In Romans 8:1-8 the Apostle Paul states repeatedly that those who walk in the flesh–continue to sin–cannot please God.  He is writing to the Church of God at Rome, each member of which has reportedly undergone a true conversion and is reportedly walking in the spiritual footsteps of Jesus Christ.  However, in 2:1-24 we find him chastising some in the church for their sins.  If Paul was the reprobate the church makes him out to be, then he was worse than those he was leading.  That being the case, he would have been the worst hypocrite in the history of Christendom.  Was he?  No.  As the time frame revealed in the previous chapters brought to light, Paul was referring in chapter seven to his dark, God-rejecting pre-conversion condition.  The time-identifying Scriptures prove that in chapter seven he was writing about his and the church’s pre-conversion lives (they WERE enemies of God/ they WERE the servants of sin who BECAME the servants of righteousness, etc.).  In chapter eight he was writing about his and their post-conversion lives.  Since some in the church continued to walk in the flesh (to sin), what Paul and others wrote about the glorious future of God’s true saints did not apply to them, nor does it apply to the vast majority of modern church people who openly contend that, due to Adam’s sin-transferal miracle, they must sin, but that they get away with it because of God’s grace.  Sadly, the incredible blessings God has promised will apply to only a few people, just as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 7:13,14.  He went on in 22:14 to say that, though many have been called to meet God’s requirements for receiving His promised rewards, only a few will be chosen for having answered His call.  These are they who will have come out of the world, including the church world, and have embraced Him and His Biblical way (Jn. 15:19).  The time for true repentance and true reversal of life will soon come to an end.  After He takes His “little flock” of obedient believers to their place of safety and unleashes the Great Tribulation and His Day, conversion will become a much more deadly undertaking.  More on this in a later series.  Let us now begin to look to the future.

But first we need to remind ourselves that Jesus of Nazareth was 100% human.  Therefore, His true disciples will receive the same treatment from God as did He.  Being not a respecter of persons, His Very Elect will be at Christ’s side in the Kingdom of God (on His throne with Him–Rev. 3:21) doing everything He will be doing–FOREVER.  We will prove the Truth of this incredible promise using only the Words of the Holy Bible.

Note that Paul uses the word–“anthropos” (man)–to describe both Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11 and Jesus in 2:5 where he writes: “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man–‘the MAN (Anthropos) Jesus Christ.'”  Note it: Jesus the MAN is now sitting on His throne at God’s right side in the northern heavens.  This means that in the coming kingdom, those who have qualified to join Him in the kingdom will do so as spirit-bodied MEN–exactly like Him–who will join Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21).  The Scriptures tell us that such MEN will no longer be in their physical bodies, but will be composed of spirit, as is Jesus.  The process of changing from physical to spiritual bodily composition is called being “born again.”  See the series by that name currently found on page 152.  As with any posting, if what you are looking for is not on the indicated page, keep going up in page numbers until you find it.  As Jesus told Nicodemus, flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God.  Only spirit beings can enter God’s presence.  Jesus’ re-birth enabled Him to enter the Father’s presence.  His saints will undergo the same process during the first resurrection depicted in 1 Corinthians 15:46-54, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and 1 John 3:1-3.  As we will see, God’s holy saints will receive the same reward as Jesus Christ because they lived as He lived in this life (1 Jn. 2:6) and exhibited the same purity as did He (1 Jn. 3:6) while overcoming Satan as did He (Rev. 3:21).

Another passage of Scripture that serves as proof that the Christ and His true saints are one spiritually and will be one with Him bodily in the future is Acts 22:8.  Here we find Saul of Tarsus lying on the ground asking the bright shining Figure before him: “Who are you?”  The Figure replies: “I am JESUS OF NAZARETH, Whom you persecute.”  Note that He still called (calls) Himself by His EARTHLY HUMAN NAME and referred (refers) to His earthly birthplace.  Some 25 years after His death HE WAS STILL THE MAN JESUS OF NAZARETH. Note also that Saul (Paul) had been persecuting HIM by persecuting His people.  Nothing has changed.  First Timothy 2:5 tells us that Jesus is still a MAN while also being a GOD.  As Jesus tells us in Psalm 82:6 and John 10:30-36, when His saints join Him in the kingdom they will be gods.  In these passages Jesus is talking to Jews who, should they became converted and obey God as did He,  would become gods.  In Psalm 82 He said to the entire nation of Israel: “Have I not said, ‘You are (potentially) gods, and all of you are children of the most high'”?  In John 10 He reminds the Jews of His day who were wanting to kill Him because He called Himself the Son of God: “Is it not written in your law (Psalm 82), I said, ‘You are (potential) gods?'”  He goes on to say that anyone who has received the Word of God can become a god IF THEY OBEY HIS WORD.  Jesus is called both a god (Jn. 20:28) and a man (1 Tim. 2:5).  Since God is no respecter of persons, such will be the case with those who obey Him AS DID JESUS.  SAINTS WILL BECOME GOD-MEN AS JESUS BECAME A GOD-MAN.  As the Scriptures will prove, IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD THERE WILL BE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JESUS AND HIS FELLOW GOD-MEN. They will all do what Jesus leads them to do.

I will close this posting with the defining episode that took place in front of Christ’s empty tomb as described in John 20:14-17.  Here we find Mary, bewildered and frightened, looking for Jesus.  When she sees Him she tries to hold onto Him.  His Words to her speak volumes relative to man’s future: “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father.  But go to My BRETHREN and say to THEM: ‘I will ascend to MY FATHER AND YOUR FATHER, TO MY GOD AND YOUR GOD.‘”  Did you catch that?  He was saying that, though He had risen from the dead and had become a God, He and His living saints had the same relationship with God the Father.  TODAY GOD’S OBEDIENT PEOPLE HAVE THE SAME RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AS DID JESUS WHILE HE WAS ON EARTH.  Because the MAN Jesus walked in holiness–as MEN we can walk in holiness.  The same God Who empowered the MAN Jesus through His Holy Spirit will empower ANYONE who humbles him/herself and obeys Him as did Jesus of Nazareth.

The Apostle Paul was empowered by God through His Holy Spirit because he obeyed what he had been taught by Jesus Christ Himself through revelation.  Paul, who called himself the prisoner of his Lord, did as he was told to do.  A prisoner has no choice but to obey.  And in that he was a prisoner by choice, he chose to obey his Master and to serve Him in total submission to His will.  The idea that during the years when he was ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit he continued to sin is blasphemous in that it refutes many Biblical passages.  The so-called “sinning Paul” asked the question: “Shall we continue to sin so that God can exhibit His grace?  God forbid!” (Rom. 6:1,2,15).  Paul, like the Apostle John, knew that sinners, including church sinners, do not know God and are of the devil (1 Jn. 3:6,8).  He knew that only those who are led by God’s Spirit are sons of God (Rom. 8:14).  Paul was a son of God, knew God and was not of the devil.  The reason the devil harassed him continually was because he walked what he talked.  Satan hates that, which is why he has enslaved those who claim to believe God but are not required to obey Him.  The two billion plus “sinners saved by grace” on earth today need to find another excuse for the sins that they admit defines their lives.  I have an excuse for them that is found in Revelation 12:9–“Satan has deceived the whole world.”  His greatest victory is his total control over  Catholicism/Protestantism.  L.J.