GOD’S CALLING TO
REMAIN FAITHFUL
By J. FARRELL FISHER
Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful until death…”
INTRODUCTION
Revelation 2:10 is a powerful word by God’s “angel” or messenger when he said, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Biblical faithfulness is not an option that one holds but a biblical command by Heaven itself! Yet, many are programmed by false teachers that obedience would be “salvation by works” rather than eternal evidence that biblical salvation has occurred!
It was Jesus Himself who said in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Lordship IS the Hallelujah Chorus of a redeemed life expressing love and faithfulness and thanksgiving to the “Savior” and “Master” of the “new-born life”!
You are aware, I assume, that there are many who ‘hear’ the Master’s words, ‘believe’ His words, yet do not walk in the spirit of obedience and faithfulness to what He has said. To them, acting on what Jesus has said would be ‘self-effort’ reconciliation, rather than the evidence that “His word is our command”!
In Jeremiah 25:15-18 God spoke through Jeremiah a word that should awaken and sober up any man or nation that has turned away from Holy God! It says:
For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”…
Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me; Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day…”
God “treading grapes” is not a good thing, God giving the wicked “to the sword” is not a good thing, “disaster” as a “great whirlwind” is not a good thing, God “plundering their pastures” is not a good thing, turning “the lions loose” is not a good thing!
And the one thing you should learn as you read a prophet like Jeremiah is: “Fear God, and surrender to Christ alone!”
In Luke 23:36-43 we read about Jesus as He hung on the Cross before His death and the reactions of those around the Cross and on their crosses:
The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”
And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Confronted with Eternal Truth, the dying criminal found grace, mercy, and love, resting in the dying Savior, soon to be resurrected! The “crown of life” was soon placed on his dying head as he trusted in, yes, his Sacrificial Savior and Lord! This man truly sensed, “King Jesus, Lord over life, Lord through death, and Lord in Resurrection power and eternal hope!” Tell me of your eternal hope or your hopeless life!
Do you see “Today” as “Kingdom Living” in full surrender unto His Lordship with “faithfulness” daily to God’s calling for You to “remain faithful”?
OUTLINE
CHAPTER ONE: “SELF-DETERMINED ALLEGIANCES OR A SOVEREIGNLY-DETERMINED ALLIANCE?”
CHAPTER TWO: “STONES OF STUMBLING OR LIVING STONES OF HOLY PRESENCE?”
CHAPTER THREE: “FAITH THAT FALTERS OR FAITH THAT ENDURES?”
CHAPTER FOUR: “FAITH AND GOD’S FAITHFUL PROVISIONS”
CHAPTER FIVE: “FALSE IDENTITY OR TRUE FAITH ‘IN CHRIST’?”
CHAPTER SIX: “FAITH AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF MASTERED MEN”
CHAPTER SEVEN: “SAVING FAITH AND THE CONVERTED’S WORK”
CHAPTER EIGHT: “UNFORGIVENESS-UNFORGIVEN OR FAITH AND FORGIVENESS?”
CHAPTER NINE: “FAITH AND THE REALITY OF KINGDOM TRANSLATION”
CHAPTER TEN: “FAITH AND THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST”
CHAPTER ELEVEN: “FAITH AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF SPIRIT-IDENTITY”
CHAPTER TWELVE: “FAITH’S VERBAL FAILURE OR FAITH’S VICTORIOUS FINISH?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: “FAITH AND ITS EVIDENCE OF THE FATHER’S FRUITFULNESS”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “FAITH AND ITS MAGNETIC, DRAWING POWER!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “THE FAITH JOURNEY AND FOUL WATERS”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: “FAITH’S FIRST LOVE – FOLLOWERS’ FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: “FAITH’S CALL OR FAITH’S COMMITMENT?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: “TRUE FAITH – YOUR THOUGHTS OR GOD’S TRUTH?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: “A FAULTY FAITH OF DEPARTURE OR FAITH THAT SUSTAINS, FEEDS, AND PROVIDES!”
CHAPTER TWENTY: “FLESHLY FAITH OR GOD-GIVEN FAITH?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: “TRUE FAITH – ITS DESPISERS AND ITS FOLLOWERS”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: “TRUE FAITH – TRIUMPHANT WARS!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: “FAITH’S PROBING – FAITH’S PROVING” – CONCLUSION
CHAPTER ONE
“SELF-DETERMINED ALLEGIANCES OR A SOVEREIGNLY-DETERMINED ALLIANCE?”
Do you remember Moses and Aaron going in to Pharoah of Egypt in Exodus 5:1-2, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”? And Pharoah said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” I’ll never forget many, many years ago witnessing to a young lady to tell her about Christ Jesus, and she responded, “Who is she?” I don’t know if I’ve ever been more shocked!
Allegiance to one’s ‘flesh-life’ without any consideration of divine purpose is, without a doubt, the most serious spiritual disease one can ever face, yet the Holy Word of God is clear concerning those who have determined for themselves that darkness is better than Light, that the blackness of one’s soul is better than a “blood-washed” life, and that ‘self-effort’ is more rewarding than God’s divine blessing!
But, of course, most who settle in to “self-determined allegiances” don’t even know that they are “bound” by Satan himself! In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 Paul told the Thessalonians and us: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, BECAUSE they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. AND FOR THIS REASON God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie [that’s “you can sin and not die”!], that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
“Self-determined allegiances” overflow in and through the life of unbelieving men who are controlled and dominated by faithless minds and selfish wills that Paul told Timothy (1 Timothy 6:5) erupted in “useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”
But how many worldly men do you know who would even admit that corrupt minds need redeeming or especially that in their sinfulness they are not destitute of the truth! Oh, they have some “truths” but not the Way, the Truth, and the Life of God! In reality, they are truly spiritually poverty stricken, alienated and separated from Holy God!
Temptations, snares, foolish and harmful lusts, deceiving spirits, even doctrines of demons, consciences seared with a hot iron out of Hell, uncontrolled desires for wine or whiskey or evil drugs, puffed up with fleshly pride, lawless, insubordinate, a blasphemer against Holy Truth, rebellious men and women, unholy and profane, fornicators, sodomites, liars, perjurers, and, yes, haters of God – with Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, warning his spiritual son Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness [that’s attempting the ‘religious route’!] but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
Are you aware of your surroundings of godless people whose intent is to be “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” to your “Sovereignly-determined alliance” with the Lord Jesus Christ?
I was reading recently Arthur Bennett’s “The Valley of Vision,” [The Banner of Truth Trust, PO Box 621, Carlisle, Pa.,, 17013, USA], and was stopped in my tracks strongly as I came to a chapter entitled “Self-Knowledge,” addressed to the Searcher of Hearts, and I KNEW that was Holy God Himself! Bennett wrote:
SEARCHER OF HEARTS, It is a good day to me when You give me a glimpse of myself; Sin is my greatest evil, but You are my greatest good;…
I have cause to loathe myself, and not to seek self-honor, for no one desires to commend his own dunghill. My country, family, church fare worse because of my sins, for sinners bring judgment in thinking sins are small, or that God is not angry with them…
Let me not take other good men as my example, and think I am good because I am like them, For all good men are not so good as You desire, are not always consistent, do not always follow holiness, do not feel eternal good in sore afflictions…
Show me how to know when a thing is evil which I think is right and good, how to know when what is lawful comes from an evil principle, such as desire for reputation or wealth by usury…
Give me grace to recall my needs, my lack of knowing Your will in Scripture, of wisdom to guide others, of daily repentance, want of which keeps You at bay, of the spirit of prayer, having words without love, of zeal for Your glory, seeking my own ends, of joy in You and Your will, of love to others…
And let me not lay my pipe too short of the fountain, never touching the eternal spring, never drawing down water from above.” [p.122-123].
Did awesome God alert you to anything in you that may shame our loving Lord? You do understand that the author of the above words was examining himself as to defiled areas in his life that didn’t honor King Jesus, even speaking later of “chambers of foul images within my being,” with a prayer of thanksgiving, [p.131], saying to Father-God, “But You have given me another Master and Lord, Your Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to You. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ’s nature be seen in me day by day.”
From ‘self-determined allegiances’ to a “Sovereignly-determined Alliance,” the above author knew the conviction Spirit of Holy God and His desire to draw him to Christ, away from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and, yes, turn him to full surrender to the Lordship of Christ and His saving grace and mercy!
Are you aware of how tiring ‘self-determined allegiances’ can become? Do you acknowledge the reality of secret mental rooms where you’ve “played” around with locked rooms of lower-natured vain imaginations, wading in the world’s fleshliness, opening doors at times of sickly dreams, wading in cesspools of filthy imaginations, finally realizing the need of God’s sovereign mercy, grace, and love? And what a day of enormous, eternal victory when that man cries out, “God, be merciful to me the sinner!”
‘Self-determined allegiances’ are men bound to ‘fleshly houses’, men who are unholy priests of a deadly faith, who on the altars of their deadly hearts offer up sick, sensual, sordid thoughts, deeds, or actions that shame the very Name of Christ Jesus. The ‘self-determined’ are men fueled by the very ‘bait’ of their own fallen, depraved, warped sin natures, deformed by the very powers of darkness out to enlarge the boundaries and numbers of their ‘kingdom’ of snares, fleshly, sensual, dusty and dirty defilements that are ‘award winners’ in the devil’s theatrics of “shames” before Holy God!
It was Peter who said in 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul…”, and that was to ‘true believers’, and if true believers war against their souls, where does that leave unbelievers, doubters, enemies of the Cross of Christ? And, oh, how easy it is for unbelievers to indulge themselves in malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking, even cursing God for His amazing grace and undying love!
“Self-determined allegiances”? Do you sense how easy it is for finite men to walk away and turn their backs on “Infinite God” Who never changes, but the kingdoms of men fall fast in an evil world, lapse deeper into a pit of denial and unbelief, paint louder and louder their colors of defiance, rebellion, and fleshly uncertainties, saying to Holy God: “Let us alone! Leave us with our nakedness, our vainness, our uncertainties, our spiritual ignorance – silence the preachers, the evangelists, the witnesses of Your saving grace – we’re not interested!!”
“Self-determined allegiances”? That’s the spiritually blinded who refuse to “see” the “Light of the world,” satisfied by their sensual desires, their spiritual ignorance of “God’s Eternal Love” for them, and satisfied to settle for “self-will” rather than the Eternal Will of God! I wrote the following words a few years ago as I contemplated the end result of a Christ-less life. It says: “All hail the power of a worldly man’s name, Let demons prostrate fall, let sinners prostrate fall; Bring forth a false diadem, and crown us lord of our own lives…
You chosen seed of the devil’s clan, You prisoner of the Fall, Hail him who captured by his lies, crown him lord of the fallen world…
Let every family, every tribe, On this disastrous fall, yes, on this disastrous fall, To hail the devil all misery release, crown him lord of the Fall…
O that with young devilish clans, who at the devil’s feet will bow, we’ll join that off-key chorus, and celebrate godlessness as our call.”
Though ‘fallen humanity’ does not know it, they are under Satan’s control, yes, guided by his many sub-creatures called ‘demons’ who major on spiritual blindness, fleshly ignorance of their imprisonment in the devil’s army, encouraging a strong ‘self-will’ void of any leaning toward divine will, emphasizing hardened consciences to even hear one word from Holy God; rather than an abhorrence of evil, Satan paints sinful malignances as ‘supreme master-pieces’, spiritual wounds because of disobedience to God as ‘stars’ of a Four-Star general in his army of the deceived!
“Self-determined allegiances”? Are you aware of fallen humanity’s “modern-day’s mobilization” of all to be free to choose to follow the voice of the “deceiver”, and to be delivered over to one’s selfishness, sensing ‘unrighteousness’ as a ‘blessing’ and not a ‘curse’, sympathizing with indolence, rebellion, meanness, and unbelief as the ‘true nature’ of a blessed individual? Yes, to them, spiritual adultery is a virtue, not a victimization of fallen creatures alienated and separated from Holy God!
Are you aware of how much flaunting there is in modern-day cultures with no shame or sorrow over separation from Holy God? In fact, it’s as if modern-man and modern-woman’s vain imaginations have ushered in award-winning performances for their monuments of pollution, un-ashamed-ness, and indifference to God’s Holy Truths!
In Revelation 16:10-11 we read about a “bowl” being poured out filled with darkness and pain! It says: “Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, and did not repent of their deeds.” But, maybe, today – maybe YOU will be one of those who fall before the King of kings and Lord of lords to repent of YOUR “self-determined allegiances”!
