2-27-16
It takes faith to believe and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But how can they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent. How shall they be sent unless they hear and heed the call. They have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report. Romans 10:14-17.
Mark 4;24 take heed how you hear
Luke8;18 take heed how you hear
Luke 11;28 blessed are they that hear
John 9;27 already told you but you did not hear
Over and over again Jesus told His followers, “Be careful how you hear,” and “Let him who has ears to hear, hear.” He issued warning after warning concerning hearing. Jesus came into the world to save sinners but in order for sinners to be saved, they must hear the truth of the gospel. It is not enough to hear, however; we must be careful how we hear. In Mark 4:24-25, Jesus spoke these words: “Take heed what you hear; with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that has, to him shall more be given: and he that has not, from him shall be taken what he has.” This phrase perfectly describes where the Church is today.
Jesus said, be careful how you hear. Each time a preacher or teacher or layman or friend or ally or anyone begins to share the Word of God or any other words, we must be careful how we hear what is being said. When it comes to the truth of God’s Word, we can trust it; but so much of what is preached today is opinion about the Word of God. The Word of God should always take precedent over an opinion about the Word. However, if we place more credence, more believability into the opinion of God’s Word than we do in the Word of God its self, the truth we have received from God’s Word will be taken from us, leaving us in the falsehood we have chosen to believe.
This is what happened early in the history of the Church. The apostles grew into the knowledge of the new covenant. Jesus stood in front of eleven men and commanded them to wait for the baptism with the Spirit. These men, having perfect understanding of the language Jesus used to convey this commandment, understood that Jesus was standing before them wielding all power in heaven and in earth, Matthew 28:18. When He used a word a general would use to command His troops they grasped the full import of the command. They understood the command to be to all those who would follow Jesus because Jesus issued the command in the perfect present tense of the verb “wait” and 109 other believers joined them in obedience and all received. They understood the extreme behavior nuance of the verb Jesus had chosen to communicate the command and fasted and prayed for ten days with their comrades before receiving. They continued in breaking of bread and fellowship and prayers after receiving and saw the power to witness of Jesus’ resurrection manifest in their lives over and over again and thousands upon thousands were saved.
Paul persecuted Jesus’ fledgling Church but Paul was a student of God’s Word. Even though he tried to deny it, the truth preached by the followers of Christ Jesus rang true in his ears and “to him that has will more be given.” Paul held the Word of God with integrity in his heart and it was the Word of God that accosted him on the road to Damascus to deliver the “more” promised. Paul was caught up to heaven to hear the gospel straight from Jesus, such was the confidence, credibility, integrity, veracity and trustworthiness Paul placed upon the Word of God. You see, it was how Paul heard God’s Word that demanded Jesus take him to heaven to hear more. Jesus said, “Be careful how you hear, for with the same measure you mete, it shall be measured back to you” (Mk.4:24). The word “shall” means “must have to.”
The word “mete” means a “boundary or line.” Every time we hear anything we place a boundary or line of believability upon what we have heard. Some things are tossed out as rubbish immediately, in which case the boundary is one of unbelievable. Other things are tabled till we have more information. Here the boundary line is not quite believable and then there are some things that we hear that we deem very believable and others that we place our full faith and trust in. Each time we hear anything we place these boundaries on what we have heard and according to Jesus the boundary we place on what we have heard will limit the amount of truth we gain from it.
Now, this truth works two ways. There is the truth, meaning God’s truth, which is the only real truth and there is that which is not truth. When we hear the Word of God there should be no boundary placed upon it. We should hold the Word of God with complete integrity. When we hear any other information we must be careful how we hear it. If we place too much credence on falsehoods, the truth we have embraced will be taken from us and the falsehood we have placed our trust in will be enlarged to us. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He was being completely honest and we should place no boundary on this truth. When someone else comes along and says, “Yes, that is true but there is another truth here” we should place a boundary around what is spoken and hold it as not credible. The truth we have embraced will be enlarged to us and that we have shunned will be taken from us.
