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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Removing the Things That Offend, continued
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:23—NIV)
Now we have the sowing of Satan and the sowing of God in us. God does not immediately pluck out the tares, the sowing of Satan. But when God sees that the wheat, the sowing of God, has attained sufficient strength, the Spirit of God begins to deal with us about the removal of the tares.
One can see from this that the Christian life is dynamic rather than static. It is not a question of "making a decision for Christ" and then waiting to go to Paradise. Rather it is a daily wrestling with God as the Spirit of God helps us gain victory over that in our life which is of Satan.
Salvation is past, present, and future. He who endures to the end shall be saved. If we are viewing our salvation as a ticket we purchased at some past time we do not understand the program of redemption.
Salvation is not a question of escaping Hell and gaining Paradise. Rather, salvation has to do with the change in our personality as we move from the presence and image of Satan to the presence and image of God.
The parable of the sower informs us that we can choose to reap Christ in our personality to a thirty or sixty or hundredfold extent. It is up to us how much of God we want.
Our goal as a Christian is not Paradise, it is Christ. We do not gain Christ in order to go to Paradise, to Heaven. We gain Christ in order to be part of God, to have fellowship with God. Paradise is a secondary issue to the true Christian.
Some of the above concepts may be new to the reader. We will elaborate as we proceed. The text of the Scriptures comprises the ground rules for our interpretation. At times our thoughts may conflict with the prevailing traditions.
The Program of Removal
As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:40 NIV)
It is our understanding that the weeds will be pulled up before the Lord Jesus returns. We will explain our reasoning a little later.
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Matthew 13:41 NIV)
There are three expressions in the preceding verses that we should study carefully:
The messengers of the Lord will weed out of His Kingdom.
Everything that causes sin.
All who do evil.
The cleansing has to do with the Lord's Kingdom. Who is part of the Lord's Kingdom? Everyone who has a portion of Christ in him or her.
In fact, to be saved means to be accepted as part of Christ. This is why the passages that state we will be removed from the Vine if we do not bear fruit, and we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast our confidence steadfastly to the end, are so important to our thinking.
To be continued.