Land of the Living

"I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon." – John Newton

He knew his bible...

"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive...I am the resurrection and the life…Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and the grave... and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (1 Corinthians 15:22; John 11:25; Revelation 1: 17-18; 21:4)

Trust and Obey

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him...” (Job 13:15)

Trust Him no matter how many personal failures or “woe is me” times you may have. Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has made it all right. Thank Him and move on. God refuses to "condemn" sinners and He certainly isn't going to flunk them because their faith is weak.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17)

It is good and right to have "faith" in God, but it is Jesus's faith, not yours, that makes you righteous. Any lack of faith we may have is completely covered by His "grace" and mercy. You can screw up spiritually, morally, and intellectually and still be safe. At the very worst, all you can be is dead...but Jesus is your Resurrection and the Life!

"...and the righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, — for there is no difference, for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God — being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:22-24 YLT)

Yep, you heard right...our righteousness and salvation is a "free gift of God".

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"Trust and obey

For there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus

But to Trust and obey" - John Henry Sammis

New Covenant

"...For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." (Luke 22:17-20)

The "you" above is the Jewish people. This "supper" occurred at a Jewish Passover meal. Passover is one of the seven feasts that Jewish people are to observe, and they have absolutely nothing to do with Gentiles, like most of us.

Jesus is telling his Jewish followers that he would not be around for any more Passovers until he had returned to earth and restored the Kingdom of Israel. Revelation tells us that this Kingdom will last 1000 years and that his Jewish followers would be raised from the dead to REIGN with him in that Kingdom.

The New and Old Covenants both have to do with God's plan for Israel (descendants of Jacob through his twelve sons).

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL and with the PEOPLE OF JUDAH. It will not be like the covenant I made with THEIR ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because THEY broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on THEIR hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

So, what about the rest of us - the "ecclesia" (church) among the Gentile "nations"?

Paul is our apostle, and he tells us we are saved by the GRACE of God - apart from the Law of Moses - and that we will be raised to REIGN with Jesus, not in the Kingdom of Israel on the earth, but “among the celestials." It is a great plan for us! Traveling across the universe in an immortal body, proclaiming the "grace" of God among the vast creation of our wonderful and loving God.

"...to me, less than the least of all saints, was granted this grace: to bring the evangel of the untraceable riches of Christ to the nations, and to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the secret, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all, that now may be made known to the sovereignties and the authorities AMONG THE CELESTIALS, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God..." (EPHESIANS 3:3-10 CLNT)

Whatever It Takes!

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Don't eat from it, the poison from the fruit of disobedience will kill you.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)

Go ahead, you won't die.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

Eve sinned and Adam could have refused the forbidden fruit. WHY didn't he? Adam would rather die with Eve than to live forever without her. 

That is what LOVE does...whatever it takes.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

God could have started over. WHY didn't He? God would rather die than live forever without even one of His children.

That is what LOVE does...whatever it takes!

"As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22)

Grace Trumps Condemnation

"...but where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more." (Romans 5:20)

The truth is that a person cannot out sin the GRACE of God.  God's GRACE trumps sin...always. That is clearly what God says, but it sure irritates those "blind guides" who would prefer that God had said, "but where sin increases, punishment in hell increases all the more." 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" (Matthew 23:23-24)

These "hypocrites" brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to see if he shared in their condemnation of her.

"He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her... I do not condemn you, go and sin no more." (John 8:7-11)

He reminded the "blind guides" of their own sin and told the sinner he did not condemn her. His grace trumped her sin - and ours!

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him...the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all mankind.." (John 3:17; Titus 2:11)