By Elias Aslaksen The Preacher says here that this was the only thing he had found out! So this is the surest thing of all, as far as the natural man is concerned! For example, these many schemes consist of acting as if things are better with a person than it actually is; in other words, playing at being a hypocrite, or putting on a kind of show. The world is full of unpaid actors; however, people also pay some of them. These schemes also consist of all kinds of fantasies, imaginations, explanations, and self-justifications. For example, one can say, “So nice of you to come,” whereas the truth is that one dislikes it quite a bit or even very much. Then they tend to put on an angel mask, acting as sweetly as possible, just like the children when they put on a mask at Christmas. All these schemes, all this acting, is the very opposite of uprightness and truth! What is the intention with these schemes? It is to explain away the truth about oneself and one’s motives. This is done with words and by one’s conduct, with the dishonorable intention of always wanting to appear and sound and be better than one actually is. If the person continues like that, he is in a state in which he cannot be saved, for you cannot be saved from this lying without acknowledging it. All progress on life’s way consists of coming closer to the absolute truth! If people would only be fully assured that hypocrisy is one of the worst things God knows (Luke 12:1), they would be radically converted from this terrible and abominable nuisance!!! Rightly understood, it is always this matter that is important: what is actually the truth in one’s own life? This is the conclusion that Socrates (who lived several hundred years before Christ came into the world and before the advent of Christianity) came to, by God’s great grace. He was avidly interested in whether all kinds of things were absolutely true or not. This is precisely why he attained to so incredibly much. My beloved, truth-loving friends: Away with all remnants of all these ignoble, untrue schemes in daily life!!! Be radical in eradicating them!!! Become a thoroughly wholehearted, true Christian! Away with all performances and all façades, or else you cannot reach the true goal!

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” In the old covenant all offerings and gifts were presented outside the body (Heb. 9), but they could not make those who served God, perfect according to their conscience. They were imposed until the time of restoration. Heb. 9:10. When Jesus came He said, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.” “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’” He sacrificed His body to do God’s will, which means that He did not do His own will. John 6:38. In order to do this, He had to find the sacrifices in His body. Heb. 9:14. These sacrifices could take away sins—which the blood of bulls and goats could not do. That was impossible under the old covenant, but it has now become possible in the new covenant. “He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” We have been taken out for sanctification to be conformed to Jesus’ image, to be His brothers—that is, once we have submitted to this will and have thus become Jesus’ disciples. Rom. 8:28-29. “Because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died . . . .” Then we have given our body to God as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice, so that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. 2 Cor. 5:15. We do not have a High Priest who cannot have compassion with our weaknesses, but One who has been tried in all things as we are, yet without sin. The trials we have are a result of the sin that entered in through the fall, and that sin is covetousness. Then the law came and said, “You shall not covet.” Covetousness is something that is hidden; therefore the law was powerless. However, what the law could not do, God did when He sent His Son in the same flesh in which covetousness dwelt, so that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom. 8:3-4. He did not suppress covetousness so as not to live according to it, but He put it to death. This death is called the “dying of Jesus,” which we must always bear in our body, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 2 Cor. 4:10-11. The sacrifices that were brought in the body could take away sin. That is the gospel, and we cannot partake of the gospel without obedience. Thus Jesus abolished the sacrifices that were required according to the law, and He established the doing of God’s will. He who lives according to the flesh shall die. In Hebrews 5:7-9 we read how He fought in the days of His flesh to be saved from death; and when He was made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. Here we can see that no one can partake of the salvation with which Jesus came without obedience. Jesus came not only with water for the forgiveness of sins as John did, but He came with water and blood; it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. 1 John 5:6-11. “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.” Heb. 12:4. Therefore they had not experienced any growth as believers. Ch. 5:11-14. In other words, they had not come to the testimony of the Spirit that they were children of God. Rom. 8:13-17. The Bible uses the expression, “And if Christ is in you . . . .” (Rom. 8:10), and “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.” “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest in the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh . . . .” Heb. 10:19-20. If we are to come to this boldness in the blood of Jesus, then the dying of Jesus must work in our body just as it did in Jesus’ body. Jesus has consecrated this way through the veil by obedience. When the Father gave Him light over sin in the flesh and condemned it, Jesus became a sacrifice; and He gives grace to everyone who wants to follow Him on this new and living way. Jesus is a guarantor of this better hope (so we can draw near to God), as well as for this salvation to the uttermost—because He ever lives to make intercession for us. Heb. 7:19-25. Therefore Paul could testify and say, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” After he has enumerated a long list of the works of the flesh which are evident, he says, “Of which I told you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal. 5:16, 21. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Heb. 9:27-28. This tells us that He came the first time to take away the sins of many. But when He comes the second time He will not come for the purpose of forgiving our sins, but to fetch those who have partaken of the salvation for which He came the first time, and are now eagerly awaiting Him. God be praised for this heavenly calling, and for the abundant grace He gives so we can partake of this salvation. And God be praised that His wrath is not meant for those who through grace and obedience have partaken of His salvation. 1 Thess. 5:9.Sigurd Bratlie