But rather than “self-determined allegiances”, why not consider for yourself a “Sovereignly Determined Alliance”? As Paul was intent on discipling young Timothy, he wrote to him in 1 Timothy 2:1-5, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence…
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle – I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying – a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”
Paul became, by the grace and mercy of Holy God, God’s appointed, anointed earthly representative of God’s divine intent of reconciling the lost world unto Himself! What did Paul say God’s intent was? “…God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved [redeemed, regenerated, re-born, reconciled] and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
But here is the everlasting Truth that you may have missed: Revelation 13:8 speaks of those who ‘worship’ “the beast” – not God but the devil’s leaders! And Verse 8 says, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb [of God] slain from the foundation of the world.” Yes, the Lamb of God slain in the mind and heart of God from the very foundation of the world! Several thousand years later Emmanuel came, “God with us”, to be God’s sacrifice on the Cross for our sins!
Are you aware that in Genesis 3:8 we find Adam and Eve “hiding themselves from the presence of the Lord”?
And then in Verse 9 we read of the Lord God calling to Adam and saying to him, “Where are you?” And I certainly don’t believe it was God asking Adam about his exact geographical location in the Garden, but did Adam now know where he was spiritually before God, exposed in his nakedness? “Where are YOU”?
In Verse 7 we read: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” And we have the establishment of “Fig-Leaf Religion” authored by fallen mankind, but you’re not sure that it still stands? Give me a break!
“Hiding from God” becomes ‘fallen nature’s’ diversified deceptions with multiplied sorrows and pains because rebellion against Holy God always produces “cursed grounds with thorns and thistles”!
In James 1:12-15 the brother of Jesus shares the blessing and the curse: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” And then James said in the very next verse, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”
A “Sovereignly-Determined Alliance”? In Genesis 6:5-6 we discover the broken heart of Almighty God! The Word tells us, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. AND THE LORD WAS SORRY THAT HE HAD MADE MAN ON THE EARTH, AND HE WAS GRIEVED IN HIS HEART.”
But two verses later, Verse 8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and God determined hope remains! The Ark of Safety became a divine reality! And since that time God still searches for men who become tools in extending God’s life, expressing God’s love, and proving His power to save, heal, and deliver!
In this “sovereignly-determined alliance” how could one overlook Abram! In Genesis 12:1-3 the Lord said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
And if you didn’t know it, Abram was used of God to prepare the way of the Coming Messiah with Jesus even saying during His earthly pilgrimage, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he was glad!” Genesis 15:6 says, “And he [Abram] believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Are there Moses-men leading the “chosen” out of ‘slavery’ to Egypt? Are there anointed, appointed, assigned-by-God men ordained with an eternal calling to lead people out of ‘bondage’ to the true freedom of oneness with Holy God, to the blessing of transformation from ‘flesh’-living to Holy Spirit guidance, to the divine assignment of “witnesses” to Heavenly living on earth in and through oneness with the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords? Are there truly men throughout human history who become so aware of the futility of self-awareness and come to self-despair, and hearing of the preciousness of Christ Jesus the Lord, turn from their sinfulness to His divine forgiveness, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb of God?
“Sovereignly-Determined Alliances” are so numerous throughout both the Old and the New Testaments of sovereign grace and mercy! Consider prophets raised up by God to confront, expose, and convict a wayward people! In Hebrews 1:1 we read: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets…”
We find an amazing Verse in Jeremiah 1:5 when the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you [‘set you apart’]; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Isn’t it amazing to you that Holy God “formed men to be His servants,” turning men and nations back to the Lord with prophetic utterances, challenges, even warnings, restoring men and nations to God’s intended purposes? He gave prophets “as a light to the Gentiles”! They came with “repent or else,” with “turn or burn,” with the call to “set the captives free,” with “forsake darkness and come to the Light,” with “inherit the desolate heritages” and restore them as “highways of holiness.”
Holy God and blessed prophets! How great were those men anointed of God to turn nations, families, individuals, back to Him! How anointed men were tools in God’s hands to turn vain men to victorious, eternal living! How the prophetic Word exposed empty dreams and fleshly vanities and shameful insensibilities to God’s holy love! How ‘fatal enchantments’ binding men and women in reckless, ungodly affections, were turned by the Blood of the Lamb to eternal life and everlasting blessing and to forever, overcoming, conquering victorious living in the Resurrection Life of Christ Jesus!
“Sovereignly-Determined Alliances”? Have you ever considered why Paul said, “Preach the Word”? Didn’t Christ Jesus magnify, “Man shall not live by [physical] bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”?
It was the author of Hebrews who said, Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
One’s reception or denial, feeding on or avoiding, trusting in or resisting, the Holy Word of God, is a clear picture of one’s true salvation or fleshly lost-ness and separation from Holy God! Do you understand or grasp the imprisonment of worldly dispositions OR the freedom and liberty the blood of the Lamb gives to a repentant heart, surrendered mind, and submissive will to God’s salvation ministry? Are you familiar with the words from the song that says, “Amazing love, how can it be, that You my God should die for me?” But He did – on Calvary’s Cross!
As Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper with His disciples, Matthew 26:26-29, And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” THE KINGDOM HAS COME! KING JESUS REIGNS! FEED NOW ON HIS WORD!
“Sovereignly-Determined Alliance”? Are you fully aware of the ministry of the Holy Spirit through YOU? In Acts 1:8 Jesus commissioned His disciples, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
There is no doubt that in this day and age, in and through the American church, there must be a fresh ‘baptism’ of Holy Spirit anointing! Holy Spirit anointing is the overflowing of the very fruit of God Himself in His love being shed abroad through His disciples to touch a lost world with His amazing love and grace and mercy! Through you, as a born-again believer, reconciled to God, now you are commissioned as His “royal ambassadors”, no longer bound by callous indifference, but in-filled, in-fused, empowered by Holy Spirit anointing to touch the world with His love!
It’s time for Spirit-conviction, Spirit-anointing, Spirit-authenticity, to reach out through you as you open your heart wide to His unveiling of God’s redeeming love through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! It was Jesus Himself who said in John 16:8 about His earthly departure and the Holy Spirit’s earthly residence – “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…”
The Holy Spirit enlightens your darkness without Christ, illumines the deceit of your sin, exposes the tricks and treachery of your old sin nature and its perverse ways, gives one vision of the vastness of separation from Holy God and what eternity will be like in one’s life without God’s saving grace, mercy, and love, and paints the dark and foreboding heart of a Godless life, unveils one’s fleshly insensibility to God’s Holy Presence, His eternal desire, and what the Way of the Cross is as it relates to God’s love of fallen mankind.
Are YOU aware of ‘fatal enchantments’ that can so blind one to Calvary’s love, encouraging one devotion to their old sin nature is not a bad thing, when in reality, under the mask of pretense is both captivity to evil affections and the fleshly love of that God-less life?
But then there comes the Holy Spirit in the forever cloud of God’s Holy love for the ‘sinner’ for whom Christ died! Eternal grace has opened the door to divine reconciliation! And a heavenly chorus of divine singing begins to surround the needy sinner with songs of God’s redeeming love, with Master-pieces of blood redemption, with the Spirit of the King of Life overshadowing, opening a new door and saying, “Welcome Home”! The Spirit comes and leads you to repentance, leads you to faith, leads you to justification, sanctification, and the daily glorying in the divine life of Resurrected Jesus, ruling through His victory, and by His Spirit daily releasing the Victorious Life of the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Are you aware that day by day you are clasped with the loving hand of eternal friendship as Christ Jesus faithfully takes you to God’s throne, rejoicing that YOU are one with Jesus, with the Father, and with His precious Holy Spirit? Are you living in the “new day” of the eternal divine life Jesus gives to all who are of repentant hearts and willful surrender to His Lordship? Do you understand, “Christ in you the hope of glory”? Christ the Giver is the Author of all blessing, unveiling more and more of Himself daily as His children mature in their faith, obedience, and reception of all He is!
Does His revealing Himself to you assure you more and more of a blessed life, a purposeful existence overflowing with eternal callings and ministries, unveiling the vastness of His goodness, His mercy, His love and grace, glorifying Himself through US as we lean not to our own understanding but in all our ways we give Him His rightful, redemptive, and reigning place as Victorious Conqueror through us? DO IT – in Jesus’ precious Name above all names!
CHAPTER TWO
“STONES OF STUMBLING OR LIVING STONES OF
HOLY PRESENCE?”
In 1 Peter 2:4-10 we find vital words of eternal purpose for every life on the face of the earth, but sadly some refuse the ministry of God’s Holy Word to reveal to them His plan! It says:
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, YOU ALSO, AS LIVING STONES, ARE BEING BUILT UP A SPIRITUAL HOUSE, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe [trust in, rely upon, adhere to], He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’…
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. BUT YOU are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
“They stumble…”, sad words for human lives who see “the call of God” on their lives as unimportant, unnecessary to their life-journeys, and ill-conceived by warped minds with no fleshly dreams, plans, or earthly ambitions – “just satisfy your flesh, your old sin-nature, your total self-promotion, and like Solomon keep building your self-worship centers or tabernacles!”
It was Stephen, in Acts 7, who exposed Israel’s rebellion against Holy God and His eternal purpose, calling them “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” When one considers Old Testament history of Judaism, one finds only a remnant who obeyed Holy God in submission, surrender, and a true servant-heart! Are you aware of how easily spiritual deception can come over a group of people like the scribes and Pharisees of Judaism who were so blinded to themselves and their false standing before God? One of the dangerous places to be in a spiritual journey is to be spiritually blinded to the slavery of a sin-blackened heart, yet boastful of self-preeminence in their journeys of a blinded faith!
Even religious Pharisees of today are ‘self-assured’ rather than Sovereignly redeemed, delivered, and empowered in living the Christ-honoring life! They really have no awareness of their fallen sin-natures or the necessity of “crucified with Christ” and “raised” up to eternal privileges in and through His resurrected life and Holy Presence in a true believer!
“Strangers to God”? “Why, we’re His best friends, His most religiously trained and equipped generation”, when in reality they’re strangers, foreigners, outcasts, and enemies, knowing nothing of full surrender and loyalty to the very Spirit of the King of kings and Lord of lords! The absence of Christ from religious self-promotion is a life gripped in the stronghold of a trembling shame, darkened spiritual eyes, and blinded minds, with no true rest, no peace that passes all understanding, and no “joy in the Lord” but a hellish happiness that deceives and enslaves and infects more and more in the deadly diseases of Hell itself as the ‘religious crowd’ celebrate their devilish brilliance!
How “easy” the fallen, the wayward, the unbelieving, the barren trees, the fruitless vineyards, the worldly, the ‘self-promoting’ denounce, ignore, and deny the amazing grace and love of God so brilliantly shining on the hill called Mount Calvary – they ‘flow’ in the river of an unexhausted stream of sin, in the river of a fouled stream of denial of the need of God in their godless flow, in the powerful movement of Satanic delight overflowing with waves of self-despair, waves of strong denials of the need of saving grace and mercy, and waves of indifference concerning the “crucified Christ” and His resurrection, ascension, and soon-coming!
To the “strangers”, “you must be born again” is to them ‘religious garbage’ when in reality it’s the miracle of grace, love, and mercy, that shines brilliantly in the darkened heart and mind of unbelief, that unveils to the spiritually bankrupt the very wealth of Heaven’s treasures reserved in their names, and opens Heaven’s Door to the Resurrected King, in the repentant one’s heart and life, Jesus’ abiding presence, amazing power, His ‘all in all,’ and, yes, His eternal faithfulness to the Father’s will, Word, and way, through us as we choose to yield to Him daily in His eternal devotion to “obey” that Father, even through the Cross!
“Strangers to God”? Did Peter tell us that “strangers to God” are ‘disobedient to the Word of God’? That’s 1 Peter 2:8! It was Paul who wrote to Titus in Titus 3:3 saying to him and us, “For we ourselves were also foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another,” and that was a Jewish Rabbi and leader before his “new birth” in and through Christ Jesus!
But Peter, in 1 Peter 4:3, said: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles [unbelievers] – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”
And isn’t it amazing to you that in Old Testament Judaism much of Judaism allowed idols in the temple in which they professed loyalty to God as they bowed before their idols? But isn’t it true also that in our modern-day acknowledgement of Christianity that many profess being “partakers of the divine nature” of Christ as they hold onto the corruption that is in their world through lust? Do you ever encounter, in the church, “those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority, presumptuous, self-willed, [those who are] spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls”? [2 Peter 2:10,13b-14].
But aren’t YOU thankful that “stones of stumbling”, by God’s grace, can and do become “Living Stones of Holy Presence”? I was reading in Acts 16:16-19, overjoyed as I saw a slave-girl to Satan freed by God’s divine grace! It says: “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days.” Paul prayed for her deliverance – and it happened!
And are you familiar with what happened next in Paul and Silas’ lives? The masters of the delivered young lady saw “that their hope of profit was gone” and dragged Paul and Silas to the local ruling authorities with the two servants of Christ ending up imprisoned! [Whoever said ‘peace and safety’ is assured to all New Testament disciples bought deception rather than the reality of, yes, troubles, oppositions, enemies, even sufferings for the faith at times!].
In Acts 17:5-8 we find more assaults on faithful disciples! “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king – Jesus.’ And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.”
