For 30 years my studies took me nowhere. Then one day I was reading in 1Corinthians 12 and saw that Paul had admonished a “coveting” of the best gifts. I was leading the men of the church I was attending and began to teach on this verse but I was accused of teaching heresy by my pastor. In truth, to be admonished to covet by the New Testament is a departure of all things considered godly by the New Testament. This truth presents many questions. The accusation by my pastor was a wakeup call for me in two ways.
First, as a graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center, a two year Bible College started by Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin, I considered myself a stickler for the Word of God. What I mean to say is that I considered myself a man of integrity when it came to God’s Word, rightly dividing the Word of God and treating it with respect. I respected my pastor and to be told, “You are teaching heresy,” was a shock. I dropped out of church to evaluate what I was doing but when I looked at the word, “covet,” in the Greek, it actually means, covet. Moreover, the word was used two more times concerning gifts of the Spirit, 1Corithians 14:1 and 14:39, and a basic question, “Why is the word, “covet,” used concerning gifts of the Spirit?” developed in my mind. It then became even more glaringly obvious there were things to learn and understand; questions that demanded answers.
The question concerning the gift of tongues eventually took me to the commandment Jesus issued the disciples in Acts 1:4-5. The majority of the Church considers this a personal commandment to eleven men but, “why?” There is absolutely no indication from the Word of God that this is a personal commandment to eleven men and in order to come to this conclusion, one has to overlay their thoughts over God’s Word, a practice forewarned by Revelations 22:18. It was not eleven men who were baptized with the Spirit in Acts 2: it was all the Church gathered in the upper room. Therefore, the commandment was to all the Church, the disciples being its founding members. The significance of the gift of tongues is found in the first commandment issued under the authority of the new covenant.
When I gained this understanding and began to share it, making note of the responses I got from deeply religious Christians, I began to wonder just what the scriptures actually taught about salvation, seeing that the Church was wrong about the gift of tongues. I shifted my studies from the gift of tongues and began to study salvation. Now, I have been evangelistic most of my adult life and have led several souls to Jesus, people I had met and witnessed of Jesus to, throughout this time. Romans 10:9-10 have been my go to verses, but it was during this time I realized salvation from sin and eternal salvation were two different things. These two verses are unequivocal that righteousness is gained by a belief of the heart but actual salvation is gained by a confession of Jesus’ Lordship, a confession of the mouth.
As I began to pursue this line of thinking, I soon realized there were two covenants at play. There is the old covenant, the covenant Jesus died under, and then there is the new covenant, the covenant Jesus established after His resurrection. Jesus came to earth to die for all mankind, taking the penalties for our sin in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness. However, having proved Himself a true Son of the Most High God, Heb.5:8-9, the Father God gave His kingdom over to the Son, Phil.2:9-11, and Jesus promptly established a new covenant with it, Heb.8:6. These are two separate and distinctly different covenants.
And here is where my two studies merged. Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant law in order to deliver all who come to Him under the law from sin. What most Christians do not understand is: It is not the blood of Jesus that delivers them from sin; it is faith in Jesus’ death; and that deliverance is continuous to all who believe Jesus died in their place, taking the penalties of their sin in His own body. These precious ones are delivered from the old covenant’s definitions of sins as these definitions no longer apply to those who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour; those who are now clothed with Jesus’ righteousness. It is not coincidental that once all of Jesus’ blood drained from His body; He died; the life is in the blood. Blood and death are synonyms.
However, having believed in Jesus’ death for sin to achieve righteousness, one must now confess the Lord Jesus in order to obtain eternal life, according to Romans 10:9. Remember, there are two covenants. Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant in order to fulfill it for every soul that accepts His death as payment of their sin. However, after His death He was highly exalted by the Father God and given the name that is above every other name, the name the Father had been operating under, the name, Lord, and Jesus established a new covenant with His Father’s authority. In order to enter the new covenant, sin washed Christians must acknowledge Jesus as Lord and here is where the first commandment issued by the Lord Jesus Christ finds significance. Obedience causes a stream of words to flow over the tongue, a confession of His Lordship, an acknowledgement of His kingdom.
