"THE MISSING FACTOR"
In the Majority of Christianity

Hebr 9:24-28  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebr 10:9-14  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Most people who profess to be born again live a very pressured life for the Lord.

• They feel an urge to constantly "better" themselves.
• And that is where the majority of "christianity" has gone wrong.
• I say majority of christianity, with the thought in mind that many will say "Lord, Lord" but will never get into the Kingdom.
• Not every one who claims christianity is involved in true Christianity.

• There is not one sacrifice we can make that will make ourselves better in the eyes of God.
• The Bible says that Jesus' sacrifice was "once for all."
• That means nothing can improve upon that afterwards.

• And these are the very verses that will correct the misconception of feeling a need to better ourselves.

• He felt that there was no possible way for him to live a victorious Christian life.
• So he felt the only way he could ever go to heaven was for him to be taken in death right there and then.
• But he said that after he heard me preach about having everything when we are first saved, and only needing to see what we have, it turned his entire thinking around.
• He said the words that made such a difference to him were the words of Paul:


Ephe 1:18-20  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places],

• We just need to see what He gave us.
• Too many do not know what they have.
• When he told me that, I realized how much more I have to preach and preach and preach these truths, because so many have the same misconception this brother had.
• As a preacher, I need to preach the pressure out of people.


Ephe 1:2-6  Grace [be] to you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

• That means we are not at odds or at war with Him now.
• Everything between us and God is alright.
• By Jesus' sacrifice, God gave us grace and peace.
• All spiritual blessings that God can ever give anybody at our our disposal right now, because we are included in Jesus Christ.

• God made us accepted in the beloved.
• The man Jesus Christ alone is acceptable to God.
• God said, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased," when Jesus Christ was baptized..
• In His incarnation as a man, Jesus is spotless before God.
• AND WE ARE ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.
• We are IN HIM.
• We were baptized into Him and that makes us accepted to God, because Christ alone is acceptable to God, and we are IN HIM.

• That means that someone else did the work.
• We did not make ourselves acceptable.
• We never could make ourselves acceptable.
• We WERE MADE ACCEPTABLE BY GOD.
• God adopted us to Himself (verse 5).

• God deserves all the praise because He gets all the credit.
• He did all the work.
• He made us acceptable.
• If we were supposed to make ourselves acceptable, to any degree at all, or to split the work between ourselves and God, then God would not get all the praise.
• Some of it would go to us.
• But the Bible says that the praise of His glory goes to God alone.

Ephe 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

• You have a "self-bettering" society.
• But the Bible doesn't say the world will be to the praise of God's glory.
• If we were supposed to be pressured to better ourselves as Christians, we would see the issue of self-betterment promoted in the Bible.
• But we don't.
• And we would see the world's self-betterment praised.
• But we don't.
• All we see is the Church being to the praise of God's glory.
• And we read that God made everyone in the Church accepted by putting them IN the Beloved -- Jesus Christ.

Ephe 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Ephe 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us];

Ephe 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

ULTIMATE PRAISE TO GOD is not accomplished by bettering ourselves.

• God cannot be given all the praise if we bettered ourselves.
• Ultimate praise to God is present when God did all the work.

Someone once asked me, "Why are we directed to live better lives if we are already acceptable to God?"

The Bible does indeed teach us to live better lives.

For example, in Ephesians we also read:

Ephe 4:2-3  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

• We do have to live better lives, and that makes people feel pressured to believe that we are not good enough before God unless we "better" ourselves.
• But the truth of the matter is the context in which God says we must do these things.
• And the context is NOT TO BETTER OURSELVES.


Ephe 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

• It is saying that we are already fully acceptable to God, by the sacrifice of Jesus -- God's work.
• BUT WE SIMPLY HAVE TO LIVE A LIFE SUITABLE TO THAT FACT.

The following verses teach the same thing.

Phil 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Colo 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

That is what the Bible means when it says:

Colo 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

• But the Bible says that we are complete in Him, because we are accepted IN THE BELOVED.

Have you ever seen a man act like a woman?

• I have seen too many of them!
• They are as physically a man as a man can be.
• Does making a feminine acting man act more like a man, make him any more of a man physically?
• No.
• He is as physically a man as a man can be.
• BUT HE SIMPLY NEEDS TO ACT MORE LIKE WHAT HE IS.

