Excerpt from the book I Die Daily
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14
“The cross” is all about relationship. “The blood of His cross” purchased us back to God from sin (Acts 20:28; Col. 1:20). Paul here says in essence that His love for the Savior, who bled for his sins, warranted his full allegiance to Him and crucifixion with Him. Nothing was more important to this servant apostle than knowing Christ and remaining in Him (1 Cor. 9:27; Phil. 3:7-10). All else was counted as “dung” compared to the supreme and surpassing importance of his relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the “mark” the apostle pressed “toward” with all of his being (Phil. 3:7-14). Paul knew the eternal danger of not keeping under the sins of his body and in the end becoming a “castaway.” (1 Cor. 9:27) He was fully aware of the five specific sins that kept God’s own people out of their promised land, and would keep him out of the promised land of Heaven if he allowed his sinful nature, which was at “enmity against God,” to rule in his life, bringing defilement in the eyes of a holy God (Mk. 7:20-23; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 9:27-10:12; Heb. 12:14-16). God’s stated will is to bring people “out from” spiritual death and “in” to the place of His divine life, that He might preserve them alive (with His life—Deut. 6:23-24; Rom. 8:1-13).
The purpose and point of “the cross” is not that God is trying to deprive anyone of something valuable, but rather that He seeks relationship with that person—“for our good always.” (Deut. 6:23-24) It is by the blood of Christ’s cross that we are saved, and “through faith” in Him that we are “kept.” (1 Pet. 1:5) Those in Him must “endure to the end.” (Matt. 10:22; 24:13)
It is “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” (Rom. 2:4) From the beginning, He made us for relationship with Him (Exod. 25:8). This is why Jesus came to the earth—“And this is life eternal (the reason for it), that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
Since the LORD is holy, and the self-life or nature is sinful and at enmity with Him, it must be put to death because He who is “Holy, holy, holy” will not commune with a sinful vessel (Isa. 6:3; 59:2; 2 Cor. 6:14 -7:1; 1 Jn. 1:3-9; Rev. 4:8). Sin breaks that fellowship (Rom. 6:23). Like it or not, “the wages of sin is” still spiritual “death” and always will be, due to God’s eternal and unchangeable nature of holiness. The cross of Christ is the answer.
Holiness or pureness of heart and thought is of supreme importance in the eyes of the Almighty. His eyes are upon our hearts and the thoughts that we are dwelling upon (1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 51:10; 139:23-24; Prov. 15:3; Matt. 5:8; Acts 15:9). The cross, which must be daily applied to the inner life by the disciple, is the implement of death to the sinfully self-loving, self-driven, self-willed, and self -consumed life. The fervent worship of Jesus, which always leads one to the application of the cross, brings the glorious liberty that only Christ can grant—to be fully filled, led, and made free by the Holy Ghost of God.
One manifests his love in relationship with the LORD when he chooses to obey Him in denying the iniquitous deeds of the sinful nature, in order that he might commune with and serve the Father and Savior, who died on the cross to reconcile him to the One who is “Holy, holy, holy.” (Isa. 6:3; 1 John 1:3-10; Rev. 4:8) Otherwise, sin will prevent his relationship with the LORD. Sin must be confessed to be cleansed (1 John 1:9). Saving faith will always drive one to obey Christ, which includes the premium He places on His people being “pure in heart.” (Matt. 5:8; 1 John 2:3-5; James 1:22) Christ told us that only the “pure in heart” will be blessed.” (Matt. 5:8) If one who has been saved goes back and ceases to obey Christ, it’s because he no longer loves Christ supremely, nor does he now possess saving faith (1 Tim. 5:12; 2 Tim. 4:10; James 2; 2 Pet. 2:20-21).
If a person does not want more of Jesus, he is not a part of the remnant of Christ’s elect (Rev. 17:14). If a person is always looking to circumvent the “daily” cross, and looking for doctrinal ways to justify not giving over his whole will and being to Christ, he is willingly lost (Rom. 12:1). Those who are truly His “depart from iniquity,” as they daily “present” their “bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.” (Rom. 12:1; 2 Tim. 2:19)
If one will guard his heart and be preserved to the end in his relationship with Christ, he must beware of the numerous cross-less and Calvinistic wolves who occupy positions of leadership and influence in the modern church world. Millions have already been deceived and will be shocked on Judgment Day (Matt. 7:15-23; Luke 13:27-28).
The LORD bless you richly today, and fill you with His Holy Ghost afresh to subdue your own self-life, that Jesus’ life might be manifested in your life (2 Cor. 4:10-12). God is able as we do things His way. His grace is fully sufficient for us (Rom. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:9-10).
In God’s economy, holiness in His people is a must, and it’s the blood of Christ that enables the recipient and possessor of His salvation to experience overcoming victory through the cross (Rom. 6; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:15-16; Rev. 21:8, 27). His enabling grace was made possible through Christ’s redemption, and there is therefore no excuse for living in sin (Rom. 6). There can be no variance from such biblical truth in true Christian preaching. Sin separates and hell awaits all who die in sin—no matter what their previous relationship with God may have been (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:11, 15). Relationship with Christ, personal holiness, the cross, overcoming sin, and repentance, go hand in hand; and today, none of these essentials can be found prevalent in the mouths of most so-called “Christian” pastors, writers, and leaders (Isa. 9:16; 1 Cor. 1:18; Phil. 3:18-19). By “the blood of his cross,” Christ made us holy in our position with God, and He commands each of us to take up our own cross and count ourselves crucified with Him in our daily lives, that His holiness might be manifest experientially in our lives (Rom. 6; 2 Cor. 4:10-11; Gal. 2:20).
David Kupelian, vice president and managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com, writes:
“‘I die daily’
In ages past, Christians dwelt a lot more on the concept of taking up the ‘cross’ than they do these days. Today, the phrase ‘it’s my cross to bear’ is usually a somewhat self-congratulatory reference to the fact that we have to put up with a vexing medical condition, or a child in trouble with the law, or perhaps an overbearing, live-in mother-in law.
Admonitions from the pulpit may not shed much more light. Oh sure, a well-intentioned minister will reverently read one of the scriptures cited above on ‘taking up the cross,’ and he might even briefly plug the ideal of self-denial. But too often this amounts to a polite nod to a notion that seems both archaic and almost irrelevant, or at least unattainable, and the pastor just moves on to more pleasant topics—like how grateful we are that we’re saved by Christ’s death and resurrection.
