Some teach that God won't forgive you until you turn from all your sins.
Some teach that he only forgives you after you become a believer.
Some teach that you must be water-baptized first.
While others teach that saying a prayer will earn your forgiveness.
These are all false ways to get your sins forgiven.
You can't get your sins forgiven because they already are.
The world's sins were forgiven on Calvary's cross.
Trying to make forgiveness depend on something you do only renders the gospel of non-affect.
Christ died for your every sin, he was buried, and he arose on the third day to give eternal life to all who will believe on him alone.
A reminder from WTTR, Truth Time Radio.
2 Timothy 2:15, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Oh, what an awesome verse.
We all know the verse.
We love it.
We hold to it dearly.
You know, after learning to rightly divide, isn't, isn't it nice to know that we now live by the faith of the Son of God?
That's our life's road map.
The guideline for the one new man in Christ.
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, not me, but the Christ that liveth in me, and the life I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Oh, that's good news.
If you're in Christ, you won't hear any greater news than that today.
Not going to happen I can guarantee you.
By Paul penning the faith of Christ in 13 letters, we now have a blueprint, a blueprint to follow laid out.
It's a great pattern.
All we have to do is stay the course.
To live your life by the faith of Christ is to follow Paul's instructions.
And one such instruction is this.
God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.
As in all churches of the saints, that's 1 Corinthians over there in chapter 14.
So, you see, we should all, we should all be working in unity to stave off, to hold back the confusion that is bound to come in if we allow it.
It's at the door knocking, always, and sadly, some who call themselves saints, they're there to open the door, hey, it's their daily duty, it's their favorite chore to wake up and stir up confusion among the body of Christ.
How unhappy do you have to be to have that mindset?
How unfulfilling does your life have to be for you to wake up each morning and give that much energy to cause confusion?
If you do that, don't be surprised when others stop taking you seriously.
Blessed are the peacemakers, right?
Not noise makers.
There's no room in the body of Christ for sounding brass and tinkling symbols, to bring clarity and peace we need to hear from those who speak words with distinction.
That's what brings peace.
My wife, my wife, she'll read some Facebook posts that she's seen, and one of the first emotions for me is I feel sadness.
Sad for those who seem to have such a difficult time understanding the grace that Jesus showed the entire world when he took our place and sacrificed his life to be made 2 Corinthians 5:21 sin for us.
Understanding this makes it nearly impossible to want to wake up each morning and make a conscious decision to dedicate your day to make others feel miserable.
Understanding the gospel and what reconciliation accomplished should replace your desire to sew discord in the life of others.
It's truly freeing once you get it, it'll help you to care and love others more.
Having that understanding brings such comfort, such joy, such peace.
Colossians 3:15, what are we told there?
Let the peace of God rule in your heart.
2 Corinthians, there in chapter 13, verse 11, I think, Be of one mind and live in peace.
And in Romans 14, Paul says, follow after the things which make for peace and edify one another.
As ambassadors for Christ, we have responsibilities guys, and one of the top responsibilities for an ambassador is to make peace, to bring resolution, to be a bridge builder, to be an intermediary between two or more parties.
That's what Christ was and that's what we're to be.
He was that for us and we're to be that for others.
This is Truth Time Radio, you're home for Mid-Acts Bible Study, coffee zone, we're ready to go.
I'm going to speak a little bit about the difference between at the cross and by the cross.
Here to speak truth and speak it in love, Ephesians 4, we're not to be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, gotta watch out for the slight of men and the cunning craftiness of those out here who are lying in wait to deceive.
We're to defend the gospel and speak the truth in love.
Now speaking the truth in love doesn't mean we're always speaking niceties, speaking the truth in love doesn't always mean that you never raise your voice.
I'm fairly certain Jesus wasn't whispering when he went in and overthrew the tables of the money changers.
Speaking the truth in love doesn't mean we tailor our words to flatter someone.
We're not men pleasers, like the preaching of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which in time past was hidden wisdom.
They don't like to hear that.
The death, burial, and resurrection was never a mystery.
Most all denominations, they go along with 1 Corinthians 15:1 to 4, but the result, when you explain the true result of that, they got a problem.
The death, burial, and resurrection was never a mystery, but the result of it was.
It resulting in God stopping the imputation of sins to the world was a secret.
Peter, James, and John all knew of the death, burial, and resurrection before Paul did, but for them the blood of Jesus was only for the remission of sins, sins that are passed.
