Robes of Righteousness and the Wilderness Permit

“ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” (Isaiah 61:10a ESV)

We saw in the last chapter that we are saved by God’s grace and that becoming a Christian is a supernatural work of God’s Holy Spirit. Some people believe that our salvation comes when we stand before God and our good works are weighed in the balance against our bad. In fact, every other religion in the world, including many with the title “Christian” in them, place their emphasis on man’s good works to “get us into heaven”.

This is contrary to what the Bible teaches. Jesus finished the work on the cross for us and we must enter into a relationship with God by His Spirit through Jesus’ finished work. It is not by our own strength or through our own “good” works. This is clearly seen in the following scriptures:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit… “ (Titus 3:5 ESV)

Notice these versus tell us that our salvation is not of ourselves, nor of our works, nor of our righteousness, but it is the gift of God.

 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 ESV)

“Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God.”  (Revelation 19:7-8 MKJV)

These scriptures speak of robes of righteousness, of fine white linen, and are representative of our being clothed in God’s righteousness and not our own. In fact, in Isaiah we are told that “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6a) However, God calls us to come and reason together with Him. Our sin may be bright as crimson blood and our righteousness as filthy rags and polluted garments, but He offers us His purity and His righteousness that we might be white as snow in Him.

I want to share an experience of mine with you that helped me understand a parable Jesus told about these Robes of Righteousness. I took a vacation starting Labor Day weekend in 1984 and I was going backpacking with myself and Jesus for the week. Pine Lake was my destination, sitting just over 10,000 feet above sea level due south of Mammoth Mountain and due west of Bishop, California.

I left Southern California long before dawn and was driving through Bishop around 7am on my way to the start of the Pine Lake trail. I planned to hike up that Sunday morning while everyone else was hiking down and I expected to have the lake all to myself. The lake is in a designated wilderness area and I needed to pick up a wilderness permit from the forest ranger station before hiking up to the lake.

I pulled into the ranger station just outside of town expecting it to open at 8am. When I walked up to the door I discovered that they would be closed for the day. This meant that I would loose an entire day of my vacation having to wait for the station to open the next day. I was not happy and after some consideration I decided to risk hiking on up to the lake thinking it unlikely I would meet any rangers this late in the season and especially on a national holiday.

So I drove on up Pine Creek road to the parking lot at the base of the trail, hoisted my 50lb backpack onto my shoulders and starting working my way up the well worn path. As I recall, it was a six mile hike winding up 5,000 vertical feet of mountain side to Pine Lake. This was to be a steep, difficult climb. The trail was dusty as the sun started to break over the mountain top stretching its fingers of light through the trees before me. After an hour and a half this ball of fire was high enough in the sky to start making the morning rather warm. I decided to take a ten minute water break and sat on a rock large enough to take the weight of the pack off my shoulders.

As I sat there enjoying God’s creation I saw a small solitary figure coming up the trail in the distance. As she got closer, her ranger uniform became recognizable and I sighed figuring the inevitable would happen. She stopped and said hello and I looked at her name badge which said “Faith.” I kid you not. Her name was Faith.

Faith wanted to see my wilderness permit. I explained I had stopped to pick one up at the ranger station only to find they were closed and I asked her if she could issue me one. She said she could not. I asked if she could let me slide and she said no. I asked what the fine would be if I did not go back down to get one and she told me $50 a day. Ouch!  I realized I would have to go back down and she told me of a place I could pitch my tent below the trail by Pine Creek. So down I went.

Early the next morning I was back at the ranger station to pick up my permit. After obtaining that precious document, which cost me nothing, I drove back up and hit the dusty trail once more. About two hours into my trek I saw two guys way above me running down the trail. It took another five minutes when we finally met and stopped to greet one another.

I asked them why they were running down the trail and they explained that Faith had also found them all the way up at the lake. The two of them had gone up the day before with another friend without a wilderness permit and Faith said the fine would be $50 a day per person, which was $150 a day for them.  Double ouch. The third member of their party had stayed behind with their equipment and these two were running down to the car, driving down to the ranger station for their permit and then going all the way back up again. I thanked God that Faith had found me so early the previous day and continued laboring up the steep trail.

After reaching the lake hours later, I made camp and settled down to relax and read the Bible. I happened to be in Matthew and my reading included the following parable.

“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”  (Mat 22:1-14 ESV)

Throughout the scripture the people of God, both the nation of Israel and then the Church, are referred to as God’s bride and/or wife. There is to be a special, intimate spiritual relationship between God and His people. The celebration of this marriage between Christ and His people is fulfilled after the resurrection when believers shall join Jesus at the Marriage Super of the Lamb. (Also see: Jeremiah 3:20, 2 Corinthians 11:2 & Ephesians 5:25-32) This marriage supper or feast is addressed in the parable above.

As I read this passage I was struck by the man who did not have a wedding garment, and I wondered how he had made it all the way to the feast.

He was speechless.

Why?

