The Hoax That Has Sneaked

Into Christian Preaching:

“You  Have To Quit Sinning

In Order To Get Saved”.

 

By Jan Lilleby

 

For how long do we have to take the offence from hearing the old lie and the hoax that has sneaked into Christian preaching: We have to quit sin, entirely, in order to get saved?

 

I have mentioned some of this topic in several articles in the past (some of those are written in Norwegian only, sorry) as I have been teaching the “Acts 28, 28” standing: The difference between the previous dispensation of the law, which was concluded with the apostles preaching to Israel, offering them the Kingdom of Heaven – the earthly kingdom – and that new dispensation of the grace of God revealed through Paul while he was in chains in Rome. A grace salvation, in which there are no longer “Jews and Greek”, but the whole world positioned on an equal level before God and His blessing.

 

It is a vast difference regarding the life in the faith in God while Israel still was Gods favoured nation, and  the life in the faith in God after the setting aside of Israel into their negative position of “Lo-Ammi”: You are not my people, says the Lord, and I will not belong to you. This was what happened in the year of 60-61 at Rome, as Paul`s preaching of the new covenant (offering the earthly kingdom) was turned down by a majority of Jewish priests and leaders, thus representing Israel as a nation. Acts 28:28 has all about it. The day that God expelled Israel from His covenant, divorced her, and cancelled the progress of the promised Kingdom of Heaven, the millennial reign of Christ. It changed the history forever.  Israel could have gotten their promised millennial reign with their Christ as ruler, but they blew it.

 

It resulted in the immediate introducing and revelation of the NEW dispensation, the dispensation of the grace of God, given to and through Paul for the entire world all alike. No more any “head nation” as Israel, but all nations levelled as equal before God Almighty and His salvation by faith alone. Eph. 1-3 chapters.

 

This difference in how mankind should approach God for salvation, is very much present in N.T. as we compare those Scriptures that were written before the great divorce, with those written afterwards.  Those written before Israel was cast out of Gods covenant, which took place while Paul resided at Rome 60-61 A.D., has doctrine for Israel only – however included the gentile proselytes, which were under exception from the law of Moses (Acts 15:20).  And those Scriptures written from the moment that Israel no longer was Gods nation, such as the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, and the second epistle to Timothy. The latter are epistles written to the believers of our dispensation: The dispensation of the grace of God. Revealed after Gods setting aside of Israel.  Allow me, for the sake of proper Biblical editing, list those Scriptures that were written to Israel and their proselytes, - and thus not concerning the Church, the “One New Man”:

 

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke

James` epistle

Judes epistle

Revelation

Galatians

The three epistles of John

The Gospel of John

Book of Acts

Paul`s two epistles to the Corinthians

Paul`s two epistles to the Tessalonians

Hebrews

 Romans

Philippians (under dispute)

I Timothy (under dispute)

 

 

Before Paul had this new revelation of the “One New Man” in Christ (Eph.2:15) and thus ushering in the dispensation of Gods grace by faith alone, - all he had to teach from, was the Word of God as read from Moses and the prophets, as God gave him supernatural revelation in the Scriptures (Acts 26:22;  28:20, Gal.1:12).  He had no other revelation than the one making him able and skilled in teaching that which “..was kept in silence and secret for long ages. But is now disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures is made known to all nations…” Rom.16:25, 26. He had no other platform of doctrine, than Mosaic Law and the warnings and promises of God set fourth through His prophets.  The Church was still not revealed, and thus not in existence!  This must be considered, whenever anyone is reading stern warnings against sin, from Paul`s Acts epistles.  If these Scriptures are taken out of proper Biblical context, we are left with false teaching and hoax. The grace of God will be disrupted by a smokescreen of “law and works” for salvation. This is what makes evangelists and pastors end up in the heresy of “sinless perfection” for salvation.

