Building up believers and the New Testament church

God's Wisdom Revealed

In the Spirit or in the Flesh?

Man has a counterfeit plan for "salvation."

When man looks at God's purpose and working with his natural mind, he cannot see it clearly and has to manufacture his own ways and teachings to further what he sees as God's purpose. But man's ways can never bring about God's results. There are two ways to work, in the Spirit and in the flesh. When we move in man's teaching we move in the flesh, which brings death. The Spirit alone moves in truth, which brings us to oneness and fullness in Christ.

It is impossible for a man to be led by the Spirit and miss the mark of God's plan and purpose. However, there is a counterfeit "leading" by man's mind and emotions which dulls his ear, so that he no longer hears God or sees the revelation of Christ and His body.

We cannot be built together in truth when men read scripture, ask questions about it, answer their own questions, and then build teaching on their own conclusions. Men, by this means of "interpretation," can do no more than create another salvation with a philosophy completely different from what God has revealed in His Word. When they create a different "salvation" they must redefine all the biblical terms, which allows them to make salvation what they say it is. But it is not God's salvation which will bring you to God's end purpose.

At the basis of most false teaching is the doctrine of "eternal security," which allows men to create a double standard for "Christians." This leads to many other false assumptions with many different terms and implications, but they are all on a wrong foundation. If we are going to build on a sure foundation, we must come back to a salvation and a life that is in Christ, not in some doctrine. God's salvation brings us into a vital relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ, in which Christ must be Lord. Anything less than this is not God's salvation.

Also, anything that divides God's people cannot be the working of the Spirit. The Spirit of truth does divide, but not that which He is building. The division is between the world and the church, the sinner and those who believe. Whenever man begins to make two groups within what God is doing, we know he does not see the church or the plan of God. The Spirit never creates two groups, such as the church and a group of "overcomers" within the church. These teachings come out of man's thinking only because he has no true revelation of the church. When men say things like, "God is calling the overcomers to stand for the church," it is certain that they do not see what the church is, and have gone on to justify their own concepts of a holy God making room in His church for people who are not "overcomers." Men have justified themselves right out of the truth of God's Word, and created a two-company church, which is in complete error.

Many times when men create their own doctrines of salvation, the result is a kind of repentance which leaves us in sin. In fact, sin becomes something to live with rather than seeking deliverance from. Most people do not even know what sin is; thus they approach it from man's viewpoint rather than God's. If we do not see sin as God sees it, we will not understand sin's deceiving effects in lives that are controlled by it. Sin hardens the heart, thus not allowing us to see as we should. It brings us into bondage. Sin separates us from God and God's children.

Even from the beginning of the church, the devil deceived men, causing them to preach another "Christ," receive another "Spirit," and walk in darkness because their ways were evil. They sought their own ways rather than God's way. Even at the beginning, man tried to mix law with grace--sin with righteousness. This always causes men to miss God's goal.

We are in the closing moments of our age, and we can expect apostasy, the corruption of sound doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:1 tells us that "the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." 2 Timothy 3:5 says, "holding the form of religion but denying the power of it; avoid such people." Men through all ages have denied the power of the gospel and taught doctrines that have caused many to err from the truth and go back into sin and the world. But now at the end of the ages it is even worse, as God's Word predicted it would be. We need to be mindful of Satan's devices and ways so that we might not be led astray, following the teachings of men and not knowing the truth for ourselves. We must stand in the liberty whereby Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1).