Perhaps when he saw everyone dressed in their wedding garments, the Robes of Righteousness,  and God Himself who is Holy, Holy, Holy, he realized for the  first time that his own righteousness deeds were only filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  He must have worked hard to get there. He must have heard enough of the invitation to know that there was a wedding feast. And if he heard, then he also had been invited like the others.

He was speechless.

The contrast between his filthy rags and the wedding garments was so obvious, so undeniably clear, that he realized any argument was futile. He knew in that instant that he was without hope. He had no words to say. He could see how utterly worthless his own works were once he was in God’s presence.

He may have been what the world would consider a good man. Perhaps even a godly man. He was so good and had done so many good works that he made it all the way to the door.

“Friend, how did you come in here without having a wedding garment?”

“Do you have your wilderness permit?”

“No, but Miss Ranger, we have toiled hard under these heavy backpacks to get here.”

“Yes, but do you have your wilderness permit?”

“No, but we are good people and promise to leave our campsite as clean as we found it.”

“That may be true, however, it is required that you have your wilderness permit.”

Faith, the forest ranger, told me I had to get my wilderness permit. Although the wilderness permit was free, I had to go to the ranger station to receive it.  There was no other place and no other way.

The Bible tells us we must have our wedding garment, our Robe of Righteousness. We must go through the Cross to receive our robe. There is no other way. Just like the wilderness permit, this Robe of Christ’s Righteousness, this garment of salvation, is free to us because Christ already paid the price for it.

It does not matter how hard we work. It does not matter how many good works we do. It does not matter how much we give. These may be the things we cloth ourselves with, our robes or garments so to speak, but with them we are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness. They are not sufficient to be our garments of salvation. They can not come close to the wedding garment that God wants to give us.

As long as we insist on clinging to our garments, our works, we are trusting in ourselves, in our works, in our righteousness. The gap between our “goodness” and God’s righteousness will leave us speechless. Please consider Ephesians 2:8-9 again (emphasis mine):

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

And please note, Faith the forest ranger could not give me the permit, but only point me to the ranger station. Likewise, you may put your faith in yourself, or the universe or fate or some higher power, but if your faith is not in the person of Jesus Christ then it will do you no good at all.

It is not enough to just “have faith”. You must have faith in the One who paid the price for our sin and who gives us the robe.

Salvation is a gift of God. Not of works. No person can boast. It is only through Christ.

Why?

Because no one else was or is able to pay the price for our sins against God, and the price has to be paid for forgiveness to take place.

I will attempt to explain this by using examples from our world to illustrate the spiritual reality of our relationship with God.

Let’s say you and I are friends. If I offend or hurt you in some way it will negatively affect our relationship. Depending on how serious my offence, you may never want to speak to me again or you may press charges and have me thrown in jail. If we are ever to restore our relationship, then repentance on my part and forgiveness on your part is required.

Forgiveness comes when the person that is hurt (you in this example) chooses to suffer the consequences of the other’s (my) offense. This is especially true if the offending person (me) can not make restoration and yet the victim (you) chooses to forgive and restore the relationship. If I have hurt you and am unable to make it right (pay you back a debt I owe you etc), then you must take the burden of my hurtful action yourself and choose to forgive me without any restoration so that you and I might have a right relationship once more.

The other side to this equation is that I too must want a restored relationship with you.  I must truly be sorry that my actions have hurt you and damaged our relationship. Even if I am unable to make restoration, I must still want and ask for your forgiveness and determine that I will not purposely hurt you again if there is to be any hope of a restoring of our relationship. In short, I must repent.

Our justice system attempts to mitigate the effects on a victim of a wrong act through punishment (criminal) and restoration (civil) means. To do this, different values are assigned to different crimes or offenses. To accurately determine a corrective action, our society allows for the punishment to fit the crime or offense.

For example, if you step on a cockroach nobody will care, because nobody values a cockroach and there is no law (that I know of) against ending a cockroach’s life. However, if you kill somebody’s dog, you will most likely pay a fine or do some prison time depending on the circumstances. In our society a dog is of much greater value than a cockroach. If you murder a human being, you will either be executed or spend the rest of your life in jail. Not all offenses are equal and some are more easily forgiven or corrected than others.

Now let’s look at our relationship with God and how the above principle relates to the spiritual side of our lives. The Bible tells us that “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) If you sin against and offend an eternal God, what can you do? God is of infinite and eternal value. The punishment must fit the crime and you will pay for all of eternity.

If God did not care about having a relationship with you, then eternal punishment would be the end of the story. But since God loves you and desires to restore a right relationship with you, He was willing to suffer the consequences of your sin against Himself, and forgive you to restore you to a right relationship with Him. However, the Bible tells us that “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But an eternal God can not die. How then can He forgive us if He is unable to bare the consequences of our offense, which is death?

He must take on the form and nature of a man, that He might bare the consequence of our sin and offense in Himself. Only then can He forgive us and restore us to a right, loving relationship with Him. Please consider the following scriptures:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.“ (Romans 5:6-10 ESV)

“We were enemies.” When we come to God and receive His forgiveness, we must first lay down our sword (so to speak) and surrender to Him. That is, we must desire a restored relationship with Him as well. It is then that full amnesty is granted to us.

