Get In The Wheelbarrow!
Get in the Wheelbarrow!
A stranger showed up one day and
nobody seemed to know exactly where he had come from. He was
scrutinized carefully by the regulars but not much could be made of him
until one day he began to go about an tell people that he intended to
stretch a cable across the Grand Canyon and walk all the way across to
the other side. Needless to say, he was met with jeers and hoots and
all sorts of cynical remarks of derision. This went on for quite some
time until one day, after being ridiculed by pretty much the least to
the greatest, one of the guys came skidding into town yelling, “Hey,
listen to this! There is a cable stretched all the way across the Grand
Canyon and there’s a crowd there!”
Sure enough, word had got out and
television sound trucks were everywhere, photographers were falling
over each other and reporters were interviewing everybody, including
each other. A large crowd had gathered at the scene........and the
stranger was there too. Without much ado, he hopped up onto what
appeared to be a large concrete footing of some sort, securely anchored
into the ground. While cameramen jostled to get a good shot and
microphones dangled everywhere, he turned to the group standing nearby
and said, “Do you believe I can walk this cable all the way to the
other side?” The jeers, catcalls and laughter was thunderous and
reporters grinned at each other, positive that they would have a
sensational story of some guy plunging to his death in the abyss below.
But, lo and behold, the stranger took
a few steps out onto the cable, turned and looked back at the crowd,
and without hesitation walked all the way to the other side! Zoom
lenses on the cameras followed him as he reached the other side,
stepped off the cable and waved back at the crowd. And then, he leaped
back onto the cable! He walked all the way back with the same steady,
sure footsteps and standing directly in front of the large crowd he
said, “Now do you believe I can walk all the way across?” The cheering
and applause was thunderous!
And then, of all things, he pulled a
wheelbarrow up onto the cable. He turned to the crowd and said, “Do you
believe I can walk all the way across......and push this wheelbarrow in
front of me?” Once again jeers, sneers and catcalls........which
momentarily turned to gasps of disbelief as the crowd watched him
steadily and surely pushing the wheelbarrow further and further
away.......all the way to the other side. As he turned and started
back, once again he was a hero of sorts and the crowd broke out into
wild cheering and applause.
As the stranger rolled the
wheelbarrow off the cable onto the secure concrete pillar his piercing
eyes met the eyes of a man standing nearby. He said, “Do you believe I
can walk all the way across?” Yes, Yes, Yes, the spectator exclaimed.
“Do you believe I can walk all the way across and push this wheelbarrow
across in front of me?” Once again the man exclaimed, “Of course, of
course, I just watched as you did it!” There was a long pause as their
eyes remained fixed on each other and then the stranger said, “Get in
the wheelbarrow.”
How long, will we as professing
Christians, follow the religious system of the world? What will it take
to get us to really understand the truth of the Gospel of Christ?
That Christ died for our sins, all of them? What will it take to make
us realize that no matter how hard we try we just cannot attain unto
the righteousness of God and that we need a Saviour? WHEN WILL WE STOP
TRYING AND START TRUSTING? Confusion in religion today, results from
people failing to see the difference between the preaching of Jesus
Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy and the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the mystery given to the Apostle Paul,
the Apostle to the Church, the Body of Christ.
Peter, in Acts Two, Three, Four and
Five and so forth, preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul in
Romans through Philemon also preaches the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE PREACHING. Peter in Acts preaches that
Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead to one day
return and sit upon the throne of David and rule over the whole house
of Israel in an earthly kingdom. Paul, however, preaches that the hope
of the calling of the church, The body of Christ is Heavenly. It is
Paul who says that our citizenship is in Heaven, and that Christ died
for our sins and was raised for our justification, God having forgiven
us ALL TRESPASSES!
Not so with Peter. Peter teaches them
in the book of Acts to observe all things “whatsoever the Lord had
commanded them”, as in Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Peter teaches them
about the tribulation and about selling all that they own….taking no
thought of what they will eat or what they will wear…..to love not
their lives unto death…..to endure unto the end, as in Acts Three,
verses 19-21 until the second coming of the Lord….the time for the DAY
OF ATONEMENT FOR ISRAEL and the time when their sins will be blotted
out.