Now, here is an illustration of how the Word of God gets twisted to have a meaning different than it was intended to have. Even though I considered myself a man of integrity when it came to God’s Word, I had twisted Romans 10:9 from “If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus you shall be saved,” to: If you shall confess Jesus as Lord you shall be saved. The two phrases have nothing in common, yet I thought I was leading people into a saving relationship with Jesus.
My interpretation of Romans 10:9 is the prevalent interpretation by the Church but eternal life was not offered by the old covenant and faith in Jesus’ death as a fulfillment of the old covenant cannot provide any more than the old covenant promised. The promise of the old covenant was righteousness and a confession that Jesus is Lord can add nothing to the old covenant. Now, even though eternal life was not promised by the old covenant, eternal life was achievable. The last commandment of the law was to meditate therein day and night. Anyone who meditated in the Word of God day and night would necessarily become saturated with it and the Word of God is eternal.
Eternal life is not mentioned in the scripture until John 3:15; “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” However, before acknowledging that we do believe in Jesus and have therefore obtained eternal life, let us realize Jesus established a new covenant after His death on the cross. Neither covenant can provide more than it promises. If your belief is in Jesus’ death on the cross for sin, you cannot inherit eternal life through that belief. The old covenant never promised eternal life to those who kept it and a belief in Jesus’ death is a belief in His perfect keeping of the old covenant. Jesus died under the authority of the old covenant to fulfill it for those who believe. Moreover, perhaps we need to consider the definition of the words.
In John 5:39, Jesus told the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life: and they speak of me and you will not come to me, that you might have life.” The Pharisees had searched the scriptures. They had found the commandment to meditate in the law night and day and they had made the connection with Psalm 1; “He that meditates in the law will be like a tree planted by rivers…, whose leaf will not wither” but they had failed to realize the Word of God was made flesh and was standing in front of them. Their search of the scriptures had come up short.
When Jesus’ personage changed from the written Word of God to the Word made flesh, John 1:1&14, the means of obtaining eternal life changed and changed again when Jesus ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit to represent Him in the new covenant age. In Acts 1:4-5, Jesus commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, which is the baptism with the Spirit. The word, “baptize,” means to saturate. Curiously, the word, “in,” also means to saturate and the word, “believe,” is a verb. So to believe in Jesus has the same meaning as a commandment to saturate with Jesus. Moreover, since the word baptize means to saturate and Jesus said the Holy Spirit would testify of Him when He came, John15:26, to be baptized with the Spirit is to be baptized with Jesus. Therefore, the commandment to be baptized with the Spirit is the same as the phrase “believe in Jesus.” The commandment of Acts 1:4 is a commandment to believe in Jesus.
Saturation under the old covenant was accomplished through meditation. Then, when the word of God became flesh, saturation was achieved through fellowship. Jesus told the Pharisees they had the means of obtaining eternal life correct but everything had changed when He came to earth and took on flesh and everything has changed again since He has ascended. Today, saturation is achieved through allowing the gift of tongues to flow out of your belly. It is the Holy Spirit who saturates the believer with Jesus but the word, “believe,” is a verb, meaning the believer has the responsibility to do the saturating. The means to do so is the gift of tongues.
Here is the answer to my first two questions. The reason the gift of tongues is the only gift of the Spirit given over to the control of man is because we need it to keep ourselves saturated with Jesus. The reason I instinctively knew the gift of tongues was more than the least of the gifts is because it is through the use of this gift that eternal life is gained.
Now, every single soul who accepts Jesus’ death on the cross for sin receives Jesus’ righteousness, Rom.3:22, 2Cor.5:21, and feels the wall of separation, Eph.2:14, between themselves and God breaking down. This new found fellowship with God is then mistaken for eternal life but righteousness is the provision of the old covenant. Eternal life cannot be granted by the old covenant as it was never promised by the old covenant. Neither was the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Eternal life and the indwelling presence of God is the promise of the new covenant and in order to enter the new covenant and receive eternal life, one must first acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The Father God has handed all authority over to Jesus, Matt.28:18, and therefore has no authority to bless.