It wasn’t always so. Throughout past centuries, Christian philosophers and mystics dwelt at length on the crucial, life-and-death need for repentance, resignation, ‘mortification,’ the ‘crucifixion’ of sin in man, and the ‘death of the carnal man’ or of ‘the creaturely self’ and so on. The Apostle Paul said it most powerfully and succinctly when he wrote: ‘I die daily.’”
If they are not crucified on the cross we are instructed to “take up,” the deeds of the body will cause one to displease the LORD by the manifestation of the soul damning “works of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:19-21)
There is perhaps room to see Paul’s words “I die daily” both concerning our lives being laid down and subject to being martyred daily and also in dying daily to self that the Savior might reign (John 12:14; 2 Cor. 4:10-12). These two truths seem to dovetail together; Being dead to self is going to be essential to dying as a martyr.
The Two Cross Deaths
There are two kinds of dying seen in the Scriptures—positional and experiential.
Positional death speaks of our oneness with the death Christ experienced when He died on the cross, when he did “taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) Positionally we are dead and buried with Him (Rom. 6:3-4).
Experiential death of the inner self-life = the willing crucifixion of the personal will out of a far surpassing love for and desire to see Christ reign supreme. When we love Him more than ourselves, we will die so He can live. Life can only spring out of death (Jn. 12:24). The problem is that most people who claim to be Christians love themselves more than Christ (2 Tim. 3:1-7). They have freely chosen to resist loving the LORD with all of their hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Matt. 22:37-40).
The Positional Cross
The word “baptized” is used in more than one way in the Bible. It is used to express both a literal and a figurative immersion. Immersion simply means being placed all the way into. In Romans 6, speaking figuratively of our baptism into Christ (not water), the apostle writes:
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4
We have been immersed (baptized) completely into Christ figuratively—“we are buried with him by baptism into death.”
Our justification and sanctification are wrapped up in being buried with Christ. We are then raised with Him and enabled to “walk in newness of life.” Our position—buried with and in Christ—enables the literally manifested life of Christ to be experienced in our daily lives.
We are united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. The phrase “in Christ,” seen throughout New Testament Scripture, is short for our immersion into Him—His death, burial, and resurrection and our own death, burial, and resurrection with Him. Jesus died and was raised up once, and we died and are raised up with Him in type/proxy.
“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:5-7
THE LORD has “raised up” those He has found and saved out of their sinful state and into His eternal kingdom. They are “raised up” to “sit together” with Him—“in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This He did for His eternal purposes. He “made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” so this is our positional standing with Him; yet His desire is that such a positional place become an experiential reality in our “daily” lives, as we “follow” Him. And how does such a translation happen? This manifested “newness of life” occurs as we lay down our self-will in full surrender to His Majesty, crying out “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Victorious living in this “newness of life” happens when we follow His instructions to “deny” ourselves and “take up” the cross, and let His will and life reign in our mortal bodies in place of our own. This positional seating in Christ and with God in heavenly places becomes a reality in our daily experience as we sentence our lives to death, being rooted in Christ, as we “take root downward.” (Isa 37:31) He then raises us upward in “newness of life”—with His life to bear fruit to His pleasing.
Our positional place with Him means that we died with Him, and we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Yet, we are still on earth and subject to temptations. This is why the experiential cross is so important.
The Experiential Cross
“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:5-6
The believer, who is buried with Christ and raised in “newness of life,” is told that he “should not serve sin.” Serving sin or the Savior is always going to be a choice as long as we are on the earth.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14
Paul told us that he had to keep under the sinful desires/deeds of his body so that he would not become a “castaway” from Christ in the end (1 Cor. 9:27). What can we learn from this? Our relationship with Christ is both positional and practical. It began in our past when we were born again, and exists now daily as we deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. This is our personal participation with Christ as we take up the yoke and walk with our Master—His blessed Gospel—dying, being buried and then raised up daily with Him.
In studying the subject of dying daily and Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily,” I have read a few commentaries which seemed to only acknowledge the positional death of the believer. This is because the misguided Calvinist wants no part of anything that might cost him the suffering of death to his own will. He wants to believe that God did it all, and subsequently ignores the commandments of the very same God for him to personally experience dying to self and self-will. The Calvinist is a moral coward who wants the crown without the cross, so he objects to and flees any notion of personal responsibility. In the face of a mountain of Scriptural commands and conditional blessings, he insists that there are no requirements placed upon him. If that were so, why were we then given the many commandments of Christ and His holy apostles? The diabolical dynamic of Calvinism is to escape and deny by any means possible, any teaching that calls for a personal cost. In contrast, the Bible teaches us that to lose is to gain (Matt. 10:3839; Jn. 12:24-26; Phil. 1:21). The spiritual coward wants to hide away in his false security zone, where he is protected from all that would cause him to suffer—the circumcising sword of the Word, persecutions, tribulations, dying to sin and self, purging, and the chastening of the LORD. This is why this theology always migrates to the line of least resistance to the flesh—no baptism in the Holy Spirit or lordship of Christ, due to the myth of ‘once saved always saved,’ and a pre-tribulation rapture. (Actually, although he holds no strong position on the exact timing of Christ’s return, this writer believes that there is the possibility of a pre-tribulation rapture. In the previous statement, I was just making a point.)
Some may despise the idea that people teach the Scripture “I die daily” as something that needs to be done by the individual recipient of salvation. The Calvinistically infected mindset believes that everything that needs to be done has already been done, and that man has no choice or accountability in the matter of participation. It’s true that Christ initiated and earned our salvation, and that without Him we are hopeless. It is also just as true that this same Jesus instructed those who would follow Him to be “daily” crucified with Him, by denying themselves and taking up their crosses. Romans 6 says “Our old man is crucified with him” (v 6), and yet it also says:
- “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (v 1)—The question “Shall we” denotes volition, option, and choice.
- “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” (v 5)—The “if” here speaks of volition, option, and choice.
- “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (v 11)
- “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (v 12)
- “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (v 13)
- “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (v 16)
The honest student of the Bible, the one that refuses to allow himself to be infected with any predisposed notion, will see this.
