Don't you agree?
Don't you agree?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)
We can understand that if we are not poor in spirit but filled with our own ways we are not going to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
There is a great error in Christian theology. It is that belief in Christ is more important than obedience to Christ.
When Paul was seeking to free the Jews from the Law of Moses he employed the term "grace." The Law was onerous to the Jews, but they had a difficult time believing that God would bless them through Christ apart from strict obedience to all the facets of the Law of Moses.
Speaking concerning the Gentile believers:
"Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." (Acts 15:10,11)
Because of the hardness of our hearts, people today are using Divine grace as a substitute for moral change. The result is numerous Christian people who do not hunger and thirst after righteousness. They believe that God sees them as righteous through Christ and there is no need for further righteousness.
In fact, they are empty of righteousness, but shall not be filled because they see no need for righteousness in addition to that which they believe has been imputed to them. They are not poor in spirit.
A casual reading through the New Testament will reveal that a part of the text is devoted to exhortations to godly living, accompanied by severe warnings if these exhortations are ignored. Such would not be the case if God has imputed righteousness to all who make a profession of faith in Christ.
In fact, the whole issue of obeying the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount is rendered of little importance because of this error. Yet, the Sermon on the Mount includes the righteous laws of the Kingdom of God, and those who ignore these exhortations to righteous conduct remove themselves from the Presence and blessing of the Lord.
Much or most of what is being preached today in Christian churches is destructive error!
What Paul meant by grace as the means of the believer moving from Moses to Christ is being employed as an alternative to righteous behavior. We ought to know better than this, but it appears we do not.
A far as being filled with righteousness, if we keep pressing forward in the Lord Jesus, our inward nature will be conformed to the Nature of the Lord Jesus. Finally the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and we ourselves, will sit on the throne of our own personality.
In addition, our body will be clothed with our body from Heaven which will reflect in itself the victories we have won through Christ.
Such is the case with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They indeed shall be filled!
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
Sometimes it is difficult for us to not want to "get even" with someone who has harmed us. Jesus forgave His captors, and that spirit of forgiveness is in His blood.
When we are having trouble forgiving someone, we can ask the Lord Jesus to give us of His Virtue that is in His blood so we can overcome as He did.
The day may come for any one of us when we need to have mercy shown to us. The Law from Zion promises that if we have been merciful to others, people will be merciful to us.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Being pure in heart is difficult in America at this time. Because of the abundance of electronic devices, we are bombarded with worldly information and images, most of which are impure if not absolutely abominable.
The electronic games are devastating to young people, being filled with violence, immorality, and witchcraft. To keep one's heart pure in the midst of "Sodom," which America rapidly is becoming, requires an exceptionally devout young person.
But the struggle is worth it, because the promise is that we will see God if our heart is pure. That is worth any effort we can make!
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)
I think most of us have experienced many occasions on which we can choose to be argumentative or violent, or else make peace.
Very often when discussing an issue with someone we can sense that we can provoke a confrontation, or we can calm the waters. The Bible says, "A soft answer turns away wrath."
I notice in the newspaper that altercations resulting in murder are becoming more frequent. I think the reason is that God, because of abortion and other crimes, is removing His Presence from us.
Because God is leaving us, the demons have ready access to us. If they find two people arguing, they will attempt to join in the discussion and inflame someone until he kills his friend.
If we are wise we will avoid arguments as much as we can, and all confrontations. Usually problems can be solved later when everyone has calmed down.
The prevalence of people being arrested for immoral conduct also may be due to the presence of unclean spirits. People who have much to lose throw it all away for a few moments of "pleasure."
To be termed a child of God is no small blessing. This name is applied, by the Law that comes from Zion, to those who make peace,.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)
However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (I Peter 4:16)
We in the United States have not suffered the degree of persecution that has been true of some of the Christians in Africa, for example.
However, if the day should come, as it has for people in other countries, where our family members are kidnaped or murdered, or we ourselves suffer torture or are put to death, all because we are Christians, we must keep in mind that this is an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Those with prophetic wisdom are saying that severe persecution is coming to the people of America. I myself, being elderly, have seen in my lifetime a growing hostility toward Christianity. The people who desire to practice unusual sexual behavior or abortion are incensed when Bible believers remonstrate with them.
Since all sorts of unclean practices are on the increase in our country, one might conclude that the future may witness a strong reaction against Bible-believing people. If that proves to be true, we then will join the ranks of the men and women of God mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
Pleasing the American populace in the present hour is not worth losing the Kingdom of Heaven!
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11,12)
Notice the word "falsely." None of us enjoy being reviled and persecuted. But when we are doing good and not harm, the accusation is difficult to overcome.
It is written of the Lord Jesus that He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil. Yet His good was viewed as evil by the Pharisees and doctors of the Law.
We are blessed by the Lord if we can gain the victory in prayer.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)
What does Jesus mean by the above? He means that His disciples are to show in themselves the virtues proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount. The earth and its peoples are the valley of the shadow of death. A godly man or woman makes life here more palatable.
