The Grapevine
Number 114                                                                           
October 16, 2005
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15


A Whole New Program
by Jack Northart

There are many beliefs in this world that are accepted as factual or true primarily because they have been around for so long and talked about by so many. When someone comes along with new information regarding these long-believed "facts" that contradicts these things that are widely accepted, then that person is labeled a heretic, a quack or a kook.

For many years, it was once believed that the Earth was flat. Under this belief system, superstitions abounded. Sea merchants were wary of sailing too far for fear of falling off the edge. Once someone set out to prove the idea that the Earth was round, and that it could be circumnavigated by ship, whole new ideas of understanding were opened. It changed the way people viewed life on Earth.

There are many ideas about God that have been around for centuries that have been accepted as factual or true. From the unsettling times after the first century, people's understanding of who God is, and what He does, and how He operates, have been grossly incorrect. To many people, God is viewed as the Supreme Being that has us all on trial, and is keeping a score card of how everyone does. They believe that In the end, He will decide who gets punished, who gets forgiven and who gets in deep trouble. "What is worse is that none of us mere mortals can know anything about those decisions until it's all over." WRONG! We don't have to wait until it's over to find the meaningful answers to life.

II Peter 1:3
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.

How could we have missed this tremendous statement for so many years? It says that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Furthermore, it says where to find it, namely: "...through the knowledge of Him." All things that pertain to life and godliness are right here in the Bible. We now have the means to find the answers to all of our questions. We can see God's characteristics, His motives, His actions, His love, His desires, His abilities and all of His accomplishments.

Having a place to find the answers, we can now embark on an adventure to see what God is all about. However, there is one very important point that we must keep in mind in our adventure, that is we must rightly divide His Word as we study it diligently.

II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.

We must remain accurate while we look for the answers. The Word of God is perfect and will all fit together perfectly if it is rightly divided. It cannot and will not contradict itself. So if there are "apparent" contradictions, it means that either we do not understand what is written, or there could be an error in the translation.

Let's begin our adventure with the question of sin and how it affects us as Christians.
What happened to place us in a dire state of sin and death in the first place?

Romans 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Sin was introduced into the world by Adam. It was such a catastrophic event that it brought death into the world with it. From that time forward, mankind was dead in trespasses and sin and in order to be redeemed from this sorry state, God had to implement a plan for the salvation of mankind from sin and death.

Romans 5: 8-10
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

God showed and clearly proved His love for mankind by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we are now justified and made righteous, and brought into the right relationship with God by Christ's blood, it is now much more certain we shall be saved by Christ from the wrath of God. And while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ, it is much more certain now that we are reconciled, that we will be saved, delivered from sin's dominion through His resurrected life.This is a whole new program now!

Jesus Christ was willing to be our loving, noble benefactor and saved us from this state of sin and death by his own death. He poured out his life so that we could have the relationship with God that He originally wanted to have with mankind. By Christ's death and resurrection, he took us out of the state of sin and death, and placed us far beyond where mankind had even been before.

Colossians 1:13
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

God has delivered and drawn us to Himself. He has taken us out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His Son by His love.
It was like drawing out of the soup with a ladle. He drew us out of the "soup" that we were in, and put us in the kingdom of wonderful Son. That puts us in a very good place!

Romans 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

To reign in this life is to reign as a king. That puts us in a very high place in the eyes of God. This is a very different place than most believers consider themselves to be. They have been programmed to believe that they are unworthy, and destitute, and that if they see themselves this way, then they can approach God with the "humble" attitude necessary to have God's mercy and grace in their lives. What a crock! That's not what the Bible tells us. We cannot simultaneously reign in this life as a king if we are feeling unworthy and destitute. That's like a form of schizophrenia.

It's time to take the filters off  that we have been reading the Word of God with, and see the bare truth of what it says. Read if for yourself without the "help" of someone trying to explain everything. You will find that it is a whole new program that you may never have discovered or thought was possible before.

Romans 6:9-10
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, never to die again. Therefore, death has no more effect or dominion over him. He is at God's right hand. And for those of us who have confessed Jesus as lord and believed that God raised him from the dead, the effect of sin and death is the same for us.

Romans 6:13-14
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. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

We are not to continue offering ourselves to God as instruments of wickedness, but rather we are to offer ourselves to God as those who have been raised from the dead by Him. Sin is to no longer exert any kind of strength or dominion over us. We are not to be the slaves of sin, but rather subjects of God grace, mercy and love.

We could go on trying to better ourselves in the eyes of God, but it would be a complete waste of time, because God did for us what we could never do for ourselves in a thousand lifetimes. He brought us out of the darkness of this world and gave us a place at His side with Christ. No one could ever do that for themselves.

Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us 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.

How many of us actually see this as a reality? How many of us still feel that we have to work harder and harder to gain God's favor? It is because we make ourselves the focal point of concern, rather than accepting what God has already done for us. Our egos are inflated much more if we can show others that we work really hard at doing God's work. That program is useless in the eyes of God. It's time to open our eyes to what HE has done. Open our eyes to see how big HIS grace, love and mercy is for us. It is a whole new program to believe it and live it everyday.