The problem is the depth of God’s Love for us is unbelievable to us and we place boundaries on that truth when we hear it. This truth is too wonderful to be absolutely true. We are acutely aware of our sin and know that we are not worthy to be so perfectly loved by one so perfect. It is easier to believe we can be washed from sin than it is to believe we can receive Jesus’ perfect keeping of the law by faith in His death regardless of our behavior. Thus we put more credence, credibility, confidence, in Jesus’ blood to wash away sins than we do in Jesus’ death to make us righteous. The truth we hear is enlarged to us while the truth we shun is taken from us.
These are two different gospels. The one gospel states that we are made the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus’ death. The second gospel states that Jesus’ blood can wash away sin if it is repented of. One is a gospel of faith while the other is a gospel of works. One brings the believer into a place of rest, the other keeps the believer ever vigilant for transgressions. Now notice how easily the Word of God can be manipulated by man. Romans 10:4 states, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes,” but 1John 1:9 states: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” What is the truth? Is Jesus the end of the law for righteousness to them who believe, or, do we need to continue to define sin by the old covenant law and repent of transgressions? Do we trust in Jesus’ death to deliver us from sin or do we trust in Jesus’ blood to wash us from sin?
Consider Romans 4:4-5, “Now to him that works (to avoid sin) is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that does not work (to avoid sin) but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. David describes the blessedness of the man whom God imputes righteousness without works (of righteousness) (Rom.4:6) and “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom.4:8). In other words, we can sin all we want to if our faith is in Jesus’ death for sin and none of our sin will be counted against us. We are the righteousness of Christ through faith in His death and all transgressions of old covenant law are not imputed to us.
The truth is Jesus died for sins; not sins He had committed but the sins of mankind. Thus, those who place their faith in His death for sins are delivered from sin, they receive Jesus’ perfect keeping of all old covenant law. No transgressions of any old covenant laws are imputed.
Romans 4:15 states: “For where no law is, there is no transgression” (of the law). In that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes,” the believer in Jesus is redeemed from the old covenant law. So, what does 1John 1:9 mean? If no sins are imputed to us by faith in Jesus’ death (Rom.4:8), what sins do we have to repent of? Well, as it turns out, Jesus issued a commandment under the authority of the new covenant. This would be after Jesus’ death on the cross, after redeeming mankind from sin. Where there is no law there is no transgression, however, where there is a law there is a transgression and transgressions must be repented of and can be forgiven, washed by the blood of Jesus.
John lives in the new covenant and understands the importance of keeping the Lord’s commandment, but John is watching the metamorphosis of the gospel in his lifetime. The preaching of the gospel of obedience to the Lord’s commandment is waning in Church circles and John is issuing a warning. John writes to the Church: “If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” There is a certain intimacy that comes with belief in Jesus but if we deny the Lord after receiving His righteousness, we walk in darkness; we lie, and do not the truth.
Notice chapter 6 of Romans. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer there in? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” What sin is Paul referring to? Those of us who have exercised faith in Jesus’ death are delivered from the old covenant’s definition of Sin. Paul covered this in chapter 4 of Romans.
Notice the progression of Paul’s Words. It is through belief in Jesus’ death that we are baptized into Jesus’ death and receive His righteousness. The old covenant definition of sin is now obsolete. But we are not left in the death of Jesus. We are raised with Jesus who is no longer Saviour but now Lord, and as Lord, Jesus issues a command to His Church. This command redefines sin. By obedience to this command the Word of God, the life of God, and the love of God flows out of our belly and if we keep this command, each and every day we are saturated with God’s Word, God’s Life, and God’s love. We walk in newness of life. The sin of chapter six is the disobedience of the Lord’s commandment. Now, notice that if we disobey the Lord’s commandment grace abounds to us. Why? Why would grace abound toward disobedience? Because the Lord died for the salvation of man; Jesus died to save sinners. It is our salvation Jesus seeks. If it is the “goodness of God that leads men to repentance” (Rom.2:4), then Jesus pours out His goodness to correct bad behavior.