Elevated to divine living in the life of Christ as a faithful disciple is to open the door to fleshly and demonic and worldly opposition! Even one’s own redeemed life will face battles between the old man and the Spirit-man! But also the ruler of the world of darkness rallies his forces as a new child of saving faith is birthed. And the powers of darkness are intent on displacing, distressing, and demoralizing the young servants of Christ, seeking to erect in them monuments of doubt, fears, and failures, reminding them often of their evil ways when they were without Christ as Lord and Savior, and seeking to cover over the realities of them “in Christ” becoming monuments of divine mercy and grace with Christ raising them high as eternal trophies of His triumphant power and might!
“Strangers to God”? How easily unbelievers become “stones of stumbling” as those around them trip over, stumble, and are led astray by one another in their clouds of rebellion and disobedience and the absence of redemptive faith in them and through them! Even their spiritual famine becomes a deadly influence and their spiritual nakedness exposes their unbelieving identity, and they take others down with them; their unbelieving identity produces deadly fruit with their lives governed by sinful passions, bondage and captivity, producing in them corrupted minds and hearts, and the devil himself finding a comfortable abode of darkness, indifference to God, and weak individuals through whom he enlarges his hell-bent domains!
“Stones of stumbling” become objects of shamefulness as their sinful hearts become rivers of corruption, their minds darkened in wretchedness and continual wavering, their iniquitous ways making stronger in them the very gates of Hell to keep them in chains, their spiritual blindness assuring them that what is wrong is right, what is darkness is light, what is misery is mercy, what is a lie is truth, and what is their sinfulness is their God-given right to “do as you please” without any consequences or end results! Tell me! “How does one ever get to the place he/she feels they can live without and survive apart from God’s saving grace, mercy, and love?”
But rather than choosing to be a participant in “Stones of Stumbling,” what about the eternal blessing of choosing to be one of God’s “Living Stones of Holy Presence”? What was it Peter said in 1 Peter 1:4-5? “Coming to Him [the Lord Jesus] as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
“Living Stones of Holy Presence”? What did we see in 1 Peter 2:9-10? “But you [in Christ] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
That’s the blood-bought redeemed whose victorious faith is in the Lamb slain whose name is Christ Jesus. God told Israel of the Coming Messiah but they substituted ‘self-effort’ for the Savior’s sacrifice! It’s why God said to Israel through Hosea the prophet in Hosea 6:4b-6, “For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
God then, one verse later, Verse 7, alarmingly said, “But like men they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with Me.” That’s truly unbelievers who treat God through a sad state of rejection, self-will, and denial, but born-again believers are the “new creations” who walk in submission and obedience and faithful trust in what God says, demands, and expects!!
This is why Paul enlightens, challenges, and expects the true followers of Christ to not be ‘unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.’ [2 Corinthians 6:14-16].
As a result of the love, mercy, and grace of God, repentant hearts are described by God as NOW a part of the Heavenly, Royal, Eternal Family of God! 2 Corinthians 6:18 tells us, God speaking, “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
I’ve been so blessed lately reading Arthur Bennett’s book, “The Valley of Vision,” [published by The Banner of Truth Trust]. In the writing entitled “God The All”, [p.5], Bennett wrote: “I know that You are the author and finisher of faith, that the whole work of redemption is Yours alone, that every good work or thought found in me is the effect of Your power and grace, that the sole motive in working in me to will and to do for Your good pleasure. O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much about man’s creaturely power and goodness, when, if You did not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate. This, by bitter experience, You have taught me concerning myself.”
Aren’t YOU thankful God unveils Himself in every good and perfect and perfecting work, but He allows us to be His vessels of containment of ALL HE IS AND DOES THROUGH US?
Did Peter tell us [1Peter 1:4-5] that “having come to Him…chosen by God…[declared] living stones…are being built up by Him…[first] as a spiritual house…”? Judaism decided, Solomon decided, “God needs a beautiful, gorgeous temple,” when God’s plan was to establish His residence in the hearts and lives of trusting men and women!
We read in Acts 7:48-50 the following: “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?’” God declared further in 2 Corinthians 6:16b, “For you are the temple of the living God.”
You understand – it’s so much easier building physical temples and buildings rather than being aware of His desired Holy Presence in you as His earthly dwelling place! Do you consider that earthly temples are easier to maintain than understanding of Him in YOU requires “cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness [in us] in the fear of God…”?
God’s revelation to His saints? In Colossians 1:27-28 we read, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
That’s not “imitation living” but a divine reality; that’s not the best of common flesh but “the presence of Him WHO IS our All in All;” that’s not cheap, counterfeit ‘likenesses’ but the Living, Resurrected, Reigning Life of Christ Jesus or Emmanuel, ‘God with us’; true manhood is the awareness of eternal emptiness in the best effort of ‘flesh’ but faithfully accepting that I know that truthfulness best when I find myself fully surrendered to His Lordship and accepting the crucifixion of my old life and nature when Christ Jesus took me to the Cross with Him – as He died, so did I!!
God’s revelation to His saints? I’d address that like this: “To be Heavenly relevant is to be earthly radical in willing obedience to all our Lord says to us as His disciples!” “Come…Follow Me!” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life [for himself] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, BUT HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN.”
And God’s desire for every child of faith who has decided to follow Christ Jesus as Lord, Savior, Master, Ruler, King over his heart and life? God looks for the man who recognizes his emptiness and willing to rest in Christ’s fullness, He looks for the man who clearly understands the voids in his old heart and life but recognizes the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God looks for the man who willingly submits the ‘clay’ of his earthly life to be transformed by God into the very likeness of the Lamb, and who senses that God Himself is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all one asks or thinks, transforming the repentant one into a son of God, into the very image of Heaven and Earth’s adored Savior and Lord, dramatically, dynamically, and eternally determined by His Almighty Power to raise up sons and daughters of faith in the Son’s exact likeness as those who walk with Him in Heaven’s “glory-cloud”!
“Heirs of the kingdom, raised up in Christ; sons of faith resurrected from death into life; chains now broken from devilish enslavements, freed in Christ to bold eternal service!
Sons of flesh in sinful domination, but the blood of Jesus ushering in eternal resurrection; self-serving men becoming vessels of Holy Presence, repentant hearts becoming Heaven’s rejoicing chorus.
From temporal slaves to eternal servants, God’s love and grace “new sons” to reveal God’s place; no foreign idol before a ‘stone’ to bow, but eternal presence in the here and now!
The chorus of angels continually call, and receptive hearts willingly fall, bowing before Him in full surrender, joyfully submitting to Holy God’s splendor!
Earth and heaven joined as one, bowing before Him in the brightness of His Eternal Son; the beams of His presence enlighten one’s thoughts, so deeply aware His life is not bought, but graciously given the breaking of chains, that He as their Savior eternally reigns!
Grant me a vision of Christ on His throne, ruling in peace of a life Word-sown; show me assurance of His Life fully present as I die daily to myself that His glory may glow in radiant skies as we give to Him no alibis!
Circumcised hearts and yielded minds, right spirits within of the heavenly kind; dead to sin daily that His Name may be honored, no confusion or sins or self-glory even pondered; ruling our hearts as King of our lives, willingly choosing no fleshly deployments, but soldiers of Christ in Spirit-anointings!
Though my body may weary as the older I get, His Spirit-anointing has me graciously set, ready to live, ready to die, ready to serve faithfully even in the sweet by and by. No out-doing God – it could never be done, but in His hands we’ve already won – victors in Christ, servants of the Master, death in Him is no disaster!
A finished salvation so graciously revealed, a forever uniting purposefully sealed; one cry we hold and daily are bold, to say to others, “In Him, Behold!” Grace after grace, gift after gift, our “Sabbath Rest” says in Him we’re forever blessed! A finished salvation so graciously given, His abiding presence so faithfully enlivens, His peace of heart in me will not depart, His Word is true and assures God’s part!”
“Living Stones of Holy Presence”? Paul so enlightened, encouraged, and elevated the new Corinthian church when in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 he told them, and us, “Now the Lord is the Spirit [the Holy Spirit]; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
God’s ‘amazing grace’ in Christ is supernatural power that ‘raises the dead’ into sons and daughters of everlasting life in Him! Your “treasure-gift” from God? In 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 Paul enlightens us even more when he wrote: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are [often] hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always [always, always, always] carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
Earlier, in 2 Corinthians 1:9-11, Paul proclaimed, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, what should be every disciple’s daily ‘discipline’: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He still will deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.”
Life’s serenity in Christ is a disciple’s eternal gift that encourages, uplifts, and strengthens him/her, whether in one’s celebration days or a day’s distresses, whether a day of defeat or one of unchangeable victory, whether in one’s fears and cares of temporary loss or the eternal awareness of His perfect peace because of the gift of eternal gain He gives to every true believer! Do you receive the Word daily? “THE LORD OUR GOD REIGNS OMNIPOTENTLY IN OUR BEHALF AND FOR HIS GLORY!” “Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who gave and gives His life for the sheep!” “Christ Jesus? Our Savior, our Lord and Master, our Defender, our Provider, our Strengthener and Helper, our Blessing and Blesser, our Ever-Present Ruler and Protector, my Door to everlasting delights and unimaginable inheritances and Heavenly rejoicing!”
CHAPTER THREE
“FAITH THAT FALTERS OR FAITH THAT ENDURES?”
In Hebrews 10:19-25 the writer, directed by the Holy Spirit and unveiling the very heart of God for each of us as true followers, was inspired to tell us about “holding strongly your confession.” And he wisely encourages us to “draw near [to God, to our Lord and Savior, and to the Holy Spirit, guided by His eternal Word]] with a true heart in full assurance of faith…”! Follow His precious Word:
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest [place] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
From this scripture on in the chapter the author emphasizes “the just [living] by faith” – and that continually, not short-term! He then closes out Hebrews 10 saying in Verse 39, “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” Drawing back to perdition? If you didn’t know it, you should! There are those having begun their spiritual journey with Christ Jesus who have “turned back, turned away, yes, even voiding their commitment to the Savior and Lord!” [If you are unsure about this, examine carefully Luke 12:39-46!!].
The disease of sin is deadly, not only for unbelievers, but true believers! And isn’t it sad that some ‘sick folks’ refuse the physician’s care? Some ‘believers’ doubt the dangers of sin’s diseases! Some ‘believers’ doubt watchfulness is necessary in the journey of faith! Some ‘believers’ have no true understanding of the necessity of one’s detachment from the influence of their ‘old man tendencies’ or even the strong influence of ‘new man’ temptations unaware of the devil’s tests or the world’s drawing power!
It’s so interesting to read Mark 1:12-13 where the Word tells us, Immediately the Spirit drove Him [Jesus] into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.” [Thank God for ministering angels, yes, in your wilderness temptation experiences!].
Paul was testifying about his conversion experiences before King Agrippa and the scribes and Pharisees in Acts 26 testifying of his encounter with Christ, his calling and ministry under God, and alerting him to all he would face. Verses 15-18 tells us: ‘So I said, Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and FROM THE POWER OF SATAN TO GOD, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
Hypocrisy IS “play-acting”, but in the walk of redemptive faith it is eternal reality of oneness with Christ which includes spiritual warfare with the devil and the powers of darkness. Hypocrisy is the devil’s plan in any ‘believer’ to issue cheap imitations of the Lord’s “golden crowns”, to grant fleshly masks that at least give the appearance of one’s spiritual leanings but unworthy and unfit as the true reflection of Christ, or clearly and purposefully misusing the sacred and the holy without any guilt or remorse as long as they are acknowledged as spiritual! And that, my friend, is demonic and devilish influences directing one’s journey!
“Faith that falters”? Without a doubt, in most cases, it is a life ungrateful of saving grace and mercy, because, seriously they like ‘religion’ apart from repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross. That’s folks out to approve ‘image’ apart from reconciliation to Holy God by way of personal brokenness, godly sorrow, and true confession as to the need of Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and Master of their lives. That’s the independent clan who sense no need to be a part of the Family of God; who needs God’s arm of omnipotence when he/she is so strong in and of himself/herself?
“Faith that falters”? That’s the life, when the masks are off, that reveal dangerous weeds of the poisonous sin nature they refuse to let go of: self-righteousness, self-adoration, self-sinner-ship which is doing as one pleases, not what God requires, self-pride, self-concern only of ‘me, my, mine,’ self-love and the satisfaction of every sinful tendency, a life more concerned about man’s opinions than God’s omnipotence; “evil?” –“ that’s just a dark cloud that flies by occasionally, not something one should be concerned about” – Have you ever heard someone say who ‘professes faith’ without any concern for God’s tent of grace and mercy, “I have no need of Sovereign help – I’m able even though weak, I’m able even though frail, I’m able even though infirmed and deficient, I’m able though I live a discouraging ‘life-journey’, I’m able though I know my self-seeking brings no glory or honor to God; yes, “My profession is without possession, my self-importance is empty, my outward glow doesn’t give the true picture of my sin and guilt, discouragement is Hell’s award-winner for me, my walk is tasteless, embittered, unrefined,, unreformed, and spiritually infirmed!”
