(Introduction)(Dial.1)(Dial.2)(Dial.3)(Dial.4)(Dial.5)(Dial.6)(Dial.7)(Dial.8)(Dial.9)(Dial.10)

(Dial.11)(Dial.12)(Dial.13)(Dial.14)(Dial.15)(Dial.16)DIALOGUE 17(Dial.18)(Dial.19)(Dial.20)

IGNORANCE

CLEAN_C: We could say ignorance is the opposite of the New Testament. Christ does away with ignorance forever.

DIRTY_C: You keep confusing me!

CLEAN_C: What confused you now?

DIRTY_C: How can the New Testament be the opposite of ignorance?

CLEAN_C: Ignorance is also sin.

DIRTY_C: How so? How can ignorance be the opposite of the New Testament if the New Testament is a part of the Bible?

CLEAN_C: Do you know what a testament is?

DIRTY_C: I think I do. When someone dies, he leaves a testament behind. In it is the will of the deceased touching what he leaves behind. How is it related to the New Testament?

CLEAN_C: Jesus died for us, we are left behind together with whatever He taught and the New Testament is written for us. Not that the Old Testament is not important, but it is complemented by the New one.

DIRTY_C: Ok, I know that. But how can it be the opposite of the ignorance? After you answer that to me, can you tell me why is it called the “New” Testament.

CLEAN_C: The Old Testament used mainly the Law of Moses as a basis and maintained the promise of a New Testament alive and burning within its prophets’ hearts. It contains many important prophecies and words of God which are fully alive and very important for the New Testament era. The only thing that changed from the Old to the New Testament is the way the Law of God is applied, accomplished and obeyed. The way has changed and not the Law. Moses’ law was a way to accomplish God’s Law at the time. The Law of God did not change. The way did. The Law of God needs to be obeyed and fully fulfilled and the difference between them is the way things are done. In the Old Testament, we would know God by doing. However, now we do by knowing God. The Law of God did not change and a holy life is now a higher demand than ever. It is much easier to fulfil now. Now we have all the means to accomplish all of God’s will. Jesus died for us and left a New Testament and a New Way to fulfil the will of God in and through our lives. Now we are able to fulfil and obey. We can accomplish it now. To fully fulfil it is what God's will is all about.

DIRTY_C: If we still need to live the Law of God out, what did change then?

CLEAN_C: We could say everything changed and nothing changed.

DIRTY_C: How so?

CLEAN_C: Now it is easy to fulfil, even though people could fulfil in Old Testament times as well. Now every believer has all the means to fulfil the Law of God. The only thing that changed is the way it is accomplished. We can fulfil all through faith in Jesus, while during the Old Testament people could fulfil the same Law through the laws of Moses, by doing. However, the holy men of old lived by faith and fulfilled by faith, even though it was faith that made it possible for them to fulfil the whole law.

DIRTY_C: Please, explain it to me.

CLEAN_C: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; so that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us…”, Rom.8:3-4. Jesus came to fulfil. He said, “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfil”, Mat.5:17. The Law of God can now be fulfilled in us through the Lord Jesus. We have read that it was sin which was condemned and not Christ. Christ died, yet it was sin which was condemned through His death. We read clearly that, “God sending his own Son condemned sin”.

DIRTY_C: You mean now we can fulfil the Law of God and all His commandments?

CLEAN_C: Yes, now it is easy to fulfil.

DIRTY_C: How does it work? It seems quite confusing.

CLEAN_C: The laws of Moses pressured man from the outside to have him changed. The Holy Spirit, in the New Testament era, works from the inside out. It changes man in the inside first. The very roots of man are changed. This is called justification, it means, man is turned just. And if that happens, then it is easy to have man changed accordingly on the outside as well, through some dedication and sanctification from his side. Man only needs to be conformed to God and cease being conformed to this world and all its ways. Man can no more think or do the way the world thinks and does things after he has been made just, or, should I say, after he has found justice (righteousness) from God. Man cannot dare to touch sin from then on.

DIRTY_C: It sounds simple to understand. However, it seems to me there is a long way to go before it can become practical.

CLEAN_C: Of course it is very simple to understand. And now, through patience we can possess our souls and lives. Jesus does away with ignorance and sin in us forever. There are no more excuses and, consequently, no more lack of accomplishments.

