It is amazing to me that I’m able to speak these things at this time, and people are understanding it. This is the result of sowing the Word over time and people growing. A year ago I did touch on these things, and people simply did not understand. Also, the Lord has added vocabulary to help make it clearer and clearer. The Bible says that people go to and fro and knowledge will increase. That is definitely happening. We’re seeing an explosion in our vocabulary as we pursue the truth. If you are in the vein of pursuing the truth, purely to know Christ, there’s an outpouring right now.

We’re going to consider a little more of the implications of thinking we’re under Israel’s New Covenant and the problems this produces. We need to see the difference between the spirituality of the New Covenant and the spirituality of the New Testament, because confusion and lack of distinction here will impact our living.

We need to get to the point where we’re taking it for granted that we’re not under the New Covenant and that we have something better. We have a Testament, which is an Inheritance. We’re dealing with a Finished Work that’s being distributed through a ministry that actually imparts glory! How exciting it is for us to become New Testament Ministers and participate in the ministry of the Word!

The Intrinsic Nature of Ministry in the New Testament

We need to see the intrinsic nature of the New Testament ministry. For example, what is Gospel preaching? Gospel preaching is not just getting someone to agree with the Gospel. That is part of it, because there’s a proposition, a defense, and a confirmation, and helping people understand. When they believe the Gospel, they’re sealed with the Holy Spirit. Intrinsically, what is happening is that the light of the knowledge of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ is shining in their heart! 2Co_4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How incredible it is! The Glory of God is illuminated in the face of Jesus Christ, through the Gospel, in their heart. Remember, John says, “In Him was Life, and the Life is the light of man” (John 1:4). The light comes and shines, but what is it? It’s actually an impartation of Life, and they’re born of God. They become sons of God and Heirs of Glory, in that moment. That’s how glorious it is!

God does this by impressing Christ into them with His engraving tool, and the Holy Spirit is like the “wax”. The Holy Spirit is like the ink, because we’re epistles of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God (2 Cor 3:3). The Spirit of the Living God is actually writing Christ into us, through Gospel preaching and through the New Testament ministry. We’ve got to superficial idea of what the Gospel is, cause we think the Gospel is still the “ABC’s of salvation”. Some people think the Gospel is “admit you’re a sinner, believe Jesus died for you, confess unto salvation”. That’s not the Gospel; that’s speaking to a way to receive the Gospel. The Gospel Is the Person and Work of Christ put on display through the New Testament ministry. The Gospel is the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8), as an Inheritance in the hands of stewards (1 Cor 4:1) who have studied to show themselves approved, and can handle the Word to present Christ in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, so that when they speak, He shines. And when He shines, He imparts, He seals, He regenerates, and He infuses Himself, and writes Himself into man!

That’s how significant it is. It’s just amazing! And that is a building Work as well, because we are participating, as we’ve been seeing in John 14, in the building of Beth’el, God’s habitation, in which God dwells in man, and man dwells in us. As Jesus says, “in that day you know that I Am in the Father and the Father in Me, and I in you, and you in Me” (John 14:20). We are brought into this mutual indwelling that the Father and the Son already had that has been expanded to include us now. Christ is being wrought into us, not just once but throughout our life. Again, we think the Gospel is only the introduction of the Christian life and we think the Gospel has become irrelevant after that, but that’s not true! The ministry of the New Testament is for the entirety of the Christian life to continue handling the riches of Christ, to distribute as food and drink, to nourish the saints for their growth. And just as saints receive the Gospel by faith, saints grow by faith. This growth is a continual impartation of Christ into us as we behold Him shining in our hearts, through the Word, which is handled by a ministry, the New Testament ministry, the stewardship in God’s house. That stewardship, that food, that drink, that nourishing supply, is glory! It is Christ Himself as glory as the Spirit, which is our life and our inheritance. We grow by participating as heirs to enjoy our inheritance! Growing means you are growing in the enjoyment of your position as an Heir of a Testament that’s already been distributed. It was distributed when Christ sent forth the Spirit and produced the Church. Now that inheritance is in the hands of stewards who are distributing it to the saints, so that we all partake of the New Testament Ministry.

The riches of Christ are dispensed into the body through the New Testament ministry which is for God’s “economy”, His household order, His dispensation. This ministry is how He heads-up everything in Christ in the Church. It is not through an outward law or God “making” you do something. It is by your growth as you “gain Christ” through an appreciation of Who He is as your Inheritance.