“Faithless disciples”? In Luke 17 a man came to Jesus, kneeling before Him and saying, Verses 15-21, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”…
Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour…
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
I pray you didn’t float over and around, never landing on a “faithless and perverse generation,” even empty of healing grace “because of your unbelief”!
Are you familiar with the parable of the sower in Luke 8:11-15? Jesus said, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear [Have YOU heard the word of God?]; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved…
But the ones on the rock are those, who when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity…
But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience [or steadfastness].”
“Faithless men of the world.” Are you aware of Cain and his ‘fallen countenance’? [Genesis 4:6]. Verse 16 speaks of Cain “wandering” or Going “out from the presence of the Lord.” Oh, and then only by Genesis 6 there is a dramatic heart-breaking of God Himself! Genesis 6:5 tells us, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Scattered men because of fleshly towers being built “to make a name for ourselves,” and you don’t believe that attitude still exists today? Are “Esaus still selling “birthrights” today? Of course, no worries today about people worshipping and serving their “golden calves”, right? Solomon’s Temple instead of Holy Presence in the heart? No true Sabbath Rests? No interest in the budding of God’s rod? Desert years in place of disciples’ yieldedness? Religious idols in place of a covenant with Holy God? False gods rather than Holy God, Loving Savior, and the Holy Spirit? Scornfully denying the Rock of one’s salvation?
In Joshua 23:14-16 there is an awesome word of warning for people all over the world because God never changes!! “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth [one is born, he lives, he dies!!]. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you; not one word of them has failed…
Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you…
When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”
Faithless men of the world, a faithless and perverse generation, faithless disciples, possessors of a faith that falters or the full assurance of the true faith that endures? In Jude, Verses one and two, we read of Jude, “a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”
Then, in Verses 20-21, Jude tells those of true, enduring faith: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life…”. Oh, and then Jude said in Verses 24-25, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” Amen means agreement or “so be it!”
It sounds to me that “building one’s self up on your most holy faith” is to be the strong foundation in every true believer’s life! In 1 Timothy 1:12, 14-17, Paul told Timothy, a spiritually young son in the faith, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because HE COUNTED ME FAITHFUL [or credited to Paul’s account full, finishing, infinite faith!], putting me into the ministry…
Verses 14-17, And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.”
“Faith that endures”? In Mark 11:22 Jesus laid the strong, eternal, life-changing faith to His new disciples when He said to them simply, “Have faith in God.” That’s the eternal God, the Author of His creation, God Almighty who speaks and the worlds are framed, who speaks and rivers, seas, and oceans flow, who speaks and there’s the bright sun and the shining moon and beautiful stars, who speaks and human beings inhabit His new world, who authored life unto Himself but fleshly men crowned human existence under their domain and reign of darkness! “Faith in God”?
Yes, that’s Holy God who creates, the God whose very Name is hallowed, the God whose strength, life, and creation is of the Almighty’s handiwork, “the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome… a God to be feared, a God to be served, a God to bow before and yield all to His Holy Sovereignty, a God who is to be YOUR praise, your adoration, your surrender, and your total yieldedness!”
In fact, Paul, so anointed by the Holy Spirit, wrote strong foundation support of the necessity of the Holy Spirit in one’s spiritual journey of faith. In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 he wrote, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Paul’s speech, his preaching, his declaration of redemptive faith, was primarily on the foundation of saving faith that saves, sustains, strengthens, and sends out as true missionaries, witnesses, proclaimers of biblical faith!
In Romans 4 we learn more of Abraham’s saving faith! Romans 4:13-5:1 is Paul’s declaration of faith on the foundation of God’s promises to him and to us. He wrote: Don’t miss this revelation from God!!
“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, BUT THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no [known] transgression…
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed – God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” …
And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”…
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. [Romans 5:1], Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” AMEN? We were “dead in Adam,” but made alive in Christ and declared ‘righteous’ by the mercy of God!
Do you understand “helplessness” when it comes to one being confronted by God to live the overcoming life of sin and death? Without Christ Jesus one is “without strength, without hope, without even, yes, faith” – but redemptive faith IS the gift of loving, merciful, gracious God, who so loved you and me, desiring we be reconciled to Him through the blood of Christ; so God “gives” saving faith to any who desire to be reconciled to Him!
In fact, in Romans 5:8-11, we read joyfully, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been “justified by His blood”, we shall be [being] saved from wrath through Him. For if when we WERE ENEMIES we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Do you even comprehend or understand how many “teachers” of the Bible go about teaching about “then,” “out there,” “someday,” “in the sweet by and by,” and leave out “our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we HAVE NOW RECEIVED the reconciliation”?
Look at Romans 5:15-17!! “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
Is your spiritual journey a matter of fleshly performance or the position of the grace of God? Are you ‘gritted’ or graced? Are you ‘climbing’ as best you can or resting in our Lord’s ‘finished work’ at Calvary? Is your walk of faith a matter of self-determination or God’s free gift of righteousness in and through Christ’s resurrection victory over sin and death?
Are you aware of God’s surpassing greatness and mercy, His amazing grace, His awesome goodness, and His faithful favor, in blotting out man’s sin and guilt through the blood of His Son and our Savior at the Cross, with you either accepting or rejecting what the Lord Jesus did at Calvary?
Are you ruled by ingratitude and unbelief or continual thanksgiving and trust in the Calvary sacrifice and death in your place? Are you able to say to Holy God, “Father, it was my sin, my rebellion, my self-centeredness that placed Jesus there to die – He took my place. I repent, and I rest in His finished work and His available resurrection life and eternal hope.”
Are you aware of your guiltiness, pardoned by the blood of the Lamb? Have you grasped the eternal salvation through Him available now to the repentant heart and trusting will? Do you rest now in His “present salvation”? Do YOU know of available graces and eternal blessings that never fade away? Are you ready to forsake the world’s foolishness and rest in our Lord’s eternal wisdom? Will you ditch and bury your fleshly vanities and swim in the sea of His mercies, blessings, and eternal privileges? Are you a ‘flesh-promoter’ or a life yielded to the glory of God alone? “Fleshly pursuits” or Divine intent? False and fleshly dreams or His immortal goals? The vanity of sensuality or the victory of sins forgiven? Present intent or forever privilege? Inexpressible sorrow and pain or eternal blessing? A life of empty nothingness of eternal meaning or a life surrendered, yielded, placed in the clouds of heavenly glory and Godly intent?
CHAPTER FOUR
“FAITH AND GOD’S FAITHFUL PROVISIONS”
How rich is God’s Word in providing every disciple understanding, awareness, blessing, and insight to every provision Holy God makes available to each son or daughter of true faith! Paul said in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Sometimes young, immature, childish believers, are unaware of God’s Fatherly faithfulness – they’re unsure at times of what God as Heavenly Father faithfully provides! Did Paul say God “supplies all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”? Wasn’t that what you just read? But you’re not sure? Hebrews 4:16 challenges every believer, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
What did the Lord Jesus say to those early disciples? In Matthew 7:7-11 our Lord said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if a son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Do you remember the leper in Matthew 8:2 as he came to Jesus and worshipped Him, and then stated, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean”? Verse 3 says, Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Have you read lately about the ‘fig tree’ withering when Jesus spoke to it in Matthew 21:19-20? And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”…Verses 21-22,
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
But the ‘faithless’are many, many men who are so opposite to the true believer’s understanding of “Faith and God’s Faithful Provisions.” Too many men are not only ‘birthed’ spiritually blind, but live void of any understanding of the blessing of true redemptive faith and all of God’s faithful provisions! Even from the author of the Hebrews writing we learn of the once enlightened who fall away – [Hebrews 6:4-6], “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, IF THEY FALL AWAY, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
Earlier, in Hebrews 3:12-19, the anointed writer reveals even, yes, the danger of “brethren” becoming victims again of sin’s deception and destructive power. It says, “Beware, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin…
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?…
Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
Do you see that ‘unbelief’ IS disobedience? Or has a spirit that hardens a believer’s heart already made steady advances in you? But the “faithless” are not only believers falling away, but unbelievers born into a sin-nature society, regardless of what nation one is born in! Human births, from Adam and Eve onward, were, are, and will be still birthed in the Adamic sin nature, necessitating repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus in and through the Cross, the tomb, and its emptying through Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!
I’m sure you remember Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man [unredeemed, unbelieving] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And then, in Verse 16b Paul said, “But we have the mind of Christ.” That’s the true, born-again, Spirit-filled man in Christ Jesus! [But the sad truth is, even true believers will or may, at times, “behave like mere men”!] But who did Christ Jesus shed His innocent blood for as the Lamb of God?
Men, without Christ as Savior and Lord, are ‘unrighteous,’ unholy, unclean, unbelievers, unwise, untaught, totally incapable of redeeming themselves apart from the blood of the Lamb of God! Religious activity has no power of forgiveness, no resurrection hope, and no promise of Heaven’s life, except in a repentant sinner’s confession to Christ of his/her need of Him – in Acts 16:30, after a great earthquake, with Paul and Silas imprisoned for their faith, the keeper of the prison, fearful for his own life because of escaping prisoners, was ready to kill himself, but Paul called out to him with a loud voice, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Running in to Paul and Silas, he brought them out, saying, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:31 then says, they said, “Believe on [trust in, rely upon, adhere to] the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
But poverty-stricken men, spiritually, of the sinners’ hellish clan of unbelievers are as clear and distinct as dark is to day and darkness is to light! A world of unbelievers live unworthy lives, defiant to God and His Holy Word and Will, are truly senseless, fleshly opposition to “the Savior”, unbelieving of Gospel Truth, being spiritually destitute, diseased, with a darkened heart, living under the dark cloud of spiritual bankruptcy, irreconcilable in a determined heart and mind of chaotic rebellion to God’s loving grace and mercy, unkind, no thirst for God, no desire for spiritual meat or the eternal Bread of God’s Word, wells without the water of life, like a city with no lights, homes with no desire for the heart of God redeeming them, individuals with total fleshly independence, satisfied with their old sin natures and their consequences, blinded by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Are you aware of, yes, how undeserving a sinful world is of God’s mercy? Do you weep over fallen humanity’s infirmities, their spiritual blindness, their bondages to their old, vile, darkened sin natures, and does it trouble you how far, how deep and dense the darkness is in rebellious societies to the Light of God? How do you respond to the smells from the wells of the fountains of human pollution called ‘respectable rebellion’ or ‘sinful satisfaction’ or ‘personal pleasure in spite of God’?
Satanic traps and snares are so numerous as an educated, modern world demonstrates how to live ‘successfully’ apart from God with no understanding of the end result! Even a godless life competes for ‘bragging rights’ against those snares of the devil as one lives ‘proud’ of their rebellious rags before Holy God! The modern-day ‘Hollywood’ crowd is found ‘lusting’ after applause as they parade obsceneness before warped minds and deceived hearts. “Master-less lives” are matted in the miseries of mis-focused wills and misguided, fleshly dreams and ambitions – no God, no blessing; no Savior, no salvation; no Divine Lord, no demon-deliverance; no redemptive faith, no Sovereign deliverance; no Master, no re-made life in Christ!
Don’t you find it so amazing that a godless world is totally blind to “the dark guest” of bondage, whether a sinful self or a devilish army? Have you witnessed mortal sinfulness, fleshly ill-will, even against Holy God and His Holy Word? Sinful hearts come so cheap on Satan’s auction block, even “a dime a dozen’, and many, trapped, cuffed, slave-like to his demands, surrender to his dangerous ways, his daily shame, and his imprisoned sinfulness in demonic minds and hearts blinded to the love, grace, and mercy of, yes, the Loving God, Savior, Deliverer, Healer, Redeemer, Master, King of kings and Lord of lords!
How aware are YOU that the Savior’s ‘shed blood’ is abominable to the world, the flesh and the devil? Do you know how resentful “God’s Pleasure and Will” is to a godless world that has meaninglessly-mastered “lies” and the devil’s atrocious rebellion and disobedience? ‘Lostness’ is a strange word to a world’s unbeliever; ‘bound’ in the devil’s chains appears ludicrous to doubters of God’s eternal Word; ‘prisoner’ to Satan and his army of demons is for ‘brain-dead believers’ who follow Jesus! And the world, the flesh, and the devil himself, will go on celebrating their independence, satisfied with dust, displeasure, defilement, degradation, deformities of heart, soul, and life itself, delighting in unbelief until they begin to hear the awful sounds of Hell’s prisoners!