DIRTY_C: It seems easy to understand, but my mind has a knot in it now. I understand, but, at the same time, I don’t. You say it is easy to fulfil and it makes sense to a certain extend. But, I fear I may get disappointed along the way. The expectations are too high and I am weak and so is my flesh. I am, also, afraid to fail.

CLEAN_C: I see. It doesn’t matter if the flesh is weak because you won’t use it to accomplish any of the things of God at all. God even wants it dead and not merely weak. Being dead is a worse state than to be just weak. However, these things work out only in a practical way. And the reason it seems you don’t understand what you know is because you never tried it in a practical way. You must try it out and practice it the way things are done in heaven.

DIRTY_C: I see.

CLEAN_C: There are only two reasons which cause us not be holy. One of them is if we try to walk with the Lord in a way which is not God’s, I mean, when we try to walk the way of God on our own and without Jesus. The other is when we try to walk our way with God’s strength. It won’t work out at all. You can walk your own way in your own strength or walk God’s way through Jesus and His strength. We must know that the way of Jesus is not a theory only. It must be as practical as our own, or even more. It is better understood when practiced and lived. We need to experience it for real. To walk with the Lord, we need to clean and be spotless. And to walk with Him, we need to walk where He leads the way He leads. This seems to be the reason why you don’t seem to understand what you understand. “Because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand”, Mat.13:13. We need to be practical and truthful before the ways of the Lord can start to make sense to us. “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven”, Jesus said. The only thing that really puzzles me is how such simple things can be so hard to understand by most people!

DIRTY_C: In other words, people do not understand because they do not find truth practical? We need to find the way to practice before we can understand it?

CLEAN_C: Yes, that is true. Because they do not practise truth or are disobedient, they are very easily confused and trapped. By doing, we shall understand and know. But, when I say we must be doing, I mean we must do it the New Testament's way. If we refuse to go in through the door, we will be assaulted by ignorance and stupidity concerning God’s things and ways and we will believe we are wise enough to walk them. We need to do things here on earth exactly the same way they are done and accomplished in heaven. “Here on earth as it is done in heaven”. It means doing God’s will the same way it is done carried out over there.

DIRTY_C: How so?

CLEAN_C: As I have already mentioned before, Jesus said: “If anyone desires to do His will, he shall know…”, John 7:17. If someone is not willing to do and does not do, he won’t know.

DIRTY_C: And why is everything so complicated to me? I wish I could understand all these things the way you do. But, it just feels as if I cannot reach out to such wisdom and understanding of the things of God!

CLEAN_C: It is not complicated at all. Man’s heart is what makes it hard and complicated. I am repeating myself all over again. It seems most of the things we have already talked about meant nothing to you. I feel you keep refusing to do things the way everything is done in heaven. Did you become aware of the fact that I have been using such simple words that even a child would understand their meaning? The only reason for this huge confusion in you must be a kind of unwillingness to comply with truth and to obey it without putting forth conditions of your own to God. I am sure you are refusing to clean your whole life right away. Maybe, you started to fear that these things I am telling you about are indeed true, and this fear makes you numb. Sometimes, I also sense you love to hear so you won’t do. Hearing keeps you busy. It seems you convince yourself that you do not need to obey and clean your life because you hear a lot. This is not a soothing story. You cannot use it to sleep and be turned off spiritually. It is not a bedtime story! You might still entertain a secret hope that these things are not binding truths and that you may come to skip it in some way. What Jesus wants is that you give yourself up to Him unconditionally. But, God won't accept you unconditionally. Unless you come to Him for a change, a real one, He won't accept you.

DIRTY_C: What does it have to do with ignorance?

CLEAN_C: The sinner is not really ignorant – he makes himself ignorant and foolish. He causes himself to be that way. I believe sinners need to be exceptionally intelligent to live a hardened life of sin. I believe every sinner is a specialist in his field. And the biggest sinners are those who know the truth. People are hardened by living against any known truth, even when entertaining it.

DIRTY_C: And why does it seem I am totally ignorant and far from everything you have been telling me?

CLEAN_C: People far from the Lord seem to ignore only those things which matter to God. They are not that ignorant in sinning. This is why the Bible talks about the people who are wise concerning the things of this world. The truth is that they are ignorant only concerning those things which are able to save them from their much loved sin.

DIRTY_C: And what must we do to stop being ignorant concerning the things of God?

