Two Natures

So I feed the blessed one with sound doctrine by studying the KJV Bible rightly divided. And that sound doctrine works effectually within me for my edification and growth as an ambassador of Christ.

Romans 8:1 KJV — There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV — Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Titus 1:9 KJV — Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

Titus 2:1 KJV — But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

1 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV — For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

2 Corinthians 5:20 KJV — Now then 👉we are ambassadors for Christ, 👈as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Pentecost, It’s Not What You Think

I’m studying up on a lot of things right now, so I haven’t forgotten our Walk on the Romans Road but since my husband began classes with Grace School of the Bible I’ve changed my study habits somewhat . I am helping him and studying with him so I am progressing at the classes pace through Romans so those will be every few weeks as we finish each chapter. I am also reading Acts Dispensationally Considered by C. R. Stam among other things and tonight I want to talk about something that was really an Ah! Now I get it moment for me yesterday. Pentecost was NOT the birth or conception of the Body of Christ or the church today!

I know, you’re like “Say what! You’re crazy woman.” I know I have always heard and thus believed and taught in the past that the church of today was conceived at Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago. I was wrong and I am sorry. Now I’m setting the record straight and showing you through Scripture how there is absolutely no way that what occurred that Pentecost day way back when could have ever had anything to do with the church the Body of Christ during this the dispensation of the grace of God. Are you ready?

Most Christians and Catholics today erroneously believe that Pentecost marked the historical beginning of the Church of this dispensation, otherwise known as the Body of Christ. This error is made based on the premise that the so called “great commission” contains the orders of conduct for the church today. But that premise is wrong and so is any conclusion drawn from it. It only leads to confusion and contention among the members of the body. There is absolutely no Scriptural basis for saying the Body of Christ began with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and I’ll show you through God’s word why Pentecost isn’t the birth of the Body of Christ and the age of grace as well as show you what is our birth.

Nowhere in the account of Pentecost is the body of Christ mentioned, not once. This makes perfect sense when you consider that the body wasn’t even being formed yet. It was still a mystery hidden in God waiting for Israel to reject not just their Messiah but the Holy Spirit as well. That won’t happen for almost a year, at the stoning of Stephen. The first mention of the body is in Paul’s epistles.

Pentecost was an exclusively Jewish feast day in no way related to the body of Christ. Seriously, that feast is all about their redemption as a nation, as Israel, not as a church.

Considering that Pentecost was a Jewish feast it makes sense that the only people we see Peter address are Jews their for the feast. Let’s look at some of the scripture here to see what I mean.

See – Jews, men of Judea and Jerusalem, men of Israel and house of Israel; Pete was talking to Jews and Jewish proselytes. Read the full account you won’t find one single gentile mentioned, nada, zilch, nota one! But the Body of Christ is “one new man ” made up of both Jews and Gentiles as equals reconciled to God in one body, the result of the breaking down of the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile erected with Abraham and later Moses.

The Jew, like the Gentile, had to be alienated from God before both could be reconciled to Him in one body. This is why Israel as God’s chosen nation had to be set aside before God could offer reconciliation to the world and form the Body of Christ.

Romans 11:15 above is directly in connection with “the reconciling of the world.”

God’s dealings with Israel at Pentecost show that at that point they were not yet set aside, they were still the chosen ones, the golden nation. He had not yet concluded them in unbelief or put them in a very long time out yet.

Which brings us to a very key point, the kingdom of heaven that John the Baptist, Jesus and the twelve has not actually been offered to Israel yet, that is actually what begins at Pentecost and what the great commission afore mentioned means. That commission is found at the end of Matthew and Luke as well as the first chapter of Acts. In each instance the Lord gives more information about what He told them before he ascended in glory to heaven. Basically it was take salvation to the world through the Jews, who come first. Start in Jerusalem and work out going only to the Jews first then after to the Gentiles. That’s the great commission in a nut shell, it’s all about Israel. Acts 2:30-39 and 3:19-21 show Pentecost was all about the Jews not the Body which hadn’t even been revealed yet.

At Pentecost there were always two loaves (Lev 23:17) symbolizing Israel and Judah the two houses of the nation that would be brought together in the kingdom but retain their separate identities. The Body however is always referred to as one – one loaf, one body, made up of all believers in the death burial and resurrection of Christ whether they be Jew or Gentiles all God sees is His Son.