Hate is held onto in Hell! Ill-will reigns from the top down; malice is a never-ending ringing of Hell’s bells; forever slaves to Satan’s diabolical will continue to spread more and more in sin-bound, satanic bondage; scars, shames, sad indifferences to God’s Holy Kingdom dominate; life-long rebellion against Holy God and His Holy Word is amplified and extended ten thousand times in every disgraced citizen of Hell; ‘self-knowledge’ forever deteriorates into ‘self-loathing’ as one is disgracefully ‘programmed’ more and more by the devil himself; ‘evil’ becomes an acceptable title or description of Hell’s residents; sin’s deformity becomes a sad mask one must wear; ‘enemy of God’ daily identifies one’s roll-call; and all of a sudden, in a flash, Hell’s residents realize their eternal bondage and utter stupidity! But another word of warning before “shifting” to the grace of God: “The day is coming when “sinners” will be exposed in the hands of an angry God!”
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY THAT GOD HAS USHERED IN FOR A MAN TO WALK IN – IT’S CALLED “TRUE FAITH AND GOD’S FAITHFUL PROVISION”! The Apostle Paul said it so strongly, powerfully, and redemptively! Romans 3:4, “…let God be true but every man a liar.” It was John the Baptist who said in John 3:33, “He who has received His (Jesus’s) testimony has certified that God is true.”
Do YOU bow before “Truth” or yield to unbelief, disobedience, and rebellion to Holy God’s Way of the Cross and the empty tomb? I want to share with you what true faith and God’s faithful provision is about – it centers on “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world!” I want to emphasize about six Truths that have stood forever!
FIRST: DO YOU SEE AND SENSE AND CELEBRATE GOD’S AUTHENTICATION OF HIS ETERNAL SALVATION PLAN BIRTHED IN HIS MIND AND HEART BEFORE THE WORLD AND MAN EVEN CAME INTO BEING?
The Random House College Dictionary, published in 1975 by Random House Inc., defines ‘authentic’ as “entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy…not false or copied; genuine; real…”. Ask any true born-again believer and follower of Christ if God’s eternal salvation plan has proven to be false, brain-dead thinking, a figment of a darkened mind of some false god, or eternal, pure Truth with error in the least, and you’ll find a celebration symphony of praise in every born-again life!
Spiritually dead without Christ as Lord and Savior is evident even without the vocal resistance to His eternal truths – “by their fruits you shall know them”, because lives born again are evident by the visibility of the fruit of the Spirit, or in an unbelieving life by fleshly fruit that radiates no evidence of the Life of Holy Presence or any divine fruit!
“In Christ” is alive and well because a new-born life radiates the Lord’s reign even in the decisions one makes! Choices made by a true born-again believer reflect a life of divine peace, a life bound in the cords of Calvary’s love, a spirit of thanksgiving and joy that never diminishes but intensifies with every new discovery of God’s eternal dimensions in their hearts and lives, and a walk that visibly reveals “Christ in me the hope of glory,” Christ through me the release of Heaven’s unending power, and Christ around me as the never-changing evidence of Holy God’s eternal blessings for one’s bowing daily as a devoted son or daughter of true faith in our Lord’s salvation gift!
Do you understand “surety” in our Lord and Savior’s promises and Word? “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you,” “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,” “surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!”
In 2 Peter 1:16-19 Peter wrote: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain…
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which YOU do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…”. HAS JESUS RISEN IN YOU AS GOD’S ETERNAL STAR AND SAVIOR? Jesus is “the bright and morning star” radiating the wreath of God’s eternal glory, honor, and authenticity!
SECOND, CONCERNING GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, HAVE YOU ACTIVATED HIS HOLY PRESENCE THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN HIS FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS? Have you become aware that three times in Matthew 6:5-7 Jesus said, “when you pray,” and then in Verse 9 Jesus said: “In this manner pray…”! And what was the prayer?
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Has there ever been a human being on the face of the earth who didn’t need to fall on their faces before Holy God, the Father, and pray for forgiveness? But, sadly, many men never fall before the Throne of God in confession, asking for sins to be forgiven and resurrection life in Christ becoming their only hope for a blessed life on earth. Didn’t Jesus say, “Few there be who find it,” which was Him as “the Door” into the Holy Presence of God?
But there are those who do find “the Door,” desire “the Door,” and willingly walk through the only “Door” into God’s Holy Presence! When earthly kings found the eternal kingdom of Christ, their fleshly empires became as nothing, worthless, fleshly, but in Christ Jesus they found, not flesh’s religions, but “Christ in them the hope of glory.” Having repented and rested in Christ, “new life” was rooted in His Word; eternal understanding of a divine relationship was unfolded day by day; new hearts through Him became expressive in divine affections that were both holy and heavenly; life’s intent was purified with the desire to please and honor Christ Jesus in all things; a “new heart” became passionate in exalting Christ as Lord over all in their daily journeys; deliverance came from evil desires, from the darkness of a natural, earthly, sinful mind; the Great Physician dissected the evil corruptions of an old, disgraceful, rebellious heart, and implanted the “peace that passes all understanding”; through Him temptations became toothless, high mountains became easy climbs, even darkened trials were exposed to His eternal Light!
THIRD, Authentication, Activation, IS FOLLOWED BY A MIRACULOUS ATTITUDE CHANGE FROM FLESHLY DOUBTS OF ONE’S LIMITATIONS TO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S FAITHFUL PROVISION OF OVERCOMING POWER! Are you aware of what took place in the lives of the first twelve disciples who walked with Christ Jesus, most of them for the three years of His earthly ministry? I’m sure you’re aware Judas “sold” Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, falling away.
But then we read in Matthew 28, after the Resurrection, and right before His Ascension, Verses 16-17, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted.” [And I’m convinced this is often a result of ignoring the very Words of Christ for one’s ‘fleshly’ insight, or maybe blindness would be a better term!]
If “the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” is every true believer’s rightful inheritance in Christ, where does doubt come from? In Him is the treasure of grace and mercy and love; in Him is the forever fountain flowing with Heaven’s glory; in Him a true believer is settled on His Solid-Rock foundation; Christ-like certainties are a disciple’s heavenly currency; even His name flows with awesome power and authority; I may be weak but He’s forever strong, I may be limited in the ‘brain’ but I’ve been blessed with the mind of Christ; I may be threatened but in Him I’m eternally triumphant; and when I even cry out to Him, “Help me,” I have the blessed assurance of an ever-present availability of divine power and heavenly armies! We overcome by the blood of the Lamb!
FOURTH, WOULD YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR “AIM” IN FOLLOWING CHRIST ALONE IS TO HONOR HIM, BLESS HIM, LOVE HIM, AND TO LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE THAT HE MIGHT BE SEEN THROUGH YOUR JOURNEY?
All I can say here is, “Why try to intellectualize historical, biblical truth when God’s Word has so elevated divine truth for us to a heavenly level that has an earthly lifting? In 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 Paul, so divinely anointed by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Glory to the Living God of love, grace, and mercy!
How do YOU pray today as you understand your ambassadorial ministry in His name and for His honor and glory? How about: “Holy Father, I proclaim Christ Jesus as my Lord, Savior, and Master of my earthly life. He is my salvation, my reconciliation with You, my earthly body as His earthly residence, living in me, living through me, and living to honor You! I know that only as I take the sentence of death daily to myself and yield to His indwelling presence will Your power and authority and eternal purpose find fertile ground. I daily yield to Jesus to reign in me on earth as He gloriously and as He in His beloved way and character reigns in Heaven. I openly declare that Christ Jesus is my Rock, my following faith and sure arrival of His foreordained home forever, my eternal life and my Heavenly Authority. He’s my forgiveness, my everlasting future, my strong fortress and defender, my glorious life that never dies, my eternally significant ministry of daily exalting, proclaiming, leaning on His everlasting arms, completed in Him lacking nothing, graciously blessed with the dynamic Presence of the Holy Spirit that energizes me, enforces and defends my faith, and grants me the Holy Spirit’s Sovereign leadership to glorify Christ Jesus through my journey of faith!
FIFTH, IS ADORATION, WORSHIP, AND PRAISE THE FOREVER CALLING OF GOD UPON ALL TRUE BELIEVERS? In Psalm 29:1-2 David said: “Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
Worship? How about as a way of life? How about the ministry of verbally blessing His Holy Name? How about lifting up thanksgiving and praise in one’s “house of prayer”? How about blessing the Name above all names? How about “calling upon Him” because you know He will answer? How about “bowing” before Him in full surrender, even moment by moment, in the attitude of heart of full surrender? How about the true attitude of surrender and yieldedness and confession when bad desires or fleshly, misguided, devilish entertainments begin to darken one’s soul, even diluting true faith to Satan’s level of ‘error’ as a way of life, personal pride as the devil’s goal in you, rebellion as just a rest from attempts at godliness, and fleshly passions as: “It’s YOUR life; do with it as you please!” NO! We worship, bow before, confess God’s eternal attributes, including forgiveness if we fail, even for a second!
SIXTH, ARE YOU WILLING TO “PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” THAT YOU MIGHT LEGITIMATELY FIGHT AND WIN YOUR BATTLE OF FAITH? How about “the armor of faithful promises”? In Psalm 18 is an awakening to the awareness of God’s availability in the times of spiritual warfare with the enemies of true faith. David said in Psalm 18:4-6, “the pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple; and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”
But you’re not sure God will hear your cries? I’m telling you, God is faithful, and especially, lovingly, mercifully responds to the man in need of Him! Verses 13-14 of Psalm 18 tells us, “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.”
Are you aware that “some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God”? [Psalm 20:7]! Amen?
CHAPTER FIVE
“FALSE IDENTITY OR TRUE FAITH ‘IN CHRIST’?”
Are you aware of how often the Holy Word of God speaks about ‘false words, false professors, false identities, false teachings or false teachers’? But I’m convinced also that through the Word of God we find those who, “not [only] bear false witness against your neighbor”, but many bear false witness TO the neighbor, professing one thing but diametrically are opposed by their lifestyles to what they professed falsely to their neighbors!
But this spirit goes deeper! Proverbs 17:4 says, “An evildoer gives heed to false lips; a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.” The author of Proverbs went on to say in Verse 7, “Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, much less lying lips to a prince.” Dare I tell you that lying lips are not becoming to the true believer, but they are ‘natural’ to the one of a “false identity”!
There are narcissistic ‘nobodies’ who ‘think’ they are superior beings to everyone around them, even in church settings, who are truly ‘fleshly neutered’ as to the God who made them and void of redeemed reality by the blood of Christ, but are vocal as to their ‘false identity’, so sure they are God’s greatest gift in a religious world setting!
In 2 Peter 2:10 Peter spoke about “those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.” In Verses 13b-15a Peter also said of the ‘false identity crowd’, “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam…who loved unrighteousness…”
It’s a sad reality but the Bible is totally aware of “pretenders,” “play actors,” “dramatists who can ‘act’ fashionably,” yet they have no solid foundation but live their profession with the dark tint of the devil’s forces trying to impersonate the divine life of Christ Jesus! It’s amazing to me but there are lots of governmental leaders and workers who have no godly foundation, and you know them by their works, words, and ungodly lifestyles, while they play the game of political representatives of Holy God! And if we “know them by their works”, we discern they are spiritually diseased!
I was reading this week the publication entitled “Bottom Line,” [Vol.36, Number 18, Sept. 15, 2015 – a gift from my dear friend, Dr. C.A.Kile, of Cleveland, Tennessee]. The front page article was titled, “How to Live to 100 – Best Ways to add Healthy Years to Your Life!” But, I thought, what is one hundred healthy years physically if one has no faith, trust, vibrant relationship with the God who created and blessed them physically?
Do you sense degeneracy exploding around you? Do you see human races running from Holy God? Does it frighten you when you see the death pattern of divine spirituality in many young students in schools and universities across our nation? Are you aware of the destructive self-will that leads many to wander away from Holy Truth and the Loving Savior and the Caring God and shuts the door to Holy Spirit guidance?
How bad and how serious do you discern the disease of sin, rebellion, and disobedience to be concerning your city, state, nation, even the vast world around you? How are you responding to the societal sickness that grows around you? Have YOU been commissioned by God to touch your rebellious world with the love and grace of God? Do you travel the “main highway” that leads you to Holy God or are you content with the “back roads” of discontent with holy living? How familiar are you with graceless living, or the road entitled “estrangement from God”, or the pathway of permissiveness to perilous perverseness that so poisons an attempt at a walk of faith and obedience?
“False Identity?” Does “pretense” raise doubts about one’s true identity? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary says of ‘pretense’ that it is “feigning, make-believe, false show of something…alleging falsely…an insincere or false profession… an unwarranted claim.” It was Paul, in Romans 3:4, who wrote: “Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.”
How bold was Jesus Himself as He confronted the religious leaders of Judaism in John 8:42-47?!? Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came [out of or] from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word…
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it…
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
What a sick identity is the soul that possesses no desire to hear the Voice of our Savior and Lord! Later, in John 10:22-31, the Lord Jesus further exposed the “false identity crowd”!! Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. [Side-bar! Winter as a season or winter identifying “cold hearts” to Eternal Truth?]. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”…
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Glory!
How do YOU respond to Christ Jesus’ words about the “crowd” who made false declarations about their “false identity”? Many said then, and still do now, “Let Him be crucified!”
