Hi Joe,
Jesus fulfilled all that for those who believe.
Dear Mr. Bruno,
I noticed that you did not use scripture to support your understanding of the truth of God. I cannot be convinced of anything unless it is supported by scripture.
I will make a few comments below on what you stated.
You said:
"To finish transgression, put an end to sin, reconciliation with God, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up prophesy"... Jesus did that with His death and resurrection, an event that transcends TIME ITSELF. GOD operates outside of our time domain so in the spiritual realm/ heaven, IT'S A DONE DEAL. Jesus said tetelestai ( it is finished).
I have recently heard this argument before but there are ZERO scriptures which teach what you believe. Your belief is a teaching of men.
Also, when Christ said it was "finished", He was referring to
His physical work under the Old Covenant. His work under the New Covenant is still just getting started and won't be complete until the end of the final age when the last of mankind is saved. Only then will sin come to an end and death be defeated. To say that Christ's work on the cross was all that was needed greatly diminishes His work under the New Covenant. Without His work under the New Covenant, no man would ever be saved.
You said:
The lost do not believe and are still in sin.
Jesus s5ands at the door ( of their hearts) if only they open it and invite Him in, He will save them too.
All mankind starts off life in a spiritually carnal condition which causes us all to frequently sin. We will all remain in that condition until Christ comes each of us and gives us both the Early Rain (earnest amount) and the Latter Rain (the full payment). These are free gifts from Christ and are given to mankind at a time of
His choosing. In this age, Christ is
only giving those gifts to His Elect who have been chosen from the foundation of the world. For everyone else, they must wait on Christ to come to them in the final age. No man can open the door to Christ until Christ gives them these gifts.
Mankind from birth is spiritually blind and cannot know Christ or even have a desire to seek Him out:
Rom 3:10 As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
In that spiritually bankrupt condition, no man can make a choice to accept Christ as their Savior. If they could, this verse above would be a lie.
There is only ONE way which mankind can make a confession of faith:
1Cor 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.
Unless Christ comes to an unbeliever and gives them the Early Rain, they will never accept Him as their Lord. After they are given the Early Rain, the Spirit will change their heart and mind to accept Him as Lord. And because of this change, they will no longer be able to reject Christ. The only choice they can make is to call Jesus "Lord". This is how Christ saves a person. It happens solely because of His work and not our own.
Paul's conversion is the pattern for our salvation. Christ must come to us like He did with Paul as he traveled to Damascus to persecute the church. After Paul received the Early Rain, Paul fell to his knees and called Jesus "Lord". This is the only way an unbeliever can enter the church. It happens because of the work of Christ and not because of mankind's
supposed free will ability to accept Him.
The gospel you are following is "another gospel" which teaches the "crooked way". This way is based on the works of man rather than on the works of Christ. Any believer who continues following the crooked way of works will be rejected by Christ upon their resurrection from the grave:
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work lawlessness.
These people are the "called out"
but not chosen believers who have only received the Early Rain during their lifetimes. They do "wonderful works" but they believe those works earn them their salvation. However, that way was proven to be ineffective by the Old Covenant. Salvation can only come to us by the work of Christ under the New Covenant. The key to Christ doing His work within us is "faith" - and that "faith" is a gift from Christ since no man has any of their own. Once we have the full measure of faith (given with the Latter Rain), we will trust and depend
solely on Christ for our salvation. We will then "rest" from our own works because Christ will do everything necessary to save us.
Christ is even the one who is the cause of our confession of faith:
Prov 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Phil 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Christ is the Savior and He does all the physical work (at the cross under the Old Covenant) and the spiritual work (New Covenant) necessary for the salvation of all mankind. Mankind has no ability to contribute anything toward their own salvation. We are His workmanship:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Because Christ the one who is responsible for our salvation, He will save us all because that is the mission His Father gave Him to do:
1John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Do you have enough faith to believe that Christ can succeed in saving the world?
You said:
His First fruits were Israel.
Not true. The First Fruits are all the Elect ( both Jew and Gentile) who have become "spiritual" Jews. The physical descendants of Abraham are not viewed by Christ as being Jews under the New Covenant:
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
You must rightly divide the Word by the Old and New Covenants.
The Old Covenant is outward and physical and is based on the works of man. The New Covenant is inward and spiritual and is based on the works of Christ.
You are understanding scripture like Christ is still operating under the Old Covenant. Unless you repent of your works, you will be judged by the Law upon your resurrection.
To be saved, a person must approach Christ by faith alone. To have this ability, a person must be
given the Early and Latter Rains. Only then will a person be saved and converted. The church has only been given the Early Rain which has left them spiritually blind. Because they are blind, they cannot understand the truth of Christ. Satan takes advantage of the church's blindness and come to each new believer and deceives them. With Satan's spirit within them, they start following "another gospel" which teaches a doctrine of "works". When a believer accepts Satan's gospel, they will "fall away" and lose their salvation.
It happens to all new believers. The only solution for them is for Christ to "come again" (the second coming of Christ) and pour out the Latter Rain, With the Latter Rain, the believer's spiritual blindness will be healed and the Man of Sin will be revealed. The believer will then find that they are the Man of Sin who has been following the ways of Satan instead of Christ. With this knowledge of the truth, Christ will "appear" to the believer and destroy the Man of Sin. The believer will then be converted.
This spiritual process of salvation is what Paul experienced after being in Damascus for three days when He could not eat or drink and see. It was only after Christ came to Paul and poured out the Latter Rain did the scales fall off of Paul's eyes. He was then converted and was able to eat meat (truth of Christ).
CONTINUED ON THE NEXT POST...