The work of Christ to position us in heavenly places is a settled fact and truth (Eph. 2:6). As we are discovering from Holy Writ, the experiential cross of the individual must be taken up and died upon. Paul the apostle of Christ said, “I KEEP under my body.” (1 Cor. 9:27) The denial of the self-life and following Jesus is only accomplished by the enabling grace and Holy Spirit of the LORD, who is perfecting that which concerns us as He continues His good work in us—we who have been apprehended by Him for His purpose and glory (Ps. 138:8; Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13). This occurs as we “work out” our “salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:1213) It is “through the Spirit” that we are blessed and empowered to “mortify the deeds of the body.” (Rom. 8:13)
There are those who know only the positional application of the cross, where we “are dead” and buried with Christ, and raised up by the faith of the operation of
God, and seated together in heavenly places in Christ (Rom. 6:3-4; Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:3). In spite of understanding that we are dead, buried, and raised up with Christ, men misunderstand or do not know about the doctrine of the daily cross—the keeping under or subduing of the sinful nature on a daily basis. The essential nature of such a biblical and vital truth is tragically seldom, if ever, spoken about in most “ministry” that transpires in the modern church world.
Love is a daily test.
Love is a daily choice.
That person who has a mere “form of godliness” and yet denies the power of Christ to reign in his life, will never experience the fellowship of His sufferings and the blessed “fruit” He desires to bring forth “upward” to His glory (Isa. 37:31; Rom. 8:11; 2 Tim. 3:5). Many seek to render rote adherence to the command of Christ while lacking the positional revelation of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Gospel. In contrast, the true disciple of Christ is that one who is driven by the greater desire and love that possesses his heart for Christ. His love for Jesus far surpasses his love for self and the pleasures of this world.
Throughout Holy Scripture, we are afforded the blessing of witnessing the joyful delight many had for the LORD. Here is a sampling:
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Psalms 73:25
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death … Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10, 13-14
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” Psalms 27:4
The “one thing” that most deeply and profoundly moved these men and women was knowing Him more and more, seeking His face in earnest as they experienced Him daily.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1
The love we are blessed to possess of Him, and the cross, go hand in hand. Because of His love in us, and our own decision to reciprocate that love, we make a daily choice to experience the cross. The daily cross is the application of death applied into our life and will in order that Christ’s will and life might be in control and reign in our mortal bodies (2 Cor. 4:10-12).
God made man with a choice (Deut. 30:19; Josh. 24:15; Gal. 6:7-9). Firstly, it makes no sense at all biblically speaking, to say that the person and volitional will of the individual believer plays no part in his decisions. That is a diabolical and Calvinistic heresy that has no biblical ground beneath it. Those in denial of the cross Jesus commanded us to “daily” take up, simply do not wish to deny self and sin as Christ commanded. Many of them have placed the teachings of mere men—who were heretics—above God’s Word. Instead of setting aside the “doctrines of men” for Christ’s teachings, they set the teachings of the Son of God aside for the teachings of mere men (like John Calvin). Like the Pharisees of Christ’s day, these men love their traditions more than the LORD and His Word (Mark 7:6-9). Every generation in history has its pseudo-theologians, who cast away the Word of God for their own traditions of mere men. Every day also has a remnant, which says, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” (Rom. 3:4)
Letting “God be true” in our personal lives includes silencing the call of the sinful nature, Satan, and the voices of the myriad of cross-denying wolves, who come in Christ’s name yet do not preach His original Gospel.
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Throughout His teachings, the Son of God taught us that following Him was a “daily” experience and not a onetime event. He made it abundantly clear that this “daily” experience of His life was only possible in conjunction with the disciple’s self-denial, and his choosing to prefer the Savior above himself (Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:23-24; John 12:23-26).
“Many admit the positional death (at initial salvation), but there is also a present salvation (progressive sanctification or transformation) that is experiential, the daily death, burial and resurrection. The Leviticus 1 burnt offering occurred daily. The first thing the invader always did at the Temple was to do away with the daily sacrifice. This will also be 1st order of business for the antichrist, and for those who possess the spirit of antichrist today.”
Christ told us that if we would follow Him, we must “daily” take up the cross and follow (Luke. 9:23-24). As one writer has pointed out here, the daily sacrifice is attacked by the invader and enemy of our souls, and this is seen in the absence of such preaching in that which calls itself the church today. The Bible tells us that “Satan” has his “ministers,” and these men are “deceitful workers” who have infiltrated the modern church and so-called higher learning institutions (seminaries, etc.). See 2 Cor. 11:12-15. These “false apostles,” who are imposters, have hi-jacked the pulpits and publishing houses of this last hour with a message that is void of the cross and is sending many to eternal darkness (2 Pet. 2:1-3). They can be identified as the “enemies of the cross of Christ,” who do not take up their own crosses daily, and therefore do not preach the cross as a daily implement of death to self and self denial (2 Cor. 11:12-15; Phil. 3:18-19). Instead, they “mind earthly things,” even using Scripture to justify their misplaced affections (Phil. 3:18-19).
The “adversary, the devil,” can “devour” us by drawing and seducing us out from our daily and experiential death and burial with Christ, where we are “hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) When the enemy is able to draw one out into the open, he is then vulnerable as a deer that comes out of the forest and is no longer hidden and protected by the camouflage of the trees. When a deer is out in the open and in a prairie clearing, he is then prey for predators. The lions can then see and smell him, and will seek to devour him.
Taking up the daily cross and experiencing knowing Him in “the fellowship of his sufferings” demonstrates our agreement with God that we are utterly depraved in our Adamic nature, and wholly in need of His righteousness and life to reign in our “mortal” bodies (Rom. 6; 2 Cor. 4:10-11; Phil. 3:10).
In this following passage, watch for the daily experiential cross to be practiced by every true disciple of Jesus:
“Always (daily) bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest (a reality) in our body. For we which live are alway (daily) delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-11
As we related earlier in this chapter, the removal of the “daily” cross is the work of our “adversary.” The same vulnerability (removal of the daily cross) exists today wherever the redeemed saint allows for the “daily” sacrifice to be stolen from his life. The daily presenting of ourselves to Him as “a living sacrifice” is our “reasonable service” in light of what He has done for us (Rom. 12:1).
Because He loves us as His own, Christ instructs those He saves to “daily” deny themselves and take up their crosses to follow Him (Luke. 9:23-24). It is only in being
“dead” to sin and self that our lives “are hid with Christ in God.”
