Confusion: Law and Grace in the BUT NOW Dispensation: Page 40

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Confusion:  Law and Grace in the BUT NOW Dispensation
 

Today, only the Jews have continued with their meetings in the synagogue, and they do not have a center for their worship in the Temple in their homeland, Jerusalem. 

 

Some of the more orthodox churches have continued to keep the priestly title, although they do not assist in a sacrificial system. 

 

Most churches like to say they keep at least the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) although they do not because most don’t keep the Sabbath as it was intended by God. 

 

Most churches like to incorporate their own brand of legalism, and pick and choose from a variety of law and grace doctrines. 

 

This practice can only lead to confusion and insecurity about which Gospel was written to them and for them. 

 

How can one know how to share the Gospel with others, to bring them to salvation, when there are so many different Gospels being preached today? 

 

How can anyone know if they are eternally secure when the IF-THEN principle of the Old Mosaic Covenant is being taught?
 

Can one be looking forward to the comfort and joy of the rapture, when the Lord will call us up to meet the Him in the air (I Thessalonians 4:17), or should one look for a time of war and Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when He will put His feet on Mt. Olivet (Zechariah 14:4; Acts 1:11-12; Revelation 1:7)? 

 

When will Christ set up the promised Kingdom and rule in righteousness (Hebrews 1:8) and with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15)?
 

Paul states to the grace church, 

 

15 I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:15)..
 

Many churches today maintain some Mosaic Covenant principles in their church doctrine, incorporating and elevating the Kingdom Church principle over the principles of grace doctrine. 

 

IF we confess our sins, (THEN) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). 

 

Some modern-day churches have confessionals readily available for its members. 

 

When today’s churches try to incorporate this IF/THEN principle into their doctrine, their members may question IF they have confessed all their sins (Colossians 2:13). 

 

If they have not confessed all their sins, THEN does that mean that God will not forgive all their trespasses? 

 

They are haunted with guilt and uncertainty, fearing that they may have un-confessed and un-forgiven sin in their life or maybe they have lost their salvation.
 

The long-standing legalistic performance-based program under the Mosaic Covenant has been a difficult doctrine to eliminate from the present-day Christian churches. 

 

The IF-THEN doctrine of blessing/cursing under the Mosaic Law was given to the Nation of Israel, not for their salvation but for their sanctification process. 

 

This prophetic program had employed confession and a sacrificial program as an important doctrine to restore a right relationship with God. 

 

It should convict them of their sin (Romans 3:10-12, 19-20, 23) and show their need for a redeemer and aspire them to make appropriate sacrifices for their sins, so that they would not receive judgment and then pay the consequence of sin. 

 

With their relationship to God restored, He would physically bless them. 

 

40 IF they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 

 

41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; IF THEN their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 

 

42 THEN will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land (Leviticus 26:40-42). 

 

IF the people of the nation of Israel as a whole would believe and confess that Jesus was their Messiah, the Son of God, THEN the Kingdom that was at hand would be realized after the Great Tribulation. 

 

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. (Nehemiah 1:6). 

 

Daniel’s lengthy prayer of confession for the sins of the Nation of Israel is recorded in Daniel 9:3-20.
 

We know that John is writing to the Kingdom saints (I John 2:2-3; 3:23; 4:15; 5:1, 13) because John starts the book of 1st John by saying, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (I John 1:1). 

 

This is not something that Paul, the BUT NOW apostle to the Gentiles, would have written, as He was not present in the beginning or during Jesus’s earthly ministry. 

 

We also know that John is addressing the nation as a whole because he states that ‘we’ need to confess their national sin. The nation had rejected their Messiah. 

 

In 1st John 1:7, John had already proclaimed that it was not confession; it is the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, who cleanseth us from all sin. 

 

7 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.
 

25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 16:25).
 

3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3).
 

The Mosaic Covenant has also had a profound effect on the presentation of the Gospel in today’s church. 

 

They may preach Christ, but they do not place their emphasis on the blood of Christ, on the One who knew no sin or the need to put their trust in His finished work, His faithfulness to attain the means to our eternal salvation. 

 

Good works are considered a necessity and church members tend to look not at Christ’s work but at their own works. 

 

They may believe if they have repented, or go to church, or tithe, or pray or keep the 10 commandments or have asked Jesus into their heart, or have been water baptized or are doing good works or are a good person then they might be going to heaven when they die. 

 

People may evaluate their own works and compare themselves with the worst of sinners (II Corinthians 10:12) or live with guilt and shame because of their unrighteous acts. 

 

They can only “hope” that they will be able to go to heaven.
 

Everyone needs to take their eyes off of themselves and their works and put their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior. 

 

They should believe in the sufficiency of His death on the cross (II Corinthians 3:5), His blood atonement, the full payment—the absolute and total payment, not a partial-payment—for all of their sins, past, present, and future. 

 

Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

 

The solution for insecurities and uncertainties is to turn from the Kingdom Doctrine to the Grace Doctrine. 

 

The conditional IF/THEN principle is compatible with the legalistic performance-based Mosaic Covenant, but it is not compatible with the unconditional grace program. 

 

In this BUT NOW Dispensation of Grace, God reveals through Paul to the Gentiles and to all, His Mystery, His unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8), His eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ (Ephesians 3:1-11). 

 

At the moment of salvation, God blesses all member of the Body of Christ with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). 

 

They are unconditional gifts of His grace for all that believe in His finished work.