For them it was about the purging of their old sins, 2 Peter 1:9.
The remission of sins is not the all sins that Paul revealed in our gospel, Colossians 2:13 and 2 Corinthians 5:19.
In a society, when many live in almost an almost constant state of docileness, awareness is practically non-existent, so awareness is an outstanding thing to possess.
I think it was, I think, seems like around 2012, around then when we started expressing here at Truth Time, we started to express the need for the body of Christ to be awake, aware, alive, and active.
Because when you're in a state of docileity, oh, mister manipulation, hey, he's hunkered down.
Yes, he is.
He's hunkered down, lying in wait over there in the corner, waiting to strike, waiting for his next victim to be obedient and compliant to the manipulated words coming from his mouth, toxicities all around us.
This is why it's so vital that we edify one another in truth and love, edify one another with a faith of Christ, Pauline doctrine, so we can build each other up and so we can build up a resistance to the toxic teaching going around.
We have to keep our sense of clarity and conviction about us.
We got people teaching the Bible who aren't aware of what took place at the cross.
Now make that make sense.
That should be the first thing they learned before having the bright idea to go be a teacher.
These who limit what was accomplished at the cross, and yes, I said, at, where else do you think it happened?
Out here talking about forgiveness didn't happen at the cross, but by the cross.
What?
If you're hung up on the words at and by, stick around.
With an open Bible, I'll clear that up for you here in just a moment.
But that's the problem.
You see, most Bibles are not open.
Oh, they've got YouTube pulled up.
They've got TikTok.
They've got Facebook, but the Bible, it's closed.
And in this present evil world, full of automated AI responses and fake online interactions, no wonder they don't understand what happened at the cross.
If AI didn't tell them, they don't know it.
The mystery that was revealed is still a mystery to most today.
But the Word of God stands alone all by itself as the only remaining source of absolute truth.
Here's an absolute truth for you, by the way.
The cross of Christ, you know, the place where Christ shed his blood at the cross, where the perfect sacrifice was made and accepted at the cross, where forgiveness was accomplished, worldwide at the cross.
You know, I think Kool and the Gang, they may have been talking about limited forgivers when they said, Celebrate good times, come on.
Wake up and celebrate, not much celebrating going on amongst the limited forgivers.
No time to celebrate the gospel when you're obsessed with sin.
Constantly talking about how people can't be in hell with their sins forgiven, while we're over here preaching the gospel so they don't have to go there.
Hey, come in, come in real close, come in close and listen.
If they go to hell, it won't matter if their sins are forgiven or not, because they'll still be in hell.
Get it?
Some are scared of Paul's gospel, they're scared of his pure, unperverted gospel of grace.
Why is that, you think?
Well, you fear what you don't understand, and his gospel is so far removed from the norm of religion, most fear it, even some who claim to follow it.
It's Paul's gospel that made known how God doesn't forgive and forget, because he forgave and forgot.
Those two are different.
It's not what can wash away my sins, it's what did wash away my sins.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not sin confessing, not walking an aisle, not water baptism, not whether or not I believe something.
No, what washed away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus, guess what that means?
Forgiveness is not conditional and future, it's unconditional and past.
This is the mystery of Paul's gospel.
But if you preach this, if you dare put on your big boy britches and go preach, Paul's finished cross-work gospel just as he faced false accusers, so will you.
And the poorly educated, they call Paul's gospel, universalism.
Stop embarrassing yourself.
Stop working on your next incoherent Facebook meme that others look at, and go, huh?
Stop with all that, do a bit of homework, universalists, they believe, in the end everyone will be saved.
Somehow, there's a few who can't get this.
They can't see the difference.
2 Corinthians chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, the reconciliation message is not hard to get, but it will require a little effort on your part.
No one preaching it correctly is saying, everyone will be saved in the end.
For you not to get that, well, it's telling, there's something going on.
Paul's gospel is not complex, hey at the cross, God stopped imputing sins, now that's pretty simple.
He stopped imputing sins, he did not provide worldwide salvation.
Universalists have no clue.
They simply do not believe their Bible.
On one side limited forgivers, on the other side, universalists, clowns on the left, jokers on the right, here we are stuck in the middle again.
Both groups think forgiveness gives life, it does not.
Forgiveness has never given life to anyone, not in any dispensation.
Only the justified have life, forgiveness has never cleared the guilty.
Only the justified are guilt-free.
Paul's gospel is so simple, God imputed your sins onto his son so that your justification could take place when you believe.