• You cannot be more acceptable to God than you are when you are in Christ.
• BUT YOU CAN ACT MORE LIKE IT.

• We simply must live a life that SUITS what we already are.
• We are already 100% acceptable to God.
• Just act like it.
• THIS IS THE MISSING FACTOR IN TOO MANY CHRISTIANS' LIVES!!

 

 

Hebr 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

• Put yourself in the place of Jesus, and being as good as Him and as righteous as Him and as holy as Him.
• Wouldn't it feel good to stand before God like that?
• THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS VERSE IS SAYING.
• WE ARE AS GOOD AS HE IS BECAUSE WE ARE IN HIM, AND HE STANDS BEFORE GOD FOR US -- OR IN OUR PLACE.

There are two levels of Christians.

1. Immature Christians.
2. Mature Christians.

• One is no more holy than the other.
• Both are 100% holy because Jesus gave them HIS HOLINESS.

• Their eyes of understanding are not opened.
• They do not realize that Jesus gave them HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
• (Read Matthew 6:33 -- seek GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS).
• When you expect to sin, you are going to find a way to do it!!
• So, because these people do not understand that they are complete in Jesus Christ, they invariably think they must IMPROVE UPON THEMSELVES.
• And they will sin and sin and sin and have to repent every time over and over again.
• But the good news is that, though they sin, if they repent they go back to the same ONE sacrifice of Jesus everytime, and they are renewed to be just as perfect as they were when they were first saved.
• The same blood we believed God for when we were first saved is the same blood we go back to when we make a mistake and sin.

• And they understand that since they have power over sin in Christ, they do not have to sin all the time, neither do they expect to do so.
• So they sin far less.
• And this may shock you, but some of them have come to a place of faith where they really believe and experience Romans 6:14.
• (Figure that one out for yourself!)

• Its just that the mature knows it.

• Most people do not listen to a preacher tell them who they are in Christ, because they think they already know.
• And they MISS IMPORTANT TRUTHS, because THEY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE!!
• How many understood they were 100% righteous the very second they were saved?
• Or how many had the misconception that they need to become more holy?
• We are as holy as holy can be, its just that we need to ACT more holy.
• But we already are holy.

• Wrong.
• I preach that we already are perfect!!
• We just need to act like it now.
• (This does not mean we cannot make a mistake and sin.  But the word PERFECT in the Bible does not mean what most people think it means.  It means COMPLETE).

• The history of denominations hs been that some received genuine revelation from God and shared it with others in their denomination, but many of those others REFUSED it.
• So these enlightened ones had to leave.
• Many of them started a new denomination around that revelation.
• And then, amongst them, some got even more revelation.
• They shared it and the others refused it, thinking the revelation they received was the last one anybody would ever get.
• And on and on it goes.

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

• And if we think we know it all, then the Spirit cannot do what He is purposed to do.

• We feel good in thinking WE know everything.
• And that uplifts flesh and self.
• And that is antichrist.
• Antichrist is anything that takes glory from God and gives it to man.

• THAT IS ANTICHRIST.
• They feel that a certain length of time involved in a denomination proves the denomination is perfect.
• That is nonsense!
• The Buddhist religion is older than Christianity.
• Is it true?

• Man is born in sin and needs God.
• Every man DOES NOT have a bit of God in him already.
• Man is an alien to God and needs to be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.
• And when man is reconciled, man is 100% righteous and 100% holy in the eyes of God.

• But no.
• Why?
• Because it has to admit it is not as good as it thinks it already is, in order to accept the Gospel.
• The antichrist spirit that began in man when Satan told Eve, "You shall be as gods," is still in man.

Let us always lean upon Jesus Christ and remain IN HIM, so that we are 100% complete and perfect before God!

The reason so many have backslidden and went back into the world of sin is because they missed this FACTOR.

• They thought they had to become better before God, and felt they could not do it.
• So they went away from 100% righteousness, and they never knew it!
• Others begin to try to make themselves better, although they are 100% righteous already, and by taking over the task of making themselves better, they leave all the righteousness of God and are lost!

• And don't think that you have no responsibility to ACT LIKE IT, either.
• Sin is still sin, and when we sin, we MUST repent and sincerely seek God to forgive you.
• And He once again makes us 100% righteous in His eyes.