Now, let me explain this last point a bit further. Much of the Church relies on Jesus’ blood to wash away sins defined by the old covenant law; sins committed after Jesus has been received as Saviour. However, there is no pool of Jesus’ blood in heaven for you to use at your discretion to cover your perceived sin. In fact, Jesus gathered His blood back up after His death and carried it to heaven where He ratified the new covenant with it, Heb.9:11-12. Jesus’ blood seeped out of the many wounds of His body to provide His death under penalty of sin for all mankind but though Jesus was man, His blood was the blood of God and it has been sprinkled over the furniture of the new covenant tabernacle. The two covenants do not overlap. There are a few days between the end of one and the beginning of the other.
The Pharisees thought Jesus had come to destroy the law, but Jesus said, “I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.” The last words Jesus spoke on the cross were, “It is finished,” but what is it that was finished? Jesus had completed the old covenant’s demand for righteousness and received in His own body its punishment for disobedience. Having suffered the penalties of disobedience as a man, He is qualified to wipe away the disobedience of all men. A covenant is a contract; a contract that is fulfilled loses authority; it goes out of force. Thus, when Jesus arose from the dead, there was no contract between God and man and it remained that way until Jesus ratified the new covenant with His blood. It is the new covenant that is the present authority and it is the new covenant that promises eternal life. While all of mankind must believe in Jesus’ death and receive His righteousness, righteousness is not eternal life. Moreover, it is not faith in the death of Jesus that saves; it is faith on His resurrection.
In John 10:17, Jesus said, “My Father loves me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” Jesus laid down His life but it was the wounds mankind had made in His flesh that caused the blood (the life is in the blood) to seep from inside His body. When He cried, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me,” He felt a very real separation between Himself and His Father; He experienced a very real death, both spiritually and humanly. It was for this reason the Father God highly exalted Jesus, giving Him a new name and title and raising Him up above all principalities and powers, giving Him His own throne to sit on. And after the appropriate time in hell, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to hell with Jesus’ new name and title and Jesus took to Him the new title and name and owned it. The modern day Church fails to appreciate the dramatic change in Jesus from His death to His resurrection and therefore fails to appreciate the significance of the commandments Jesus issued as Lord.
Christians today must see that Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead are two separate events and faith is required in both. Faith is a verb and faith without the appropriate works is dead. The faith itself defines the works required. Believers in Jesus’ death have no access to Jesus’ blood; they have no access to the indwelling presence of God and no access to eternal life. These are provisions of the new covenant and only those who access the new covenant receive them. They do have access to the presence of God because of righteousness and not having received eternal life, this free access to God can seem like eternal life.
This is an important point. According to Philippians 2:6-8, Jesus laid aside His godhood to become a man. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and one of her eggs was impregnated by God. Therefore Jesus’ manhood was 100% man but Jesus’ blood retained the seed of God. The old covenant was fulfilled by Jesus’ manhood but the new covenant was established by Jesus’ Godhood. Jesus, the man, earned righteousness by perfectly keeping the law but had no eternal life to bequeath to those who come to Him but the Lord Jesus Christ does.
Consider John 3:15 again; “That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The word, believe, is a verb and demands action. Jesus died as a man on the cross and to believe in the man Christ Jesus is to place yourself in Jesus’ death by faith. Having gained this place of being dead in Christ by faith, the old covenant law no longer has any hold over you; you are free from the law, the law being fulfilled by Jesus. Only your faith must be maintained; you must remain in Christ’s death by faith, considering your life hid in Christ in God. If you deem that you have committed sin, you are no longer deeming yourself dead in Christ and your faith is in vain. Conversely, if you believe in Jesus as risen Lord, now, instead of saturating yourself with Jesus’ death, you are saturating yourself with Jesus’ life, the life of the Son of God. You take on the qualities of what you saturate yourself with. The old covenant promised righteousness and faith in Jesus’ death provides His righteousness but eternal life is the promise of the new covenant and eternal life is gained by belief in Jesus the Son of God.
