No liar, for example, will ever sit at the Lord's table by mercy, grace, or any other means except as he asks the Lord's forgiveness and turns away from his lying.

The incorrect or incomplete approach to actual salvation we have mentioned (it is all true "by grace"; the fact that I believe in Christ makes it so; His perfection is imputed to me; I am identified with Him) is true for the initial act of salvation but it is not intended to be a substitute for a transformed life. We are received of God by a forgiving grace and then created in the image of Christ by a transforming grace.

All redemption is by grace through faith. The problem arises when we define grace as a lifelong imputation of perfection to us when we are not living in Christ. There is a grace of forgiveness and also a grace of transformation. When we neglect to preach the grace of transformation we turn the grace of forgiveness into an excuse for sin and abort the spiritual life of the believer.

The new covenant is not primarily a covenant of forgiveness; rather, it is a covenant of transformation, of the creation of a new personality. The old covenant was primarily a covenant of forgiveness, although God insisted on righteous behavior even under the old covenant.

Under the old covenant our sins were forgiven (Leviticus 4:26,31). The guilt was removed from the sinner.

Under the new covenant the sin itself is removed. The guilt, urges, and effects of sin are all removed. It is a covenant of regeneration, of re-creation, of transformation into Christ's image. The guilt, the power, and the penalty are removed. It is a total restoration of all God promised mankind in the beginning and it is proceeding according to the Divine vision. The last two chapters of the Book of Revelation describe the finished work.

We have discussed an incorrect or incomplete approach to fulfilling the vision of restoration. Now we come to the correct approach:

We inherit the promises through faith and patience.

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:12)

The Book of Hebrews is an exhortation to experienced Christians to return from their spiritual sluggishness and press forward to the rest of God, to the perfection of the finished inheritance. These believers in time past had been persecuted to the point of having their property confiscated but now had become careless and were not assembling as they should. They were neglecting their salvation.

What is the correct approach to bringing into reality the vision of restoration?

We must be totally dedicated and diligent concerning the promises of restoration and the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.

We must follow the pattern of life of those whom God has given as examples. The inheritance is restored through the kind of faith that characterized the saints of the Scriptures—particularly those mentioned by name in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

After we, in the right kind of faith, have performed all God has revealed to us, we are to exercise patience until the promise is fulfilled.

We must continue in fervent belief and dedication, keeping the commandments found in the New Testament. We must follow the example of the saints. We then must wait for the fulfillment of the promise.

To be continued.