CLEAN_C: You keep asking the same things over and over again! It seems you don’t wish to cleanse your life at once.

DIRTY_C: Oh, I think I know what you will say to me: I need to make right and fix my life by confessing my sins, right? I need to give back everything which does not belong to me and ask people to forgive me, pleading for forgiveness sin by sin. I think that is what you are going to answer me. You don’t accept an overall asking for forgiveness. It must be specific and global.

CLEAN_C: You are right about it. You see? You don’t seem that ignorant about it all! You know just too well what you ought to start doing. And you know why you keep postponing your duty. And I am sure you also know the reasons why you put up so many excuses to avoid doing. The Bible is learned and fully understood in a practical way, because it speaks quite a lot to our hearts and exposes it fully. Studying those things is not the same thing as experiencing them in daily life. The Bible is a practical book and not a study book. You do not get a degree by studying it, but a Life. And a life needs and demands to be lived.

DIRTY_C: You don’t study the Bible? You only practise it?

CLEAN_C: I study it a lot, of course! But, my intention is to gain the practical knowledge which is able to lead me to a real life of fullness which is, also, very practical. The fuller that life is, the more practical it is made or vice-versa. I won’t study it so I can stay in the old life with the same old heart soothing me into death. Some people take anaesthetics before they die, thinking they won't feel dying. Spiritually, many hear a lot about the Bible while dying in order to avoid thinking they are going to hell.

DIRTY_C: I understand. Some read to learn about a life and some learn how to live by it.

CLEAN_C: That is true. It means any believer may have an old heart or a new heart, just as the Bible has a New and an Old Testament. We need to reach out to our personal New Testament. We cannot afford to live on without experiencing real life, which shall be responsible for a real walk which pleases God. Didn't Enoch walk with God? This is why the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God, since by faith we are able to attain and live a heavenly life. We cannot remain in our old ways after we met up with Christ for real.

DIRTY_C: How so?

CLEAN_C: People who read the Bible a lot and do not find the Life it is trying to lead them into, are often harder people than anyone else we ever know. They change some external things, but we can see it is the same old fox which is trying a new scheme to try to keep its old heart in the temple of God. I believe that anyone who is unable to find the Bible practical and saving has some hidden sin separating him from the Holy Spirit and His power.

DIRTY_C: Now you are calling me a fox? Is that it?

CLEAN_C: I don’t know if you are! Jesus said Herod was a fox! (Luk.13:32)

DIRTY_C: I don’t think I act like a fox. I am not that smart with schemes.

CLEAN_C: A fox is someone who finds many excuses and ways to try to escape the loop of salvation. Sinners wish to carry things out their way and God commands that we do it His way for a change. If people could be saved using the “arm of the flesh”, I am sure they would gladly be saved. However, God does not accept strange fire on His altar. So, sinners need to clean up first, so that they may find the way through which God will have them fully saved from any kind of sin or accusation. A partial salvation can never be considered salvation at all. God’s ways cannot mislead, they will save indeed either from all or from nothing. Unfortunately, man is too used to his own ways and loves them unconsciously above anything else. Man thinks he cannot afford to live on without his ways and without being able to trust himself.

DIRTY_C: I understand.

CLEAN_C: Sinners know only how to save themselves using their own power and ways. If it could work, they would easily be saved. But, man’s ways are too selfish and, consequently, too powerless. Any kind of selfishness is powerless. Besides, it would save the flesh and not the spirit. It is the flesh that keeps the spirit of  man bound in slavery to it. Man's spirit is dead to God under the yoke of the flesh. We need to learn how to do, how to be able to be obedient to everything Jesus has taught and still teaches us. That is what Jesus commanded His disciples to do.

DIRTY_C: What did Jesus command them to do?

CLEAN_C: He told His disciples they should go out into the whole world to teach the way one is to obey and to show how one should go about to observe anything or everything He has taught or commanded, and how it should be done and accomplished. This is what He left us as a New Testament: the way to become able to do. This is what He said: “Go into the world, (...) make disciples of all nations (...) teaching them (how) to observe whatever I commanded you”, Mat.18:20.

DIRTY_C: What does that mean?