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
“Precious Things” Stolen
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets (leaders)in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.” Ezekiel 22:25
Ezekiel the prophet of God is writing here concerning the leaders of the very nation of Israel. This “conspiracy” he speaks of is a reality and not a theory. We have the divine word on it here. The Bible tells us definitively here that “There is a conspiracy of her prophets” or leaders who claim to be representing the LORD. We are also informed here that these beguilers “have taken the treasure and precious things.” They have stolen away those things which are most important for believers to be aware of, believe, dwell upon, and do.
The enemy invader is now empowering his agents in the pulpits and those who hold the pens of modern publishing. This is seen in the deafening silence of the modern messages we hear. There is a gross lack of hearing the essential truths of Holy Writ spoken or written by men who have positions of influence. In fact, in fulfillment of last day’s prophecy, hoards of self-serving people (who claim to be Christians) are heaping these smooth and deceitful messages, and the messengers who give them, to themselves. Their un-crucified sinful nature seeks out ear-tickling messages that feed their sinful nature instead of beckoning them to crucify it (Rom. 6; 12:1).
In his messages, the beguiling leader feeds the sinful nature, while the leader who is a true servant of Christ calls for the denial of and death of it (Rom. 16:17-18; Phil. 3:1-3; 18-21; 2 Pet. 2:1-3).
Many who love the truth, and therefore deeply desire more of Christ, are coming out of the cross-less and apostate modern church system. Like Paul, their deep desire is “to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Phil. 3:10) They have seen the folly and the “famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.” (Amos 8:11)
Where We Stand
In a passage often referred to as defining the true Gospel, the apostle Paul reveals that this “gospel” is that “wherein ye stand.”
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
As those found and regenerated by Him who first loved us, we “stand” in the Gospel of Christ—both positionally and experientially. In fact, the very next words speak to the essential responsibility of personal participation of the individual recipient of His “so great salvation.” (Heb. 2:3)
“By which also ye are saved, IF ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:2
The “if” here clearly denotes condition. Our salvation is contingent upon “if” we “keep in memory” the original “gospel” the apostle Paul preached, “unless ye have believed in vain.” Our initial salvation becomes ineffectual if we do not “continue” in Christ or “endure to the end.” (Matt. 10:22; Col. 1:23; Heb. 3:6, 12-15; 10:26-39; 2 Pet. 2:20-21)
Daily experiencing death to self and the raised up life of Christ, is essential to keeping in memory the work of Christ, the coming King.
See if you can identify both the positional and the experiential standing of the believer in this Colossians 3 passage:
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3
He has accomplished salvation for us and we are thereby “risen with Christ,” positionally. In light of this, we should then follow suit in seeking “those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” This includes setting our “affection(s) on things above, not on things on the earth.” Positionally, we are to count ourselves “dead,” and consider that our lives are “hid with Christ in God.”
Some erroneously teach that the believer’s positional place with Christ is irreversible, but the Bible tells us differently in a myriad of places. Only when we keep our place or position “with Christ” are we “hid with Christ in God.” Otherwise we are not hidden away from the wrath of God and the enemy. Such a place of being “hid with Christ in God” is conditional upon the recipient of His salvation remaining in Him. One’s place with God is reversible if one does not “abide” or remain “in Christ.” Jesus told us that “If a man abide (remain) not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (Jn. 15:6) Our LORD also told us that there are those “which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke. 8:13) It should be more than obvious that someone could not possibly “fall away” from something he has not previously possessed. Also, the basic fact that Jesus invented the term “fall away” plainly reveals that such is possible.
That positional standing He purchased for us is ours only as we remain “with Christ,” and “if” a redeemed person chooses to cease following Christ, he is no longer “in Christ” or “with Christ,” and is therefore no longer the recipient of any of His blessings. The Father told us on several occasions that it is only in His only begotten Son that He is “well pleased,” so anyone presently outside of Him is not pleasing to God (Matt. 3:17).
The sacrifice of Christ is a fixed reality. He is invariable and unchanging (Mal. 3:6; Jn. 19:30; James 1:17). But the experiencing of the cross of Christ in the daily life of the recipient of His salvation is volitional. One must count all else “dung” compared to knowing Christ, and in order to “know him,” one must be willing to experience “the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Phil. 3:7-10).
All of Holy Scripture testifies to the truth that God’s blessings to individuals are conditional (Deut. 11:26-28; 28:1-67; 30:19-20). The fulfillment of His promises and blessings are contingent upon the obedience of the individual (Gal. 6:7-9; Heb. 6:11-12). The recipient of His free gift of eternal life must by faith “abide” or remain in Him, or he will be “cut off.” (Ezek. 33:12-13; Matt.
10:22; Luke 8:13; Rom. 11:19-22; 1 Cor. 15:2; Col. 1:23; Heb. 3:6, 12-15; 10:26-39; 2 Jn. 9; Rev. 2-3) This important subject is covered extensively in the book titled Lie of the Ages, which can be ordered on this site.
“Many of His Disciples Went Back”
In the record of John 6, we read of “disciples” who continued not with Christ after He taught them. They chose not to partake in His death and life. They did not want to suffer for His sake, and therefore “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” John 6:66
These people forfeited their place with Christ and all the associated benefits, both here and eternally (Ezek. 33:12 -13). Suffering is part of following Christ, and those who “draw back,” not esteeming Christ and being unwilling to suffer for His sake, will lose out (Rom. 8:17; Phil. 1:29; Heb. 10:38-39; 1 Pet. 4:1-14; Rev. 2-3).
According to God’s Word, those who refuse to follow up in their daily lives with experiential living with Christ, partaking of His blessed sufferings and the associated benefits, will lose out on their positional place they once had with Him (2 Pet. 2:20-21). Those who after being bought by His blood, “deny him,” will also be denied by Him for having “trodden under foot the Son of God.” (2 Tim. 2:12; Heb. 10:29)
One will not experience His resurrection life if he refuses to experience a dying with Him—to self, sin, Satan, and this world.
