The Bride of Christ, Part 3

In summary, there are many in the church who consider themselves "friends" of God, even as they walk in disobedience to God, when, in fact, God's Word says:

The LORD is a friend to those who fear him (Psalm 25:14).

The fear of God which caused man to walk in strictest obedience to God went out when the doctrine of grace came in.  Again, let me make clear that I am not against "biblical" grace:

For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory.
The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. (Psalm 84:11)

I am only against man's perversion of "biblical" grace which cuts short that same scripture by proclaiming only the first parts of the verse, while neglecting to teach and preach the second part that ends in a "conditional" statement: "from those who do what is right."

God's grace is given to us for two reasons:

The first is so that we can come to believe in who Jesus is...His Son.  It is the grace of God's Son that leads us to the free gift of salvation:

We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus (Acts 15:11).

 

But the grace of God given to us through Jesus Christ did not stop there.

 

But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

 

He also provided the Holy Spirit to us for the purpose of walking in obedience to the Father, even as Jesus Himself walked in obedience to the Father.  It was never intended to cause us to feel comfortable while doing evil in our dis-obedience to God.  That is strictly a deception of Satan., but then again, reciting only "part" of a truth is one of Satan's well-known tricks that began even in the Garden with Adam and Eve.  Our enemy is very uncreative and unimaginative.  He does the same thing over and over again, while sin-blinded men fall prey to the same tricks over and over again.

Fear of God keeps us walking in His ways and not our own.  When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, then the Holy Spirit is given to us to enable us to do just that, walk in God's ways of obedience and not in our own ways of disobedience which is sin.  We no longer look to the law to keep us righteous, but to the Spirit of God to keep us righteous, but regardless we are to remain righteous!

 

Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! (Romans 6:15)

 

Grace was never intended to do away with the law, but to confirm or establish it as truth:

 

Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)

 

When Paul says we have been set free from the law by grace, he means from the punishment of the law, for he himself publicly kept the law even as a servant of Jesus Christ.  Here are the instructions given to Paul by James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, concerning Paul and four other believers:

 

Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. (Acts 21:24)

 

The grace of God enables us to do the work that He has given each of us to do, works of righteousness:

 

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. (Romans 12:6)

 

But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

 

When we are being faithful servants to Jesus, utilizing the grace that has been given to us to perform good works, then and only then does Jesus become more than Savior, He becomes LORD.  The word LORD indicates ownership, as a master to a servant; it indicates supreme authority.  And once we have shown our faithfulness as servants, we then become friends. 

But there are many in the church that call Jesus LORD and are not walking in obedience to Him; in fact, they are doing nothing at all because it is inconvenient.  Their flesh rules them, not the Spirit of God.  They are not servants of Jesus for they are walking by their own authority, not that of the LORD.  This means that what they speak are only empty words, having no corresponding actions to confirm the truth of the words.  These are deceived by Satan into believing that the appearance of righteousness equals righteousness.  But they are wrong....dead wrong!

For the LORD knows by name those who fear Him and walk in obedience to Him, and those who do not:

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.

 

“They will be my people,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:16-18)

 

When Israel had been delivered out of bondage, there came a time shortly thereafter, when the LORD said to Moses:

 

"Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”

 

So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.

 

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." (Exodus 19:9-11)

 

Immediately after the people were sanctified, having washed their clothes (garment) of the filth of the world (bondage of Egypt), the LORD gave them the LAW (the Ten Commandments).

 

Immediately after we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit of God (who never changes) places the law directly into our hearts for the purpose of obeying it:

 

 After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

 

that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)

 

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another..(Romans 2:13-15).

 

John Bevere (author of The Fear of the Lord: Discover the Key to Intimately Knowing God) believes that just as the Israelites were given two days to clean their garments before the glory of the Lord was revealed to them on the third day, the church also is entering into the third day (a day is as a thousand years to the LORD) and the time of sanctification is nearly over (the past two thousand years since Christ = two days of sanctification for the church).  He believes the "latter rain" (or the glory of the LORD) will arrive after these two days of sanctification.  These two days (2,000 years) have been given to the church to clean its garments (REPENT) from its defilement of conformity with the world and disobedience to God, so that their works will not be consumed by the fire of a holy God.

 

How many in the church will have their garments cleaned and spotless when He reveals His glory to the world once more? How many will be prepared to see the glory of the LORD when it comes? 

When Jesus returns will He find servants or will He find friends?  How long will it take each of us to become more than faithful servants?  It took the disciples three and 1/2 years.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:14)