Rebuilding the Gates

It may be true that many Christian people are feeling the need for a reformation of Christian thinking. Because of the warping of Paul’s doctrine of "grace," the current teaching leads one to believe that how the believers behave is of little consequence. The main emphasis is to maintain a belief in the facts associated with the salvation that is in Christ.

I suppose is it a common practice among the religions of the world to view belief in the various doctrines and the practice of the liturgies of the religion to be more important than the personality and behaviour of the individual. Perhaps these mystical belief systems are accepted by the people of the world as part of life on our planet.

However, such separation of the doctrines and practice of the religion from the personalities and behaviour of the converts is particularly deadly when it comes to Christianity. The purpose of the Christian salvation is to provide, through Christian people, a true witness of the Person, will, and way of God, and His eternal purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, I am up to my old tricks. I am endeavouring to convince people that when Paul was comparing grace and "works," he was comparing belief in Christ with the "works" of the Law of Moses, not belief in Christ with godly behaviour. This fact, although it can be presented clearly, logically, and scripturally, seems to be unknown to most Christian leaders and their followers.

When our belief in Christ does not result in a change in our behaviour, it is not genuine belief in Christ. I would imagine we all would assent to this; but the huge emphasis on "faith alone," assuredly not a scriptural emphasis, does not accept the simple fact that when our belief in Christ does not result in a change in our behaviour it is not genuine belief in Christ.

Sheesh! Stay calm, Thompson. Be dignified and calm. Remember, charity toward all is your watchword.

So because of this glitch in Christian thinking, the testimony (not the preaching, which continues enthusiastically as though it were Bible based!) of the Christian people is so weak our government is running afoul of just about every moral standard we always have sought to maintain.

False doctrine has led to spiritual weakness, and the destruction of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think Jesus is telling us it is time for a reformation of Christian thinking and practice.

I spoke last week of the rebuilding of the wall against sin. Now we come to the third chapter of Nehemiah, and the rebuilding of the gates of Jerusalem. Each of these gates tells us something about the direction the work of reformation should take.

Notice that the first gate to be rebuilt is the "Sheep Gate." The tremendous emphasis of the Christian organizations of our day is to "go out and get souls saved." However, the tremendous emphasis of the Spirit of God is on building up the Christians into the full stature of Christ.

The gifts and ministries given to the Body of Christ are, for the most part, enablement's designed to build believers to maturity in Christ. They are not addressed to the world.

The "sheep" today need to be fed the Word of God. They cannot grow on the traditions of the pre-tribulation rapture, and a sovereign grace that does away with any need for self-denying discipleship.

It is true also that there is a great need for the operation of the gifts and ministries given to the Body of Christ. I think there are going to have to be drastic changes in how the Christian churches operate in America before we have the widespread operation of gifts and ministries that are necessary if the believers are to be brought to spiritual maturity.

As far as the need to be fed the Word of God is concerned, three important doctrines of the new covenant are almost never preached. One such important teaching has to do with what it means "to overcome." The promises to the overcomer are those rewards we ordinarily think of as being the rightful inheritance of all Christians. But the promises are not made to all the members of the churches, only to the overcomers of those churches.

When was the last time you were taught about what it means to be an overcomer? A second important doctrine is "the rest of God." Leaving our own plans behind and pressing into God’s rest is the thesis of the Book of Hebrews.

When was the last time you were taught about what it means to labour to enter the rest of God?

A third doctrine has to do with the stated "mark" of the Apostle Paul. It is that of attaining to the out-resurrection from among the dead.

When was the last time you were taught that you must lay aside all else in order to attain to the first resurrection of the dead?

What were you taught? Probably how you can have a more successful life if you "accept Christ." Probably how the "rapture" may take place before next Sunday and you will go to Heaven to live forever in a mansion.

Probably that God sees you through Christ, and even though you are watching pornography on the Internet, God sees only the purity of Christ, and is having fellowship with you as you watch men and women behaving as lust-filled animals.

You are not going to grow on this diet. You are not going to be ready when the Lord comes to give resurrection bodies to His warriors. You are not going to be able to stand during the bloody days that are on the horizon for America.

Please notice, in the third chapter of the Book of Nehemiah, that the Fish Gate comes after, not before, the Sheep Gate.

Why is this? It is because the Lord’s "sheep" must be built up before the "fish," the unsaved of the world, will come to Christ.

Jesus said that when His elect are one in Him and the Father, and with one another, the world will believe. Today we are trying to get the world to believe when the Christian people are not one in Christ and the Father or with one another. Is that true?

So it is time for a reformation of Christian thinking. As we read on through the third chapter of Nehemiah we see the "Old (Jeshanah) Gate."

We need to seek the old paths, the good way. The destructive doctrine of Dispensationalism has cut us off from the Old Testament as though we were in some new kind of relationship to God. Will we ever understand that God and Christ do not change? They always demand righteous, holy, obedient conduct on our part. We ought to know better than to believe God has given us a covenant that permits ungodly behaviour!

We notice the beams and bolts and bars. This is because we lost that which was given freely to the Apostles of the First Century. Now we have to build it back up, a beam, a bolt, and a bar at a time.

The basic story of mankind, as well as of us as individuals, is that we cannot retain that which we are given freely. We lose it, and then have to get it back by a lot of hard work and discipline—that is, if we live to have a second chance.

Because of the fear of God held by the pioneers of our country; because many citizens were taught the ways of the Bible; and because of hard work; America became the richest, most powerful nation on earth.

But, as was true of Samson, we Americans have embraced the ways of the world. The world always has been and always will be a prostitute. It will sell its favours to the highest bidder.

Now God is abandoning us so we can find out why we were so prosperous. Our eyes have been put out. We do not have the strength or the wisdom sufficient to overcome the numerous ungodly forces invading America.

The wise men of the media, the scholars, the philosophers, the professors of economics, present one opinion after another. But they do not realize that the problem is God. We have left God and now He is leaving us.

I am not hearing from God that we are going to be able to bring our nation back to its former prosperity. What the Spirit seems to be saying is that each believer is to turn to Christ as never before. By so doing he (or she) may save himself and those for whom he is responsible.

The Bible states there was war in the heaven. We may not have thought much about this. But apparently there were numerous skirmishes of various kinds, as the forces of righteousness attacked the wicked. Angels were involved in the battles.

This accounts for the expression, "Be glad, heavens, and those who tabernacle in them." It is of note also that some of the host of the heavens fall to the earth at the time when some of the saints are overcoming the Accuser.

So we have much to learn concerning the battle between God and Satan; Christ and Antichrist. I believe this battle is beginning in our day, as we see ministers of the Gospel fall from their high position in Christ, due to sexual lust.

Satan is being torn down from the heaven and he is bringing down with him those who spiritually have been raised in Christ but who never have submitted to the crucifixion of their will.

Indeed, ours is a dangerous era. Each of us who names the name of Christ must be exceedingly careful to maintain the Presence of Christ at all times lest he be deceived. Also, he must pray to the Father, "Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one."

Those who insist that once we believe in Christ we never could fall back to the earth are in error. We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, praying that we not be led into temptation and deceived. Indeed, it is entirely possible for someone else to receive the crown of victory in Christ that originally had been in our possession.

I think we have changed what fundamentally is a battle of God against Satan, righteousness against wickedness, truth against the lie, into a religion, the Christian religion. It appears that numerous church-attending believers have little or no understanding that their life is to be a daily battle against wicked spirits. Perhaps they have not been taught to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

May Jesus help us save ourselves and our loved ones, because our beloved country is giving away its Christian heritage to that which is not of the Lord. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. (Revelation 12:7)