 

Paul`s teaching of the New Covenant (II Cor 3:6) had emphasis on the Kingdom of Heaven: Gods earthly kingdom to be established by the return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem according to the prophets. The eternal salvation was secondary in this era.  This is very much reflected as we read Paul`s many warnings against sin, as those written in Romans and Corinthians. We shall have a brief look at the most important Scriptures in that regard. And we will see that Paul wrote of the concerns for the millennial reign of Christ, and not of heaven and the eternal salvation. The great and all consuming issue in the days of the apostles was: Christ is soon coming to establish His reign at Jerusalem.   For which we find Paul`s well known words in Phil 2:10-12 and 3:20:

 

“That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only  in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling.  -   But we are citizens of the state which is in heaven, and from it also we patiently await the Lord Jesus Christ Saviour.”

 

Paul as he inspired them to look forward to the parousia (the physical appearance) of  Jesus Christ from heaven, for the Kingdom. They had the New Jerusalem in sight as well (translated as only “heaven”) – like the faith heroes in Hebrews 11.  Like Abraham, their forefather in the faith. Please notice carefully and prayerfully the typical Acts teaching of Paul under Mosaic Law: “…work out your own salvation with reverence and awe…”.  They had not spiritually arrived at the revelation of the mystery, in which the saints are told they are already seated together with Christ in the heavenlies.  No mystery doctrine, yet.  Israel was still Gods chosen nation while Paul wrote Philippians (see separate article about that).

 

To be working out our own salvation, means DOING our part: Which was to keep Gods Law and commandments. But now, under this dispensation of Gods grace according to the revelation of the mystery, we shall NOT work out anything. It is all finished, and we are already saved. We are the mystery church, the one new man in Christ  From this sphere of beliefs and doctrinal platform (the New Covenant in Acts era), Paul wrote a lot of warnings against sin, which has been very confusing to most evangelists as they stand in the pulpits crying out “..Oh sinner!  To night you must turn your back to sin, leave the world behind and come to Jesus, and you shall be saved.”  It all sounds like Israel under the law.  And these poor ignorant preachers – all over the world – preaches in good faith, things that are totally out of context. It’s a plain hoax – and they don’t know it.  So, folks, consequently we have to learn what it is to live under Gods grace anew. We must have Paul`s mystery doctrine for the “One New Man” in Christ, to be able to know what really the grace of God means in our time.  We certainly do not have to quit sin to get saved. By faith, we are saved in spite of our continued sinning, regardless of what sort of sin we commit. All God is looking for, is our faith in Him and Christ.  Our salvation for eternity has nothing to do with the Kingdom-terms set up in I Cor 5 and 6 chapters.  Let us have a look at it. This unfortunate mixture of law and grace has to end here!!

 

I Cor 5:5-8 says:

 

“You are to deliver this man (who had committed grave fornication) to Satan for physical discipline, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven will ferment the whole lump of dough? Purge the old leaven that you may be fresh dough, still uncontaminated, for Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrified. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and sincerity and truth.”

 

We do not have to be theological geniuses to figure out that – given we misinterpret this passage – such warnings from Paul, gives the impression that once we are saved, we have to keep full distance to everything connected to sin, even persons that have sinned has to be kept in distance. One should not even dine with a Christian that lived in adultery and thus a brother in the faith.  Well, that was then. To day we are all under grace as believers. We shall not separate ourselves from certain persons like the believing Israel under the New Covenant preaching of Paul.  Evangelists reading this passage, not knowing their way of Paul`s new revelation of grace after acts 28:28, will think that one has to stay away from all sin, one hundred percent. Or else….!!  Nobody would like to be turned over to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh – so that this suffering would cause a repentant mind, and the sinner would be saved in the end?  Well, that is how God dealt with sinners while Israel was under Gods covenant. But it has nothing to do with the church of the mystery! (Yes…please be patient…I am coming to Ephesians 5^th chapter later on).

 

How can it be, that almost no average preacher, teacher or evangelist, manage to understand the quoted passage properly?  Can they not read themselves, that it speaks of Israel?  “For Christ OUR PASSOVER LAMB has been sacrified…”  OUR, who are those? They are Israel!  Not the Church. We have no Passover whatsoever. Passover was made with Israel originally in Egypt for the first time, later on set up as one of the feasts to remind Israel of her past, and Gods great works.

 

To come dragging with Mosaic Law into Christian preaching, is to be taking the Bible out of context. The Law does not apply to the Church. It applied only to Israel in the past times, when Israel still was Gods elected and favoured nation, - and that was before the Church started.