Jesus existed in a dual space. He was 100% man but He was also 100% God. He lived His life as a man but used His blood to establish a new covenant. John 3:15 is speaking of both. Faith in the man saves from sin and faith in God saves eternally. He is currently the Lord of the new covenant. Although Jesus retains a body of flesh, He is no longer man, He is God. To believe in Jesus today is to believe He is God. The Church has totally muddied the waters concerning salvation. It has combined the two faiths concerning Jesus into one and preaches one faith in the man, Christ Jesus. This is a total departure from Romans 10:9-10 and other like verses that present a dual faith.
The commandments of Jesus become the key to opening the door of the new covenant. While anyone can confess Jesus as Lord, only those who respond to the Lord’s first commandment can confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, an act that can only be performed by obedience and only those who confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus are saved. When the leaders of the Church decided the commandment of Acts 1:4 was a personal commandment to eleven men and obedience was really non-essential to all other Christians, they took the way of eternal life out of the scriptures for all who would follow, again, a clear violation of Revelations 22:19. Amazingly, the commandment still stands in Acts 1 as a sentinel to all who believe and obey.
All those years I was leading people in the sinner’s prayer and a confession of Jesus’ Lordship was in vain. What I have learned is that Jesus died twice on the cross. With His manhood He provided righteousness, an ability to stand before almighty God with no sense of sin or shame and with His Godhood He provided a path to becoming sons of God to all who receive Him as the God of the new covenant and respond to Him as Lord. While most Christians are exercising faith in the man, Christ Jesus, and are still trying to keep the commandments of the Father to access eternal life, it is the commandments of the Son that must be kept. Faith in the Son of God demands obedience to His commandments. Over and over and over again, Jesus admonished His followers to keep His commandments. Jesus did not use the inclusive pronoun, “our;” He used the exclusive pronoun, “my.” The life Jesus took back up by the Holy Spirit was not the same life He had before He stripped Himself and was born a baby, nor was it the life He laid down at the cross; it is a totally new life and authority.
In John 14:21, Jesus says, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me and he that loves me will be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifests myself to him.” Again, notice the personal pronoun, “my.” These are not the Father’s commandments. They are commandments unique to Jesus and in Acts 1:4, after Jesus has been given all power in heaven and earth, Jesus issues a commandment that is unique in all the scripture.
This verse seems to indicate a progression of blessings. The requirement of these blessings is a keeping of Jesus’ commandments. The first is the most important and all the new covenant hinges on the keeping of the first. The second commandment is to preach this gospel, the gospel of the new covenant and the third is to disciple the converts. The word, “keep,” indicates a perpetual obedience. Those who keep the first commandment keep themselves saturated with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, who is here to testify of Jesus, the gift of tongues pouring out of their mouths daily.
He that keeps the first commandment will then be loved of the Father. Now, I have not yet learned what the difference is between the Father’s love and the love of the Son but I know there is a difference because Jesus makes the distinction in this verse. The phrase, “will be,” indicates a passage of time. The love of the Father is not instantaneous to the initial baptism with the Spirit, neither is the love of the Son, and it must be understood the manifestation of Jesus is subsequent to the love of the Son. We must prove ourselves worthy to receive of the Lord Jesus Christ’s estate.
Moreover, in 1John 5:3, John reminds the Church, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” It is Jesus who now wields the name, “Lord of All,” therefore it is Jesus’ commandments John refers to. We are living in the new covenant age under the authority of the new covenant and Jesus is the God of the new covenant. It is His commandments that are pertinent. In the beginning, the scriptures use the words, “us,” “our,” as in “Let us make man in our image and with our likeness.” In the beginning of the declaration of the law, the words spoken were, “Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord,” but the word used for God is plural. Who was it that spoke on the mount of transfiguration, saying, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him.” Jesus is not the Father; the two are different.