Many today are seeking to gain, but they are trying to go around the cross. These people do not yet realize that it’s only in dying to self that God’s “gain” will come to them. It’s only in dying that they can live by the resurrecting power of God in Christ, who is “the resurrection and the life.” (Jn. 11:25) He promised to raise up by the power of His Holy Spirit those that be bowed down in death to self and sin (Ps. 145:15; Rom. 8:11). The LORD promises to raise upward in fruitfulness those that “take root downward.” (Isa. 37:31)
The cross is the place of safety—being in the center of God’s will. We are safe on the cross, buried, sunk down, and hidden in Christ while being “raised up” by His power and to His glory (Rom. 6:3-4; 8:11; Col. 2:11-12; 3:3). Beware of the wiles of Satan, who seeks to lure us off the cross where we are “hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) The enemy’s design is to keep you ignorant of the necessity of the cross—to keep you from experiencing Christ’s resurrection power. When you do choose to learn of Christ to get on the cross, the enemy’s scheme will be to get you to come down from that cross—to keep you from dying that Christ’s life might reign in you and over the enemy (Luke 10:18). Is this not what he did to our LORD? (Matt. 27:42)
The only way to have upward mobility—divine resurrection power—is to plant yourself deep into the death of Christ. The further down one descends, the more powerful the raising up will be (2 Cor. 4:10-12).
Jesus told us that we must lose our lives to gain His life and eternal life.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12:24-25
PRAYER: Father, not my will but Thine be done. You must increase and I must decrease. I now this moment, choose to lay my life down—to die to self and all of its fleshly facets. I honor You, LORD Jesus and Father, and joyfully bow in humility before Your Majesty. Grant Your enabling grace to my life, so I might please You in all things. I am crucified with Christ. I am dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Capture Points
- Discuss John 12:24-26 and what it means to “fall into the ground and die,” as pertains to Christ and also all of those who would follow Him.
- According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, what is “the gospel” that we stand in defined as? (KJV recommended)
- What did Jesus tell us was the purpose for which He came? John 17:3
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Apostasy
Richard Foster Exposed
Wait, WHAT, WHO are Christ’s disciples to celebrate?
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14
A Biblically based commentary on current issues that impact you
Richard Foster—Celebration of Deception
by Bob DeWaay
Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past.1 The article traced the beginning of the movement as follows: “The movement seems to have exploded in a 24-month period in 1977-1978, which saw the publication of Richard Foster’s bestselling Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth and Robert Webber’s Common Roots: A Call to Evangelical Maturity.”2
The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement: “From Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living practicing monks and nuns, they [those going back to Roman Catholic mysticism] must learn both the strengths and the limits of the historical ascetic disciplines.”3 So Foster was instrumental in starting a movement that is still growing 30-plus years later.
The irony about this particular CIC regarding Foster’s 1978 book is that in 1978 I myself was living in a Christian community committed to practicing much of what he promotes in Celebration of Discipline (even though we had not learned it from him directly). So I am not criticizing a practice about which I know nothing (or one in which I have no experience). I am criticizing a practice I foolishly allowed to deceive me for a significant portion of my early Christian life. When it comes to being deceived by mysticism, I have had abundant involvement. The only way I escaped it was through discovering and adopting the Reformation principle of sola scriptura.
In this article I will show that Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all—but a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception.
The Journey Inward
The Bible nowhere describes an inward journey to explore the realm of the spirit. God chose to reveal the truth about spiritual reality through His ordained, Spirit-inspired, biblical writers. What is spiritual and not revealed by God is of the occult and, therefore, forbidden. We have discussed this in many articles and have produced DVD seminars on the topic. But the concept of sola scriptura is totally lost on mystics such as Richard Foster. They, like the enthusiasts that Calvin and Luther warned against, believe they can gain valid and useful knowledge of spiritual things through direct, personal inspiration.
Foster describes the idea of the disciplines that are the topic of his book: “The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”4 So Foster has conceptually repudiated sola scriptura on page one to replace it with a journey inward to explore the realm of spirits. Something must have been seriously amiss in evangelicalism already in 1978 to render this book a bestseller! It ought to have been repudiated on the spot. In a footnote to that statement Foster writes, “In one form or another all of the devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines” (Foster: 1). The devotional “masters,” by the way, are mostly Roman Catholics who never were committed to the principle of sola scriptura. It is not surprising that they looked for spirituality through experimentation. But as an “inner light” Quaker, Foster never was committed to sola scriptura either.
Forgetting that the Bible forbids divination, Foster explains what he is after:
[W]e must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well. . . . They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. (Foster: 13)
Realizing that his readers would likely take this as an endorsement of Eastern religions, he makes a disclaimer that it is not Transcendental Meditation (TM) or something of that ilk: “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it” (Foster: 15). But what Foster wishes us to fill our minds with are personal revelations from the spirit realm that we naively are to think are the voice of God. This sort of meditation is not meditating on what God has said, but uses a technique to explore the spirit world. In other words, it is divination.
What we learn about the spirit realm either is revealed by God (once for all in Scripture) or gleaned by man-made techniques. That distinction is the difference between Christianity and paganism. Only Bible believers know what God has said about Himself and what He wishes to reveal about the unseen spirit world. Foster’s material continues to be popular because we live in an age where being spiritual pioneers on a journey into the unseen realm of the spirits is the essence of popular piety. It is the spirituality of secular talk shows.
To fully understand the degree of Foster’s deception, he even calls these techniques to the inner journey “means of grace”: “They [the Disciplines] are God’s means of grace” (Foster: 6). As with all who teach spiritual disciplines, there are no boundaries to these false “means.” For example, consider this recommended practice: “After you have gained some proficiency in centering down, add a five- to ten-minute meditation on some aspect of the creation. Choose something in the created order: tree, plant, bird, leaf, cloud, and each day ponder it carefully and prayerfully” (Foster 25). This after he had just taught breathing exercises (a means of “centering down”). Then he makes a startling claim: “We should not bypass this means of God’s grace” (Foster: 25). And there we have it: meditating of a leaf can be a means of grace!
Foster’s journey inward is to discover a spirit world that is available for any who search for it: “How then do we come to believe in a world of the spirit? Is it by blind faith? Not at all. The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it” (Foster: 18). He claims that this spiritual search is analogous to scientific experimentation. Never mind that every pagan culture that has existed has believed in the “spiritual world.”
Spirituality of the Imagination
The Bible does not have anything good so say about the imagination. For example: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord'” (Jeremiah 23:16). A search of the KJV for “imagination” yields 14 verses, and in each case it is a bad thing. According to the Bible, the imagination is where people go when they do not want to listen to God.