“For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”  (1 Corinthians 10:17)

At Pentecost the disciples were baptized with, or in, the Spirit for power (Acts 1:8) this is very different from the baptism by the Spirit into Christ and His body we have today. It bears noting that Jesus Christ himself was the Baptizer at Pentecost, baptizing his people with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:7-8). Today however the Holy Spirit is the Baptizer, baptizing believers unto Christ and His body. (Galatians 3:27-28, 1 Corinthians 12/13).

And finally at Pentecost only Jews were baptized with, or in, the Holy Spirit. Obviously this couldn’t be the baptism by which “one Spirit ” baptizes believers “unto one body, whether they be Jews or Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 12:13), now could it?

Okay I’ve clearly shown through the scriptures that Pentecost was not the birth of the Body of Christ the church of today the age of grace. So when were we born? Our conception was the moment Saul saw Christ glorified from heaven and was saved. When he cried out “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” in that instant Saul became Paul (His Roman name) and the chief of sinners became the first member of the Body of Christ. From that day forward he set about adding members daily to the Body and we should be doing the same. Not jacking up the Gospel Christ gave to Paul by adding in Israel’s stuff just focus on what God gave to us for our dispensation and be fruitful and faithful to Him.

Whom My Soul Loveth

That’d be Jesus my precious glorious Savior, my maker and Redeemer, my sustainer and all sufficiency! The truth that Jesus died was buried and rose again for my justification before God demands that my soul love Him, for believing this truth believing Jesus is who he says and did what he did is faith through God’s grace and by grace through faith alone am I saved. That salvation is the greatest gift, a gift of eternal importance and one we must all be certain of. When we are saved by God’s grace then we are filled with His spirit and that spirit bears forth within us the love of Christ working a new work in us that is a whole new man who walks after that Spirit not after our flesh. This selection by Spurgeon highlights this beautifully.

“Thou whom my soul loveth.” — Son 1:7

It is well to be able, without any “if” or “but,” to say of the Lord Jesus-“Thou whom my soul loveth.” Many can only say of Jesus that they hope they love him; they trust they love him; but only a poor and shallow experience will be content to stay here. No one ought to give any rest to his spirit till he feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance. We ought not to be satisfied with a superficial hope that Jesus loves us, and with a bare trust that we love him. The old saints did not generally speak with “buts,” and “ifs,” and “hopes,” and “trusts,” but they spoke positively and plainly. “I know whom I have believed,” saith Paul. “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” saith Job. Get positive knowledge of your love of Jesus, and be not satisfied till you can speak of your interest in him as a reality, which you have made sure by having received the witness of the Holy Spirit, and his seal upon your soul by faith.

True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit’s work, and must be wrought in the heart by him. He is the efficient cause of it; but the logical reason why we love Jesus lies in himself. Why do we love Jesus? Because he first loved us. Why do we love Jesus? Because he “gave himself for us.” We have life through his death; we have peace through his blood. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. Why do we love Jesus? Because of the excellency of his person. We are filled with a sense of his beauty! an admiration of his charms! a consciousness of his infinite perfection! His greatness, goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to enchant the soul till it is so ravished that it exclaims, “Yea, he is altogether lovely.” Blessed love this-a love which binds the heart with chains more soft than silk, and yet more firm than adamant!

Jesus Paid It All

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe.

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

I love that song and those words. I can never thank Him enough for paying it all for me. The greatest moment of my life was the moment I realized who and what I was and who and what He did. In that instant I knew the debt I owed for my sin and that Jesus had already paid that debt on my behalf, a free gift of grace to a wretch like me, I just had to take it. Accept the gift and be set free eternally from the bondage of sin and death! Know true peace, eternal security and incredible freedom from the chains and burdens that had weighed me down my entire life, slowly dragging me to the pits of hell. That’s what grace does- frees us when we accept it, we accept the gift of grace and are immediately filled with the Holy Spirit which then begins to work in us making us into the image of God’s Son. That’s some gift let me tell ya! And all we have to do to receive it is believe. It’s that simple. And think about it, believing something isn’t really doing anything. It’s just having faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the full payment for all your sins past, present, and future. You don’t have to turn from you sin to be saved – you will turn from it once Christ begins a good work in you the moment after you believe and are saved but you don’t turn He turns you. You don’t have to be baptized to be saved – the moment you accept the gift you are baptized into Christ’s death, burial and resurrection not one drop of water needed. You don’t have to pray a prayer to be saved – although it is always good manners to say thank you for a gift God knows your heart anyway so He knows you believe without a prayer. You don’t have to confess your sins- again God already knows them but the second you believe they are blotted out forever all of them even the ones you’ve not committed yet. It’s that simple- you cannot do one thing to earn the gift of salvation. It is of grace alone through faith, not woks of any kind least man should boast. If you try to add anything to it, like repentance first, confession, baptism, then you are attempting to save yourself and if you could do that then Christ died for nothing. Christ who is God with meat on Him became a man the only sinless one to ever live and he was nailed to the cross at Calvary where he poured out every last drop of his precious blood to pay the price for man’s sins. It was your sins that nailed him there and mine. But it was His blood that washed them away, and now I can live in Christ and know that there is now no condemnation to me because I am made righteousness in God’s eyes through Jesus, His only son.

