What does it mean to be a "neither cold nor hot" Christian?
Before his conversion, Saul was very zealous for God, upholding the Law and ensuring that anyone who believed that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law in all who believe landed in jail. Like his fellow Pharisees, his righteousness depended on his ability to keep the Law. His life and his ministry was all about "Thou shall not" and "Thou shall"... or else judgment, as it is with many who profess to believe in our Saviour Jesus today!
Believers, don't be deceived! If you think that it is your various fasts, trips to some mountain, church donations and vigils and almost-strict observance of the Ten Commandments that makes God pleased with you or bless you, you are worse off than pre-conversion Paul and his fellow Pharisees whom Christ referred to as a "brood of vipers." What such people get in return for their self-righteousness is being cut off from Christ, according to Galatians 5:4 "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."
Believers, we are not under Law but under Grace. These two cannot mix. You cannot have one leg on Mount Sinai and the other on Mount Zion. You cannot be trying to get right with God by keeping the Law and expect to be saved by Grace. To get to the Ten Commandments and the other items of man's rebellion against God inside the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat (Christ) has to be removed.
Remember Revelation 3:15-16, Our Lord Jesus Christ says: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. 16 I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
Remember Revelation 3:15-16, Our Lord Jesus Christ says: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. 16 I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
Don't let anyone misinterpret these verses for you, deceiving you into thinking that being "hot" is keeping the Law and being made right with God by doing its works. Romans 3:20 says no one can and this is how to get cut off from Christ. This would also mean that being "cold" is living a hedonistic life style without regard for anything or anyone. Why would Christ wish for any to live a hedonistic lifestyle? Our Lord said "I wish you were either one or the other!"
CHRIST WOULD RATHER WE WERE HOT OR COLD, totally under grace where we get to live right and reign in life or totally under the Law in its pristine condition where we have to cut off limbs that cause us to sin and where breaking one law is equal to breaking all according to James 2:10. This way, people will realise the futility of trying to attain righteousness by keeping the law and be driven to His grace and thus, overcome the world!
Pre-conversion Paul and the Pharisees had it better than these beloved of God who measure their righteousness by their efforts at keeping the Law which they have watered down to a level where it is keepable (the "not cold") but still call on the name of Jesus without seeing Him as Saviour to the uttermost, a "you can't even get out of bed or breathe without Him" Saviour; not fully under law and not fully under grace. Why did they have it better? When pre-conversion Saul and his fellow Pharisees sinned or got defiled, they had their various washings, ceremonies and blood sacrifices supervised by God-chosen Levite priests to make atonement for their sins. But what do you have, beloved of God that has been cut off from Christ and who is neither hot nor cold; neither under Law nor under Grace? Only the full wrath of the Law!
The only place where Christ features in the lives of such is the "in Jesus name" that ends each prayer point. Their salvation from the oppression of the enemy lies in their ability to keep the Ten Commandments, their recital of various Psalms in their bath water/after their fasts and their righteous deeds done to curry favour with God; righteous deeds that Isaiah 64:6 describes as "a menstrual rag." These are the good things we do that we think will make God happy with us or bless us! A menstrual rag!
As the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, our Heavenly Father is pleased with us,because of what Christ has done and not because of our puny attempts at obeying the law which can never make any righteous in His sight (Romans 3:20.) He sees us as righteous apart from our works. Nothing to do with our efforts at keeping the Law. All to do with Christ taking our place on the cross. In Christ, we don't have to try to do His will, we get to, and we love and desire to do it too, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. " Philippians 2:13.
Romans 8:32 says "He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" All things, including the grace to go and sin no more! If you are fasting, sowing seed and keeping the Law in order to be righteous or receive from God(which no man can do,) what is there for Christ to do? This is like telling the One who holds your prison keys and wants to set you free to hold on while you try to cut the solid iron bars with your own teeth. You don't need a Saviour if you can do things to get out of your troubles. And Christ is not in the business of using His key to set you free with you gnawing on the iron bars of your prison.
We are saved by grace through faith. If your freedom from sin, sickness, poverty, whatever, has anything to do with your own works, it is no longer grace. There is no Christ here. Romans 11:6 - "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work."
None of the people that Christ healed, fed or delivered from demonic oppression had to first keep the Law or do anything in order to receive from Him. Rather, many believed because they heard and/or received from Him. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His gifts are freely given to all who believe and can never be earned or deserved. This is Grace - God's undeserved, unmerited favour!
Believers, when you "receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness" you will "reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." See Romans 5:17.
Paul saw God's Grace and Grace changed his life forever. He did exploits by God's Grace, as you will when you, by His Grace, forsake your own righteousnesses from works of the law and receive His abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness in Christ. You will produce a harvest of good deeds for God (Romans 7:4.)
