In His “Sermon on the Mount” (beginning with Matthew 5:1) Jesus is speaking to His disciples while the multitude that has followed Him into the countryside listens in. He commands them (and us) to seek first of all the Kingdom of God AND His righteousness” (6:33). The Word “and” indicates that what we are to seek first (to enter God’s kingdom on earth in the future) can be attained only by living in righteousness in the present. As a human being, Jesus followed His Father’s commands and, having done so, serves as our perfect example. Read Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man? Key word–God-man.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus the Apostle Paul is writing to the Body of Christ in general and to each individual in particular. He is addressing those people in the church whose focus in this life is singular–to serve God by obeying His Truth (Word–Jn. 17:17). God promises those who obey Him that He will take care of every other need in this life (Mat. 6:33). In Ephesians 4:1 Paul tells us that we must walk worthy of the spiritual status to which we have been called to keep the unity of oneness within the congregation of Christ–the one spiritual body of which He is the Head. This excludes the two-headed, multi-bodied religious organization that calls itself “the church.” In verses 4-6 Paul reminds us that there is only one body, one Holy Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God Who is the Father of us all. Read First Corinthians 12:12 and 14:23.

Giving credit where it is due, Satan has succeeded in convincing billions of salvation seekers to reject God’s teaching found in Ephesians 4:4-6. One writer stated that he had found over 800 denominations, faiths, etc., each with its own “truths,” its own name, its own plan of salvation, etc. Incredibly, each group claims to serve the same Biblical God and uses the same Bible as “proof” of their oneness with God. Ironically, each one claims to be the one and only “true church” and to proclaim the one and only true Gospel. Only Satan could orchestrate such a convoluted tragedy.

Christ is the head of God’s true church–the “BODY (SINGULAR) OF CHRIST.” Each denomination, faith, etc. has its own christ, god, gospel, truth, etc. Each of those religious systems (cults) claims to be “THE” church whose head is Jesus. Paul asks: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). If professing Christendom is right concerning the question, the answer is “yes.” However, Paul says that God forbids us the even think such a thing. We will now look into what God says He is looking for in those who will qualify to spend eternity with Him in the Kingdom of God.

In Ephesians 4:22-24 we are told to “put off (put to death) the old man who is corrupt … and to put on (allow God to bring to life) the new man who is created (by God) in righteousness and true holiness.” We are to grow in faith and holiness” until we individually and corporately “come to the unity of the (one and only) faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (vs 13). Only such a person has total and continual access to the Almighty as He tells us in Psalm 34:15 . Here we are told that “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers.” He tells us in Second Chronicles 7:14 that if He hears our prayers He will answer our prayers. He also tells us in Leviticus 26:19 that He has turned the heaven of the sinner into iron, which explains why 99.99% of church prayers go unheard, and therefore unanswered.

In Second Corinthians 5:17,21 Paul tells us: “If any man is in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold ALL things are made new …. For He (God) has made Him (Christ) Who knew no sin to be sin so that we could be MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM (Christ).” The above quoted passages reveal who, in the eyes of God, has been truly converted. Sadly, as Jesus said, only a few have been or will be truly converted (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14).

True conversion entails the complete removal of the person that was (the “old man”) and the creation of a totally new person (the “new man”). To convert means reverse. Total conversion means total reversal of life. “Behold, ALL THINGS MUST BE MADE NEW.” In Matthew 9:17 Jesus said that one does not put “new wine” (the “new creation”) into old wineskins (old man) for the new wine will burst the old wineskin. Such “jars” were made of animal skins in those days. God’s Holy Spirit, which is received at true conversion, simply cannot be placed in the old self which contains spiritual leaven which, if allowed to remain, will eventually leaven the new man. A good example occurred in my family. My father, a heavy smoker, after undergoing open heart surgery, was forced to quit smoking in order to live. He did. Then one day he decided that one cigarette would not hurt him. That little bit of “leaven” remaining in him resulted in a premature death as one fag let to another, and another, etc. He died not long afterward. He simply could not put the old physical man to death, and it cost him his life. As a result he never had the pleasure of being with his great grandchildren. The same holds true in the spiritual realm. The old–all of it–must die in order for the new–all of it–to live–forever.

Note that, in the Ephesian reference, Paul’s emphasis is on the individual. God never changes. His commands and corresponding consequences are set and unchangeable. It is man who decides whether he is rewarded or condemned relative to those commands. It is the individual who must change from Law breaker to Law keeper. One life must end so that its opposite can live. There is nothing in the old life worth bringing into the new life. All of our old religiosity is, in God’s eyes, only “filthy rags.” (Isa. 64:6). We must kill the old man in order to allow God to bring the new man to life. We do this through obedience to God’s Word/Law/Truth/light/will.