See, there’s a whole different language. Somebody asked me, “Well, isn’t this kind of like progressive sanctification?”, no, this is transformation and renewing. That’s our growth. We’re being renewed in the knowledge of Him (Col 3:10). And that is not just “head knowledge”. That’s Life! It’s light shining! It’s the illuminated Glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ in our hearts, which is God’s “engraving tool” to impress His image on our soul on the wax of the “seal” of the Holy Spirit, Who He’s given to us. He seals us and presses, and presses, and presses, and presses! What makes it all real is the “consuming of the outer man and the renewing of the inner man.” (2 Cor 4:16-18)

New Testament Ministers

You know, it is true that if I just speak knowledge, it doesn’t help; I need to be able to speak words that are Spirit and Life (John 6:63). I need to be able to speak in a way that actually imparts Christ, and I can’t control that! I don’t have the authority to give His Life. Only He has the authority to give His life (John 17:2). He’s the LORD and author of Life (Acts 3:15). While I can’t control whether I give life in my speaking or not, God knows how to work it out. He sovereignly arranges my situations and your situations to bring us into need to produce thirst and hunger that only He can satisfy. And that’s the purpose behind suffering and failure in the Christian life. It is to open you up so that He can impart or Work more Christ in to you, and the Word is wrought:

2Co 4:16-18  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  (17)  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  (18)  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

These momentary lite afflictions are not worthy to be compared to the Eternal weight of glory which is “wrought into us” (or “Worked for us” per KJV) while we look not at those things which are seen, but the things which are unseen. What does that mean? God sometimes brings us into suffering. God brings us into affliction. Maybe even embarrassing situations, discipline, humiliation even. Right? To make our environment around us a “wilderness”. We seem to be stripped of all our comforts. Why? So that we will look away from the things that are seen, the temporary things of this world, and look to Christ. And in those moments He comforts us in our affliction. He does this by giving us a glimpse of His illuminated Glory in the face of Jesus Christ in our heart. And whenever He does that, He imparts a little more life, and we grow a little more, and are transformed a little more, and are renewed a little more. And our soul is “saved” a little more. We are saved. Our spirit is regenerated and our body is guaranteed to be redeemed. In the meantime, the Bible says our soul is being “saved”.

1Pe 1:6-9  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:  (7)  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  (8)  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  (9)  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Here Peter is speaking of the same thing Paul is. We are brought into heaviness through manifold temptations. This is for the “trial of our faith” – not to prove whether your have it, but to demonstrate its quality. IT’s more precious than Gold that perishes, and will never let you down. It’s tried by fire, but found to praise and honour and glory. And while we don’t see Him, because of our glimpises of Him by faith as we “look to those things which are not seen” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we begin to love Him and we even rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is not a joy that is just “Really happy”, but is actually a taste of our inheritance; the glory. Christ is wrought into us in these moments. Christ is shining on us, imparting Himself to us, and we are enjoying Him and in those moments He is so much more real than any other thing. That is called the “Salvation of the soul.” It is when the life that is in your spirit (which is Christ) spills out as an overflow to be enjoyed in your soul! The salvation of our soul is received as we become full of rejoicing that is full of glory. As Peter says “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8).

Salvation of the Soul

This is called the salvation of your soul. Your SPIRIT has been saved (it was regenerated). Your body will be saved. It will be redeemed and transfigured, but in the meantime your SOUL needs to be saved. And That is talking about maturity in the Christian life.

The salvation of the SOUL happens as you are brought through these different environments that force you to get a glimpse of Christ, which is the same things as a “drink of Christ.” You come to Him, and you look away from your situation and you look to Him and you open up to Him in faith. And then through the New Testament ministry or through the Word, (which is the New Testament ministry), you behold something of Him in that situation. And that’s His shining on you and also Him impressed into you so that His Life is imparted to you a little more, and you’re renewed. And it produces a kind of rejoicing where you go, “Oh Thank You Jesus!”, and that Joy is unspeakable and full of glory! Sometimes it’s totally tangible, where we are beside ourselves! (2 Cor 5:13).

