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by Leonard V Johnson
Greetings, my beloved. Let us turn in our Bibles today and look here in 1st Peter 2.
Reading here from the New English Translation ──
“As newborn babes, yearn after the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow.” – 1 Peter 2:2, NET.
That we may grow up to salvation.
Now, why would that be within God’s living word if we already have salvation ── we wouldn’t have to grow. You know … the moment that they “profess Christ,” or “receive Christ,” or have “an altar call,” or are baptized, or the moment they take a knee in front of the assembly, and begin weeping? Whatever their process might be, according to their traditions, denominations, or doctrinal bylaws.
Or why is it that we read within God’s living word, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, …” – Psalm 34:19? Why is it that we, brethren, have to go “ … ‘through many tribulations [to] enter the kingdom of God.’” – Acts 14:22; John 16:33, even after we have professed Christ Jesus? Also, why is it that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” – 2 Timothy 3:12?
And why does the Apostle Paul tell us that we must “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” – Philippians 2:12?
So, why is it that we read things like those within God’s living word? Because there are those within this so-called Christianity that teach, “There’s no works to salvation …” as they incorrectly quote the Apostle Paul, “We just have to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe, and we’ll be saved!” “We’re saved the very moment we confess Christ” ── so they say, ‘Just believe in the Lord, and you will be saved!’ – as they wrongly quote Acts 16:31.
Well … that is what they quote. And I personally confirmed this at a small Sunday-going Protestant church back in 2014, when their head minister tried teaching me this very thing ── as he handed me a Calvinist book!
Indeed, that is what our beloved Apostle Paul said to the keeper of the prison there in ancient Philippi, “’ Believe ON the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” As I’ve spoken of before, there’s a huge difference between “on” and “in.” And this is what this world’s Christianity is trying to get people to do today. Just believe in Jesus. Even then, many believed in Him. Because there is a great difference between believing in Him and believing on Him.
Notice that our Lord Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in Him, “’ If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.’” To abide IN HIS WORD means that not the hearers of the Law, but the DOERS of the Law shall be justified. That if you abide in His living word – if you do His word, as the Way of living. And, to REPENT, to come out from among the churches of this world, change the way you’ve been living that is causing all these terrible tribulations worldwide. THIS IS THE GLORIOUS MESSAGE FROM JESUS CHRIST! And sadly, nearly everyone does not hear or see what the Spirit has to say. Sadly, most people just simply believe that what the Apostle Paul was saying is that all one needs to do is just believe in Jesus, and they will be saved ── that isn’t what he said, and that isn’t what he meant at all.
Returning again to 1st Peter chapter 4 ──
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial among you which is taking place to test you, as if some strange thing were happening to you.” – 1 Peter 4:12, NET.
And those fiery trials will occur to anyone who is a true Christian.
In an article that I just finished typing up, “Questions That the Religions of the World Ask ──” I cover, in essence, why it is that the LORD God doesn’t just take us away from this present evil age.
Well … you know … some people profess Christ, “receive Christ,” or however they announce it or claim it, and they believe that they are automatically and completely saved ── “Once Saved, Always Saved” ── right then and right there! And some people believe that once they’re under God’s grace, they will always be under God’s grace. That from then on, they can never “be lost.”
A great many people just accept and believe that when you die, you either “go to heaven” to be with God and Jesus Christ, or you go to “the other place” – an ever-burning hellfire. It’s like you’re born, and then you’re on this journey called life, and then at the end of the line ── as the Traveling Wilburys famously wrote ── there’s a switch on the line, and it will either turn you downward and send you to Hell. But, even on your dying bed, if you immediately call on the name of Jesus, “confess Jesus,” make your decision for Christ, or again, have “an altar call,” or are baptized, or the moment you take a knee in front of the assembly, and begin weeping? Whatever your process might be, in whatever denomination or faith. Whenever you do ── poof, you’re saved for all eternity. “We’re goin’ to the end of the line.” Maybe you haven’t thought of it that way, but that song made me think of it this way: at the end of the line, the switch gets pulled, and you’re going one of two directions. I believe it was the movie The Polar Express that also has this same concept. I believe I speak of this in our sermon “The Feast of Trumpets and the Church.”