Are you aware of what Holy God truly hates? In Proverbs 6:16-19 the “wise man” wrote: These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.”
Are there ‘modern’ Sodoms and Gomorrahs today? In Isaiah 1:4 and 7-20 Holy God sends another “shock-wave’ to awaken nations, including the U.S.A.!! Verse 4, “Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards.”
Then Verses 7-20 sounds God’s ‘alarm system’! “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers, so the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city…
Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah; “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats…
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting…
Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood…
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool…
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
How many cries are you hearing around you because of fallen man’s rebellion and disobedience? How often do you hear someone truly praying, “God, be merciful to me the sinner”? How many do you know who believe God is insufficient to meet their sin-problem’? Does ‘despair’ over one’s sinful nature and their ‘closed ears’ to redeeming grace build the separation from God bigger and wider because they refuse “Amazing Grace”? Does ‘mourning’ over one’s fallen nature away from God get wider and broader every day because of a cursed, defiant response to His love, grace, and mercy?
Are you aware of how resentful some unbelievers are to “the fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,” as if they’ve totally rejected Calvary’s love? To them ‘sin’ and the ‘sin nature’ is not a curse but a fleshly blessing! There is no satisfaction in one’s attempt at “law observance”, because all it is is a pat on the back of fleshly effort, that closes the door to God’s imputed, imparted, implanted righteousness! Abusing sinners of the grace of the gospel of Christ is just deepening the hole of their burial inside the gates of Hell! For many it is not an abhorrence of all God calls evil, but a ‘fleshly love-song’ about their self-indulgence and a love of the devil’s deadly fruit!
In Isaiah 1:28 the ‘shock wave’ should carry one to the shore of God’s throne of mercy! “The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed,” maybe said more clearly, ‘being consumed with hell’s fire that never stops the burning’!
“FALSE IDENTITY OR ‘TRUE FAITH’ “IN CHRIST”? Yes! Thank God, there is biblical faith that is eternally true and transforms even one who tasted ‘false identity’ and reached out to ‘True Faith’ “In Christ”!! That’s faith in the Father-God of the blood covenant of Christ Jesus and His redeeming, reconciling, reigning, overflowing River of Eternal Life and Forever Hope! That’s anchored in the Sea of Calvary’s Blood Redemption! That’s breathing in through repentance and faith the very Resurrected Life of the Lord Jesus Christ! That’s willingly submerging one’s life and new being in Christ and His ocean of omnipotent power to raise the dead to Divine Life and Divine Purpose! That’s glowing with His heavenly glory! That’s the true, eternal, blessed faith of eternal hope and eternal helpfulness, keeping Heaven’s fire burning in a yielded heart and life daily!
‘True Faith’ “In Christ”? That’s the love of God brought to earth to abide in the redeemed heart, embraced by the very arms of God, enveloped and indwelt in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, enjoined with Christ’s resurrected presence, and the eternal significance of being extensions of His life, expressions of His love, and the proof of His awesome power to manifest Heaven through you and me!
If “the Lord is in His holy temple,” are you aware that through your repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, that 2 Corinthians 6:16 declares, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? FOR YOU [in Christ] are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Have you, in Christ Jesus, been made aware that YOU are His earthly temple, having received His Holy Presence?
Yet, how casually indifferent are most believers about the awesome truth on their lives, by God’s own declaration, that they are the temple of Christ’s earthly dwelling? Have YOU, as a true believer, assumed the awesome responsibility of honoring Him who chose to make you His temple of holy presence?
‘True Faith’ “In Christ”? The last paragraph you just read is interpreted greatly by Paul in Colossians 1:24-29 when he wrote: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints [saints? Lives ‘set apart’ for the glory and honor of Holy God!]. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”
Are you aware of how ‘brutally’ at times the lost world around you will put disclaimers of your ‘professed faith’ out to unbelievers you seek to influence ‘for Christ’ because that turns attention away from their unbelief to what they hope the world around you sees as ‘hypocrisy’ in you as a true, born-again believer? But ‘true holiness in Christ’, kindled to a great flame of glory, cannot, will not, be suffocated out by an unbelieving world! Infinite, holy, divine love and amazing grace in you may be crucified by a rebellious world, but “three days later there is Resurrection Life” out of God’s eternal power!
Are YOU identified with Christ in His Resurrection Life as a born-again believer? In “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.233], Oswald Chambers wrote: “The Christian worker has to be a sacramental ‘go-between’, to be so identified with his Lord and the reality of His Redemption that He can bring His creating life through him. It is not the strength of one man’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through the elements of the worker’s life. When we preach the historic facts of the life and death of Our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacramental, God uses them on the ground of His Redemption to create in those who listen that which is not created otherwise. If we preach the effects of Redemption in human life instead of the revelation regarding Jesus, the result in those who listen is not new birth, but refined spiritual culture, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in another domain. We have to see that we are in such living sympathy with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in souls the things which He alone can do.” Amazing Truth!
In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,” with Jesus also saying in Verse 4, “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Does ‘child-like faith’ speak to you in convicting fashion or does fleshly pride carry your torch? Do you ‘try’ or do you truly ‘trust’?
Paul was so on target with God’s heart when he wrote in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Aren’t you thankful for the divine mercies of God – plural?!! And His mercies are as His faithful sun arising to dispel the darkness from all around! Darkness condemns – His Light enlightens, fleshly darkness imprisons – His Light frees, the sin-soiled spirits of a sinner’s bondage hold one captive – Jesus’s shed blood washes white as snow, Satan deforms – Christ Jesus transforms, a world spirit accuses the true believer – the Savior atones, re-aligns, restores, and releases God’s pre-ordained heavenly design!
Fleshly debacles, life-styles, and devilish deceptions, bring on and further push one away from God’s eternal intent, with Satan’s celebrations, but the Holy Spirit reminds us of why Christ Jesus came and suffered and died on that cruel Cross, and that by God’s love, power, and purpose was raised from the dead! Out of YOUR sin-death new life in Christ is knocking at your heart’s door! Your sin-guilt can be pardoned through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, your bondages can be broken and severed, your choices of unholy living can be transformed to God’s eternal intent, a poor spiritual condition can be divinely changed into His Resurrected Life in Heaven’s eternal wealth – and that by the convicting and converting and consecrating power of the Holy Spirit!
It was George D. Moore and H.L. Gilmore who wrote the old hymn, “The Haven of Rest.” It says: “My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea, So burdened with sin and distress, Till I heard a sweet voice saying, “Make Me your choice,” And I entered the haven of rest…
I yielded myself to His tender embrace, And, faith taking hold of the word, My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul: The haven of rest is my Lord…
The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole, Has been the old story so blest, Of Jesus, who’ll save whosoever will have A home in the haven of rest…
Oh, come to the Savior, He patiently waits, To save by His power divine; Come, anchor your soul in the haven of rest, And say, ‘My Beloved is mine.’..
I’ve anchored my soul in the haven of rest, I’ll sail the wild seas no more; The tempest may sweep o’er the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I’m safe evermore.”
‘True Faith’ “In Christ”? There is a strong, convicting, self-examining verse in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that says, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Self-sorrow that is concerned only about what others have witnessed in you but there is no concern or true sorrow about what God knows and reveals doesn’t produce salvation but only fleshly sorrow!
Have you known those who “weep” over their sin, but not for breaking the heart of God, but because they’ve disappointed their family and friends or employer? Then you find those absolutely heart-broken, spiritually troubled, even publicly ashamed, because they’ve come to the true understanding that it was “my sin that nailed Christ Jesus to Calvary’s Cross” – and “godly sorrow” prevails!
1 Pater 2:24 declares: [speaking of Christ Jesus first, then truly convicted sinners], “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.”
‘True Faith’ “In Christ”? Are you aware that God has no interest in the eternal death of even one unrepentant life? In Ezekial 18:30b-32, God has spoken! “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? [Why should you die, Oh American, or citizen of India, or European citizen?]. For I [Holy God] have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
And Christ Jesus tells you, “I am divine forgiveness, I am the Door to reconciliation, I am the Resurrection Life and Eternal Hope, I am God’s plan for your eternal destiny, I am divine perfection for the repentant heart, I am the blood atonement that washes away all your sin and guilt, I am your wisdom, your righteousness, your sanctification, and your eternal hope, I am your justification, your sanctification, and your glorification, I am the Christ who carried your old sinful flesh to the Cross with all of its infectious affections and lusts and put them to death through My Cross offering…I AM AND FOREVER WILL BE!!” But you have a better explanation for true Godly living? “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God IS eternal life in (and through) Christ Jesus our Lord.”
OH! “Hear me!” Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Justified by His blood, sanctified or made holy by His blood, and glorified by His blood!” But you have a better way?
Has the Truth penetrated, positioned you, and dynamically empowered you to receive and walk in the overcoming life of Christ, whether sin, warfare, or death, empowering you in the “Victory In Jesus”? It’s not that I am now ‘religious, but re-born, not that I appear ‘holy,’ but I’ve been reconciled, not that I’ve abandoned the world but died to it and made my life Through Christ a Living Witness of His amazing grace, and though I truly love the world I am a part of, my affections, my devotion, my goal, my ministry, is to honor Him in all things, even dying to the flesh daily with its foolishness, it’s foul smell, and its fleshly vanities, becoming by His grace His earthly reservoir of grace, mercy, and love, putting on His armor and fighting the good fight of faith!
CHAPTER SIX
“FAITH AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF MASTERED MEN”
I personally love what Oswald Chambers once said in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” [p.252], “When once you are rooted in Reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith; but nothing can ever upset God or the almighty Reality of Redemption; base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God.” Glory!
Do you remember when men brought to Jesus a man who was paralyzed? The story is in Luke 5:19-26. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”…
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”…
Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
There is no doubt that ‘faith and the faith of Mastered men” IS a strange thing for multitudes who do not know the God who is able “even to subdue all things to Himself.” Most finite men are faithless concerning infinite God because to them there is no fear of God, but to the man who genuinely fears Holy God, you are aware that man is a spiritual learner of life and God’s Holy Word, he’s blessed by the divine presence that surrounds him, he is fearful of holy God because he’s wise, he knows ‘God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all he asks or thinks’, he’s aware of his own weakness but extremely aware of God’s heart and God’s able-ness, and he knows where and with Whom to yield his heart, his life, his eternal destiny, and with Whom to yield his trust and faith and future!
Psalm 25:12 asks, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He [God] teach in the way He chooses,” and God sets the path of that man’s present and future, even eternally!
What an enormous difference between faithless men and men of true faith! In Hebrews 12:22-28 the Lord speaks about a “glorious company of men” of redemptive faith and faithfulness: But you have come to Mount Zion [your spiritual house, your holy temple, your divine residence] and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem [in you!], to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel…
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain…
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
‘Serving God with reverence and godly fear’? Our biblical text for this chapter is from Luke 5, Verses 19-26, about men bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed and laid him before Jesus. It is an amazing, God-honoring story of both spiritual healing as the Lord forgave his sins and physical healing as Jesus told him to rise up and walk! The scribes and Pharisees discussed, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And in Verse 24 we read, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house,” and the man did, glorifying God Almighty!!
But do you see and sense a holy message in this REALITY OF SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS AND THE ETERNAL NEED OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN, Christ Jesus, to raise up men paralyzed by Satan’s deceit that one can sin and not die? But here came Jesus! That’s the Son of Man who has the power on earth to forgive sins!
‘Spiritual paralysis’? I pray you face it, if you haven’t as yet in your earthly journey, but there is the “danger” of a spiritual sickness that can limit eternal potential, detour one from a divine destiny, blind one to the highway of holiness, and subvert Christ Jesus’s desire for presence in and through their redeemed lives – but they ignore Him! The FIRST paralysis? You should know!
THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS OF DESTRUCTIVE, DEMEANING, DEATHLY SIN! Romans 6:23 announces what YOU already know! “For the wages of sin is death..” not life, not lasting pleasure, not super-human, demonic activity to give you blessing in your life but vain emptiness and ‘doctored-appearances’ by the devil himself!
Are you aware of Holy God’s desire to redeem lost men and use them then to honor Him by touching their lost and dying world with “redemption’s glorious message” of forgiven life in Christ? Isaiah 6:1-8 tells us: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple…
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”…
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”…
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Holy God spoke to men in Old Testament days AND in New Testament days, but He continues to speak throughout human history since Bible-days, exposing the ‘undoneness, uncleanness, and irreconcilable attitude of many who ARE ungodly’! The sinfulness of mankind that produces ‘death’ is utter self-consciousness that has no room for God, body, soul, or spirit! What does Romans 5:12 tell us? “Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
Oswald Chambers wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.206], “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization – I am my own god.” Death in sin breeds fleshly stupidity and indifference to God’s revelation and His offer of reconciliation, re-birth, and His heavenly identity described as: “I’m a child of the King” whose name is Jesus! Are you aware of God’s pleasure celebrated through your conversion from death to life? Paul said in Galatians 1:15-16, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…,” and the same applies to you!