“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…” (Colossians 1:21-22 ESV)

“…Christ also suffered for you… He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten…He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness….” (1 Peter 2:21-24 partial ESV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them… We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 partial ESV)

God first implores, invites and draws us, asking that we accept His invitation to turn from our sinful ways and go with Him to the wedding feast. The passages above not only show that are a weak and ungodly people without Christ, but that we are by nature enemies of God. We are unable to do anything in our own strength to save ourselves or make peace with God. Jesus had to do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves, making a way that we might be reconciled to God and be at peace with Him.

For this reason Jesus said,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

And,

“I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:9)

The Wuest Expanded Translation of The New Testament illuminates the power of the Greek text for “I am” in these verses.

“I alone, in contradistinction to all others, am the door (way, truth, life)”

“No one comes to the Father except through me. “

No, not one.

“Friend, how did you come in here without having a wedding garment?”

Do you have your wedding garment?

Do you have your wilderness permit?

This is a question each of us must answer now, before we die.

Jesus, while walking this earth, made some radical statements drawing a sharp contrast between the religious person who worked hard in their own strength trying to be “good enough” to get into heaven and the child of God who has an intimate, personal relationship with Him.

“Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, all of you that work iniquity.”

(Matthew 7:21-23 UKJV)

“I never knew you.”

And notice, they thought they were saved. They were not only religious (they said Lord, Lord), but they were spiritual too (prophesying and casting out devils and doing many wonderful works)!  On Earth they might have even told you and I that they knew they were saved because they had said a “Sinner’s Prayer”, read their Bibles, went to Church and the Bible told them they were saved and they believed it. However, like the man without the wedding garment, they are surprised at being turned away and they even make an impassioned plea why they should gain entrance.

“I never knew you: depart from me, all of you that work iniquity.”

Although they were playing church and calling themselves Christians they never stopped walking in their sin and they never entered into a personal relationship with Jesus. Apparently, they fooled everybody including themselves. But Jesus was not fooled. He never knew them.

And so the question remains:

Do you know Him?

Do you have your wilderness permit?

Are you clothed in His wedding garment?

Do you know that you know?

How can you know?

In chapter one I shared with you the moment Christ placed His robe of righteousness upon me.

That day, I started my journey to the wedding feast with my hand in His.

Your experience coming to God may have been very different from mine. That’s okay. While His principles are eternally true, His methods are as varied as His creation.  Regardless of how you and I first experienced God’s saving power in our lives, the scripture tells us that once we have entered into a right relationship with God and have been covered by His righteousness, we can know that we are truly saved.

How can we know this?

“…the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth…Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself…And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

(1 John 5:6b, 10a, 11-12 ESV emphasis mine)

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ… “ (Romans 8:14-17a ESV)

It is the Holy Spirit who bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. The Spirit is the one who testifies to us that we have eternal life in the Son, Jesus Christ. The word Abba is Aramaic for Daddy. A true relationship with God is very close and very personal.

We saw in the last chapter that Jesus referred to our salvation as a new spiritual birth from above. Not only are we clothed with His robe of righteousness, but we are born into the family of God. This “new birth” places us in a unique relationship with God as our Heavenly Father, that is, as our Heavenly Daddy.

For many, this is a difficult thing to grasp. Yet this was the entire reason Jesus came to this earth, to bring us into a Father – child relationship with the Creator of the Universe. He bore our offense that He might forgive us and restore us to this relationship. That was the whole point of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

(1 John 3:24 ESV)

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13 ESV)

So, how can we know that we know Him? How can we know that we are His children and have a right relationship with Him?

We know that we dwell in Him, and Him in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

In my opinion, there is no mistaking the new birth.

When your are born again and the Spirit of God makes you a new creature, you know it because you have peace with God. The weight of your guilt and sin disappear as they are washed away by the Holy Spirit of God as He comes in to take up residence with-in you. Your spirit rejoices at His presence, because in His presence is fullness of joy (Psalms 16:11, 21:6, Jude 1:24), and His joy is so wonderful and full of glory that it leaves us without words.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory…”

(1 Peter 1:8 ESV)

I believe the scripture teaches that no one comes away from a face to face encounter with the Living God and, having given their life to Him and truly being born again, are not certain that they are forever changed.

One thing was very clear to me after I gave my life to God that June day. God was with me. I felt the presence of His Holy Spirit all the time. I wanted to talk with Him. I wanted to read the Bible. I wanted to go for evening walks and enjoy the peace of His presence. Jesus said, “Peace I give unto you, not as the world gives do I give unto you.” (John 14:27) and “Come unto me… and you shall find rest to your souls.” (Matthew 11:28a, 29b partial).

(Author’s Note: Reading the above paragraph my friend told me this is a very subjective view. That we can not trust our feelings and we know we are saved because the Bible tells us so. Perhaps you are thinking the same thing. I believe this is a valid concern and will address it at the end of this chapter under the heading “Objective Truth and Experiential (subjective) Reality”.)

He calls us to a relationship with Him. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit and He gives us peace and rest for our souls.  Jesus described eternal life in John 17:3 as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ whom He had sent.

Personal knowledge.

Knowledge that a child has of their parents. When I was small I loved to get up in the morning and crawl into bed with my mom and dad. There was warmth and safety and love there. That is what God wants to have with you. Spiritually climb up on His lap and rest your head on His chest and find love and comfort.

That is how you know.

You go to God and He gives you the testimony or witness of the Spirit in yourself (1 John 3:24, 4:13, 5:10).

If you are uncertain, you do not have to be. Take time and set aside a weekend to be alone with God. You may need to wrestle with Him and with yourself (as Jacob did all night) before you are ready to let go and let God have all of you (Genesis 32:24-30). Do not come away from that time until you know you have met Jesus and have truly given all your life to Him. He gave all His life for you and will accept nothing less.

He has promised:

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD…” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a ESV)

You can truly know, down deep inside of you, that you are saved and right with God. You can know this objectively by His Word AND subjectively by His Spirit. Seek Him with ALL of your heart. He WILL be found by you. Do it today. You do not know what tomorrow may bring. In fact, the Apostle Paul, by the Spirit admonishes us to:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)

Do not leave your relationship with God to chance. Make sure you are right with Him.

Peter by the Spirit wrote:

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities (versus 4-9) you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”   (2 Peter 1:10-11 ESV)

Be diligent to make your calling and election sure. Take time with Him to know that you know that you’ve made your peace with God through Jesus Christ. Your salvation and relationship with God is not something to be taken lightly or for granted. Make sure you have taken care of business with your creator.

Do you know Him?

Do you have your wilderness permit?

Are you clothed in His wedding garment?

Do you know that you know?

I will close with the following invitations from God to all who will:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant…”

(Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV)

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

(Isaiah 55:6-7 ESV)

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. “

(Revelation 22:17 NKVJ)

~Author’s Postscript: Objective Truth and Experiential (subjective) Reality ~

In Webster’s definitions of both objective and subjective the following example is given:

Objective certainty, is when the proposition is certainly true in itself; and subjective, when we are certain of the truth of it. The one is in things, the other in our minds.

Jesus said:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “   (Luke 21:33 ESV)

Isaiah prophesied:

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. “  (Isaiah 40:8 ESV)

If we believe the scripture, then these statements by themselves tells us that there is nothing in all of creation that is more objectively true than the Bible itself.

Paul by the Spirit wrote:

“… Let God be true though everyone were a liar…”                          (Rom 3:4 ESV partial)

Even if not one person in the entire world ever believes God, His Word still stands true.

Objectively True.

I wholeheartedly agree that the Word of God, the Bible, is objective truth. My question is this:

Does the Word of God, very objective truth itself, tell us that our experience with God and the assurance of our salvation will only be based on the objective truth that we read or hear from the Word?

Or:

Does the Word of God objectively tell us that we will subjectively experience, in a very real and supernatural way, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in both our initial salvation and during our lifelong relationship with the Lord?

I believe the scriptures shared on pages seven thru nine of this chapter confirm the second option. Look again at what God’s Objective Truth says about your subjective experience:

“…the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth…Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself… (1 John 5:6b)

Here the Objective Truth of the Word of God tells you that you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit in yourself. That is your subjective experience with The Eternal God.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ… “ (Romans 8:14-17a ESV)

“You have received.”

“The Spirit himself bears witness with” your spirit.

That is your subjective experience.

When Paul tells the Corinthians to make sure they are in Christ, he tells them:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)

Examine yourself.

Test yourself.

That is subjective.

But let’s look closer.

To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said:

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:24 ESV)

Not in Spirit only, nor Truth only, but in Spirit and Truth.

All Word and no Spirit only gives us Truth without life.

All Spirit and no Truth opens us up to all sorts of error and deceptive demonic influence.

Proverbs 11:1 tells us that a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. Our relationship with God must be a balance of God’s Spirit and God’s Truth.

The last thing Jesus said to the disciples before being caught up into heaven was:

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”   (Luke 24:49 ESV)

What was the promise of the Father as spoken by Jesus, the very Word of God incarnate?  The subjective experience of the indwelling of and empowering by the very Spirit of God.

This is known as the promise of the Spirit.

Jesus also told us that the without the Spirit, the written Word does not accomplish its purpose.

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  (John 6:63 ESV)

And to Nicodemus Jesus said,

…”Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”   (John 3:5-8 ESV)

Jesus likens the Spirit of God to the wind. You cannot see it, but you see its effects on the trees and the sand and the leaves and you hear it as it moves and you feel it against your skin.

Our experience with the Holy Spirit is both an objective and a subjective one.

I can look at my Marriage Certificate and tell you I have objective knowledge of my 27 years marriage to my wife, but until I feel the subjective warmth of her embrace, or the joy of her company, I have no true knowledge of her.

Let’s go back to 1 John.

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”   (1 John 3:24 ESV)

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13 ESV)

In these two passages the Greek word for “we know” is ginōskō.

Strong’s gives the following description:

… to “know” (absolutely)… be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be sure, understand.

And Thayer’s Greek Definitions defines it as follows:

1) to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel

Both Strong’s and Thayer’s tell us to know in these versus is subjective.

However, in 1 John chapter five we read:

“Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”   (1 John 5:10-13 ESV)

Here in verse 13 the word for “you may know” is eidō, which Thayer’s defines as:

1. to see

1a) to perceive with the eyes

1b) to perceive by any of the senses

1c) to perceive, notice, discern, discover

1d) to see

1d1) i.e. to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything

1d2) to pay attention, observe

1d3) to see about something

1d3a) i.e. to ascertain what must be done about it

1d4) to inspect, examine

1d5) to look at, behold

1e) to experience any state or condition

1f) to see, i.e. have an interview with, to visit

   2. to know

2a) to know of anything

2b) to know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive

2b1) of any fact

This gives us both objective and subjective meaning.

I can only share with you my understanding of these things. The Word apart from the Holy Spirit is dead. The spirit apart from the Word may or may not be the Holy Spirit. (1 John 4:1-3 tells us to test the spirits to see if they are of God.) Those who have “religious” experiences apart from the Word, often have experienced an un-holy spirit.

The true worshipers of God worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Search the scriptures for yourself (Acts 17:11).  Ask the Lord to reveal His truth to you (John 14:26).

Know objectively and subjectively that you have a real, experiential relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Be fully convinced in your own mind of these things (Rom 14:5b).

In later chapters we will cover a dead faith vs. a living faith, conviction of sin by the Spirit, and religious deception by religious demonic spirits. We will also look at those times when we cannot feel God, i.e. times of dryness of our souls and how God uses those times in our growth as believers.

Next: Chapter Three – Grace Defined Part Two ~ The Power of His Might

Grace Defined Part One – A New Creature

He touched me,
Oh, He touched me,
And oh the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.

~ William J. Gaither ~

“For by grace you have been saved…”

(Eph 2:8a)

If I had known what was about to happen, I might have never gone in. It was a warm, sunny, Sunday morning in June of 1979 and I needed no excuse to head to the beach instead of entering this little, white, First Full Gospel Church of Christ in Garden Grove, California. However, as my buddy Mark Johnson and I walked up we could hear a band rocking out inside and it seemed as good a way to spend a Sunday morning as any.

In my almost nineteen years on this planet, very few days had been spent inside any church building, and those usually for weddings.  I hadn’t given any serious thought to God since that time I was twelve on top of that big sand dune in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and at this moment I had forgotten about that too. My folks neither encouraged nor discouraged me from religious life as a child. For them religion was a personal matter and I was free to believe whatever I wanted on the subject which resulted in my not believing much at all either way.

They did love the outdoors and sent me to many camps in the mountains including the Colorado River Ranch for Boys, which is how I ended up on that sand dune. Mr. Anderson owned the boys camp and the Hilltop Ranch for Girls about ten miles away from us and all the land in between. At the end of the 5 week camp there was a dance and there was one girl I had seen that really caught my eye. I was twelve and girls had become much more interesting than in earlier years.

A dozen of us boys with our counselors had taken a two day rock hunting trip to the Utah desert. There I had discovered that there were ants two inches long and perfectly capable of eating an entire human if they wanted to, or so we were told. I had also found a beautiful piece of dark green agate. Back at camp they had a great rock shop and I started thinking about what I could make with this agate to give to the girl I liked when we went to the dance.

In 1972 cross necklaces were cool and I decided to make her one. The cross meant nothing to me, other than it was hip at the time. So I worked on that agate every day, shaping, polishing and shaping some more. I carried it with me everywhere I went, feeling the cool smoothness of it in my pocket and lovingly creating a thing of beauty. Two weeks later a busload of us headed out to check out some of the great places to see around the state of Colorado. One of our stops was The Great Sand Dunes National Monument (below).

The Great Sand Dunes National Monument is located in a high mountain valley, flanked by some of the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains and has the tallest dunes in North America. They are one mile wide, by thirty miles long and almost 1,000 feet high at their summit. There is only one thing for a group of boys to do in such a place; head for the top!

Although it was mid-summer, the skies were overcast and dark, there was a stiff breeze blowing and the temperature was cool. As we climbed to the summit our group stretched out and I found myself alone. A couple guys had gotten to the top before me and had already headed down the other side. The next group was a long ways behind me as I wound my way along a high ridge to the very top of all this sand.

The wind was blowing the sand up so that there was a mist of sand about knee deep. The sound of the wind and the sand together made me feel like I was in a dream. As I looked about at the snow capped Rocky Mountains ten miles out in every direction I was overcome with the beauty and majesty of the place and found myself thanking the God that had made all of this wonder. I was so touched and so grateful that I fell on my knees and, fishing out the agate cross I had been shaping and polishing for the last two weeks, I buried it there in the sand as a thank you offering to the creator who had blessed me with this creation. As I went bouncing down the dunes pretending I was snow skiing I forgot all about this experience until seven years later.

It was not until my junior year of high school that I gave any consideration at all to spiritual matters. Up to then it had been girls, snow skiing, surfing, rock and roll and partying. But now I started to have a passing interest in things like Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards and Witchcraft.  I read up on the subjects, talked with friends about the weird and the supernatural and played around with Tarot Cards. However, in all of this my thoughts never turned to God. Still, I was becoming aware of an unseen world little by little.

My folks had hoped I would go to college, but I had no interest at the time. Wanderlust was starting to build up within me and I wanted to see the world. The day after I turned eighteen, my dad came into my room and said I either needed to start abiding by the rules of the house (I was a typical teenager from the seventies) or it was time to get out on my own. I chose the later, sold my pickup truck and left home a month later in August of 1978 on a four month trek across the country by thumb and by bus.

It was during this time of traveling through the fruited plains and the majestic purple mountains that I started to have a dream every couple weeks. As a general rule I never remember my dreams. Maybe twice in my eighteen years did I remember my dreams longer than five minutes after waking up. This one was different.

In this re-occurring dream I was on top of a high mountain with a small group of people I did not recognize. It was night time and we were looking down on the lights of a large metropolis in the distance. As we looked on, there was a very bright light above the city followed by the tale-tell mushroom cloud of a nuclear bomb. I would always wake with a start. This dream visited me every few weeks and the memory of it was always as clear as a bell the days following.

In December I landed every ski bum’s dream job at Keystone Colorado complete with season tickets to Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and of course, Keystone. With two weekdays of skiing on and off the lifts without lines and living right on the Continental Divide (our employee housing was at 9,200 feet above sea level) I was in heaven on earth. The employee housing was dormitory style with two people sharing a large room divided by a modular and then sharing a kitchen, bathroom and shower with two other employees in another room.

It was shortly after moving into my new “pad” that my dream changed. It was the same, but it ended with me being hit be a blast of very hot air from the nuke and then waking up in a cold sweat. When I would wake up, I was always thinking “1984, 1984.” I was not sure what to make of this. The only thing I associated with 1984 was the book by George Orwell. I had this version of the dream a few times when my new roommate arrived between Christmas and New Years.

Mark Johnson was a “good ol’ boy” from Nashville with an accent to prove it. He was about a year older than me and we hit it off right away. About a week after Mark’s arrival I had a new dream. In this one Mark and I were in some sort of refugee camp up in the mountains. There was the distinct feeling that war was happening back in civilization and that the “authorities” were out to get us. Then, we were running for it, being chased through the forest. We reached a ridge and lit a forest fire which burned down the hill towards our pursuers as we dropped down the other side of the mountain. This dream also woke me up and, like the other, it stuck in my memory.

The next evening Mark and I were both off work and kicking back, passing the time and a joint when our conversation turned to dreams. I first told him about my nuclear attack dream I had been having and then about my most recent dream with Mark in it. Two very odd things happened.

First, Mark looked at me with amazement and told me he had had the exact same dream with the two of us in it the night before!  How two guys from two different parts of the country who had just met one another could have the exact same dream the same night was just down right spooky.  Then next thing that happened was almost as amazing.

Mark passed the joint back to me, reached under his bed, and pulled out a large Bible. He started reading to me out of Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation about the end of the world and the coming of Jesus Christ. I was intrigued. I had never read the Bible before except as a game in which a question was asked, eyes were closed, and the pages were flipped through until your finger poked a passage to see what the answer to your question was. To hear about the end of the world from the Bible in light of my dreams was something else entirely. My interest in spiritual things become piqued once more.

As the months passed there was plenty of other things to keep my attention besides the end of the world, but Mark and I would revisit the topic from time to time and he even shared his testimony with me one time about how he got saved. I still was not clear on this being saved topic, but it made for a good story. Besides Armageddon and some of the best snow skiing in the world (not to mention the views from 13,000 feet across the Rocky Mountains), there was a girl names Laurie.

The majority of my relationship with my new girlfriend does not pertain to the topic at hand, but there was a few weeks in February of 1979 that Laurie cause me to consider spiritual matters even more without ever meaning to. A book called the Amityville Horror was making the rounds in the employee housing and Laurie jumped right in when she got the copy from her roommate. It was supposed to be a true story of strange, demonic occurrences in a home in New England someplace and it “freaked” her right out (that was the appropriate term at the time).

She could not sleep at all, nor was she able to stop reading the book although I recommended that she do just that. She insisted in coming over to Mark and my room and sleeping with me because she was now scared of anything that went bump in the night. One night I awoke to find her breathing very fast and mumbling in her sleep. I put my hand on her forehead and a freezing cold chill ran right up my arm to my shoulder. I had never experienced anything quiet like that before and it scared me. I was now considering the unseen spirit world complete with the odd concepts of demons and Jesus Christ and God.