When you have that joy unspeakable and full of glory that comes from an appreciation of Christ as your Inheritance, and enjoy Him, your SOUL is being saved! Okay? What is your soul? Your soul is your MIND, WILL, and EMOTIONS, and also your CONSCIENCE (your HEART).

Your SPIRIT is the FELLOWSHIP, the INTUITION, and the CONSCIENCE {Transcriber’s note: emphasis is for my sake. it helps me understand what I’m learning and reading or hearing}, but the SPIRIT meets the SOUL at your HEART because the HEART emobodies the mind will, and emotions plus your conscience, which is the leading part of your spirit. This is beyond the scope of this teaching. We are complex, and this will need to be addressed in a future study.

The HEART is the Bridge for all these different functions of your being. The CONSCIENCE is the Pathway for the Life that is in your SPIRIT as a regenerated Believer, to become the Life of your Mind. Remember, the Mind set of the spirit is Life and Peace (Rom 8:6).

Your SPIRIT is Life if Christ dwells in you. The BODY is dead because of sin; the SPIRIT is Life because of Righteousness (Rom 8:10). But then, your MIND needs to become Life. The Mind set of the flesh is Death. The Mind set on the Spirit is Life and Peace. Why? Because the spirit is Life. What Life is that? The Glory of Christ! The Resurrection of Christ. Romans 6:4 says: as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Here we see that “newness of life” is the glory! It is Christ Himself that is wrought into us. And He wants to be wrought into our Mind. Then it says in Romans 8:11 “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.” First the spirit, then the mind, then the body. This is the path of God’s life in us.

This is a pathway of Life, from your spirit, to your mind through a rejoicing appreciation; a joy unspeakable, full of glory based on the inheritance, based on the acknowledgement of what you are as an Heir of Christ, and what He is to you as your inheritance, which is the Gospel.

The glory, our inheritance, is really the riches of Christ presented in the Gospel. Paul said that “I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” as the gospel, all the riches of Who He Is. And our appreciation of Him brings us into the Spirit, and brings us into the mind of the Spirit and saturates our mind and our conscience with Life.

That’s why in Hebrews it talks about the perfecting of the conscience. Hebrews 6:19 says the way this happens we have a new and living hope, which is an “anchor for the SOUL” that brings us into the Presence within the veil. Our soul needs an anchor. Our mind, will, and emotions, need to be dragged into the presence of God! That’s why we have a High Priest in the Holy of Holies. We have a High Priest in the Holy of Holies that we are tethered to. Our SPIRIT is regenerated and He lives there (in our spirit) and He has an anchor for our SOUL to pull us to Him through His intercession, and through His revealing Himself as the New and Living Hope. It’s called the New and Living Hope, which is the Hope of Glory. It’s the realization of our inheritance. It’s the appreciation of our inheritance that fills us with joy and satisfaction as we behold Him. That is how He gathers us into Himself and renews our mind, and makes it Life and Peace.

The Language of Inheritance vs. the Language of Legality

So, I hope this all makes sense. This is a lot, you know. It’s a different concept of the Christian life than those who think we’re under the New Covenant. We are speaking the language of the New Testament. The New Covenant language is a law language. “Oh, I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength because He wrote His Law on my heart”. But the language of the New Testament is “Christ wrought into Me as I behold Him.”

Consider the language of Ephesians 3:16

Eph 3:16-21  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;  (17)  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  (18)  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  (19)  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  (20)  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,  (21)  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

What is that in reference to? That is faith. That’s walking the “breadth and the length of the Good Land”, just as Abraham was told to do(Gen 13:17) . That is “measuring” your inheritance. And we do it together through a fellowship produced by the New Testament ministry. He says “that you may comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we can ask or think according to His power that Works in us, be Glory in Christ Jesus in the church forever.”