So did forgiveness occur at the cross or by the cross?
Let's answer that question, at or by, well at equals when, where, by equals how, because of, forgiveness happened when the atonement was made by the Son, and because the atonement was accepted by the Father.
This follows a pattern here, just like every other time in scripture, that a sacrificial atonement was fulfilled.
We're constantly hearing from folks who are getting this, and if you're here today and you're still struggling with these questions, questions like these, you'll want to go over and dive into our terminology playlist, find that folder and educate yourself.
You'll be glad you did.
There are Pauline truths in scripture that we can, with certainty, understand, either took place at the cross, by the cross, or both.
For example, the phrase, by the cross, it only appears one time in our Bible.
And it has everything to do with making both twain, so making peace between Jew and Gentile to form the one new man, the body of Christ.
By the cross is not talking about when forgiveness happened.
Just pay attention to the context.
The context actually reveals that what happened by the cross is a result of what happened at the cross.
Grab Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, let's go there, let's go there, and run a simple test to see if the limited forgivers, if they're being forthcoming.
Okay, let's begin with verse 14, and we'll run through to verse 16,
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Now watch, Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, did you hear that?
Now that happened at the cross.
Even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make, ah, that's future from the cross, beginning with Acts 9, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he, watch, might reconcile both, again, future from the cross, unto God in one body, by the cross.
That's the means, that's the how he will do it.
Having slain, past tense, happened at the cross, the enmity thereby.
See that?
So clear, so clear, saints.
Why do they muddy this?
It's easy, this is easy, peasy fifth grade stuff when you just read it and believe it.
See, grammatically, the having abolished and having slain are both actions which precede what happened by the cross.
The context is speaking to the formation of the one new man, the body of Christ, that Paul was the first member of.
It was after the cross, and it began in Acts 9.
This is why we see by and not at.
The subject for what Paul is expressing here is, it's not what happened at, but what happened by.
However, the at must precede the by in order for there to even be a by to speak of.
The usage of the word having, as the participle modifier here, the participle modifier of the verbs abolished and slain, it forms two perfect participle phrases within this passage.
Just look at it.
These are supporting dependent clauses which describe a completed action before the main action happens.
The purpose of the perfect participle phrase is to modify the main action or idea, and it does this by defining the sequence of events.
Oh, this is, this is lined up in perfect order.
Therefore see, the information revealed in the perfect participle phrase must precede the main action in order for the main action to take place.
The having verbs, slain and abolished, happened at the cross before the main action.
The main action, the formation of the body of Christ, well, it happened by, because of, as a result of, what happened at the cross.
The fact that nowhere in this passage does Paul claim that forgiveness comes by the cross should tell us everything we need to know about the integrity of those pushing the by not at claim.
Oh yeah, says a lot.
It's merely smoke and mirrors is what it is.
Those who oppose 2 Corinthians 5:19, hey, regardless of how many times they want to claim it's by the cross and not at the cross.
What happened by the cross, in Ephesians 2:16, simply isn't what the gospel declares.
No, what happened at the cross is, and according to all the verses we've discussed so far, as well as, there's others, you know, Colossians 1:20, chapter 2 verses 13 and 14, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 14 through 21, Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 11, and there's more, something happened at the cross, and that something was the atonement.
It's a, it's a very odd thing, very odd indeed, how the Ministry of Reconciliation opposers try to avoid talking about what was accomplished at the cross, that offends them.
It's like a phobia or something, especially when we consider what Paul says over there in Galatians chapter 6.
In verse 14 he says, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is it?
What is it about what happened at the cross that's so offensive?, and we're not just talking about limited forgivers who say you have to believe first, but the problem is worldwide and all through religion.
It's everything that Paul counted as dung.
Limited forgivers covers all the first John 1:9ers, all the going into the booth and telling the priest about your sins so you can get them absolved.
It covers the Church of Christ who says you have to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.
It covers the Jesus only apostolics.
It covers the carismania crowd who puts obstacles between you and forgiveness.
It covers the Baptist, the Methodist, who have plenty of methods for you to get your sins forgiven.
It covers those who will tell you you got to forgive others first before God will forgive you.
And they base that off the red letters of the book of Matthew.
Not having the knowledge that we are somewhere else in this Bible.
We are in the parenthetical dispensation of the grace of God.
Where none of these things, including the limited forgivers who say you have to believe first, none of these things are relevant for today.
They are not something you must do to get your sins forgiven.
There is nothing to do.
Your sins were forgiven at the cross.