“But doesn’t that constitute “works,?” some will ask, as if working is a dirty word. Here is a good place to correct a church lie that is “known” to be a Biblical “truth.” It is true that “works” are not involved in a certain aspect of the Christian walk. Romans 3:20-28 is used to “prove” that works have nothing to do with salvation. The problem is that people go blind when the word “justification” is used in that passage. What they see is “salvation.” THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. Note that not one time is “salvation” mentioned. The entire passage is focused on justification. A careful study of Romans 3:20-28 reveals that “works” are not involved in JUSTIFICATION–having one’s PAST sins forgiven (vs 25). Note that we are JUSTIFIED–not converted, saved, born again, etc.,–by our faith and God’s grace. Paul is saying that we are NOT JUSTIFIED BY OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW, NOT BY GRACE AND FAITH. However, justification is simply the first step in the salvation process which involves justification, conversion, a life of holy, righteous living (walking) and then salvation upon Christ’s return. Read Hope and Salvation. Key word–Hope.

Once a repentant sinner is justified, the question then becomes: “NOW WHAT?” One of the purposes of this website is to answer that question. As long-time readers know, “now what?” involves leaving the old man, old religion, old mind-set, etc. behind and walking in total newness of life. As Paul tells us in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1, the new life has absolutely nothing to do with the old life. As verses 17 and 18 tell us, only when the old is dead will the new begin. At this point God becomes our God and we become His children. As 7:1 tells us, we must rid ourselves of the old. Having done that, we must then affect perfect holiness in the fear of God. This can be done only by obedience to God’s Word, which constitutes the Christ-level WORKS required in order to receive eternal life. Such works (obedience to God’s Word) prompts God to fill us with righteousness and holiness (Mat. 5:6) “THE END RESULT OF WHICH IS ETERNAL LIFE.” Carefully study Romans 5:21 and 6:22.

Concerning the manifesting of holiness, let it be known that WE do not create the holiness that must dominate our life’s “walk.” GOD STANDS AT THE READY TO PROVIDE THE HOLINESS. RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS NECESSARY FOR ETERNAL LIFE. Man’s responsibility is to make the decision (have the will) to get rid of the sin that characterizes the old man and do everything our power to rid ourselves of everything that is not of God. The Holy Bible tells us how to do that–BY OBEYING GOD’S WORD through the power of His Holy Spirit given to us at conversion. After we have done all we can, God takes over and completes the process. As Paul says, when you have done all you can do–stand and let God finish the job.

Warning: Satan will use all of his power to prevent this from happening. We must resist him with everything we have. We are told to “resist the devil and he will flee from YOU” (Jam. 4:7). The absolute best illustration I can find in this regard is when Jesus, just hours before His crucifixion, is sweating great drops of blood as He prepares to face what He knows is coming. Here we find the Son of God asking the Father if there is any other way for Him to become His Messiah and mankind’s Savior. Jesus was a man like all other men; He needed help from on high to keep from giving in and giving up. He did what we must do when we are tempted to take the easy way out. He sought and received the power of God to do the right thing (Lk. 22:44).

Notice that Jesus, in His own power, could not resist Satan’s call to save Himself from the terror He knew was only hours away. He resisted with everything He had. But it was only by God’s Holy Spirit power that He could do what He had been sent to do. God says we can withstand (resist) temptation only through His Spiritual power operating from within us. As He says in Zechariah 4:6, no man, including the man Jesus, can withstand Satan’s temptation to sin by relying only on his own power: “‘Not by (man’s) might, nor by (man’s) power, but BY MY SPIRIT” can man resist and conquer “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). Jesus chose to become sin and die a sinner (by bearing our sins) so that we could receive the Holy Spirit that empowers us to resist Satan, resist Satan, obey God’s Law and thereby qualify to sit with Jesus on His throne at God’s right hand in the Kingdom of God. In Revelation 3:21 Jesus said that we must “… overcome (Satan) even as I overcame (Him)” in order to join Him in God’s earthly kingdom. We must do whatever it takes on our part to make that happen. The Lord uses symbolism to make that point in Matthew 18:9 where He said that, if necessary to stop sinning, we must be willing to cut off our hand or gouge out our eye. Again, this is SYMBOLISM. We can rid ourselves of a hand and an eye and still have another hand and another eye with which to sin. The message is clear: WE MUST DO ALL WE CAN, THEN ALLOW GOD TO DO THE REST. He will not come to our rescue unless we have done all we can do. As Paul said, “When you have done all (you can do), stand” and depend on the Lord to do the rest (Eph. 6:13). L.J.