If you listen to this section of Ephesians and analyze those words, it will produce a “Hallelujah” in you. We’re going to be filled “unto the fullness of God!” This is really an allusion to the Good Land and the Temple. In the Old Testament, the purpose was to bring the people into the Good Land, (which was their inheritance) where they would build up the Temple so that they could have God present. Well, when Paul talks about the fullness of Christ, which is the church (Ephesians 1:23 says that the church is His Body, which is His fullenss, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all). We are being filled unto the fullness of God! How? Well, He’s strengthening us into our inner man with might by His Spirit, according to the riches of His Glory; and making Christ dwell in our hearts through faith. This word “Dwell” is the same as making His home/abode. This is the word “abide” from John 14 in my Father’s house there’s many abodes”. He makes His home (abode) in your heart through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong. This is the riches of His glory being strengthened in the Spirit, being wrought into us, through our apprehension of Christ, which is our faith. And then with all the saints, we may know, (be strong to know)what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of the love of Christ that passes knowledge. That’s our Good Land! And we have to be strong to take it! You can’t take it weakly! You have to be strong in faith, giving Glory to God! Only an Army takes the good land (Which is why we see the Church in the armour of God as a corporate warrior in Ephesians 6).

Then He says that you may be filled unto the Fullness of God! So, you take the Land and become the Temple. That you may be filled with the Fullness of God! “Now to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above All that we ask or think according to His power, (which is resurrection, which is Christ Himself, which is the Glory strengthening us in the inner man according to His power that Works in us); to Him be Glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all ages.

Where’s the glory? In the church. What is the glory? The riches of Christ, which is our inheritance! How to do we apprehend it? Together, through faith, through a New Testament ministry that attaches us, that reveals Christ as the inheritance and gives us a tour of what He is to us until our hearts are full of Him and we even become its fullness.

So the New Testament ministry is the means that God uses to bring us into the good land, and it has to be in power! And that’s why He brings us through so many things, So that our faith would be in the power of God and not in our flesh! He consumes the outer-man while renewing the inner-man; strengthening the inner-man; fortifying the inner-man, and raising it up! And that’s why I appreciate everything that’s happened in the last 5 months! People have been saying ‘Wow, the more this has been happening to you, the clearer your speaking has become, the more I’m getting set free”. The more we suffer together, the more utterance He gives us! So it’s Okay, because the utterance and the distribution of the riches is our Joy, it’s our strength! It’s worth it!

Again, this is not because we have a “new heart” in which the Law is written. It’s something which is higher and more profound. As members of the body of Christ heirs of glory and co-heirs with Christ, sons of God, the fullness of Christ, the church, the mystery of Christ, the expression of God, the habitation of God, the fullness of God! In whom? In the church, be Glory forever! That’s where the glory resides! The riches of the unsearchable riches of Christ, His glory, everything that He is, our inheritance becoming our food and drink!

That’s not just “Oh, I’m giving you a New Heart to make you Holy and cause you to walk in My ways”, that’s glorious too! The Holiness of the children of Israel during the Millennium will be beautiful! They will literally live out the Sermon on the Mount by God’s power! They’ll have Holiness written on their foreheads.

This is something different. This is the Bride of Christ who is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh His body! (Gen 2:23) This is Something much higher and profound.

Not a Covenant!

New Covenant ideas bring us into a “legal language” that kind of filters through everything. For example, the Jewish wedding feast model that everyone loves is based on the assumption that we are under the New Covenant, and that the New Covenant is a Marriage Covenant. But we are not in a marriage Covenant with Christ! The pattern for marriage is not a Covenant! God put Adam to sleep, took a rib out of his side and produced Eve! He builded Eve. The word is Built. And she became his counterpart and he said “you are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” ‘this is ME’!” So it says God created man in His image, male and female, He created THEM. So, it’s HIM and THEM; Corporate and Singular (Gen 5:1-3). And that’s what Christ is; it’s Christ the Head with His body that comes out of His side. Just as God opened up the side of Adam to extract the rib, Jesus’ side was opened up to spill the water and the blood, the bride created by the rib, the bride created by the Water Life and the Blood of the Lamb.

Just as Adam was put to sleep and raised up as Two, God was putting Christ to sleep in death and raised Him up as Two! Christ as the Head with His church (the body or bride) His counterpart, and He says “you’re bone of My bone and flesh of My flesh” ‘We’re One person’! He nourishes and cherishes His church, because we ARE His body! No man hates His own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it the same way Christ nourishes and cherishes us! How? By the washing of the water of the Word! By supplying Himself to us as food and drink! By renewing us! By washing us and transforming us! And causing us to behold Him through the ministry of the New Testament; the ministry of the Spirit which gives Life!