However, for Foster the imagination is central: “The inner world of meditation is most easily entered through the door of the imagination. We fail today to appreciate its tremendous power. The imagination is stronger than conceptual thought and stronger than the will” (Foster: 22). Some of the authorities he cites on this point are C. G. Jung, Ignatius of Loyola, and Morton Kelsey. Jung is famous for his concept of the collective unconscious, and Kelsey was an Episcopal priest committed to Jungian principles. Kelsey wrote many books promoting mysticism. The advice Foster gleans from these teachers is that we must learn to think in images and take our dreams to be a possible doorway into the spirit world. Foster claims that dreams are something we already have and can help us develop the use of the imagination. He says, “Keeping a journal of our dreams is a way of taking them seriously” (Foster: 23).
There is, Foster warns, a danger to this process: “At the same time [that we ask for dreams to be God speaking to us], it is wise to pray a prayer of protection, since to open ourselves to spiritual influence can be dangerous as well as profitable” (Foster: 23). I would say that is asking God to protect us as we use various techniques to go where He does not want us to go (into the world of the spirits to gain information). The danger he warns of is far greater than Foster imagines. Those who take the journey inward will be deceived—every time! We are not equipped to gain spiritual information from that realm. That is why God speaks to us through His ordained mediators (the inspired Biblical writers); otherwise we would be fishing in the dark in a medium we are not suited for.
Foster teaches his readers to use their imaginations to experience Biblical stories with the five physical senses. Here is what he claims will happen:
As you enter the story, not as a passive observer but as an active participant, remember that since Jesus lives in the Eternal Now and is not bound by time, this event in the past is a living present-tense experience for Him. Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you. (Foster: 26)
Showing that Foster’s ideas are still influential in our day, Greg Boyd cites some of Foster’s words here to support what he calls “cataphatic prayer” which uses the imagination and images as a means to contact God and gain spiritual information.5 Those who endorse this practice assume they are not being deceived by spirits, but I cannot see on what grounds.
Foster prescribes a practice using one’s imagination that mimics astral projection to the degree that he actually includes a footnote disclaimer stating that it is not astral projection (Foster 28). It begins by telling his readers to imagine themselves going out into nature into a beautiful place (Boyd describes how he practices this, as well as its results6). After enjoying the sights and smells (in your imagination) these are the next steps:
In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. . . Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distinguish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart. (Foster: 27, 28)
I must ask how one knows whether “True Spirit” is not a deceiving one? Mysticism’s fatal flaw is that it naively assumes that Christians having subjective religious experiences must therefore be having Christian experiences that are truly from God—even if the experiences were provoked through unbiblical practices similar to those used by pagans.
Mental Alchemy
Foster’s approach to prayer is laced with mysticism as well. He claims that prayer needs to be learned from people who have the right experiences and are “masters” who know what they are doing. Foster does not teach ordinary prayer, whereby we bring our needs and requests to the Lord and know that He hears us (because He promised that He does). Here is why he thinks such prayer fails:
Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they were not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition (Mt. 6:7). Listening to the Lord is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing necessary for successful intercession. (Foster: 34)
Of course this means we have to become mystics if we want to pray.
He teaches that we first must hear personal revelations from God, using meditation techniques such as he teaches, before we pray. He says: “The beginning point, then, in learning to pray for others is to listen for guidance . . . This inner “yes” is the divine authorization for you to pray for the person or situation” (Foster: 35). No! Foster is wrong! The only authorization we need to pray is the Biblical command to pray—not personal revelations.
For Foster, meditation (mystical style) is necessary but not sufficient. He also brings the imagination into the process: “As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer” (Foster: 36). He credits Agnes Sanford7 for helping him see the value of using the imagination in praying. Foster writes, “Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing it will be so” (Foster: 36). Sanford got her ideas from Theosophy, New Thought, Jung, and Emmet Fox. These ideas, echoed by Foster, come from the unbiblical “mind over matter” thinking of that era. That kind of thinking uses creative visualization to change reality or channel spiritual power. Foster suggests, “Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day” (Foster: 39).
In his 1985 book, The Seduction of Christianity, Dave Hunt labeled creative visualization such as what Foster promotes, “mental alchemy.”8 Hunt warned the church that Foster promoted such mental alchemy in Celebration of Discipline, and as we have shown, he, in fact, does. So how is it that 24 years after Hunt’s warning Foster is more popular than ever with Evangelicals? The answer is end times deception. Now, a huge movement that claims to be a reformation promoting Foster, Willard and their versions of mysticism does exist (i.e., The Emergent Church). Things have gotten so very much worse.
Spiritual Directors
Once mysticism and the supposed need to gain personal revelations from God are embraced, there arises a need for new “masters” who are better at navigating the spirit world. Pagan societies have always had such persons. They are called “shamans.” Eastern religion calls them “gurus.” Deceived Christians call them “spiritual directors.” Foster explains, “In the Middle Ages not even the greatest saints attempted the depths of the inward journey without the help of a spiritual director” (Foster: 159). The problem, according to Foster, is that the churches (in 1978) lacked “living masters”:
No doubt part of the surge of interest in Eastern meditation is because the churches have abrogated the field. How depressing for a university student, seeking to know the Christian teaching on meditation, to discover that there are so few living masters of contemplative prayer and that nearly all of the serious writings on the subject are seven or more centuries old. No wonder he or she turns to Zen, Yoga, or TM. (Foster: 14)
Foster’s dream has come true. Today people can even practice Yoga in a Christian church. We have Christian TM; it is called contemplative prayer. Yes, Eastern religion has come right into the church, and Foster has helped usher it in.
But what about “living masters” or spiritual directors? In 1972 Morton Kelsey lamented their lack: “Indeed I would suggest that everyone who is serious about relating to the spiritual realm find himself a spiritual director, if there were more men trained and experienced in this way.”9 That “problem” has been solved in a huge way. Evangelical theology schools are now offering masters degrees in “spiritual formation” in order to equip people to be “spiritual directors.” Here is what Biola University says about its program: “This degree is designed to equip men and women for the ministry of spiritual direction, discipleship, formation and soul care in the local church and for further academic training in spiritual formation.”10 Spiritual Directors International will help you find a spiritual director regardless of your religion.11 Richard Foster’s own Renovare, which purports to “encourage renewal in the Christian church,” has a list of spiritual direction programs.12
Foster explains the purpose of the spiritual director: “He is the means of God to open the path to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit” (Foster: 160). Apparently, in a full-blown rejection of sola scriptura where the Holy Spirit’s teaching is mediated to the church through the Biblical writers only, we need mediators for personal revelations beyond scripture.