John continues in verse 4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” The new covenant was born of God, therefore, the new covenant will overcome the world, but why is this significant? Paul identifies the world as Satan’s kingdom, 2Cor. 4:4. If you remember, from the first day Daniel set his heart to fast and pray for the answer concerning the 70 weeks Jeremiah had prophesied for Israel, an angel was dispatched from heaven with the answer but he was held up by Satan’s kingdom. This indicates every blessing we receive has to come through Satan’s kingdom. The thing that overcomes Satan’s kingdom is faith in that which is born of God.
Or consider Job. Job was a man who lived an uncompromisingly righteous life and one day Satan challenged God concerning Job and God acquiesced to Satan’s challenge and gave Satan access to Job. Satan stripped Job of everything he had but Job did not deny God and afterward God gave Job twice as much goods and lands and children. Job had to overcome Satan’s kingdom by God’s directive and it took time but Satan was overcome and Job did receive the blessings of overcoming.
1John 5:5 indicates the faith that overcomes the world: “Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believes Jesus is the Son of God.” Again, what is the significance of believing Jesus is God’s Son? Well, Hebrews 5:1 and following describes how Jesus humbled Himself before His Father, laid aside His glory and majesty to serve the desires of the Father even though He was a co-equal God and verse 7 describes how “in the days of His flesh, when He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal life to all who obey Him.”
Jesus earned the place of Son by His submission to His Father’s will; He earned the right to receive His Father’s kingdom and authority; He earned the right to author a new covenant; He earned the right to gift all those who obey Him with eternal life but in order to receive the manifestation of Jesus in this life, our faith in the Son of God must be exercised faithfully. Our faith must overcome Satan’s kingdom. It is a matter of authority. In the beginning, Adam gave the rulership over earth to Satan by His disobedience. Now, by our obedience, we take it back. Our faithfulness to the commandment is what gives the angels authority to penetrate Satan’s kingdom with the answers to our prayers but if we are not faithful in our faith and obedience, the angels have no authority to penetrate Satan’s kingdom and we are left wondering what is wrong, why are my prayers not being answered.
Did you notice eternal life is granted by Jesus to all who obey Him? If you want to know how to be saved, saved for eternity, it is not through grace. It is through works, works Jesus ordained for you to perform, Eph. 2:10. Grace is what made Jesus come to earth to die for men’s sins. No amount of works can make you righteous before God. Having gained righteousness through faith however; having received the grace of God, eternal life is gained by obedience.
Today we have to overcome Satan’s kingdom in order to receive our inheritance. Jesus ordained it to be so by commandment. Jesus pitted each Christian; each believer in Jesus’ death, in a one to one battle with Satan’s kingdom, just like God did with Satan concerning Job and just like Job, it is our faith in the New Testament God that will overcome Satan to allow God’s blessings to flow. Just like Abraham had to believe in the promise of finding a city built by God and spend his time searching for the city in the land of Canaan, Christians must believe in the promise of power to witness and keep themselves saturated with Jesus until they receive the clothing of power to do so. It is faith in the promise of God that overcomes the world and that faith produces obedience and that obedience produces eternal life.
The way this plays out is extraordinary. It is Christians, exercising faith in Jesus as the Son of God, which will give Jesus the authority to return. It is clear from the story of Daniel that it is mankind’s actions that give God the authority to penetrate the kingdom of the earth. Our God is a God of holiness and righteousness. The earth was made for man and man by his disobedience against God gave the earth to Satan, the author of disobedience, and Satan now rules over it. This is allowed to continue because of righteousness and holiness. It is not enough to believe Jesus died for you, taking your place and paying the price of your disobedience. You must now believe Jesus was raised from the dead a different person; one who has received His Father’s power and authority and drafted and ratified a new covenant with new commandments that demand keeping, and you must to the best of your ability, keep those commandments.
“Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” Phil.2:12. “in the days of His flesh, when He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal life to all who obey Him,” Heb.5:9.