CLEAN_C: It means we should not only teach people what Jesus taught, but also teach them how to find the way to do and to fulfil. There is a certain special way to go about it and it really works out. It is an awesome way and it simply works. Jesus specifically instructed His disciples to teach people how to observe. It is not the same as teaching them what the things are that Jesus commanded. We need to do things the way they are done in heaven. We need to reach out and find heaven’s way by ourselves or we will never make it, not even when Jesus’ commandments seem to be simple and easy. Doing and obeying through Jesus makes them even easier and lighter. This is why Jesus said He came to fulfil. He fulfils in us and through us.

DIRTY_C: You mean, we should learn the way to carry it out at first and not jump blindly into doing as ignorant people are often tempted to do. You mean we should learn about the way it is done before we do, right?

CLEAN_C: That is what I mean. The Bible says God directs our steps, even when our hearts have already made decisions, Prov.16:9. “O Lord, I know that the way of man does not belong to man; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps”, Jer.10:23. We can assume that a man who doesn’t walk with God will direct his steps, but not any of those who really walk with the Lord. However, when there are things separating us from God, He can’t possibly direct our steps in a way that suits us. Sin between us and God causes us to be abnormal creatures. We cannot be normal beings under the yoke of sin at all. If people’s minds were not in complicated turmoils, surely they would understand God’s things much better and much easier. We would learn the ways of God as easy as children learn an inner instruction or an inner prumpt. If God is really at work within us and we seek to be quiet in our souls to live under the influence of God, we would learn as easy as babies learn to suck from their mother’s breasts. Under such circumstances, it is very easy to learn. Nothing can hinder that happening that way, not even death, hunger or anything else under the sun. We only need to be clean and childlike.

DIRTY_C: I hate being childish.

CLEAN_C: I don’t mean you should be childish, but rather childlike. Little children are not complicated beings. Their heart works in a very simple way. I only mean to be as simple as they are and not to be foolish or childish. We must be ourselves and function inside without hindrances, fears or annoyances. “Brothers, do not be children in your minds, but in malice be like infants, and in your minds be mature”, 1 Cor.14:20.

DIRTY_C: What did you mean when you said I need to find my own New Testament?

CLEAN_C: God said: “Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant… Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, says the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make… After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD’: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”, Jer.31:31-34.

DIRTY_C: What does that mean?

CLEAN_C: Can’t you see? Jesus will be able to teach intimately even a little one! This is why I said the New Testament is the opposite of ignorance!

DIRTY_C: I think I understood now. God will instruct us and lead us if we are found in a continuous fellowship with Him.

CLEAN_C: Yes, that is what the New Testament is all about. It is different from telling people what they ought to do or when to do. Jesus works on forming man from inside so that he can do and accomplish. John says, “But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him”, 1John 2:27.

DIRTY_C: You mean, we do not need pastors to teach us anymore?

CLEAN_C: Well, it would be good if you did not need them and still managed to carry out all right things the right way. It would only mean your fellowship with the Lord has been made perfect. But, God also appointed holy leaders to teach us the way, even if most leaders are unholy nowadays. If these holy leaders teach you, surely the Holy Spirit will also apply it deep into your being. What counts for the teachers is whether they are able to walk close enough to God to hear the words from His mouth to share them in a proper time, and whether those teachers deliver the words they heard from God faithfully. And, as for the hearer, what counts is the fellowship he is able to maintain with God during all times, including when he hears. God teaches things through plain applications of truth in us and uses the preacher’s words to accomplish just that. Whether you learn things from men or angels, or from Bible reading or dreams, you must know there is still the applicative part after the learning about it and after the hearing. 

DIRTY_C: I understand. Ignorant people also love to teach other people. They feel wise whenever they are able to teach others.  

CLEAN_C: It is true, I can agree with you there. But, wise holy men do everything hoping people will come to a point or stage where they can learn all from the Lord Himself and are able to reach the end of the way still spotless and clean, whether that way is walked with the preacher side by side or not. We need to be taught by God personally, even when people teach us. Any preacher or pastor who does not take you all the way to come to a point where you learn from the Lord personally, cannot be a good pastor. He is a hireling, surely. Anyone who does not lead you to learn from Christ is a worthless wolf, even when he does not admit it!

(Introduction)(Dial.1)(Dial.2)(Dial.3)(Dial.4)(Dial.5)(Dial.6)(Dial.7)(Dial.8)(Dial.9)(Dial.10)

(Dial.11)(Dial.12)(Dial.13)(Dial.14)(Dial.15)(Dial.16)DIALOGUE 17(Dial.18)(Dial.19)(Dial.20)