| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Why Have We Changed the New Covenant?, #6
But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6—NIV)
Don't you agree that the new covenant is infinitely superior to the old?
If God were just to forgive us and bring us to Paradise as we are, without transforming our old nature, Paradise soon would become Hell.
After all, sin began with the angels when they were with God in the heavens. Sin began with human beings when they were in the Paradise of God on the earth. Going to Paradise does nothing in the way of changing our sinful nature. Only daily interaction with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit can abolish our sinful nature and enable us to remain faithful to the new covenant.
We have changed the terms of the new covenant. We have developed a "ticket" to Heaven based on a few passages removed from the context of the New Testament.
Let us use one of the familiar "salvation" passages so we can see that when it is removed from the remainder of the New Testament it leaves us with a warped understanding of the new covenant.
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:9,10—NIV)
If this passage is removed from the Book of Romans it can be used as a "ticket" to salvation. If we then add to this ticket the concept of going to Heaven when we die, we have the familiar "plan of salvation."
All we have to do is say "Jesus is Lord," believe God has raised Him from the dead, and we will go to Heaven when we die.
It often is assumed or even stated that there absolutely is nothing else a convert is to do. If he in any manner makes an effort to do something to add to his ticket or support his ticket he is a legalist, a Pharisee. He is attempting to add to the perfect work of Christ.
Not all Christian churches are this extreme in their view of sovereign grace, but some are. Some go so far as to state one can never lose his or her ticket. Once the proper statement has been made and the belief adopted, there absolutely is no behavior that can jeopardize the believer's entrance into Heaven.
This point of view is so far from the Kingdom of God it must be viewed as a current form of Gnosticism, a philosophy that stresses certain kinds of knowledge as being the way to Heaven apart from the behavior of the individual.
It is certain the adoption of the lawless-grace doctrine has destroyed the moral strength of the Christian churches in America, and has led to the moral chaos we witness among the leaders of our government. For they are affected by the preaching that takes place in the Christian churches.
To be continued.