The problem is; the Church revels in its disobedience. It revels in the grace abounding to it and instead of repenting of sin, is emboldened and preaches against obedience that grace may abound more, more and more grace. The word “sin” has a dual meaning. Those who are baptized into Jesus’ death by faith are delivered from old covenant definitions of sin but there is a new covenant definition of sin. To continue in (new covenant) sin after being delivered from (old covenant) sin by faith in the death of the Christ, Romans 6:2, is to sin against the blood and body of the Lord, 1Corinthians 11:27-30. We were delivered from sin by the blood and body of the Lord. To walk in sin after being delivered from sin is to sin against that which has delivered you.
Now, the question is, “What boundary will we place upon this truth?” Is it too wonderful to believe that God could love us enough to allow us to receive the very righteousness of Christ through simple belief? Is it reasonable to believe that none of our transgressions against God’s standard of right behavior will be imputed against us? Having received the righteousness of God by faith, can we now believe that Jesus would ordain by commandment that we might have the life of God flowing through our hearts daily? What boundary of belief will we place on these words? If we place the highest believability, the utmost integrity, on these words, they will produce 30, 60, 90, and 100 fold returns to us and we will grow in this knowledge. However, if we consider this truth to be too wonderful to put much stock and hope in and believe that we must make some effort to live up to God’s standard of right behavior, and repent of transgressions as defined by God’s law, then that which we have will be taken from us. We grow in the truth we embrace.
“Take heed what you hear; with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that has, to him shall more be given: and he that has not, from him shall be taken what he has.” This is what happened to the early Church. The early Church fathers despised the gift of tongues and steered believers away from the practice of speaking and singing and worshipping in tongues. They said that the commandment issued to the Church by the Lord was a personal commandment to eleven men and they so perfectly kept that commandment that it was fulfilled and no longer holds any authority for believers. They set aside the authority of the Lord that they might insert their own authority. They appeared to elevate the commandment as an important part of the history of the Church but in reality, they denigrated it. The definition of sin hasn’t changed under the authority of the new covenant; sin is the breaking of a commandment, but what is defined as sin has. Once the life of God was no longer flowing through believers daily some means needed to be devised to control the behavior of Church members.
The most reasonable path was to use the old covenant as a pattern for new covenant faith. The gospel of faith in Jesus’ death was exchanged for faith in His blood. The life is in the blood. When Jesus died on the cross, His blood was poured out. Thus His life was poured out. “Blood” and “death” can be synonyms one of the other. However, whether you place your faith in His blood or His death is critically important for your eternal salvation. An attempt to live up to the demands of the law makes salvation a debt owed by the Lord, Romans 4:4. These believers can stand before the Lord and say, “Though I never kept the law perfectly, I used your blood to keep myself clean. I deserve to receive salvation.” While those who place their faith in His death for sins make no attempt to keep any of the laws of the old covenant. They trust in the life of God flowing out of their bellies through faith in the commandment of the Lord to keep them clean. It is not so much that they deserve salvation as they are saved. The life, love, and Word of God is flowing out of their hearts through the baptism with the Spirit.
As Church leaders moved away from God’s truth to embrace their own truth, the truth of God was taken from their understanding and the falsehood they had chosen was enlarged to them. The understanding of the falsehood grew as more believers chose to embrace it until in 325 AD; the Church was capitalized on a lie. The Pope received ultimate control over believers.