Just like no priest back in the Old Testament after having made the blood sacrifice for sins, went around traveling around house to house asking if someone believed it or not.
They didn't have to believe it.
He did his job.
He made the sacrifice.
God accepted that.
It was temporary, of course.
But over here on the other side of the cross and in the dispensation of grace, it's not temporary.
When Jesus did his job, that was it.
Done deal.
Put it in the rear view mirror and move on.
Now we need to get some people saved.
How do you do that?
Tell them the gospel.
What is the gospel?
That God's not imputing sins no more.
His son died on the cross for all sins of the world.
He was buried, but the grave couldn't contain him.
He has risen, and now you can be justified unto eternal life by believing this good news.
First Corinthians 1:23, But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.
To some, what happened at the cross is still a stumbling block.
It's still foolishness.
Don't replace what happened at the cross with what happened by the cross, Paul didn't.
First Corinthians 2:2, For I determined not to know anything among you.
Listen to that now.
Wait a minute.
Back up.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Wait a minute, Paul.
It seems as if you all you want to do is talk about what happened at the cross.
Maybe we need to get one of the limited forgivers to make you a meme and set you straight.
Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ.
First Corinthians 1:18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
We're going to keep on talking about what happened at the cross, just like our apostle, our pattern did.
That seems to be a great, a magnificent idea.
Just keep doing what he did.
You can't pretend to be all about Acts 9 if you're not all about what happened at the cross, because Acts 9 is a result of what happened at the cross.
But like parrots, they'll say, Paul's my apostle, dispensation of grace, one new man, we're not Israel.
Polly wanna' cracker.
Yeah, but what happened at the cross? Hmmm?
See, when we take the focus off what happened at the cross and instead place it on what happened by the cross, we're doing the opposite of what our pattern Paul did.
The very opposite.
When we replace what happened at the cross, which is where sins of the world were dealt with, with the dispensational change that happened by the cross in Ephesians 2, we are glorying in the one new man, rather than glorying in the one who created him.
A direct violation of Galatians 6:14 where Paul wrote, But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's at the cross.
That's not Acts 9.
2 Corinthians 4:6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the faith of Jesus Christ.
God is gloried, worshiped, and served by us through Jesus Christ.
And we glorify God when we glory in what happened at the cross.
Scripture says the preaching of the cross is the power of God.
It does not say the preaching of the middle wall of partition and being broken down between Jew and Gentile by the cross is the power of God.
No, the gospel of your salvation is what happened at the cross.
Not what Ephesians 2:16 says happened by it.
Some are so dishonest that if you preach reconciliation the way Paul did, they'll label you a universalist.
Here's a quick news flash.
No universalist believes that God has a lake of fire for everlasting punishment.
But we do, that's what we believe.
Because that's what the Bible teaches.
And here's another one I'll throw in for free.
Many universalists do not even believe that all sins were taken care of at the cross.
Didn't know that did you?
How about that?
This is why you need to educate yourself.
They don't believe all sins were taken care of at the cross just like the limited forgivers.
And that's the reason they teach a form of Catholic purgatory.
Yes, universalists teach that.
A place the unbeliever has to go to receive purification from their sins.
The universalists call this the refiner's fire.
So yeah, the limited forgivers and the universalists, hey, they got something in common.
Neither one of them understand what took place at Calvary.
There are eleven cans short of a twelve pack, and it's foolish beliefs like this, like limited forgiveness, that causes me to close many of my podcasts with the words, You only get two educations, the one you're given, and the one you give yourself.
Hey, go grab our folder, the terminology folder, you'll find it on our YouTube, there at our YouTube channel, there'll be a complete playlist.
You can learn more about reconciliation, forgiveness, all these terms, justification, they're all there for you to take.
You can go at your own pace, study this out and it doesn't take long for this to start to start clicking.
Pray about it.
You'll get it.
You will.
And until next time, we love you, grace and peace.
Some teach that God won't forgive you until you turn from all your sins.
Some teach that he only forgives you after you become a believer.
Some teach that you must be water baptized first.
While others teach that saying a prayer will earn your forgiveness.
These are all false ways to get your sins forgiven.
You can't get your sins forgiven because they already are.
The world's sins were forgiven on Calvary's cross.
Trying to make forgiveness depend on something you do only renders the gospel of non-effect.
Christ died for your every sin, he was buried, and he arose on the third day to give eternal life to all who will believe on him alone.
A reminder from WTTR Truth Time Radio.
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