SECOND, THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS OF DISINCLINATION! Have you ever been around those, even someone in particular very close to you, but you have no question about their disinterest in spiritual realities and especially no interest in spiritual re-birth through the shed blood of Christ? They are spiritually paralyzed! They are DISINCLINED! They are unwilling to pick up the Holy Word or to hear it read to them. Their attitude is a distaste of anything that relates to “salvation,” the “Savior,” “New Birth,” and totally ignore your heart-felt desire to share eternal truth with them.
Godlessness is a spiritual disease birthed in the mind and heart of one who is an ‘unbeliever.’ That’s those who are described as “faithless” – and, sadly, many are not even ashamed of that state of mind, heart, and fleshly will – they are content in separation from God.
In Matthew 17:17 Jesus made a strong, convicting statement: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” And what they couldn’t do in their faithlessness, Jesus did, casting out the demon from a child!
The spiritual paralysis of disinclination of spiritual re-birth is also a reality because of the sad condition of a strong love of self, sin, satisfaction with the sickness of one’s rebellion toward God, and sold out to one’s independence from Holy God. When Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me,” and you immediately begin to hear the ‘self-idolaters’ saying, “Is He serious? Why should I walk away from what I am in love with?” Haven’t you heard it as you witnessed to the “lost,” – “Why should I give up what I am totally in love with,” not even knowing their “love” of their sin nature is devilish infatuation with no eternal blessing!
Spiritual disinclination of not seeking after Eternal God’s purpose is because of the “disease” of an evil sin nature, a life filled with evil possibilities and distractions from True Life and Eternal Purpose, and blinded by the devil’s darkness, not knowing one’s enemy, called the devil or Satan, is the master of loving evil and abhorring Divine Truth!
THIRD, THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS OF DREADED FEARS! Hear me! “Fears in the ‘flesh-walk’ are of the unwise, unrighteous, unholy, and unredeemed – fleshly fears bind faith, blind one to God’s presence,, and block God’s revelation of freedom from fleshly fears because He is able!”
There are those who get up in their morning dreading the day because of the heavy weight of the fears about what might happen, that they are crushed by its weight, enslaved by its chains, and weakened more and more by fear’s ability to chain one to their slavish fears!
That’s why in Deuteronomy 31:8 Moses said, “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
Yet many walk on in the pilgrimage of their earthly journey enslaved to their ‘fears’! It’s as if there is no available heavenly help! If the Lord is your Helper, then why is one ruled by fleshly fear? Do you understand ‘dreams of apprehension’ by the powers of darkness? Does ‘faltering faith’ say anything to you when you sense, maybe, you are about to be consumed by the world, your flesh, and the devil? If “God has said,” why fret about the devil’s empty words? We ought not fear because God has said, “I am with you!” What about, “Leaning on the everlasting arms?”
If there’s legitimate fear, it ought to be “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”! Even King David sang in Psalm 19:9, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever!” Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3:22-24, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” God is not a non-entity! He’s your ALL IN ALL, even standing between you and your fears!
FOURTH, THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS OF DOUBTS! Uncertainty of the authenticity of the Word of God is promoted by many. Uncertainty even of your testimony of faith is declared by some. And uncertainty surely arises when one who has been vocal becomes silent, indifferent, even rebellious to what he/she once professed!
Security “in Christ” is God’s divine gift, but if one’s spiritual journey becomes faith in themselves, one should get ready to envision a horrible falling away! There is NO ASSURANCE in self-determination, but only release of your surrendered life to our Lord’s Sovereign care!
A declaration of reduction in one’s self births doubts because one wrestles with the fact that the old self was “crucified with Christ” – and a flood of doubts about the redemptive faith through Christ intensifies! Being “made holy” by the blood of Christ is the eternal matter of sanctification, which IS the very impartation of His Resurrection Life, not my attempts at imitation!
In John 7:17-18 Christ Jesus speaks, saying, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.” Oh, and then in John 8:28-29, our Lord and Savior said, “When you lift up the Son of Man [to crucify Him!], then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
Are you “paralyzed” by spiritual doubts or empowered by Him as you obey what He tells you to do? And is this because “you are not your own, because you were bought with a price”? The price of liberty, freedom, and deliverance from doubt? YOU DIED AND YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN IN CHRIST!
Receive Oswald Chambers’ brilliant words! [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p. 228], “The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, viz., myself. Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny,” unless you settle in to yourself and what your sin nature tells you!
FIFTH, THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL REALITY OF DESPONDENCY! Things are not going as one thinks they should, and when that ‘spirit’ turns from fleshly success to failure, a spirit of despondency can begin to rule rather than “resting in the Lord.” If Jesus says, “Take no thought for your life,” is it possible one majors on ‘self’ rather than on ‘resting in Him’?
Do you remember Jesus’ Word about “the cares of this world” in Matthew 13:22? He said, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” And remember, Jesus also said, “By theirs fruits you shall know them,” so, if there is no fruit in us from Christ, what is He telling us?
Isn’t true faith the death to the ‘natural’ and redemptive faith in God to “care” for us? Often, despondency is disappointment in ourselves, which means that for many there has not been the choice daily of death to self for the manifestation of our Lord’s “Resurrection Life” but a yielding to what is sure will produce dark clouds over, around, and even in us!
Have you ever dealt with “taking the sentence of death daily unto myself that Christ’s Resurrected Life may be manifested in my mortal flesh”? Didn’t Paul say, “I die daily”? But then there is the fleshly reality of overlooking the Holy Spirit’s reign in us because, the truth is, sometimes one chooses that old ‘fountain of pollution’ from which he/she once drank! Dangerous choices, dirty chambers, defying imaginations, can be awakened, if daily one is not purposefully yielding to Christ, His Word, and to the promise of the abiding Holy Spirit!
How did Paul address this dilemma? In Romans 6:14-18 he wrote, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
Let me paraphrase what Oswald Chambers said about this dilemma, at times, in one’s spiritual journey or pilgrimage: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.53], “Yield in one’s spiritual childhood walk to self-indulgence, and you’ll find personal bondage, fleshly imprisonment, and enchaining tyrannies in your spiritual life’s pilgrimage!” But, remember, we serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords who still preaches ‘deliverance to all captives.’ Amen?
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SAVING FAITH AND THE CONVERTEDS’ WORK”
Don’t you find it amazing at times when you come to the Word of God, and you read one thing in one place, turn to another passage of Scripture, and you find a word that “seems” to contradict?
In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul wrote, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Working God, and the Converted’s Work”! I can’t help but point you to Oswald Chambers who wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.115], “In a regenerated man the source of will is almighty. ‘For it is God which works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.’ You have to work out with concentration and care what God works in; “not work” your own salvation, but “work it out”, while you base resolutely in unshaken faith on the complete and perfect Redemption of the Lord.”
In Colossians 2:8-10 we read, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
If ‘the world, the flesh, and the devil’ are God’s enemy and your enemy, are you equipping yourself in fighting the good faith of faith as you are opposed, even with yourself and your ‘old man, sin nature, and fleshly desires’? “Self-introspection” and “self-love” are a strong enemy IF you don’t know that your old man was ‘crucified with Christ’ on the Cross two thousand years ago! Sometimes the ‘independent spirit,’ a strong self-will, an obstinate attitude, a heavy pull from unintelligent spirituality, will tempt, entice, build wedges of indifference in a compromising faith, and work hellish havoc in one’s walk of faith.
Are you aware of what we read in John 6:66? “From that time many of His [that’s Christ Jesus!] disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Are you aware that there ARE “disciples” who, yes, decide to walk with Jesus no longer? What happened in those minds and hearts of disciples who once ‘walked’ with Jesus, but then they decided, “No more”!
Rebellion to the Living Word is deadly! Determining ‘self-rights’ is already seen in God’s Holy Word as a personal death-sentence related to eternal faith! Disobedience is destructive, defiant to Holy God, and puts a stamp of approval of “drying up” and “wasting away” in what could have been intimate, personal relationship with Father-God! Haven’t you witnessed that man in his early days of faith who came to Christ with such a devoted heart, life, and witness, but then began to be “successful”, made a name for himself, made a lot of money – and then he fell away, yes, into an ungodly lifestyle? How many have you known who became involved in sexual immorality and faded away? Any “believers” you have known who descended into a spiritual attitude of “decrease” rather than “increase” into our Lord’s image and likeness and were distracted from “pressing in” to Christ and yielded to the flesh?
No days pass that you are not in the scope of Satan to bring about your demise from eternal faith and obedience! Satan wants you so deceived because of your sinful indiscretions that you come to believe there is no spiritual hope for you – the devil will tell you: “You are a lost cause to God; come join my crowd”! The devil doesn’t really know how much God loves you and how willing He is, and able, to empower you to overcome the flesh’s greatest failure! God is merciful!
Holy God is omniscient, aware of your lack of understanding of spiritual warfare and the schemes of Satan, but His patient ‘Fatherhood spirit’ will walk with you, pick you up when necessary, and even step in to provide you with the victory that overcomes the world, your flesh, and the devil and his demons; God is merciful with His children! If Christ Jesus is your “Master”, are you aware of His oversight ministry, care, and supply of every need you have according to His riches in glory?
In Psalm 103:17-22 we need to evaluate our understanding and appropriation of God’s mercy or evaluate our failure to rest in His mercy if we don’t! David said: “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him [reverential awe!], and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them…
The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels [‘messengers?’], who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
If YOU are “complete in Christ,” does that mean God sees you as He sees His Son and our Savior, and the release in us and through us of all Christ Jesus is as a merciful and faithful High Priest? In Arthur Bennett’s book “The Valley of Vision,” he quoted one of the Puritan age disciple’s prayer that said: [p.17],
“I deny them not, [his former sins AND sin-nature!], frame no excuse, but confess, ‘Father, I have sinned’; Yet still I live, and fly repenting to Your outstretched arms; You will not cast me off, for Jesus brings me near, You will not condemn me, for He died in my stead, You will not mark my mountains of sin, for He levelled all, and His beauty covers my deformities. O my God, I bid farewell to sin by clinging to His Cross, hiding in His wounds, and sheltering in His side.”
Examine your full and unending grasp of God’s mercy illumined for you in Christ’s shed blood! It was Thomas Watson who once wrote: “Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.”
“Saving Faith AND THE CONVERTED’S WORK”? Is it visibly seen, continually affirmed, and exercised in you as the fruit of saving faith and your recognition of the true disciple’s faith, ministry, care, and conquest, knowing the converted’s work is not finished until we allow His Full Life demonstrated through us?
In the Psalm 25 passage David answered “Who is the man who fears the Lord?” 1) The blessed man is a learner. Psalm 25:12 says, “Him (the learner) shall He (God) teach in the way He chooses.” 2) The learner is blessed. Verse 13 says, He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. 3) The learner IS fearful of Holy God! That man is filled with reverential awe! “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show Them His covenant.” 4) The learner learns, “God is able!” David said, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.” 5) David was so aware of his own weaknesses! Verses 16-17, “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses!” 6) David discovered and knew God’s heart! Verses 18-19, “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.” 7) He knew where and with Whom to yield himself! Verses 20-21, “Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.”
If one truly waits on “God’s eternal remedy”, “God’s saving grace, and mercy,” and senses, receives, and walks in our Lord’s perfect, imparted plan, what do WE learn from Him about “Saving Faith AND THE CONVERTED’S WORK OR MINISTRY”? In Philippians 2:1-8 we read, “Therefore if there is any consolation [or encouragement] in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, of being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” And we must decide what it is we are to give to God!
Dare I tell you that God isn’t interested in what YOU might give to Him! “Well, how about my gladness, even my sadness, or my goodness, or my best for Him?” And, if you didn’t know, what you in your flesh would like to give to God, GOD CRUCIFIED IT ALL when Christ shed His blood on the Cross! And, if you receive that Word from God, then forgiveness begins to RISE, hope begins to emerge, strength and empowerment from God’s Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, and your heart and mind-understanding increases to infinity!!
“Saving Faith AND THE CONVERTED’S WORK OR MINISTRY” erupts like an erupting volcano! Your NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST puts your feet on the SOLID ROCK AND ETERNAL FOUNDATION that cannot be shaken, Your NEW ATTITUDE becomes overriding joy and thanksgiving for the grace and mercy of God, Your NEW CALLING AND MINISTRY as a royal ambassador of Christ overjoys your daily walk, Your LIFE IN CHRIST becomes an Overflowing Walk in and through His divine presence within you, and you enter a NEW TIME PERIOD OF YOUR LIFE OF ETERNAL CONFESSION OF HIM AND HIS GLORY, thankful the “old, unbelieving, sinful, reckless, careless life” was crucified with Him!!
