Few people understand the relationship that exists among the Father, the Son, Their Word, love and hate.  In the eyes of the Godhead, both love and hate are wrapped up in Their Word which They command to be “worked” by those who profess to be one with them.  Scripturally, to “work” as God commands His people to do is to obey His word.  In the spiritual sense, to “work” means  to “bear fruit” which, as the previous posting brought out, proves one’s love for the Father and the Son.  Saints are not responsible for “getting people saved.”  Jesus Himself had only about 120 followers after all He had done.  In Eden, He could not make Adam and Eve righteous by fiat.  He could only tell them how to conduct their lives–to “walk” (1 Jn. 2:6) in such a way that would make them righteous.  He told them what to do and did everything perfectly–“very good” (Gen. 1:31).  Then Adam and Eve were on their own.

On the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. those gathered to celebrate Pentecost were all converted (not saved) and filled with the Holy Spirit that came upon them, appearing as tongues of fire.  At His baptism, the Holy Spirit came on Jesus in the form of a dove.  For those who do not understand the relationship between the God of Eden and Jesus of Nazareth read The God of the Old Testament.  Key word–Old.

The disciple’s responsibility is to live the godly life by obeying (working) God’s Word and following Christ’s human example of perfect obedience to that Word.  The apostle’s job is to teach his disciples the will of God and to set the Christ-like example of obeying it– spiritual “show and tell.”  What we show and tell must correspond perfectly with God’s Word.  Otherwise we are false apostles leading false Christians to obey a false gospel under the power of a false god and false christ who offer them a false salvation.  The Apostle Paul warned about this in Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:4.  By this we know that false religion had already developed by the time he came on the scene.

In John 14:31 Jesus is speaking to His disciples, telling them that He did (and spoke–12:44-50) only what He heard and saw the Father say and do.  In 15:1 He tells them they are (true) “branches” of the true “Vine” (Jesus Himself).  God the Father is the (true) “husbandman”–caretaker–of the vine and its branches.  In verse 2,4,5,6 and 8 He tells them (and us) that a branch (church member) who does not bear fruit will, at judgment, be cast into the (lake of) fire and burned.  Note also that one must bear “much” fruit and that the fruit must be “good” (Jas. 3:17).  In Colossians 1:10 Paul equates fruit production and good works.  Then in 2 Thessalonians 2:17 he ties good work to God’s Word, meaning that man’s works must be done according to the Lord’s Word (doctrine-1 Tim. 4:6).  True saints are seen as “peculiar” because of their zeal for good works (Titus 2:14).  In Hebrews 13:20,21 Paul tells us that God will: “make you (us) perfect in every good work so as to do His will” according to the “everlasting covenant” (Law).

Many church people reject the Lord’s command to obey His Law, specifically the Ten Commandments, which was supposedly “nailed to the cross” of Christ.  What was nailed to the cross was the “handwriting of ordinances” which was written on stones taken from the Jordan River which were covered with plaster on which was written the sacrificial, ritualistic law that God had added to His moral (Ten Commandment) Law “because of transgressions”–Law-breaking (Gal. 3:19-25).  Sin is the transgression of the Law (1 Jn. 3:4).  The sacrificial law (their “schoolmaster”) was designed to be obeyed “until the Seed (Christ) had come to whom the promise was made.”  Jesus did away with the blood sacrifices and instituted faith for the remission of all PAST sins–justification (Rom. 3:25).  Justification is neither conversion nor salvation.  It is the first step on the way to salvation.  Justification is grace-based forgiveness of past sins by faith.  Let us briefly take another side trip into God’s “fine print.”

Note in Hebrews 13:20,21 that God “makes you (us) perfect in every good work (in order) to do His will” which is made possible by the “blood of the everlasting covenant.”  Jesus shed His blood so that honest Truth seekers can receive the Holy Spirit which 1) reveals God’s Word to those who seek His Truth, and 2) empowers them to obey it unto conversion.  Incredibly, the vast majority of church people reject both the Holy Spirit and the Law.  It is only through His blood that we can be made “perfect” through good works (obeying His Word/Law) and thereby fulfill His will.  This ministry is designed to show Law and works rejecters the deadly errors of their ways.  By bearing bad fruit they lead others away from God’s church and into Satan’s Catholic/Protestant religious system.  The “fruit of their lips” (Heb. 13:15) poisons the hearts and souls of those who follow them in believing and obeying church doctrine, much of which has been borrowed from heathenism.  True sons of God are led by His Holy Spirit to believe and obey His Word.   In Matthew 7:13,14 and 20:16 Jesus warns that few God seekers will choose to enter His church and walk His way.  Sadly, many will be deceived into entering Satan’s church and walking his way.  Never underestimate Satan’s ability to hide God’s “fine print” from those who seek salvation.

In Hebrews 25 we find Paul proclaiming a Biblical Truth that few people accept.  Here the apostle is writing to converted Israelites, telling them that the One Who died for them speaks to them (concerning the Father’s rules of engagement for attaining salvation).  He warns them (and us) not to reject God’s Words.  He notes that those who refused to listen to Him while He was on earth did not escape His wrath.  Then Paul addresses the church, telling us that WE ALSO WILL NOT ESCAPE IF WE TURN AWAY FROM HIM WHO SPEAKS TO US FROM HEAVEN. God “speaks” to those with a heart to embrace His “voice.”  He speaks through His Holy Spirit, telling us to believe and obey His Word.  Otherwise, the disciple will lose what he has gained by “turning away from Christ.”

One cannot “turn away from” Christ if one has never been with Him.  Paul includes himself in this Truth by using the word “we.”  Many claim that they were supposedly “sealed” when they were supposedly “saved,” and that the “seal” cannot be broken by sinning.  This is one of many lies Satan has deceived church people into believing.  In Matthew 24:4 Jesus warned His disciples then and now to “Take heed that no man deceive you.”  Satan uses false prophets who proclaim to salvation seekers that Jesus was indeed the Christ.  After gaining the trust of the people, they “deceive many.”  We are indeed sealed when we are converted.  But any seal can be broken.  Otherwise we would no longer be free moral agents, but rather zombie-like automatons, which is what “sinners saved by grace” claim to be.  Whether to obey God or Satan is a moment-by-moment decision-making process, just as it was for Jesus of Nazareth.  He stated with clarity that He remained in God’s love ONLY BECAUSE HE OBEYED HIM (Jn. 15:10).  But spiritually-superior churchman claims that God’s Messiah is mistaken, that obedience to Him is both unnecessary and impossible, that to go to heaven one need only believe that Jesus died so that he can sin and get away with it.  God’s true apostles say “not so” and offer Biblical proof of their contentions.  Both they and their proof are rejected by the religious community.  Jesus said that those who reject God’s Word “despise” both Himself and His Father (Lk. 10:16).  Indeed, Satan has deceived the whole world into choosing man’s word over God’s Word (Rev. 12:9).  This is proof that Satan has absolute and total control over professing Christendom.  L.J.