Foster explains how spiritual directors lead: “He leads only by the force of his own personal holiness” (Foster: 160). In Roman Catholicism the Pope is called “his holiness” and in Tibetan Buddhism the Dalai Lama is called “his holiness” but now evangelicals are developing a class of people who evidently deserve the title. How exactly are we to judge when someone has gained “personal holiness” sufficient to be a spiritual director and mediate spirituality to others? Foster says, “Though the director has obviously advanced further into the inner depths, the two [master and disciple] are together learning and growing in the realm of the Spirit” (Foster: 160). Foster cites Roman Catholic mystic Thomas Merton about how this works: “The spiritual director was something of a ‘spiritual father who begot the perfect life in the soul of his disciple by his instructions first of all, but also by his prayer, his sanctity and his example. He was . . . a kind of ‘sacrament’ of the Lord’s presence in the ecclesiastical community” (Foster: 161).
End Times Delusion
When it comes to end times deception, Foster is on the cutting edge of embracing it. Consider what he wrote: “In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people. . . . Individuals can be found here and there whose hearts burn with divine fire” (Foster: 150). Such inclinations have led to massive deception. They smack of the Latter Rain deception, now embodied in such false teachers as Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle. They are elitist. They are in line with the beliefs of the Emergent Church as well. He also says: “Our century has yet to see the breaking forth of the apostolic church of the Spirit” (Foster: 150). Now we have the New Apostolic Reformation claiming to be just that. Foster’s ideas now embody the massive apostasy and end times deception that characterize our age.
Foster’s teachings have taken the church as far away from the Reformation principle of sola scriptura as the Roman Catholic Church ever was. The only thing left is for them to bring us all the way back to Rome. Christianity Today praises Foster for pointing us in that direction.
In early 2008 I wrote a CIC article about how abandoning the principle of sola scriptura would lead evangelicals back to Rome.13 It was partly a response to the CT article praising mysticism. The response I received was rather unexpected. I was contacted by former evangelicals who had rejected sola scriptura and had gone back to Rome! They wanted to debate me about sola scriptura. Sadly, my point was proven. As a response to their misguided challenge our church hosted a seminar on sola scriptura, called Faith at Risk 4.14 In the seminar Gary Gilley and I defended the scriptures as the sole authority for the church.
The aforementioned CT article discusses a new monasticism, former evangelical leaders converting to Roman Catholicism, and mystical practices like lectio divina—and they call all of it a good and hopeful thing. Chris Armstrong, the author of the article, concluded, “That they [evangelicals] are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers [Foster and Willard] is reason to believe that Christ is guiding the process. And that they are meeting and learning from fellow Christians in the other two great confessions, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox, is reason to rejoice in the power of love.”15
Who is left to defend the principles of the Reformation? One would think Reformed theologians are, but they aren’t doing their job. In the last CIC article we mentioned Reformed theologian Donald Whitney who wrote: “Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline has been the most popular book on the subject of the Spiritual Disciplines in the last half of the twentieth century. The great contribution of this work is the reminder that the Spiritual Disciplines, which many see as restrictive and binding, are actually means to spiritual freedom.”16 That from a teacher in a Reformed seminary?
If a book that teaches Christian TM, Christian astral projection and mental alchemy by means of the imagination is a “great contribution,” then something is seriously wrong here. The delusion is so widespread that I see no other explanation for it than the end time deception predicted by Paul: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” (1Timothy 4:1). Another passage warns: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2Timothy 4:3, 4).
That time now is here. We are accountable to God for what we believe and practice. Those who wish to persevere in the faith in this age of delusion must base their beliefs and practices only on the truths found in Scripture. Foster’s journey into the world of the spirits will deceive all who enter it.
Issue 112 – May / June 2009
End Notes
-
- Chris Armstrong, “The Future lies in the Past” in Christianity Today, February 2008.
- Ibid. 24.
- Ibid. 29.
- Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (New York: Harper & Row, 1978) 1. All subsequent citations from this book will be bracketed within the text in this fashion: (Foster: 1).
- Greg Boyd, Seeing is Believing, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004). Boyd cites Foster to prove that the Lord will actually come to us through our use of “imaginative meditation.” I deal with this issue more fully in CIC issue 83 July/August, 2003: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE83.HTM
- Ibid. 111-125.
- I write about Sanford’s inner healing theories in CIC Issue 96: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE96.HTM
- Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity (Eugene: Harvest House, 1985) 138.
- Morton Kelsey, Encounter With God, (Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis, 1972) 179.
- http://www.biola.edu/spiritualformation/programs/ SEE PDF
- HTTP://WWW.SDIWORLD.ORG
- HTTP://WWW.RENOVARE.ORG/JOURNEY_TRAINING_DIRECTION.HTM
- CIC Issue 105; March/April 2008: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE105.HTM
- Watch this seminar HERE
- Armstrong, Future
- DONALD S. WHITNEY, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (COLORADO SPRINGS: NAVPRESS, 1991) 23.
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Articles
Sinlessly Perfect? I Doubt it [podcast]
Yes the LORD commands His people to “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16) Yet we should ask whether or not His desire is for His people to tout to others that they are “sinlessly perfect” or does His Word rather reveal that His people are to be dependent upon Him through the humility of Christ and crucified life He ordained us to walk in? Did the apostles walk around telling people they were sinlessly perfect? No. Didn’t Paul confess his own utter poverty of spirit outside of the saving, present grace of Christ? Yes. (Romans 7:18, 24, etc.) Are there biblical warnings about claiming that one is sinlessly perfect? Yes. (Job 9:20; Proverbs 20:9)
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16
Saints, would it be accurate to observe that we cannot possibly begin to appreciate this “so great salvation” that is Christ until we understand how lost, helpless, and alienated we were in our sin? (Ephesians 2:1-10; Hebrews 2:3) We must pray and study to understand the biblical doctrine of inherent sin, fallen mankind, and the holiness of God …. in order to begin to be able to appreciate the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.
