While We Were Yet Sinners, Part 3

By Watchman Dean
Dean(c)2018

Now we come to the fruition of our walk in Christ. We near the finish line. Most
thought they would die without seeing it because they listened to false prophets
who, without knowing the day, nor the hour, preached, "you'll never be sinless in
this life."

We know that there is an entire generation who shall stand upon their feet,
having never tasted death and reach Christlike perfection. They shall be granted
immortality (eternal life) without the resurrection and indeed it shall occur to them
after the dead in Christ rise.

1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Yet, there is a dual meaning here, which is why Paul was careful to say "we shall
not all sleep," instead of "we shall not all die." We shall all die, for he had already
stated numerous times that you are dead already.

Romans 6: 4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.

Colossians 2: 12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

2 Corinthians 5: 13
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.

1 Corinthians 15:
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

We are all already "dead in Christ" if so be it that the Spirit of Christ dwells in you.
Each day we "mortify the deeds of the body." If Christ returns and finds us not
so doing, we shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Eternal Life. I shall not, like
the false prophets, say that we do not have to achieve perfection to be found so
doing. If I did say such a thing I would cause you to cease the attempt. For, if
we don't have to succeed, and we are granted the prize anyway, then who in
their right mind would attempt to succeed wholeheartedly?

We don't run for reward.

That is why our salvation into the eternal kingdom is not earned.

We would run if there were no reward at all.

The true believer would run to be like Christ and to overcome sin and subdue his
body unto Christ even if there were no eternal life waiting at the end of the line for
doing so!

Christ preached that if you do these things for "reward" then you are no different
than the unbeliever.

Luke 6: 35
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and
your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is
kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

We do all these acts of love in the name of Christ, expecting nothing in return
(including eternal life). We do it because it's who we are in Christ. Thus we must
now examine the new breed of false prophet, who teaches we are "earning" our
salvation through good works. Such a person is stating openly that he's only
following Christ for the reward. There shall be no reward for such an one as this.

If you aren't following Christ out of a pure heart, treasuring the purity of holiness
just for the sake of it, if you are attempting to "earn" your salvation then you miss
the mark by a mile, because dear friends, no matter how Christlike you become
in Him, it was only made possible by his death and resurrection and therefore,
you have no room to boast.
While you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you, and it was this death that made
your run possible. So get off your delusion that you are somehow "earning" this
prize.

You might say "Well, the scripture makes it clear that you can be disqualified for
the prize of eternal life" and while this is a true statement you are committing a
fallacy in logic to believe that because one can be disqualified for a prize after it
is offered to you, this must mean you are earning the prize. The prize is a free
gift, that was offered only because of the death and resurrection of Y'shua
Messiah. Nothing you do afterward is going to alter that reality.

For example, I can offer my son a free motorcycle, if he will finish his schooling
successfully. Now, he runs the race of his education full boar to win the
motorcycle but that doesn't change the fact that he doesn't have to pay for the
motorcycle, I already bought it and put it in the garage. If he has to have a new
motorcycle to finish his school work then his heart is not in the school work.
There is a fear that, should I just give him the motorcycle before he does his
school, he will just forget all about the school work, being he already has the
prize his heart desires.

If my son truly cares about his school work, the fact is, he would have finished his
schooling anyway, had I not offered him a motorcycle, for he wants to be
successful like me.

Now, eternal life is no motorcycle, to be sure, but the principal needed to be

applied in earthly terms. The prize was already won by the Messiah, on the
Cross! Yet, you have to take the prize, it is being held at the finish line for you.
All you have to do is run.

There are those who say "I already have the prize."

Really?

Then why do they die the next day?

He that has eternal life does not die!

There are those who say "you fool, don't you know that your flesh and blood
cannot enter the Kingdom?"

I say to them, you double minded fool, for scripture in no wise says flesh and
blood cannot ENTER the Kingom, scripture says it cannot "inherit" the Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 15: 50
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

We have already inherited the kingdom, when we believe.

Romans 8:
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
We are already heirs. The inheritance is ours in Christ. He has inherited all
things from the Father and now shares his inheritance with us.

John 16: 15
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of
mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Scripture says we have already inherited the Kingdom. We don't have to "wait"
until we are given "fleshless" bodies to inherit. Now, are we the sons of God (and
heirs according to the promise).

1 John 3: 1
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is.

So, who's the fool here? I 1 Corinthians 15: 50, Paul is saying that you cannot
achieve this eternal life through acts of the flesh, nor can you just inherit it
because of your bloodline. Only by Christ could you enter the Kingdom.

