
same priesthood that he, himself is ordained into, a priesthood far superior to
any present day order of priests on earth.
For Melchisedec’s order is a priesthood where
priests continue forever! The mortal flesh of “our outward man perisheth” and cannot officiate in this eternal
priesthood. The spirit man (called the
inner man of the heart of believers) known as “Christ in you” officiates in
this holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God. (1
Pet. 2:5) The Melchisedecian priesthood is “a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” because its priests continue
forever, unlike the Levitical priests who “could not
continue.” (1 Pet. 2:9, Heb. 7:23) Our
new creation is the incorruptible member of this unchangeable priesthood.
After being made a priest forever in Melchisedec’s unchangeable order, can you be changed back into a lost soul? No, or that would make this unchangeable priesthood changeable. (Heb. 7:24) Since “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec,” can God ever put you out of this eternal order? No, because you have been “made a priest forever.” Can you leave this order on your on volition? No! Or that, too, would make this unchangeable priesthood changeable. (Col. 4:17) Jesus Christ made believers kings and priests unto God, and it is written: “Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation.” And just as the clothes of his stiff-necked priests and people of old did not wear out while they were wandering in the wilderness of Sin in the Old Testament, neither shall our garments of salvation wear out when we wander off course during the New. (Isa. 51:6, 2 Chron. 6:41, Neh. 9:21)
Note: Your new man is “perfected forever” and shall abide in you forever
and is made “a
priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” (Heb.
10:14, 7:19) Now with all these forevers for you, it is evident that you cannot ever lose
your salvation. The Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus the
Christ, ordained us as kings and priests unto God,
as co-laborers with him to
tell the world to be reconciled unto God, through faith in his death, blood,
and resurrection in order to receive forgiveness of sins and life eternal. (2
Cor. 5:20) As a priest of the Most High God, “take heed to the ministry which
thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.” (Col. 4:17)