If Jesus is truly Lord, we must keep the commandment of the Lord. However if Jesus is not truly Lord then we remain Lord of our own destiny and need another mechanism to control us. The scriptures tell us, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom.10:17). The gospel I am preaching, the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not preached much and has not been preached much since 100 AD. It is the gospel preached by Paul and the gospel preached by the apostles but the Word of God is designed to be easily manipulated by man. It is part of God’s honoring of the man He created. God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the Garden of Eden by design. The command not to eat of its fruit was magnified by its placement. Similarly Jesus’ commandment to wait for the baptism with the Spirit is the only commandment Jesus issued in the new covenant age, the only commandment issued with all authority of heaven and earth and the only commandment Jesus issued to the Church but, this truth is not preached and faith comes by hearing. Even when I preach this message, most judge it as not believable.
Notice 1John 1:6 again. “If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” If we believe in Jesus’ death we are baptized into His death and born again but Jesus did not remain Saviour. The fellowship we have with the Saviour cannot supersede the fellowship of the Lord. Thus, we know we have the fellowship of the Saviour but we are not left in the grave. We are raised up to sit with the Lord in the heavenlies. If we deny the Lord we walk in darkness. If we ignore the commandment of the Lord we lie, and if we do not keep His commandment we do not the truth. The good news is that, “If we confess our sin (of disobedience), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned (in breaking His commandment), we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us,” 1John 1:9-10.
The old covenant is dealt with by faith in Jesus’ death, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for all who believe,” but the new covenant is dealt with by faith on Jesus’ resurrection (Rom.10:4,9-10). Moses described the righteousness of the old covenant but the righteousness of faith speaks (Rom.10:5-6). These are two entirely different definitions of right behavior. It is inappropriate to use Jesus’ blood to deal with sin defined by old covenant law. One might say it is sinning against the blood of Jesus because righteousness is doing the right thing and using the blood to cleanse of sin that is not imputed to start with is wrong behavior; it is disrespecting Jesus’ blood. However, using the blood of Jesus to deal with sin defined by new covenant law is right behavior. The old covenant law is taken out of the way through faith in Jesus for new covenant believers but that still leaves the new covenant to be dealt with.
It all goes back to Mark 4:24. The truth we embrace is magnified but the truth we diminish is taken from us.
Now, let’s consider Romans 4:4-5 again, “Now to him that works (to avoid sin) is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that does not work (to avoid sin) but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. David describes the blessedness of the man whom God imputes righteousness without works (Rom.4:6) and “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom.4:8). Paul is outlining two gospels though it is not obvious. Only those who search the scripture with integrity will see it. There are two groups represented here. “To him that works (to avoid sin) is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” The first group believes in the ability of Jesus’ blood to wash away sin and works to avoid sin. The second group does not work (to avoid sin) but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly. However, there is another point to be made here. It seems that most people don’t understand the difference between the word “in” and the word “on.”
Curiously, the word, “in” means, “to be clothed by.” To believe in Jesus’ death for sin is to be clothed by the righteousness of the old covenant. Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant. When we believe in Jesus’ death we are baptized into Jesus’ death, clothed by Jesus’ death. We are now dead to sin. Sin, or better stated transgressions of old covenant law, no longer has any hold over us. However, the new covenant was established after Jesus’ death and contains a commandment. Now, where there is no law there is no transgression (Rom.4:15) and Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe (Rom.10:4), however, where there is a law there is a transgression and transgressions establish unrighteousness. Remember, righteousness speaks of behavior. Correct behavior establishes righteousness; incorrect behavior establishes unrighteousness. We are clothed by the righteousness of the old covenant through faith in Jesus. The correct behavior under the old covenant was to keep the law, however, the believer in Jesus has Jesus’ perfect keeping of the law imputed to him by faith. This is the correct behavior for anyone wanting to enter the new covenant. However, when Jesus arose from the dead, He was made Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the blessed only Potentate. He wields all power in heaven and in earth. Jesus’ transition from Saviour to Lord changes the definition of righteousness. The word, “on” means, “A place arrived.” Thus, those who believe on Jesus have arrived at His resurrection and are behaving appropriately. It is the Lord who “justifies the ungodly,” Romans 4:5.