“Saving Faith AND THE CONVERTED’S WORK OR MINISTRY”? If Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12c,“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” how do we even begin? First, how about our thanksgiving offered to God because the blood of Jesus has obliterated our indictment as number one sinner before Holy God! Do you remember what the Lord said in Isaiah 1:18? “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Second, how about the yielding to the Promised Holy Spirit who empowers us to live a Christ-honoring, overcoming, blessed life by the short-circuiting of Satan’s testing of us? Are you aware of what Galatians 5:16 tells us? “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Christ Jesus’ Emancipation Proclamation was and is: “Go and sin no more,” even promising the Holy Spirit as our spiritual “vest of protection”!
In Romans 8:1-5 Paul tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but [walk] according to the Spirit. For the ‘law’ of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD DID by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Are you ‘walking’ yielded to the Holy Spirit?
Third, if “Saving Faith” is real, genuine, God-honoring, Christ-devoted, and led by the Holy Spirit, there is a radical change of affections and loyalties! The “godless sinner”? He/she is a ‘bond-slave’ to the old sin nature, covered over with that dark cloud of an evil sin-nature, even deeply in love with that sin and devoted to it in a greedy fashion, even unconcerned about its ultimate ‘prize’ of eternal separation from Holy God!
But then one learns of “the blessed ones through the blood redemption” in and through Christ Jesus only! In Ephesians 1:3-6 God’s eternal Word tells us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, JUST AS HE [GOD] CHOSE US IN HIM [CHRIST JESUS] BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved.”
Did I say, “If ‘Saving Faith’ is real, genuine, God-honoring, Christ-devoted, and led by the Holy Spirit, [that] there is a radical change of affections and loyalties? Do YOU walk before Holy God as ‘rejected’ or “accepted in the beloved”? Do YOU walk as the ‘godless sinner’ or blessed as the “graced saint”? Is your worldly pilgrimage as a slave of sin and Satan or as the “glad, joyful, blessed, fulfilled servant of Christ as a genuine ‘foot-washer’ like Christ”?
I thank God for the testimony of Paul to Timothy and us in 1 Timothy 1:12-16, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I OBTAINED MERCY because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”
I know you are not “shocked” because some haven’t learned of the blessing of believing on Him for everlasting life, but I’m sure you are “shocked” at times when you learn of the depths of depravity many have sunk to – unbelief in God is enough to awaken most “sinners”, but when astonishment is awakened in them to the radical demise of many, even those “sinners” stand dumb-founded!
And one of our greatest testimonies to the radical unbeliever is our testimony of our own deliverance from fleshly, demonic, worldly bondage and the change in us of abominable affections and degraded loyalties!
Fourth, “Saving Faith”, and “The Converted’s Work and Ministry”? Do you realize the vast change between “sinners” and “saints”? Have you been discipled as to the ‘identity difference’ between a man of the world and a man of God? What’s the difference between one who lives for the “temporary” and one who lives for the “eternal”? Does “escaping fleshly corruption in the world” ring a wake-up call to you?
In 2 Peter 1:2-4 Peter wrote: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
But, sadly, even some “professing believers” have not come into full understanding of “fighting the good fight of faith” in themselves. They haven’t received fully what Jesus has delivered them from, and they still give in, at times, to the world, the flesh, and the devil!
Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.9], wrote: “Jesus does not take us alone and expound things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we can understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out our own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves!” [Have you been in any tight, testy, troubling ‘time zones’ lately?]
In John 8:34-36 Jesus spoke to some Jews who believed Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” What did Paul tell us in Romans 6:7? “For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Physical death, physical casket, physical funeral service – “Joe died, and so we have a funeral service”? No! That death Paul told us about IS “our sinful lives crucified with Christ! The old, sin-natured man was crucified with Him!”
In “The Valley of Vision” Arthur Bennett of “The Banner of Truth Trust”, [2012 printing], has given us a major, major writing of prayer through several hundred years. One, [p.100], is entitled “Freedom.” Consider it in the Spirit!
“O Holy Father, You have freely given Your Son, O Divine Son, You have freely paid my debt, O Eternal Spirit, You have freely bid me come, O Triune God, You have freely graced me with salvation…
Prayers and tears could not suffice to pardon my sins, nor anything less than atoning blood, but my believing is my receiving, for a thankful acceptance is no paying of the debt…
What did You see in me? that I a poor, diseased, despised sinner should be clothed in Your bright glory? That a creeping worm should be advanced to this high state?…
That one lately groaning, weeping, dying, should be as full of joy as my heart can hold? That a being of dust and darkness should be taken like Mordecai from captivity, and set next to the king?…
Should be lifted like Daniel from a den and be made ruler of princes and provinces? Who can fathom immeasurable love? As far as the rational soul exceeds the senses, so does the spirit exceed the rational in its knowledge of You?…
You have given me understanding to compass the earth, measure the sun, moon, stars, universe, but above all to know You, the only true God. I marvel that the finite can know the Infinite, here a little, afterwards in full-orbed truth;…
Now I know but a small portion of what I shall know, here in part, there in perfection, here a glimpse, there a glory. To enjoy You is life eternal, and to enjoy is to know. Keep me in the freedom of experiencing Your salvation continually.” Amen?
“Saving Faith and the Converted’s Work And Ministry”? I tell you that I am absolutely amazed and awed that Holy God continues to enlarge redeemed man’s capacity to grasp, celebrate, and walk in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ”! Thank God for our liberation from the bondage of sin and unbelief through the shed blood of Christ! Thank God that He saves us from ourselves and raises us up in Christ in His eternal identity! From sons of the flesh to sons of the Spirit, from sons of darkness to sons of the Light, from sons of self-bondage to sons of liberty and freedom, from sons of a fading world to sons of God’s eternal Kingdom and rule!
Fleshly life’s highest pinnacle cannot even begin to approach God’s eternal throne in the human heart where the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords reigns! We’re not called to reach out for “self-realization”, but called to abandon “self-worship” so that our eternal ministry is “That I may know Him, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings”! “In Christ” our journey of Faith is the full understanding of and our appropriation of “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” [Ephesians 4:13b].
Do you understand? It was Christ’s “guiltless blood” that was shed on the Cross of Calvary that each of us as guilty sinners might be eternally forgiven and freed!
CHAPTER EIGHT
“UNFORGIVENESS – UNFORGIVEN OR FAITH
AND FORGIVENESS?”
It sounds like an extremely harsh title of a sermon or teaching, but His Word is truth and that is what His people are to stand upon. And I’m convinced, whether husband and wife, pastor and people, employer and employee, friend to friend, God’s Word is clear.
Come first to Matthew 6;12, 14-15! Get Ready! Verse 12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Verses 14-15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
But please look at the nature and character of Christ as we read Luke 23:33-34, “And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Sinless Jesus nailed to a Cross as a common criminal, but He says, ‘Father, forgive them.’ Holy Jesus crucified as an unholy man, but He says, ‘Father, forgive them.’ Pure Jesus brutalized as an impure sinner, but He says, “Father, forgive them.”
There are some things you must wrestle with and come to a clear understanding about: Forgiveness is far better for any man than bank accounts filled with earthly riches – especially the forgiveness of God – but unforgiveness is self-imposed personal bankruptcy!
Forgiveness is of the spirit and nature of God Himself, while unforgiveness reveals the frailty and failures of fallen flesh. Forgiveness is the revelation of the indwelling nature and character of Christ, while unforgiveness is the unveiling of the malignant, sick nature of “the old man,” “the “first Adam,” “the “fallen nature and sickness of the sinner” at odds with God Himself.”
Forgiveness is freedom in and through the Indwelling Holy Spirit, while unforgiveness is the living picture of a despairing soul, locked in a self-imposed cage of vanity and vindictiveness.
Forgiveness is peace and the portrait of the indwelling Christ, while unforgiveness is an enslaved, dying sinner, maybe even with sorrow and remorse but dreading to face the prospect of their future because they have an inkling their attitude is horribly wrong and even inexcusable, and even sense a bleak, dark future if things aren’t made right!
I read Spurgeon recently who said, because of unforgiveness: “You will bewail in everlasting misery the mercy that through your willfulness was unavailing.”
Religion without reality of the nature and character of Christ Jesus is, yes, a professing believer walking without eternal purpose to be conformed to the image of Christ but captured by his old sin nature and willfully walking in unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, resentment, holding grudges and determined to have his selfish way and refuses to bear witness to the spirit of Christ and His saving grace!
Relationships – and it doesn’t matter what the relationship is: marriage, business, church, friend to friend, family member to family member, parent to child or child to parent – relationship is not a matter of winning or losing, BUT…is God glorified in any of this or ‘flesh’ magnified? – what matters is whether or not we decide to walk in the nature and character of Christ and glorify Him in the good and the bad, in the down and the dirty, even ‘flesh’ activity or ‘Spirit’ activity.
Sometimes I wonder if God allows, permits, yes, difficult events or circumstances, to expose us as to how and where and why and with whom we choose to walk: with the forgivers or the unforgivers, flesh folk or Christ’s fullness, sweet Jesus or sour grapes?
And Lamentations 3:32 gives me a challenging word: “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.”
Oswald Chambers really hit a ‘grand-slam homerun when he wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.241]: “Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God – God is so loving and kind that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favor is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made for us.”
Hear me! Forgiveness is the testimony of the Cross, the unveiling of the indwelling Christ, and the power that transforms circumstances and sets the captives free! Unforgiveness denies God, closes the door on eternal relationships with Him, honors the devil, and blemishes the name of Jesus!
I know you’re familiar with Stephen and his prophetic stand and preaching to Israel. Acts 7:51 says, Stephen speaking, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
And, remember, they took him out of the city and stoned him, as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then in Acts 7:60, it says, that Stephen knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
True believers walk in forgiveness. True believers choose the attitude and actions of their Savior and Lord because to do otherwise shames the holy name of Jesus. They’d rather take stones snuffing out the breath of life than deny the Lord’s spirit and grace and mercy!
And the one thing I want you to see out of Stephen’s testimony is its impact on one called Saul of Tarsus. After the stiff-necked Israelites stoned Stephen to death, Acts 7:58 says, “And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Acts 8:1 says, “Now Saul was consenting to his death.”
But then Saul met our Lord on the Damascus Road – he’s redeemed, saved, transformed, set aside as a mighty witness of the True Faith. In 2 Corinthians 2, the converted Saul – now Paul – has to deal with the church at Corinth who had to exercise church discipline but then failed to walk in loving forgiveness toward the brother. Look at 2 Corinthians 2:1-11,
“But I determined this within myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent – not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
Does Paul talk about forgiveness exercised in church discipline? You need to realize ‘restoration’ is always God’s intent in the necessity of church discipline. My wife Sue and I celebrated our 50th anniversary June 10,2006, which now in 2015 means 59 years of marriage! Friends from Temple, Texas, had come to our 50th celebration and gave us a print that said: “A successful marriage is the union of two great forgivers.” I’m sure if Sue were before you today she’d say: “We never thought about divorce – the word ‘divorce’ was never allowed to be mentioned by any of our four children, but murder? That is on the table!”
Daniel 9:9 says, “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” And that’s true – but don’t stop reading there! Look at Daniel 9:10-13! “we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws [His Word]!], which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And His has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.” [Is that a relevant passage for today?].
A number of years ago my son, Scott, and I were in the Phillipines doing pastors’ conferences and on a weekend an open-air crusade outside Manila in a city park. Before the service our Filipino organizer asked me, “I know you’ll give an evangelistic invitation after your message, but will you also pray for the sick?” And, of course, I said ‘Yes.’
There were four Americans and four Filipino pastors that formed eight lines to pray for healing grace on the sick. A young mother stood before me after I’d prayed for several others. When she came I said, “Young lady, how can I help you?”
She said, “I’ve been sick for several weeks but I don’t know what it is.” Immediately I heard the Lord say to me, “Ask her about her husband.” And when I did, I saw the demons manifest all over her – her face began to contort, her teeth began to grind back and forth, anger began to boil over – and she said: “My husband left me and our three children three weeks ago for another woman – and I hate him.”
I said, “Young lady, I’d like to pray for you, but I can’t. God will not heal your sickness by accepting your hatred, bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness.” It rang a bell within her! She said, “What must I do?” And I said, “If you promise me, after I pray, that you go find your husband and ask his forgiveness for your hatred and anger and bitterness and unforgiveness toward him, I’ll pray for you – and God will heal you.” She said, “Yes”! I prayed – brokenness came, tears began to flow, Christ Jesus began to radiate all over her and in her. Though I never saw her again, I believe her new-found spirit and attitude even brought a wayward husband home to a new wife and three children!
Come to Matthew 18:21-35! “Unforgiveness – Unforgiven!” Read it carefully at least five times! Forgiveness is the heart-cry of Jesus for Peter and all disciples! It’s not an option! I see several vital, important, life-altering truths from the lips of Jesus:
1} Forgiveness is without limit! Matthew 18:22
2} God Himself settles accounts – there is a reckoning! