ALIENS IN CHURCH: CUT OFF FROM CHRIST
I am the true
vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.{John 15:1-2}
4I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. {Galatian 5:4 MSG}
The nation, Israel who were originally engrafted in Christ were cut off because of their unbelief. They couldn’t bear fruits of righteousness because they were trying to do it on their own. God had to cut them off. Only those Israelites who had faith are left still engrafted. We who were not part of Christ were engrafted into Him because we believed. We trusted God to make us righteous. Their unbelief took them out and our belief brought us in. It was through their fall that salvation came to us Gentiles. God did it to provoke them to jealousy so that they will value the righteousness gift of Christ.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. {Romans 11:11-18}
Now that we have been engrafted in by faith, we must also stand in by faith. It is only by faith that we both partake of the fatness of the root, both Jews and Gentiles. It makes no difference our race or nationality. If we can all have faith, we would all be engrafted in Christ and partake of the fatness of the olive tree. If a sinner repents today and puts his faith on Jesus, he becomes partakers with us in the same olive tree. There is no difference at all. Faith is all that matters.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. {Galatians 3:26-28}
Because the root is Holy, we are also holy. The righteous tree always produces righteous branches and fruits. We are not struggling to be righteous, we are already righteous by reason of our root, Christ Jesus. We therefore cannot boast of self-righteousness neither can we look down on those who were cut off because of unbelief. To start boasting will be to start thinking that we got righteous because we are good enough. It means we have removed our eyes from Jesus and are now gazing on ourselves. It means we are now putting confidence in the flesh and this can cut us off again.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.{Romans 11:19-36}
Dear friends, we must be careful not to boast in self -righteousness. It is by grace that we are saved and made part of Christ. Let no man ever think that he is standing by his own ability else he will fall. A self-righteous man will always fall.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. {1 Corinthians 10:12}
4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.{Galatians 5:4 NIV}
Did you see that? Alienated? You become isolated, lose the support and sympathy of Christ once you depend on obedience to the law for righteousness. There are so many aliens in church today who think they are standing by keeping the Ten Commandments, not knowing that they have been cut off from Christ. They have become foreign and unfamiliar to Christ. They are like beings from another world and Christ doesn’t know them. They are doing so many great things in His name though He knows them not.
Note that they didn’t fall from grace because of smoking, drinking, fornicating, adultery, lying or any other such thing that we call sin. They fell from grace because of trying to be self-righteous. If they have committed any of the sins mentioned above or whatever we regard as sin, then the grace of God would have made up for them because where sin increases, grace increases much more. They would have still been righteous because of their faith in Christ Jesus as their righteousness-Gift. But you see, they don’t have faith in Jesus Christ as their righteousness, so they depend on self-righteousness instead of depending on grace. Hence they fall from grace and Christ’s death no longer benefits them anything. This is what the bible called wilful sinning after knowing the truth.
26 If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this sin is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. 27 There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all his enemies. 28 A man who refused to obey the laws given by Moses was killed without mercy if there were two or three witnesses to his sin. 29 Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to his people.{Hebrews 10:26-29 TLB}
The passage says to sin deliberately means to reject the Saviour after knowing the truth of forgiveness. If you reject the grace of God and return to the law, it is a deliberate sin and such a sin is not covered by Christ’s death and cannot be gotten rid of. Because you don’t believe in grace, forgiveness and the gift of righteousness, what awaits you is a fearful expectation of judgement. You insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit. You trampled underfoot the son of God and treated the cleansing blood as common and unholy. You think the blood of Christ is not effective enough to make you righteous, so you trusted more in rule keeping than in the grace of God. You frustrated God’s grace and returned to the law. Hence you were cut off and God no longer has pleasure in you.
The kingdom of God was taken from those who depended on the law for righteousness and has been given to those who depend on faith in Christ for righteousness. By this faith we possess the kingdom and bear fruits of righteousness which the Pharisees and the chief priests could not bear.
43 “And so I tell you,” added Jesus, “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.” 44 [b]
45 The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables and knew that he was talking about them, 46 so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.{Matthew 21:43-46 GNT}
For those of you who are still standing firm on God’s grace by faith, you must keep trusting Him, never lose your faith if you don’t want to be cut off from Christ. You are righteous by faith.
35 Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! 36 You need to keep on patiently doing God’s will if you want him to do for you all that he has promised. 37 His coming will not be delayed much longer. 38 And those whose faith has made them good in God’s sight must live by faith, trusting him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them.
39 But we have never turned our backs on God and sealed our fate. No, our faith in him assures our souls’ salvation.{Hebrews 10:35-39 TLB}
A man who stands on grace can never fall. Such a man has faith in Christ as His righteousness. And Christ is able to keep us from falling when we believe in Him and not on ourselves. He is the vine, we are the branches. Without Him we will fall. He is our foundation, The Rock upon which we stand. He is The Root, The Grace upon which we stand.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.{Romans 5:1-2}
If we can abide in Him, then we will have confidence on the day of judgement and we shall not be put to shame.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. {1 John 2:28}
If anyone will have faith, such a one will be grafted into the olive tree again. Even Israel shall be grafted in again if they abide not in unbelief. Some of you took your faith away from Christ long ago and started trusting in your ability to keep laws. You didn’t even know that you were cut off from Christ long ago. I dare you to return to Him in faith. Trust Him to be your righteousness. Stop depending on yourself. He is ready to graft you in again. There is enough space in the olive for anyone who would have faith in Christ as their righteousness. You can decide now by faith and you will be engrafted again as a branch of the true vine.
MAY GOD GRANT YOU UNDERSTANDING!
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