Now … how come once they take that “altar call,” or “confess Jesus,” they have to continue living? Why doesn’t that confession just immediately zap them up into Heaven? Why do they still have to be here on Earth? Sadly, most don’t see, or can’t see, any real reason for a Christian life. Because, as I said, they just wait “till the end of the line.” Going back to the lyrics of a song in my mind ── they, just like in the lyrics, ‘one night in their life when they turned out the lights, they asked for and prayed for His forgiveness.’ (paraphrased)
Well, in truth, my friends, that along this journey of life, there is a real reason for a Christian life after you repent and are converted, after you have truly repented of your sins. The LORD God tells us, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” – 1 John 3:4.
Are you aware? Because so many people, apparently, don’t know what their Bible actually says. Well, it’s in your Bible, and you won’t find anything in your Bible that disputes it or is contrary. Staying in 1st John, this time chapter 5 ── “All unrighteousness is sin, …” – 1 John 5:17.
What is unrighteousness?
Well … like I was talking to my wife just this morning concerning Pope Leo XIV, about who and what he actually represents (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3) ── because God’s living word actually tells me so ── most will come along, and they want to place their own meaning and interpretation into the Scriptures. But if you allow the Bible to interpret itself, then we see the answer is ──
“ … For all Your commandments are righteousness.” – Psalm 119:172.
So, not keeping and obeying the LORD God’s commandments is sin.
Our beloved Apostle Paul ── and I love calling him “our beloved” because once ── and I begin to speak of this at the very beginning of an article ── while speaking with a professing Christian relative, I was asked if I had ever heard of Pauline Christianity. I told him that I had, “What, My God, is that church teaching this man?” But our beloved Apostle Paul says in Romans 7 ──
“ … I would not have known sin except through the Law [here speaking concerning the Ten Commandments]. For I would not have known covetousness unless the Law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” – Romans 7:7. The knowledge of what is sin comes through the Law of God. And in verse 14, he says, “ … the Law is spiritual, …”
You see … it’s not a moral law, like the Code of Hammurabi was. It is a spiritual Law. There’s nowhere within God’s word that says that God’s Law is a moral law. Yet, there are millions of people who believe it is. It’s spiritual, and it takes a spiritual love, ‘ … the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was gifted to us’ – Romans 5:5, paraphrased. And it is the LORD God that gifts you this love ── this agápē love. And you truly must REPENT of your rebellion against the LORD God, your transgressions against God, against the Law of God, against the very government of God. O yes, the LORD God (the Elohim, the family of God – which at this present time consists of God the Father and Jesus Christ) has a government – a kingdom. And just like Lucifer rejected that kingdom, Adam & Eve rejected that kingdom as well ── and the majority of humanity for these nearly 223 generations since Adam!
And the LORD God’s kingdom is governed by laws.
Sadly, there is a growing number of people in the United States of America who claim to be a “sovereign citizen.” People who believe they are immune to government laws and rules, and in many instances have violently confronted authority. The FBI has described them as ── and I agree with this definition ── “domestic terrorists.” And rightly so. A world, a nation, a country, a province, or even a city without laws will lead to profound consequences, such as ──
- Chaos and disorder.
- Economic collapse.
- Social instability.
- Environmental degradation.
- Personal safety.
Well … religiously, that’s how most people think about Law and Grace. However, that’s not the proper understanding of it, but that’s about the idea that many people have. “No rules, no laws ── we’re under grace!” They think that law is a terrible thing. How are you going to have law and order, and true peace, without law?
Have you watched this plethora of YouTube channels, such as State Boyzzz, where the speeder is asked, “Let me see your driver’s license and your registration.” And the answer comes back, “I don’t have one.” Roughly 7 million US drivers actively operating vehicles are without a valid license. 1 Again, they say, “No rules, no laws ── we’re under grace!”