This does not only concern those who are God-fearing and righteous, but also those who are unjust. Acts 24:15. “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” V. 16. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10. If one were to ask the majority of people today what they thought the near future has in store for them, they would mention the worst things, such as atomic war, famine, epidemics, earthquakes, an increase in the divorce rate, terrorist attacks, and whatever else people are afraid of. But we have a living hope in the resurrection of the just; we do not fear. We have a great responsibility, because we have a body that can be presented to do the good or the bad. We can do very much good for the benefit and joy of many people or we can do much that is foolish and bad, and thus do harm to ourselves and others. Those who have done good will come forth from the graves to the resurrection of the just, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. John 5:29-30. An indescribable glory awaits us if we have a good conscience before God and people, and if we are in the process of growing and developing in the good. If we judge ourselves we will not be judged. 1 Cor. 11:23. The reward of sin is death, which separates man from God, but whoever lives and believes in Jesus shall never die. John 11:26. “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” Rev. 22:12. May God strengthen us in faith and obedience so we can have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:11.Aksel J. Smith

“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10. We need to have our spirits quickened, so that at the rapture we can receive a body like Jesus’ glorified body. This is the greatest and most glorious event to which we can look ahead with expectation. When a person is converted, his spirit is saved from perdition, but it is not made alive. This only happens after the body has en­tered into the ministry of righteousness. “In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie” (Ecclesiastes 11:3); and if an ungodly person receives grace, he has not thereby learned righteousness (Isaiah 26:10). God can bless a person with gifts and good feelings, but He cannot bless him with a quickened spirit, because everyone must suffer to come to it. Jesus said to His disciples, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink.” Mark 10:39. This can only be said to disciples—those who have forsaken everything and who do not consider it bondage to suf­fer in the flesh. 1 Peter 4:1. The disciples enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus, and drink the cup of suffering through the obedience of faith. Romans 1:5 and Philippians 3:10. Thus their spirits are made alive and their bodies are being redeemed from sin in the flesh. This is the salvation of the body. Romans 7:23 and 8:13. The body has to be a temple of the Holy Spirit so it can be conformed to Jesus’ glorified body. Romans 8:11 and Philippians 3:21. This is a sac­rificial, priestly stewardship of the gospel. Romans 15:16. This stew­ardship is not found among those who do not believe that Jesus was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and that He has inau­gurated a new and living way through this flesh into the Holiest. Romans 1:3 and Hebrews 10:20. Therefore “to reckon ourselves dead indeed” sounds strange and unintelligible in such people’s ears. They do not see any glory in suffering in the flesh. On the con­trary, it is said among such religious people that John, who was lean­ing on Jesus’ bosom, and the thief who was on the cross will be equally great in heaven. Jesus was raised from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews 13:20. The disciples must also partake of the blood of this covenant. We are sanctified “with” the blood of the covenant (Hebrews 13:12) and washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22. However, we enter into the Holiest “in” the blood of the covenant. Hebrews 10:19. If we expect to receive a glori­fied body without going through this dying process, we will be left standing outside just like the five foolish virgins. Matthew 25:11-12. When the body is reckoned dead, the spirit can be made alive. Then we will not just receive an imputed righteousness, but we will partake of a personal righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes. Matthew 5:20 and 1 John 2:29. Now the “Sermon on the Mount”—which religious people consign to Mount Sinai as unattain­able—can be fulfilled. This is God’s hidden wisdom which is revealed to those who are mature, and which God has ordained before the ages for our glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7. Jesus was the first one to reckon His body dead. “Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18. Jesus is the Savior of His body. Ephesians 5:23. Therefore the same death and development of life occurs in His disciples. May God bless those who are faithful in the battle with the oil of gladness. Hebrews 1:9. When the end result will be that we receive a glorified body, the fight of faith will have been worth all the effort. God be thanked for the light of His wisdom and knowledge.Trygve Sandvik