But when the disciple does not reveal Christ in his or her behavior, he or she no longer is of use to God or man and is removed from the Vine, from Christ.
I must pause here for a moment. In our day the major emphasis is on "accepting Christ." I think this means acknowledging that Jesus has been sent from God to save us through Him so that His atoning blood may wash away our sins.
The idea is that by doing this we are assured when we die that we will go to a mansion in Heaven.
Is that pretty much the idea? Have I got it right?
Now stop and think. Does our accepting Christ and having our sins forgiven make the earth and its people more acceptable to God and people? Does the world "taste better" because we are waiting to go to our mansion in Heaven?
Probably not, However, It would taste better if we did all that Christ and His Apostles have commanded! But we do not obey most of what Christ and His Apostles have commanded. We have "accepted Christ," and that pretty much is the end of it.
Many of us may attend church on a regular basis. But if a pastor or evangelist suggests that while we may have come through the door we have not gone out into the pasture of the Lord, it is likely he will be ignored.
The current tradition of "accepting Christ" may be too widespread and too deeply entrenched for us to even entertain the thought that we are not being "saved" as described in the New Testament.
We are under the impression that since we have "accepted Christ," we now have a ticket to Heaven. We may have no idea that it is as imperative to follow the Lord each day as a disciple, changing from the living soul to a life-giving spirit, emulating the Apostle Paul in his pursuit of the resurrection, as it is to receive Christ initially.
When I consider how far we have drifted from what discipleship is supposed to be, I conclude that the present social confusion we are in is permitted by the Lord so He can select, test, and train a relatively few people who then, in the Day of the Lord, will serve to teach righteousness to the remainder of mankind.
I believe there are many people who are hoping and praying for a nationwide revival in America. May God grant it to be so before our nation is destroyed completely.
But the "revival" probably would result in a multitude of people making a profession of faith in Christ, and some attempts at godly living. But unless the pastors and evangelists began to teach the converts the way of development into a new moral creation, and how important this is in the program of redemption, it would happen as in the past. After two or three generations there would be a return to the unscriptural ways of today, with an emphasis on lawless grace and a "rapture" to Heaven.
There would be no "salt" to make the world palatable to God and to the nations of the earth.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
We Christians may claim to be the light of the world, but we often are not. Why is this? Because we are not performing good deeds.
Why are we not performing good deeds? Because we have been taught that we are saved by faith apart from any change in our behavior. The result is that people are not seeing the good deeds that would cause them to glorify the Father in Heaven.
But the very heart of the Christian redemption is our change from our fallen adamic nature into a new creation in God's moral image. Salvation is our release from the person and works of Satan and change into the Person and works of God. The heart of salvation is change into the behavior outlined in the Sermon on the Mount.
How would you like to reside forever in Heaven if people behave as they do in your church?
What then is the source of the confusion?
It is that we are interpreting the Apostle Paul who said "not by works of righteousness we have done" to mean righteous works are not a part of our redemption.
When the Apostle Paul spoke of not being saved by works he meant not by the works of the Law of Moses. If Paul meant how we behave is not a part of our redemption he would be contradicting what he wrote in His epistles about righteous behavior and the Kingdom of God.
And envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
We perceive, therefore, that a profound misunderstanding pervades current Christian teaching.
We do not earn salvation by obeying the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. Rather, we obey the precepts as an act of obedience to God. It is obedience to God that brings eternal life, not belief about God and Christ.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)
To be a slave of God is to obey the commands of God. The benefit of being a slave of God is holiness. The result of obedience and holiness is eternal life.
Can you see how different this is from just "accepting Christ"?
Because many Christians are not growing in righteous behavior, but are waiting to be "raptured" to Heaven, the light of the world is growing faint. Because the light of the world is growing faint, the governments of the earth, including the United States, are sinking into a cesspool of sin.
Because the United States, once a stronghold of the Christian faith, is sinking into a cesspool of sin, the Presence of God is leaving our country. Because the Presence of God is leaving our country, the works of demons are becoming increasingly apparent.
The end of the matter is a greatly weakened America that will have but a small voice in the affairs of the world.
Since the American Christians may not choose to abandon their "lawless grace" and "rapture" delusions, the end of the America we have known may be at hand.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)
It appears we are obliged to keep the whole Law of Moses. It is not acceptable to keep only part of the Law.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)
But what does the New Testament proclaim concerning the Law of Moses?
By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:13)
We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15,16)
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21)
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:24,25)
We no longer are under the Law of Moses, according to the Apostle Paul!
I have listed several passages, because there are Christians in our day who claim we are under part of the Law of Moses, especially the Sabbath day.
It appears at first glance that Paul is contradicting the Lord Jesus. But this never can be. Paul states clearly that we are not bound by the Law of Moses because we have died with Christ and the Law of Moses does not govern the dead.
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6)