April rolled around and the ski season was starting to wind down. My folks had sold their home in Palo Alto with enough equity to pay off all their bills and buy a 37’ sail boat that they planned to live on while cruising up and down the eastern sea board. They asked me if I wanted their car and all their old furniture and I said sure. The only requirement was that I move it out of the house before the home closed escrow in early May.

Mark and I had already decided to head down to Southern California for the summer and a detour through my home town was not too far out of the way. So in late April we caught a plane to San Jose where my old friend Leonard picked us up. During the week we were packing up my old home into a U-Haul, two more things happened to intensify my interest in the spiritual.

An old girl friend of mine came by for a visit and we filled each other in on what had been happening over the past year. I told her about my dreams and then she told me about hers. Without going into all the details, it seemed that she was in the city I saw nuked when it was nuked. It was pretty wild. Then, one day while driving for a bite to eat and listening to the radio there was a short news announcement stating that religious physics were predicting world war three and the end of the world to take place in 1984.  The hair on the back of my neck stood up as my mouth dropped half open.

Mark and I just happened to spot the sign for two rooms to rent as we drove down Magnolia Boulevard in Garden Grove a week later. And the house, which had three rooms and only one tenant in it, had no furniture either. Perfect! We had a houseful! We got moved in, started looking for work and visiting the beach as much as possible. After a few weeks Mark said, “I am going to start going to church again, want to come?” You bet I did.

We first visited a Friends church up the street. I believe we were the only people under 60 years old in a congregation of about 500. It was the weekend of the Indy 500 and as the elderly pastor got up he began his sermon by saying, “Gentlemen, it is time to start your engines!” I don’t recall any engines being started that morning including my own.

Mark and I would go for walks around the neighborhood some evenings and a few days later we strolled past a little white church with a little white picket fence which was right around the corner from our house. We decided to try this First Full Gospel Church of Christ out the next Sunday.

As we rounded the corner that Sunday morning we could hear the band playing. Unlike our previous experience, these people were having a good old time. As we walked around the church to the entrance in the rear I couldn’t help but start snapping my fingers to the rhythm. We entered the small church to see a five piece band playing on stage complete with drums, electric guitar, tambourine and I don’t recall what else. Mark led the way about half way down and we shimmied our way to the middle of the row. About fifty people of varying ages were on their feet, clapping their hands and singing and I was thinking this was pretty cool.

We had been singing for about ten minutes when something really, really strange happened. An older women in her fifties started speaking in a language that I did not recognize. She was standing directly in front of Mark and I and she must have gone on for at least a few minutes all the while gesturing back at me with her eyes closed. I did not know what to make of this and I started strongly considering the exits to make an escape, but now other people had sat on both sides of us and I could not easily get out without having to ask people to move. Finally she stopped and the pastor got up to pray and starts his sermon.

Looking back now, I am certain that the pastor had changed his message when he saw Mark and I come in. We were probably the only people he did not know and went right into a systematic Gospel salvation message. Although I had bits and pieces of the Gospel wandering about in my head from conversations with Mark over the past four months, this was the first time in my life that I had heard it explained so clearly.

He covered the creation, the fall of man, and the problem of sin and how it separated us from fellowship with God. He explained the nature of God as both loving and righteous and the reason God the Son, Jesus Christ, had to come as a man to do what we could not do for ourselves. He described Christ’s death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection and ascension and the free gift of salvation through faith in Him.

He finished by explaining that God wanted a personal relationship with each of us and that by turning from our selfish ways and receiving the gift of salvation we could enter into that relationship with the Creator of the Universe.  I listened intently to everything and it all made perfect sense to me. I recall that it was so very clear to my mind as if a light bulb had gone off as I took it all in.

The pastor closed his message and asked the congregation to stand for prayer. He then prayed for a while and started listing different needs that people could raise their hands for if they needed prayer. “Does anybody need prayer for financial needs, please raise your hand? Does anyone need prayer for healing, please raise your hand.” And on he went. Tucked in the middle of all these he said, “Would anybody who does not know Jesus and would like to meet him, please raise your hand.” My eyes were closed and I was very interested in knowing this Jesus so my hand shot up.

He went on for a short while longer and then ended the prayer and said, “Would the young lady who needs prayer for healing, please come to the front? And would the young man who would like to meet Jesus, please come to the front?”  I think the entire congregation turned around to see who was going to get saved.

All of a sudden, my heart was beating a hundred miles a minute and I was giving the exit signs serious consideration again. I watched a pretty blond girl about my age make her way down the isle towards the front where the pastor had moved to, but I was frozen where I stood. I felt torn. Part of me wanted to leap over the pew and make a bee-line for the back door and another part felt like I was being drawn down to the front of the church. I looked at Mark and he was grinning from ear to ear looking back at me. In that southern drawl of his he said, “Go on now, go on.”  After another moment’s hesitation, I went.

I stopped about ten feet behind the girl who was speaking quietly with the pastor. He then prayed for her and another strange thing happened. As he prayed for her, she fell over backwards and was caught by a man standing behind her. All the doors in the building were open to let the breeze through including the one on the other side of the pastor and I was sure that I could juke him out and make that door in less than 3 seconds. But I couldn’t move.