It's no coincidence that the one that our Saviour Jesus sent to lay hands on Paul after he lost his sight and who was also the first person that Paul saw after "something like scales fell from his eyes" was called Ananais (Hananiah in Hebrew). Ananais means Grace!
Believe Right and you will Live Right.
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ReplyDeleteGod is awesome.
DeleteI just finished writing something that I believe matches your comment when it came in!
God hates sin. I hate sin! It kills. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things as you read.
Part 1: See the Father's love for you!
Imagine a farmer rejecting a batch of millions of apples because one of the apples has a bruise that cannot even be seen with the most powerful microscope in the world. This is not even close to how seriously God views and hates sin. God hates sin to the uttermost, so much that just stumbling at one point of the Law makes one guilty of all (James 2:10). Just a tiny speck of sin in man makes him unacceptable, even if he has done a gazillion good works. According to the Law, he must be punished with death. "The wages of sin is death" and God the righteous Judge will exact judgment to the uttermost. He cannot overlook even the tiniest sin. One tiny sin ruins every good work done and every commandment kept. He hates sin that much.
*We also have this trait, albeit in a far diminished capacity - if our white dress got torn or stained with palm oil as we were leaving the house to attend an important interview or meeting, we would change the entire outfit:). Man can manage the white dress if the tear or stain is not too bad or obvious but God cannot accept this standard from anyone. The tiniest stain is punishable by ALL the curses of Deuteronomy 28 and finally, death!
God saw the hopelessness of our case: our law-keeping cannot make any righteous in His sight (Romans 3:20). All of us have at least one bad apple and so our whole batch is rejected by default according to James 2:10 (stumble at one point of the law and you're guilty of all.) Most of us have several. We were all doomed for the wages of sin no matter how hard we tried to obey the Law. Those who think that their efforts at law-keeping and good works should count for something with God do not know how seriously He takes the issue of sin and how much He hates sin.
Because God loved us so much; because He sees what many cannot see: that all our righteousnesses (fasts, seeds, and obeying the Ten Commandments done to curry His favour or get right with Him) are like menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6) and have been sullied by the sin nature which all inherited from Adam by default (Romans 5:17- "For by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners...) because He saw that no one can qualify for His blessings or be saved by sheer self-will and determination; because of these things, He punished all of our sins, past, present and future in the body of His Son, our Saviour Jesus "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10.) He gave us His righteousness as a gift through Christ - " For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
For this righteousness to take effect the in the life of a believer, that believer has to forsake his own righteousnesses from his own efforts (his many good apples that have been made filthy and unacceptable the presence of his bad ones, even if it's a bruise on just one.) And this we do by His grace.
Think of it as believers writing an exam for which the price of failure is death and failing one question means our score is zero (you break one law, you are guilty of all.) For us to pass (be saved from eternal damnation, sin and addiction, oppression, sickness, etc) we need a 100% score, no more, no less. But everyone has already failed at least one question (all have sinned; there is none righteous.) Christ came and righteously offered all all of us the needed 100% (the only brand of righteousness that cuts it with God.)
Part 2:
DeleteBut many people hang on to their 99% score (human effort at keeping the law and living right) which is as good as zero because of the 1% stain (break one law and you're guilty of all,) and thus are cut off from Christ: "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace." Galatians 5:4.
This is how seriously God hates sin: to the same degree that He loves us so much that He gave His Son to die for our sins so that we can freely receive the righteousness that it takes to escape the wages of sin; SO THAT WE CAN STOP SINNING; so that we can produce "a harvest of good deeds for God" (Romans 7:4) and also reign in life!
When you try to obey the Law, you sin more. When you stop trying and start believing, YOU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO SIN. This is the logic of heaven and it is confusing to man. (See Romans 7:4-5 please please please!) Even people who shout "Lord, Lord" will be cast away at the last day!
Unless the old nature inherited from Adam dies (a death that Christ died for all thereby fulfilling the righteous demands of the Law for all who believe and receive His gift of righteousness), the people that reject Christ’s righteousness and continue to do and hold on to their 99% obedience to the Law will continue to be controlled by this old nature and sin acts will multiply according to Romans 7:5-
"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."
Try to keep the Ten Commandments and you will continue to sin, even more! By contrast, receive God’s abundance of grace and of His gift of righteousness and you will reign in life according to Romans 5:17. This reign in life covers reigning over sin. You will also produce a harvest of God deeds for Him according to Romans 7:4 -
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.”
The Law gives sin its power over man. 1 Corinthians 15:56 says “”For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.”
Grace stops sin. In Christ, there is no condemnation for the believer. Like the woman caught in adultery, it is His "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "Go and sin no more." YOU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO SIN.
Believe Right and you will Live Right!
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