So, that is not a Covenant relationship! Again, a Covenant is to establish trust between two parties who both come from Different situations and bring Commitments and Obligations to the table and say “I will Do this If you will Do that”. So, this idea that the church is in a marriage covenant with Christ is first of all Legalistic, because it’s New Covenant language. This is another reason I don’t think John 14 is speaking of a marriage feast. That’s why I said if John 14 is speaking of the wedding, you look at the grounds for why they say that. Well, they say that Passover was a “wedding Covenant” a “marriage covenant”. No, for Israel it’s some kind of Covenant. There’s an agreement there because they are not One with Christ. But the Church comes out of His side! We are a mystery that was produced out of His resurrection! We didn’t even exist before, except in God’s heart and eternal purpose. When we were regenerated, our old-man in Adam is Dead! We are counted as naught, but we trade what we were in Adam for something so much higher as Heirs of God and members of Christ! Co-Heirs with Christ, Heirs of Glory, Brothers, Co-Kings, His Body, His Bride! It’s Worth it! We are cut out of all our past and all of our identity, which we count as dung, we count as naught. It doesn’t matter, compared to what is coming and what we have in Christ!

So we are living a life of counting “everything as dung” that we may know Him. We count it all as dung in the light of the Excellency and knowledge of Christ and that we may gain Him, so that He can be wrought into us more, and more, and more, and more! That’s our Joy, that’s our Satisfaction, that’s our Growth, that’s our Transformation, that’s our Renewal! It is not by Law keeping and it is not a display of Perfection! It’s actually by Being Weak and by being brought into all kinds of various crazy things! Paul said He’s made us a spectacle to the whole world! (1 Cor 4:9). We’re like a circus display! We are “defeated!” We are His captives in His victory train! When it talks about how He leads them in triumph this is what Paul is referring to in 2 Cor. 2:14 when he says that Christ leads us in His triumph and diffuses the knowledge of Christ in every place. The image is the Triumphal Procession.

2Co 2:14-16  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.  (15)  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:  (16)  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

After a Roman army would take the captives, they’d come back into Rome with spoil and at the end of the train there were the captives in cages, and there was an incense bearer. For those that were going to live that incense was a fragrance of life, but to those who were going to be put to death, it was a fragrance of death. And he says that’s who we are. We are captives in Christ’s victory parade. He went and spoiled the enemy and took us.

We’re in His train! But everywhere we go, there’s this incense, which is the knowledge of Christ in every place! And to those who are perishing, it’s a fragrance of death unto death, and to those who are being saved, it’s Life unto Life! That’s a spectacle!

That is not like what you will see in Israel. In Israel, they’ll be gloriously set up in a position of Honour during their mortal life, during the Millennium! But we don’t have that! We have a treasure in an earthen vessel and God diffuses the fragrance of that treasure and gets it to come out of us, and diffuses the knowledge of the glory of Christ for people by bringing us into weakness, humiliation, and even defeat! That’s why the proper New Testament ministry will produce persecution reproaches. The enemy will attack it, but God uses that to get the fragrance to come out. And what He shows is that He has spoiled the enemy and He’s captured us! We were His enemies! We were on the wrong team before we got saved! Then He save us but our salvation was actually kind of a defeat! He defeats us! {time stamp 33:20} He defeats our strength! That’s the true circumcision! He weakens our power! He shows that nothing good dwells in our flesh. He causes us through failure to learn the cross, to recon ourselves as naught and to agree with His judgment on the flesh; so that we can be brought into Life.

A Hidden, Glorious Spirituality

So, the spirituality of this New Testament inheritance in glorious inwardly, but that glory is hidden. What most people see when you’re when you’re experiencing the most is this weirdo in a cage being led around in a victory parade and he looks defeated! {time stamp 34:12} You look at the language of Paul where he says we’re are cast down but not forsaken, we’re crushed but not destroyed, we look like we are poor but we make men rich, we’re accused on ever side, we look like we’re being chastened, but we’re being vindicated. It’s a paradox. The New Testament ministry is a paradox.

I’m not just speaking of myself. I’m saying, if you partake of the Word and you pursue Godliness in this way, you will be persecuted like that, because that’s the way! In 1 Timothy 3:16 Paul said ‘great is the mystery of Godliness! He was manifested in the flesh’! What is Godliness? Christ manifested in me through this process. On the one hand I’m kind of suffering which brings me into need, and on the other hand I’m looking away from my circumstances and looking at Christ, by faith, through the ministry of the Word, and God is shining the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ in my heart! This is a kind of impress, to press Christ into me; strengthen me into my inner-man and cause Christ to dwell in my heart. It’s not that He gives me a New Heart! No, He puts Christ in my heart! He causes Christ to dwell in my heart by the renewing of the mind.