He came up to me, introduced himself, asked my name and shook my hand with warmth and kindness that made me feel at ease. He then went through every point of the gospel he had explained in his message, asking me if I believed each one. I did and I said so.

“Do you believe Jesus Christ was God come in the flesh?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe that He was born of a virgin?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin?”

“Yes”

“Do you believe that Jesus was nailed to a cross and offered His soul as a sacrifice for your sins and the sins of the world?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe that He rose from the dead on the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father?”

“Yes.”

He then asked me if I wanted to meet Jesus (which I was now anxious to do) and led me in a prayer of repentance from my old selfish life and of faith towards God.

At that point, right then, the most wonderful feeling of joy and peace and power started to flow into me from the top of my head and down into my body and my legs. This was amazing to me. It was unlike any drug or high I had ever experienced and kept getting stronger and stronger. I didn’t know it then, but the Spirit of God was flowing into me in waves, cleansing me from all unrighteousness and sin and making me a new creature in Christ Jesus. I was being born again.

The pastor started pushing me on the forehead and I realized he wanted me to fall backwards like the girl had. If he had left well enough alone for a few more seconds, I probably would have of my own accord because I was becoming overwhelmed by what was happening inside me. Nevertheless, I let myself fall back so he would leave me alone and was caught and let down to the floor all the while in utter amazement of what was taking place within me.

When I left that church that morning, I was so amazed, overwhelmed and in awe of what had just happened. I was not sure exactly what had just happened, but I knew my life would never be the same again. I had been touched by a power completely outside of myself and there was a peace and wonder within me that I could not explain.

What had just happened to me?

What exactly happens at the point of salvation?

Please consider the follow scriptures:

“But as many as received him [Jesus], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12 KJV)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16a  ESV)

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. “ (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV)

Notice the emphasis?

Salvation does not take place because of intellectual assent, but by the power of God. It is not because of our own strength or efforts, but by the power of God. In John 1:12 quoted above we see that one believes on Jesus name, receives Jesus and then the power of God makes us children of God.

In His conversation with a religious ruler of the Jews, Jesus said,

 “…unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“… Except unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”   (John 3:3, 5 partial – ESV)

The term “born again” may also be translated “born from above.”  I understand this to mean born by God supernaturally and not born by a woman naturally. In verse five Jesus indicates we must be born of water and of the Spirit. I believe this to mean born naturally (of water – i.e. the bag of water that the baby grows inside his mother) and then born supernaturally of the Spirit of God. (Other valid interpretations of “water” may be the Word – see Ephesians 5:26 & 1 Peter 1:23 or it may be referring back to the promise of the new covenant in Ezekiel 36:23-27)

Paul, in his letter to Titus, explains this “born again” experience as follows:

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  (Titus 3:4-7 ESV)

This is what I experienced: “The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” I often described the flowing of that power through my body as that of an inside Jacuzzi, as if I was being made clean and new from the inside out. According to both Jesus and Paul, this is accomplished by the Holy Spirit.

At the top of this chapter I quote the first half of Ephesians 2:8 which says:

“For by grace you have been saved…”

Yet in the verses we have looked at we are told that we are saved by the power of God and by the Holy Spirit. In Zechariah 12:10 and Hebrews 10:29, we find the Holy Spirit referred to as the Spirit of Grace. Thus it would seem that when we are saved by the Holy Spirit of Grace, we are being saved by the power of God. We are born again from above by the Spirit of God.

This is a supernatural experience. Paul speaks to this in his letter to the believers in the city of Ephesus when he writes:

“…that you may know…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead…God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved…“  (Ephesians 1:18-2:5 ESV partial – emphasis mine)

“The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us…..that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.”

Wow!

The phrase “…made us alive together…” in the Greek is the word suzōopoieō, which means to vitalize in union. God gives us new life with Him. He makes us alive together spiritually. This is something amazing and hard to grasp, but I will attempt to summarize this new spiritual vitalized in union birth is a way that makes sense.

We see that after hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we surrender to God and receive the gift of God which is “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23) At that moment the Spirit of Grace comes upon us in power with the “washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” We are literally born from above and born of the Spirit with the same mighty power that rose Christ from the dead.

The result of this new birth is a new creature.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

Perhaps the best example we can find of this in nature is the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. Just as the butterfly has completely different characteristics than the caterpillar, so does our new creature or new man from our old natural man. In all of this, Grace is central and we must understand what it is and how it works.

In regards to this new birth, I will define Grace as follows:

Grace is: the Power of God, worked in us by the Spirit of God, unto Salvation, a New Birth and a New Creature.

Once we are saved by Grace, we then need to learn how to walk in Grace. Starting in Chapter Three I will go into great detail regarding Grace and your Christian walk as a new creature in Christ Jesus.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, “ (Colossians 2:6 ESV)

Previous: Introduction – This Book is for You

Next: Chapter Two – Robes of Righteousness and the Wilderness Permit