Greater Is The One…

“Greater is the one living inside of me, than he who is living in the world!”

I know it’s not Scripture but the words of that Mercy Me song have been a balm to me lately. My world shifted last Monday, God showed up showed out and He has plans for me. I saw clearly in a split second that changes are coming and much will be required of me but He will not leave me and he will protect and lead me through it all. I’m having a tree moment and I know it hurts. I have cried and prayed all week, and I do not mean pretty weeping, nope we’re talking all our ugly red faced choking, snottin’, soul wrenching tears that cleanse. God’s cleaning out my junk so he can fill me with what He wants me to be. Now this has been happening since I was saved almost 8 years ago to an extent but it’s different now, focused, intense, and Satan is trying like mad to stop it so I know God’s got something big in store. And I know that I am unworthy and incapable alone but with Christ strengthening me then anything is possible. (Not that I need proof or doubted that but Monday was a perfect example of how God works in our lives to put us where he wants and needs us when we walk by faith in the spirit.). I know it is because Christ lives in me that He is able to use me and that fills me with such abounding joy that my soul thrills while my flesh trembles at the amazing truth of that. God lives in my body! Wow! So I am fighting on, praying through, clinging to the one who bought me and I know that it will be worth it after all.

It’s One Minute Before The Rapture

What will you be doing?

Will you be sleeping, driving, eating, laughing, crying, working? Will you be someplace you don’t belong, doing something you know you shouldn’t, saying something to hurt someone, wasting time on idle vanities? Will you be praising God, trusting Jesus, sharing grace, helping a fellow believers joy, worshiping, fellowshipping, walking in the Spirit? Will your mind be on storing up treasures in heaven or in the world? Will you be thinking of eternity or just letting the seconds fly by unheeded?

Maybe a better question is where will you be one minute after the rapture? Will you be meeting the Lord in the air and getting a glorified body and divine flight to your new heavenly home? Or will you be in the chaos that ensues as those in Christ are called up to meet Jesus in the air and those who aren’t are left behind?

I am sure of my answers to both questions. One minute before I’ll be living for Jesus, one minute after I’ll be in His precious presence!

A Virtuous Woman…

I’m in a women’s study group with a couple of dear sisters in Jesus today we began a study on the Proverbs 31 woman. My toes are still throbbing! I have studied this passage before and it it never fails to convict me of my weakness and desperate need for the filling of the Holy Spirit in my life growing, shaping and molding me into the useful vessel I’m meant to be. It amazes me how this ideal of godly womanhood was given as an example we should look to as we go about our days. She is good, strong, willing, hard working, smart, a keeper of her home, a servant of God. The passage is directed at us ladies but the truth is all followers of Jesus would benefit from studying this wise woman who relies on God in all she does. I will be posting more about her from time to time as I study and reflect more on this lovely example of how biblical womanhood. But for tonight allow me to share just the verses with you lovely sisters (and any men who wish to glean from them as well, there’s meat in them for all). Read them prayerfully a few times over the next couple days. Read them several times in a row if you’re able, ponder, reflect and marinate in them and just see what God lays on your heart. He is certainly dealing with mine.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”  (Proverbs 31:10-31)

Like The Day

“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” — Gen 1:5

The evening was “darkness” and the morning was “light,” and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, “Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?” Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, “That which is last, lasts for ever.” That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; “thy sun shall no more go down.” The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.

— Charles Spurgeon

Old Testament Faith

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:”  (Job 19:25)

I find Old Testament references to Yeshua our Savior fascinating to ponder in my heart. Such as the above passage from Job. It shows just how glorious God’s grace is, and how it is through faith in Christ alone we are saved. Never by the law or our works just by believing in the one who died for our sins and rose again alive promising that all who have faith in that truth and believe in their hearts will be saved. Grace is a free gift, all we have to do is know that and accept it, not try to pay for it by works . Here’s a couple more references to Old Testament saints saved by faith alone.

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”  (Romans 4:3)

David also was saved by his faith as many of his psalms show, especially this passage I am especially fond of.