While I’m going through that, I’m gaining Christ! That’s Godliness. That’s the real Godliness that has the power! What kind of power? The kind of power for me to actually love Christ, respond to Him, have my SOUL saved, be full of rejoicing, and appreciation of Him, which also quenches my thirst, so that it’s not really all that much temptation to fall back into sin. Sin doesn’t reign over me. I’m feasting! He’s prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies, literally! And I’m feasting at that table! That is the Godliness! That is the real Godliness; Christ manifested in the flesh!

Paul said that everyone who seeks to live Godly will suffer persecution. This will happen because we are manifesting this savour of Christ! It’s a savour of “death unto death in those who are perishing”. I used that story that one time where I was at a Starbucks and all these people were talking about Buddha and Krishna and all that stuff, and it was uncomfortable for me. Then in came in this little old homeless lady and she said “Jesus Is LORD!”, and I could feel her spirit. The whole atmosphere of the place changed! And the fragrance…you could feel the tension in the air in those that rejected her. It was death unto death! They Hated it! Absolutely Hated it!

I remember when I was studying these truths, especially in John 14 and 2 Cor 1-4, and kind of getting into this idea that God is writing Christ into me, many years ago, before I really even understood how I was dead with Christ and I could rest! But, I studied for about a year, and I kept having this feeling. When I was reading the Word and studying I felt like I was in a golden bubble and God was writing on my heart with a diamond pen! And I was just in this shining, Glorious, bubble! It was like a mystical experience! I don’t base anything on it. But that’s how profound this stuff was to me. It brought me into such peace, and rest, and such a fragrance of Christ! I had more peace during that time than I’d ever had in my Christian life. Just, a constant feeling of the anointing and the presence of Christ. And man, the people at work Hated me! I didn’t say Anything! I was this quiet guy who would answer the phone and do my work. I didn’t even talk to anybody! I was really shy. But they would just make fun of me and persecute me and talk about me right there. One time I looked at the guy next to me and I said, “Why do you make fun of me?! I haven’t ever said anything to you!”. He felt bad. He got really convicted and said, “I’m sorry man, it’s, I guess I just…, it’s just you’re always, you know”. He didn’t know what to say! What he was sensing was the purity of Christ and his conscience was reacting and he was fighting against it.

We have to admit that this sense of purity comes and goes in our experience. You got to acknowledge you have a treasure in an earthen vessel (2 Cor 4:7). Left to your own devices, you just go back to the flesh. But we have a High Priest Who is leading us in His victory. And He’s always going to make sure to bring us into whatever situations we need to be brought into to cause us to look away from our situation, and look to Him. Because, eventually the situation becomes intolerable enough that, “Man, I need to look at Christ because Everything out here, Sucks!”, and that’s when He’s Working Christ into you, and you gain Him some more! And whatever you gain of Christ will be manifested in glory as a shining in the age to come!

That’s why I said that there’s many people that can’t do anything physically, but they’re gaining Christ, gaining Christ, gaining Christ, because of their limitation! In Glory, they’re going to shine much brighter than the guy who was out doing ministry every day! So, while they feel limited today, they’ll be glorified then. The last will be first, and the first will be last. It will be fair. It will be fine. We’ll all be happy.

But, this is exactly different, one hundred percent different than the Legalistic concept of “God is writing His Law on my heart, and, I’m another party in the Covenant, and I have obligations… I need to keep my part, do my part”. There’s so much bad stuff that comes out of that concept that, “We’re in the New Covenant”, that it’s worth attacking pretty strongly, and getting solid about it. With the New Covenant legalism, you become a hypocrite because you’re telling me you’re doing something you’re not, because you’ve got a concept tethered to the Law, and you don’t know what the Flesh is. You don’t know what regeneration is. You don’t know what God’s salvation is in life. And this isn’t just one group of people, this is 99% of “Christians”! This is what the Enemy fights. Remember, if our Gospel is hid it’s hid in those who are perishing whose minds are blinded by the god of this world.