What you absolutely need to know is that the LORD God’s Law is in motion, it’s active, it’s alive ── Minister Garrett once made a series of sermons, calling God’s Law “The Eternal Relevancy of the Ten Commandments.” They are spiritual, they are moving, they are relevant ── and you can’t change them. They are an eternal Law. And, my friends, they are automatic ── they enforce themselves automatically. No law enforcer needs to catch you in the act. It truly can be likened to gravity ── and let’s think of it this way, if you break the law of gravity, you will float. And obeying the law of gravity keeps you grounded.
A Law of Death
Upon perusing my Facebook newsfeed, I noticed a post that stated, “I’m in the final third of my life on this earth, and I have learned that dying is inevitable. No one can stop it.” Indeed, it is a law. And as I’ve said many times now, had they (Adam & Eve) chosen the tree of life, they would still have lived out their days and died. As the LORD God says to us in Hebrews 9:27 – “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” My friends, the process has not changed since Adam, and there is a reason for this Christian life. There is a reason why, after you have properly repented of your sins, repented of your rebellion against the God of gods, and you became willing to let the LORD God rule you and guide you, and fight for you, and you truly stopped transgressing the Law of God. Well … in fact, there isn’t a choice within God’s living word between choosing grace or obeying God’s Law ── God’s word doesn’t say anything like that.
A Second Death
Actually, in fact, God’s word says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? CERTAINLY NOT! …” – Romans 6:1, 2. The Apostle Paul continued, “How shall we who died to sin [have turned away from transgressing the LORD God, from disobeying God] live any longer in it?”
The breaking of laws has penalties. It wouldn’t be a law without penalties. And the penalty of breaking the Law of God is death ── the second death. An eternal death. And when you have broken God’s Law without proper repentance, baptism, and having hands laid upon you, and the gifting of God’s Spirit ── the law of the second death will claim your life. And again, it’s eternal, the second death from which there will be no resurrection. This Death is the punishment, and it’s an everlasting punishment. It’s for all eternity. Now, it’s not “punishing forever,” it’s punishment forever.
This law of Death has a claim on your life because we’ve all transgressed God’s Law ── every single one of us. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23.
“Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death [the second death; see Revelation 20:14; 21:8] through sin, and thus death [the second death] spread to all men, because all sinned” – Romans 5:12.
But praise be to the great Ancient of Days ── only one Man lived who never did sin, and that’s our Lord Jesus Christ! We have all transgressed God’s Law ── “Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.” – Job 14:1 ── and this law of Death is going to claim your life unless you come to realize that our Lord Jesus Christ put Himself under this law in your stead, and He took your guilt, and He risked His eternal glory for YOU!
Truly, you can be released from having to be under this law of Death and be placed under grace ── which is like a pardon.
An Outright Rejection of God’s Law
Notice the Book of Hebrews, chapter 3 ──
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” – Hebrews 3:1.
Verse 7 ── “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice [note: 2 Corinthians 3:17, ‘the Lord is that Spirit’], 8) Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.’”
Let us not harden our hearts after being called by Father God, as the children of Israel had done back in the rebellion, in the day of trial. Because why? They lacked faith. Truly, by miracles they had witnessed His works, and by miracles the LORD had brought them out of the land of Egypt. And by a miracle, He had sent them manna in the wilderness to eat. And He had healed them when they were sick.
Verse 10 ── “’ Therefore I [the LORD God] was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’”
Now, metaphorically, the Promised Land was a type of rest that lies ahead for us, brethren, if we will continue to forsake transgressing the Law of God. As I so often quote—the LORD God has set before all of us life and death, “’ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life.’” – Deuteronomy 30:19.
That’s all the more reason that we need a Savior.
Also, God’s Law was not “nailed to the cross.” There is nowhere in your Bible that the Ten Commandments, the LORD’s spiritual Law, was nailed to the cross. It was our Lord Jesus Christ who was nailed to the cross.
Now, yes, of course, there were animal sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, carnal ordinances, and some physical rituals given to the children of Israel under the Levitical priesthood in the days of Moses, but they were just a substitute until our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came. That’s what was nailed to the cross with Him.
But not the LORD’s spiritual Law. There is a great difference between the physical laws of Moses and the spiritual Law of God.