These subtleties are throughout the scriptures. In John 3:16, it is belief in Jesus that promises a path to not perishing, but in John 14:12, the greater works are promised to those who believe on Jesus. In John 7:38, the rivers of Living Water flow out of the bellies of those who believe on Jesus, not the bellies of those who believe in Jesus. In Romans 10:5-6, Paul points out that there are two standards of righteousness, the Jews chose the wrong standard (v.3), two faiths concerning Jesus are necessary to salvation; one of the heart and the other with the mouth (v10), then Romans 10:11, states: “Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed.” And of course in Romans 4:5 “him that does not work (to avoid sin) but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” The faith that is accounted for righteousness under the new covenant is the faith that believes on Jesus as Lord.
Let’s go over this one more time. As it is written, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom.10:17). Paul explains in Romans 10:9 that we must believe in our heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead and a confession of His Lordship must flow over our tongue in order to be saved. The concepts are reversed to emphasize the importance of the confession. Jesus has already told us that saying “Jesus is Lord” will not get you into heaven (Matt.8:21), so the confession has to be an act of obedience and it just happens that Jesus provided a commandment that obedience to causes words to flow over your tongue; a confession of Lordship. Now, in Romans 10:5-6, Paul illustrates two standards for righteousness. “Moses describes the righteousness of the law but the righteousness of faith speaks.” The faith that is accounted for righteousness is not the faith that produces righteousness. Faith in Jesus clothes us with the righteousness of the law; righteousness that can be described: but the faith that is accounted as righteousness is a faith that produces, it speaks. Righteousness is imputed through faith in Jesus but accounted through faith on Jesus.
Why? Why would this be the case? When we believe in Jesus we are clothed with His perfect keeping of old covenant law but the old covenant is defunct anyway. It is an obsolete document. After three days in hell, Jesus was raised from the dead and instituted the new covenant. Followers of Jesus are attempting to enter the new covenant. The righteousness of the law is great but serves no purpose in the new covenant. So why is it important to believe in Jesus? Because we are Gentiles, born outside the promises of God. In Galatians 4:4-5, Paul tells us, “Jesus was born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Being born under the law or better stated, under the authority of the law, Jesus first had to fulfill the demands of the law. Having accomplished this, the righteousness of the law can be imputed to any and all who believe in Jesus. Gentiles are not born under the authority of the law however. In order for Gentiles to be redeemed from the law they must first insert themselves under the law. They do this by believing Jesus died for their sins. Thus, they are inserted under the authority of the law and free from the laws demands simultaneously; they are clothed with the righteousness of the old covenant by faith. Now they stand in the new covenant and the new covenant has a different definition of righteousness. If the new definition of righteousness is not performed, the sin of disobedience brings unrighteousness back to those made righteous. It is the belief in Jesus and the belief on Jesus that saves as Paul stated in Romans 10:9-10.
The only entrance to the new covenant is through the old covenant. Having come through the old covenant, believers are now indebted to the new covenant.
That “Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” is a true statement but how shall they be saved except they hear and how shall they hear except there come a preacher and how shall they preach unless they be sent and how shall they be sent if they don’t heed the call. They have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report, Romans 10:14-17. As it turns out, it is not enough to hear, we must be careful how we hear.
There are two covenants here. We must negotiate two covenants in order to be saved. The first is the old covenant God made with the Jews. In order for us, Gentiles, to enter the new covenant we must first insert ourselves into the old covenant. We do this through belief in Jesus. Having inserted ourselves into the old covenant we are now free to join the new covenant. We do this through belief on Jesus. We are not saved until we successfully negotiate both covenants. Notice Galatians 4:4-5 again, “Jesus was born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” We are redeemed from the law in order to become sons; we do not become sons by redemption from the law. They are two different experiences, requiring two different acts of faith. We must be redeemed first because we, Gentiles, are not born under the law. Please, please, please, be careful how you hear, with the same measure you mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.