Paul warns us not to be ignorant of
this mystery in Romans 11:25. The fact that there is a time
coming in the future when ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED. But, that Kingdom
program was put on hold for the forming of a new body of believers
called The Church, the Body of Christ. And what was true for those in
Acts Two is not true for a believer today! While the Lord told them to
“endure unto the end and to love not their lives unto death” He did not
leave them without the comfort and ALSO THE POWER to do just that.
Those people had an anointing, an unction and a power that is not given
to us today….in spite of hocus pocus and false teachers on television
and around the world. Why don’t we have such power? Because we DON’T
NEED IT. Every thing that needed to be done and that will be done for
us in this present age has already been done.
The salvation of the “little flock”
in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and those in the early part of
Acts…those Peter called the “holy nation, royal priesthood, peculiar
people” in I Peter 2:9 IS FOR A DIFFERENT PURPOSE AND IN A DIFFERENT
PLACE than those today who are saved by grace alone through faith alone
in the finished work of Christ. In this present dispensation of the
grace of God, the only way any person can come to God, that is, be
saved, is by grace through faith. Paul says, in Ephesians 2:8:
8 For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: and he goes on to say, in the next
verse that it is:
9 Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
Most of the religious system teaches
that you can somehow gain favor with God by good works. Those who teach
that a believer can LOSE HIS SALVATION also invariably teach that you
can GAIN YOUR SALVATION by good works Their problem is, that what was
true for one group of people…..for one purpose….is not true of another
group of people….for an entirely different purpose. Peter preached a
different purpose of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than Paul did.
Look at the following Comparisons
THIS:
(Mat 6:14 KJV) For if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you:
(Mat 6:15 KJV) But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.
WITH THIS:
(Col 2:10 KJV) And ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
(Col 2:11 KJV) In whom also ye
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
(Col 2:12 KJV) Buried with him
in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
(Col 2:13 KJV) And you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
THIS:
(Mat 19:16 KJV) And, behold,
one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do,
that I may have eternal life?
(Mat 19:17 KJV) And he said
unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that
is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
WITH THIS:
(Col 1:12 KJV) Giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light:
(Gal 5:4 KJV) Christ is become
of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye
are fallen from grace.
(1 Cor 15:3 KJV) For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
(1 Cor 15:4 KJV) And that he
was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures:
THIS:
(Acts 10:34 KJV) Then Peter
opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no
respecter of persons:
(Acts 10:35 KJV) But in every
nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with
him.
WITH THIS:
(Titus 3:4 KJV) But after that
the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
(Titus 3:5 KJV) Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
AND FINALLY:
(Rom 11:6 KJV) And if by grace,
then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more
work.
Just comparing the verses clearly
shows that things are different and that things that are different are
not the same. It shows that you cannot do both at the same time. It
shows that you cannot do what Peter said to Cornelius, “work
righteousness to be accepted of God” while at the same time do what
Paul said and “not work righteousness.” YOU CANNOT have it both
ways….so which way is it?
What we need to do is heed the
instructions given to us and “study to show ourselves approved” as in
II Timothy 2:15 by “approving things that are excellent” as in
Phillipians 1:10 It is clear that you cannot follow Peter and the
doctrine given to the nation of Israel, even if religion says you
should, .because THAT PROGRAM has been set aside for a reason and a
season. It is because God chose, before the foundation of the world, to
conceal a “mystery” and tell no one about it, not even Peter, James and
John, until he told it to Paul and Paul revealed it to the church, the
body of Christ. The mystery that Peter didn’t know, that Christ died
for our sins, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.
That is the LIVING PROOF that God in his great love and mercy toward
us, has (Collosians 2:13) FORGIVEN US ALL TRESPASSES!
Religion is not necessary for
salvation. Joining a church is not necessary for salvation. Praying
through, walking the aisle, saying a sinners prayer, asking Jesus to
come into your heart, shaking the preachers hand, or any other thing is
necessary for salvation. Trusting in the Lord is! Believing ON the Lord
Jesus Christ is trusting the Lord and what he did for you….not what you
are doing for Him. Trust the Lord. Get in the wheelbarrow!