Well … the children of Israel (which were Church+State) came to not want to obey and follow the LORD God. Of course, the LORD taught them the Way, and that Way is obedience. Yet, what did they do? They griped, grumbled, complained, and they created physical idols and began to bow down and worship the created rather than the Creator. Also, they wanted to turn back towards the land of Egypt and call upon the “mercy” of the Pharaoh. And that’s still what people tend to do today. They tend to run as fast as they can away from true blessings, real happiness, and the promise of eternal life, all the while professing Christ, as they worship Him in vain! Our Lord Jesus has said ──
“’ Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8) ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9) And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” – Matthew 15:7-9.
And truly, this whole world is doing this today. This world is going the way that they went. Now King David in his day wrote ── and here was the Way that the LORD God had told the children of Israel under Moses. Now, it was all physical in those days, but the LORD God told them the Way to go, yet they wouldn’t go that Way. So, that whole generation didn’t make it. None of them got the reward. None of them had the glorious blessings. Notice ──
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, 8) Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9) Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works FORTY YEARS. 10) Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11) So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” – Hebrews 3:7-11.
And that whole generation never entered into His rest. Only Joshua, Caleb, and all of that generation were allowed to enter the Promised Land.
The ‘Old Man’ Must Die
Friends, let me tell you, if you will only surrender to the LORD God and understand that it’s JESUS CHRIST that is the Mediator between you and God, the Father. And that He kept the Ten Commandments, and that He set us an example that we are to follow. And ── if you truly regard Him as your High Priest, and you come to Him daily on His throne of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and live by every word of God, go the Way of God, you are truly going to have blessings immeasurable.
And if you’re reading and following this online ministry, you know that I’m speaking from experience. I began this life’s journey when I was 12 years old, and I tell you that even in my mother’s womb, the LORD God was with me! (Jeremiah 1:5). Truly, I wouldn’t trade this Christian life that the LORD God has blessed me with. Now … the LORD had to certainly open my eyes to the wrong way that I was heading. (cf. Hebrews 12:6). There were times when I suffered, and He had to remove from me the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21). And yes, there were times when He punished me harshly. We have to die to live. Now, I don’t want to die ── but the “old man” had to die (Romans 6:6). I’ve had unimaginable blessings in my life ── but the LORD God is no respecter of persons. You, too, can have blessings from God, but you’ll need to go God’s Way to get them.
Listen ── it was those who came under Moses that HEARD. They knew God’s Way but refused His Way! Their complete and utter lack of faith was outright disobedience ──
“For who, having HEARD, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17) Now with whom was He [the LORD] angry FORTY YEARS? Was it not with those who sinned [recall: ‘sin is the transgression of God’s Law], whose corpses fell in the wilderness?” – Hebrews 3:16-17.
Those of that generation fell physically ── and as the LORD God is warning us here through the Apostle Paul ── ‘don’t harden your heart as they did in the rebellion’ – don’t fall spiritually! Don’t fall into this world’s spiritual wilderness. This certainly is what the LORD God is telling us here.
“And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but TO THOSE WHO DID NOT OBEY? 19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief [they refused to believe].” – verses 18-19.
Yes … disobedience. It’s a living faith that obeys, and that’s what they didn’t have. They were disobedient. Now, the word “rest” here comes from the Greek word katapausis, which means rest ── either physical or spiritual.
Notice that unbelief and disobedience are synonymous.
Notice the 4th chapter of the Book of Hebrews ──
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest [same Greek word, katapausis], let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” – Hebrews 4:1.
The “you” means us, brethren, who have already been converted, are already in Christ, who has already received the glorious Holy Spirit of God. Now that blows their “Once Saved, Always Saved” doctrine out of the water ── doesn’t it?
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them [the difference being, our gospel is a spiritual good news of eternal salvation, and theirs was the physical good news of reaching the Promised Land]; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” – Hebrews 4:2.
Though HEARING, they weren’t obedient. What about YOU? Are YOU going to be obedient? Are YOU going to have that kind of faith that makes it possible to obey the LORD God?
“For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” – Hebrews 4:3. □
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