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”  (Psalms 103:10-13)

The Word Is The Light

The Gospel of John tells me this truth and the rest of his writings back it up, in fact the entire Bible basically says that the Word is the Light. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 Jesus is the Word of God and that Word is the Light of this dark world. I know this is true and this truth shapes and lights my life. But for so many today, even church going professing Christians, they doubt this truth, doubt the Word, dim the Light! My heart aches for them because the truth is right before them, right in their grasp yet like a spoiled child throwing away the very thing they are crying for in frustration and anger, these poor souls are throwing true peace and happiness with both hands saying it isn’t what they wanted. I know this is true because I see it every day and if it grieves my heart this much how much more must it grieve His, the Word they reject, the Light they hide.

The church my husband and I work at is a perfect example of this. 98% of the people on the books there, including the ministers and their families, do not believe the basic truths John witnesses to us. As I have studied this week on John chapter 1 this has become so evident to me. I asked you to think over a couple passages last night and now I want to begin really getting into how they apply to us.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2

These few words set up so much truth. In fact the phrase “the Word of God” is used 1,200 times in the Old Testament and is the most meaningful of the 12 titles John uses in the first chapter of his Gospel. “Word was God” asserts that Jesus Christ was God, the eternal Word who was made to be man is also the Creator.

But most Christians say that the Word isn’t entirely true, that the Creator is a myth and all this came from nothing that exploded then somehow formed rocks that got rained on for millions of years and formed primordial soup which eventually somehow formed life from that life they believe “first I was a tadpole long and thin, then I was froggy with my tail tucked in, then I was a monkey swinging from a tree, now is I’m a doctor with a PHD.” By inserting millions and billions of years and death before sin in the six days of creation, they make the first verses of Genesis a fable or myth and by doing so they do the same with John’s gospel since both begin with the creative work of the eternal Christ.

When Christians deny the truth of any part of the Word then it becomes ok to deny whole portions of it (like Revelation, which is probably the most relevant book for our time, it’s the one that deals with the fact that we are being plunged into the time the Bible speaks most about, the end of this sin filled world and Christ’s return to rule in triumph) saying it isn’t relevant or they don’t want to hear it because it is scary or upsetting. When so called believers teach Genesis is just a story , that God didn’t create everything in the universe in six literal morning and evening days they cast doubt on the first verse in Scripture (all of which is God breathed) and undermine the Gospel- it’s not a piece meal kinda thing, it’s an all or nothing kinda thing. People need to recognize Christ as the offended Creator before they can truly believe on Him as the sin bearing Savior and Redeemer.

Most Christians today doubt it all, they say Jesus set a good example, or is just a good story that teaches good morals, that it is good to love everyone and say your following Jesus. But that’s all they do, say they are following Him; they aren’t doing it because they don’t really believe in Him. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power there of. If they recognized the Truth then they would believe all the Word every jot and every tittle of it and their lives would show it. Instead they put on a good show all dolled up in their Sunday best for a few hours that morning then they head out to the world and all it has to offer. Which is really dark, dead and decayed rotting idols that put on lots of paint and smell good to trick them into thinking they are worthy of worship.

Think about it, what we spend our time on is what we really love, time of which we have a finite ever decreasing supply of – one day it will run out for each of us and then we will face God. Some of us will have spent our time on His work, His call on our time sharing the Word, spreading the Light. Most though will be trying to justify to the Word why they believed the worlds lies, trying to explain why instead of focusing on the Light they dwelt in ever increasing darkness, spending their precious time on things God hates, living for their own selfish pride and lusts. Trying to explain choosing Netflix over Pureflix, 50 Shades over Pilgrims Progress, Praising their own name not praising His, being “all Me” not “all Jesus ” all the time. They’re gonna say they “loved Jesus and went to Church and read a few verses now and then ” and He is gonna look at them and say they loved darkness not Light, words not the Word, hate not love. Then they will hear the scariest words in the Bible “Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you.”

A few of us though believe it – all of it from “In the beginning God” all the way to “Even so come Lord Jesus.” We believe it and we live it. Instead of trashy profanity and sin filled entertainments we choose to study the Word, dwell on the Light. It is these believers that we are in that apostate church for. Like John, we bear witness of the Word and Light to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Strengthening and encouraging them in their walks so they can do the same to brethren they encounter in their daily lives. We don’t just relegate Jesus to a few hours one day a week but we all (all true Christ followers) are all about the Word and the Light all the time. We believe John when he tells us:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”  (John 1:1-18)

I know this post has run long but it’s what God has laid on my heart this week and is a fact we need to fight with the Truth, Word, and Light!