 

Eph.2:8 say: “For it is by free grace that you are saved, through faith. And this is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God.”   According to this verse, there is no use in trying to “..work out your own salvation..”  and walk around trembling in awe for Gods coming judgements over sin!  Sin has been judged and has been paid for, by Christ!  Can we please wake up from our sleep now!  How on Gods green earth can we ever earn a gift?  It says here that salvation is Gods GIFT. A gift cannot be earned or deserved. It is given free of charge. But in I Cor 5 and in Phil 2 we have to take care, keep distance with adulterers, be trembling for the fear of Gods judgement – maybe YOU are next in line for a little control by God almighty? 

 

It is total baloney and bananas …that an evangelist should cry out from his pulpit: “Turn your back against sin tonight, and come to Jesus, and you shall be saved.”  It is impossible, dear believer, to turn your back against sin – for you were BORN AS A SINNER, and it can be tracked all the way back to the garden of Eden, and Adams fall. It is a permanent lack of character in every human being, making us sinners FOR LIFE. We cannot stop sinning!  And we do not have to. We only have to start believing on Jesus, for our salvation. It is a gift.

 

Let`s have a look at one of the favourite verses often used by those “Hellfire Preachers” which are threatening their listeners with hell and punishment:

 

I Cor 6:9, 10:

 

“Do you not know that that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality, nor cheats, nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the KINGDOM OF GOD.”

 

Ah, Jan Lilleby, but here it is: God sends sinners  - even if they believe, to hell!  They shall not inherit the kingdom of God, we read. Right! The KINGDOM OF GOD….ON EARTH.  Not heaven, nor eternity, - and this is not talking of our grace dispensation, which came later in history. Later than 58 A.D. when these lines were written by Paul.

 

We have just read how God, and Christ at His throne in Jerusalem, shall expel from the Kingdom those evildoers that will not repent from doing certain “Brand sins”.  In the coming earthly kingdom, homosexuality will be forbidden. Anyone who is caught in such an act, will be punished accordingly. As will be the case with robbers and thieves, with slanderers and adulterers, and all sort of criminal sinners, who will not keep the Law of the Kingdom of Israel under Messiah Jesus.  It was this kind of strict Law justice which was practised by Peter before the greedy money-lovers Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5. They both died by the supernatural power of God and The Holy Ghost through the authority given Peter at that time. It was a Kingdom judgement, and has nothing to do with the Church! The eternal salvation is not the issue here at all. The erroneous teaching and preaching of all those evangelists, is entirely wrong and out of proper context. The devil amuses himself with these ignorant poor Christians that do not know that our salvation cannot be stolen away by us committing sin. Only if we will not believe on Christ, shall we be judged and end up in eternal punishment in the lake of fire.

 

In the dispensation of grace, which we are living in right now, we will all “get away with it” – believe it or not. God will not come down on you, punishing you with sickness or death, nor will he kill the unfortunate sexual partner that you eventually have fallen in sin with. As long as anyone believes on Jesus, he stays saved for eternity. But thus giving in to sin and diverse lusts, shall certainly claim its toll in your life. I shall soon come to Eph. 5.

 

Gods will is always against all sorts of sin. He hates sin, but he loves the sinner.  God will always speak up against all sin in all dispensations. But he deals differently with it; depending upon which dispensation we live in. Had it been the previous dispensation, and you had committed adultery – you would be charged by the power of the Holy Ghost, through one of the synagogue leaders or apostles, and your sin would be disclosed (I Cor 14:24) “.. he is told of HIS SIN and reproved and convinced by all…”.  Now, how could this happen in our time, with the dispensation of Gods free grace?  It is impossible. For thus God would have to leave His line of giving free grace through faith,  returning back to the old “Law and grace” thing again.  So, consequently in our dispensation we are not given to tell people or disclose and give away other believers` private lives, for public humiliating. His sin is a case exclusively between the sinner and God.  I Cor 6:9, 10  as well as the rest of the writings for Israel under the New Covenant preached by Paul, does not apply to the Church. God is acting otherwise now, than He did during the times described in Acts.