“If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Job 9:20
Solomon said:
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9
Speaking of king David’s imperfections, even nearing the end of his life on earth, one commentator writes:
“Surely there can be little ground for the doctrine of perfectionism, otherwise David, whose religion was so earnest and so deep, would have been nearer it now than this chapter shows that he was.” Expositor’s Bible
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Ecclesiastes 7:20
I am not a good person, neither are you – “There is none righteous, no, not one“ (Romans 3:10). Admit it. The sooner we become HONEST with that which is more than obvious, announcing freely and transparently – that there is “NOOOO good thing” in us except CHRIST, the sooner God will begin a new, deeper work in us! (Romans 7:18, 24) The Cross!
God is able to establish our hearts in His grace and to multiply His grace to us (Hebrews 13:9; 2 Peter 3:18)
ALL of our deeds are not perfect (1 John 1:8-10). “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23). The truly righteous remain humble, teachable, and repentant. Note verse 21 saints:
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:19-21
Saved by Divine Grace and Yet Now Made Perfect by Your Flesh?
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3
The Galatian believers had begun their walk with Christ by responding to the conviction of the Spirit, repenting, putting their faith in Christ, and being regenerated. Yet, now they were allowing false teachers to seduce them back under the law, law-keeping for righteousness – to attempt to please God by their own self-will and performance.
Jesus’ disciples must live a set apart life. Living sinless? Well, it can be done: Here’s the key – “In him (Jesus) is no sin. He that abideth in him sinneth not” (1 John 3:5-6). We whom Jesus has saved must “cleanse ourselves from ALL filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Yet, the only way to be sinless is in presently abiding in Him and that begins with the essential of announcing our own poverty in self which is being poor/desperately dependent on Him in spirit (Matthew 5:3, 6). Yet some insist that they are perfect by their own will, ability, and doing. This is the exact error of the Galatians which caused them to fall from saving grace (Galatians 5:4). They left Christ for something else – law keeping. Leaving Christ, departing from faith, and casting off trusting fully in HIS saving grace, is deadly. Realizing there is “NO good thing” in us except Christ, is essential to abiding saved in Him (Romans 7:18, 24; John 15:1-6). Galatians 3:3 says it all – “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). The great apostle of Jesus was desperate for the LORD, ever seeking His holy face and dreadfully not wanting “to be found having mine own righteousness which is of the law” (Philippians 3:9-10).
“The great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that we are nothing, and He is everything.” Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ
Heart purity and a sinless life emanate only from intimate union and abiding with a holy God. This occurs as we consent to the cross and not by human effort alone. Jesus raises up those who are truly bowed down – crucified with Christ (Psalms 145:14; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3, etc.). One cannot possibly “stop sinning” until they come to Jesus and He saves them, making them new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Only then can the regenerated disciple “put off the old man” and “put on the new man” (Colossians 3:9-10). There MUST be something to “put off” …. that inherent sinful nature, otherwise no such language would be in Scripture (Colossians 3).
Beware of the sinless perfectionists who speak of overcoming sin outside of the daily cross and the saving, enabling grace of God. It’s only possible by God’s enabling grace in and through a true abiding relationship.
If we claim we are sufficient in and of ourselves and because of our own “natural ability” to do right, and can be perfect (which God requires) without Christ and our total trust IN HIM, we are apostate. Memorize Romans 4:4-5.
We cannot be “made perfect BY the flesh” or by means of our own self-will and effort alone. If that were possible WHY then did Jesus come? We are only perfect in the sense of Christ’s perfection AS we abide in Him (John 15:1-6). As we do, we will “walk in the light, as he is in the light … and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Here’s the whole verse:
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
Yes, we are “new creatures” in Christ and must humble ourselves before Him, put off the old man, put on the new man, and walk in the Spirit with Him. Yet, the victory Christ has wrought and ordained for us to walk in daily all begins with acknowledging instead of denying that there is something to deny and die to and “put off” (Colossians3:5; 2 Corinthians5:17-18). Denying that we have inclination toward sin is not the answer. Crucifying the deeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit is the answer (Romans 8:12-14). Many are getting hoodwinked by this self-righteous “I can do it with my own ‘natural ability’” spirit. This is a Christ-denying devil-exalting heresy, doctrine of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-3). Many who are not grounded in the grace and Word of Christ are adopting this error of Pelagianism which fosters self righteousness. They are aggressively teaching this sinless perfectionism (in the flesh) error to others. These people seem to have one common denominator – they have studied the teachings of Charles Finney or Mike Desario. Beware!
Many of those who preach sin without saving, rescuing, enabling, overcoming divine grace are perhaps still trapped in their own sins. They have no answer for others and therefore we should wonder if they have the LORD’s answer for and in their own lives. If they did, would they not be full of His great joy and sharing with others how to be delivered? Why are they content with condemning others in sin? Is God willing that ANY should perish? See 2 Peter 3:9.
Never forget to make a decision to be deepened in the essential truth that it’s “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7
WHEN we realize that God is “Holy, holy, holy,” we will no longer wrongly condemn others if they sin, just because the flavor of their sin differs from that sin which we’ve committed, knowing that the sin we committed was no less evil in the eyes of He alone who is “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).
G.R.A.C.E. = God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense
It’s only by God’s grace that we are found and saved by Him and kept and enabled to please Him which includes participating in holiness, separated unto the LORD, as He is holy (Hebrews 12:14-15; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Revelation 4:8, etc.).
Titus 2 tells us that we are only saved by divine grace and only kept to the end by His enabling grace.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” Titus 2:11-15
Deliverance from sin/sinning is only possible through faith, loving, worshiping, and obeying our LORD, that is, moment-by-moment abiding in Christ, the crucified life, being raised up by His Spirit (Romans 6; 8:13-14, etc.).
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” 1 John 3:3-6
Perfection is the perfect forgiveness and justification of the LORD which God brings about by His Spirit and our faith which always brings our adherence to the daily cross (Philippians 2:12-13). It’s divine perfection worked out in the abiding disciple as he walks in the Spirit abiding in Christ (Galatians 5:16, 25, etc.).
True OR Feigned Holiness? | Saving, Enabling Grace | Have We Ourselves Become Pharisees? | The Spirit of Holiness |
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