Walking in the Light.

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Dr. Dianne McIntosh preached both services today. In the morning Dianne emphasized being blind. We are born blind, and then Satan and other factors contribute to our blindness. In the evening Dianne spoke about being blind, being a fool, and being lame. This was very practical preaching, stressing the restoring of relationships.

(9/9/2007) Dianne pointed out that we make ourselves fools when we are rebuked and then are not zealous to repent. She mentioned several factors that cause us to be blind to our foolishness, and also factors that result in our being lame. Being blind and being lame prevent us from walking successfully in Christ.

Dr. Dianne’s comments reminded me of the passage in First John that tells us if we are to continue to be cleansed from all sin we must walk in the light of God’s Presence and will. It is only as we walk in that Light that we have fellowship with God.

I understand the importance of the blood atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. The Old Testament informs us that God will meet man only at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, meaning at the place of the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Laver. The spiritual idea is that God will meet man only at the cross. We cannot come to God other than through the blood of the cross. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

This being undeniably true, and absolutely scriptural, let me express the thought that we are not viewing the blood atonement properly. We have made the blood atonement the beginning and the end of the Christian redemption. Once we profess faith in the blood we are saved, and the rest of the plan of redemption is peripheral, comparatively unimportant, an assortment of relatively trivial details.

By means of the blood of the cross we are saved to go to Heaven. This is the basic meaning of the Christian salvation, we believe.

Placing the blood atonement as the centrepiece and goal of redemption is not scriptural. How often does the New Testament speak of the blood atonement?

Well then, if the blood atonement is not presented in the New Testament as the centrepiece and goal of salvation, what is?

From Matthew through Revelation the centrepiece and goal of redemption is presented as obedience to the commandments of Christ such that we live a righteous, holy, obedient life. This is the emphasis and the result of the growth of the Kingdom of God in us.

What, then, is the role of the blood atonement? The blood atonement makes it possible for God to accept us so we can proceed with the program of the growth of the Kingdom of God, which leads us to being formed in God’s moral image (and finally in His outer likeness) and ultimately to our becoming an integral part of the eternal Temple of God.

I have preached this same concept in so many different ways! Forgiveness is not the goal of salvation, although it appears often to have been presented this way throughout the two thousand years of the Christian Era. Here is the free gift (a redundant term) of salvation. Let us all thank God for the free gift because now we are on our way to Heaven.

I do not know about the rest of the world, but this viewpoint certainly is appreciated in America. Just think! We can’t or won’t behave righteously, so God has decided to see us through Christ so He can have fellowship with us now and in Heaven for eternity.

Can you see what a travesty of the Gospel of the Kingdom our doctrine of grace and imputed righteousness is? But isn’t this what Paul taught? The Apostle Paul wrote in several passages that if after we are saved and filled with the Spirit of God we continue to obey our sinful nature, we shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. It appears we have misunderstood the Apostle Paul.

No, forgiveness is not the important part of our salvation. It may be from our standpoint, but it assuredly is not from God’s standpoint. God is looking for sons, saints, brothers of His Son who are made in the image of the Son. When we limit our concept of salvation to the blood atonement, we fall far, far short of the Glory of God that is available through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The way of salvation, the way of faith and righteousness, the way to have fellowship with God, is that of walking in the Light of His Presence and will. Every conscious moment of every day and night we are to be presenting ourselves before Christ as His servants. We look to Him for every decision. We keep practicing His Presence. We count all else as garbage that we may know Christ and be found in Him.

Paul told us to live is Christ and to die is gain. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

Paul told us to press forward until we attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

Paul told us to live is Christ and to die is gain. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

Paul told us we are to present our body a living sacrifice that we may prove God’s will for our life. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

Paul prayed that Christ would be magnified in his life whether by his life or by his death. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

Paul claimed he has been crucified with Christ and now it is Christ who is living in him. This does not mean we are to stop seeking Christ after we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb.

The Gospel we are preaching today is unscriptural and, in fact, is destructive. It is destructive because it leaves the impression that the Christian salvation primarily is one of forgiveness. While forgiveness through the blood atonement certainly is included, this is not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in us. The forming and dwelling of God in us results in our being formed in God’s image and in our always doing God’s will. Such forming and dwelling is what redemption is all about. The blood atonement makes it possible for God to accept us so He can proceed with the work of forming His Kingdom in us. If we stop with forgiveness through the blood atonement we have aborted God’s intention through Jesus Christ.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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