John 14:
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.

Galatians 3:
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the
flesh?

So, those who preach you still have to "earn" your salvation by Torah
observances have made Christ's death in vain, for if you could earn it in this
fashion, you wouldn't need his death and resurrection.

Yet on the opposite extreme you have those who say you cannot even enter the
Kingdom in this fleshly body (because it is cursed by Adam's sin). If flesh and
blood could not "enter" the Kingdom of God, then our hope is lost, for Christ
could not, as our High Priest, enter the Holy of Holies in heaven and sprinkle his
own blood on the mercy seat!

Hebrews 9:
6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining
to the conscience;

10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

The false prophets are everywhere dear fellow children, brothers and sisters all.

They would twist the truth for their own advantage.

The will deny that Christ ascended to the Father "in the flesh."

They will deny that Christ had blood in his body after he resurrected (which would
mean his flesh was dead flesh, for the life of the flesh is the blood).
Leviticus 17:
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for
the soul.’

Yet the blood had to be sprinkled on the mercy seat by the priest in order to make
atonement. Without this, there is no atonement. Christ used his own blood to
enter the true Holy of Holies in Heaven (according to Hebrews 9) and this would
be impossible if fleshly blood cannot "enter" the Kingdom.

Christ rose from the dead in his fleshly body. He had them touch his wounds to
prove that he was no "spirit," but flesh.

John 20:
26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them:
then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace
be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but
believing.

When Christ appeared to them in the upper room, appearing out of the middle of
nowhere, they thought him to be a ghost. (Which incidentally would make no
sense if they believed him to be God Incarnate). Anyway, he had already
ascended to the Father once, to make propitiation for us with his own blood when
he appeared.

This is a truth that is lost.

When Mary found him outside of the tomb, alive she went to weep at his feet as
was her habit and he warned her to touch him not for he had not ascended to the
Father. He could not allow a sinful woman touch his pristine, sinless raised body,
she might taint the blood he was about to sprinkle, that was still dripping from his
wounds. He told her that he was no going "to his Father."

John 20:
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father:
but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your
Father; and to my God, and your God.

Christ then ascends to the Father and is gone for 8 days. Then he appears to
them in the upper room and asks them to "touch him." Thus, he had already
ascended to the Father and tarried with the Father in heaven for 8 days. This is
proof beyond all doubt that flesh and blood can enter the Kingdom of the Father,
for Christ entered in his flesh, not once but twice that we know of and the first
time he entered he took his blood with him to sprinkle on the Father's mercy seat
in heaven.

The ascension we read about in Acts says they watched him ascend into a cloud.
Many say he's no longer flesh, being they wrongly believe flesh and blood cannot
enter the Kingdom, yet if he were no longer flesh, how could they watch him
ascend?

There is no scripture anywhere that says Christ was not flesh when he entered
the Kingdom. If they want to say he was not flesh, it is up to them to prove it.
Otherwise, there is no reason to believe it is not so. (Except one misread and
twisted out of context verse which says one cannot "inherit" the Kingdom by flesh
and blood).

I struggle with these poor souls almost daily who have been taken in by these
false prophets. (You know who you are you charlatans, your judgment does not
sleep). This is my heart felt attempt to reason with them all (for some of the
charlatans are themselves deceived).

Christ rose with his fleshly body and made a point of proving it so that we could
also know that our body, like his, will come up out of our tombs in the
resurrection. We shall be "changed" into "immortal creatures" but this is the only
difference in our bodies.

Those who claim we need a "new" body because the old is cursed understand
nothing. For our old body is already DEAD according to the Apostles, yet here
we are, walking around in it. (Unless you don't believe their testimony that you
are dead and buried with Christ in Baptism).

Your body is already dead, if not, you are none of Christ, for he that lives after the
flesh hath not the spirit of Christ and he that hath not the spirit of Christ is "none
of his."
QUOTE

So, you, dead man walking, have already inherited the kingdom, now you are just
pressing in and on this journey there you shed the sin that so easily beset you,
because you are dead to sin as well.

If you have a true hope of purity in Christ, then you "purify yourself" with this
hope.

Romans 8:
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

I doubt I am finished on this subject.

See you there or in the air.

Watchman Dean

TO READ PART 1 CLICK HERE:

https://www.scribd.com/document/382838753/While-We-Were-Yet-Sinners-Part-1