 

Evangelists, who do their preaching after these Scriptures, are fakers of Gods grace. They are used by the evil one to stress and put worries upon innocent (but ignorant) Christian believers! Such ignorant Christians – God have mercy on them – risk living their entire lives in fear of Gods judgements. They think that every little common sin, will shut them out of heaven. And they beg and cry for mercy – not knowing that Jesus already has paid for all our sins, past, present and future.  Salvation is without works of any kind, it is even without any confession (Eph.2:8).  Confession of sin was only Israel and their proselytes. The Church is not under any such claims.

 

HOW ABOUT EPHESIANS 5^TH CHAPTER THEN?

 

Many Christians, - yes, even Acts 28:28 dispensationalists like myself, are thrown into severe doubts and a lot of confusion regarding our understanding of Gods grace when reading Eph. 5.

 

In Eph. 2:4-10 we have Paul`s great and clarifying statement of the salvation given by faith, as a free gift.  And whoops…! Here comes chapter 5 with its Sinai-atmosphere and Law and thunder and smoke…getting us back to trembling again.  Which is the right understanding? How can we lawfully pair together both passages, and still be sure we are staying in the same grace?

 

Here is what I believe is the right understanding of Ephesians fifth: It is a declaration of Gods will, and He strongly suggests that it is for our good that we keep a high profile upon our lives, even if we are saved by grace alone. Let me try to explain a little.

 

Paul`s warnings are not with heaven in scope!  He is thinking of our earthly lives: Thus he refers to much of the same high moral earlier taught from his ministry in the New Covenant, and the offering of the Kingdom.

 

Knowing that the Kingdom was earthly matters, he uses idioms from that sphere – since even the Church is now on earth, and have a life to live.  Even if the Church has no promises or dealing within the coming Kingdom on earth, he relates to Kingdom moral and wants us to know what Gods will is for all of us in a general way.

 

Eph.5:5 are quite stern, and remind us very much of I Cor 5 and 6:

 

“For be sure of this: That no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in thought or in life, or one who is covetous – for he is an idolater – has any inheritance IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND OF GOD.”

 

Why referring to Kingdom, even if at this time (62 A.D.) the dispensation was grace?  As I said above, Gods will is always against sin in any form. This is to let us remember how God is thinking and His standards.  It has the scope of THIS EARTHLY LIFE, and not heaven. So, if anyone still commits any of these vices described in Eph.5, the person is not lost. He retains his salvation for eternity, but he will risk having lots of problems here in life.   Verse 5 has to be read with verse 17 as checkpoint: THE WILL OF THE LORD. To understand Gods will.

 

God does not want us to commit sin, in any form. He hates sin, but he loves us sinners. He knows just too well that no human being can stop sinning. It is impossible. Sin was inherited from Adam, and we are all born sinners. The only way out is faith in Christ! It is out of the question that any one of us could live without sin. Still we read of claims here in Eph.5, close to that. But this is so we shall have a high goal – knowing what Gods will is. We will never be able to live up to such high ideals. We blew it in Eden, and will always suffer from it in our lives, one way or another. But God has got His payment: The death of Christ has paid the bill. We are free.

 

Verse 5 cannot be speaking of heaven, for we read:  “..impurity in THOUGHTS OR IN LIFE..”.  Make your choice.  Please stand up, if there is a person here in the audience who never has an impure thought!  Just as I thought: Nobody stood up. Thus we know it cannot be talking of heaven, for it is impossible for a sinner to have nothing but pure straight thoughts. It is against the inherited nature of sin!  That is why Paul is referring to the earthly Kingdom, and not heaven. For him it was quite enough that such mentioned vices were against the moral of the Kingdom. This was his excuse to tell us to be very careful with our lives.

 

Verse 10 is also a good sign for our road of life: And try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

 

Are we willing to aim our minds, lives and actions towards that one supreme goal: To please the Lord?  I leave this question hanging in the air….this is what Eph.5 is all about. Our earthly lives are better used for to glorify Jesus Christ who saved us, and not to rave around in all sorts of recklessness, drunken, filled with greed, or sexual lusts of the seducing kind.  God wants us to live like the children of the light.

 

May God bless you to understand His will and have a good life in the saving faith.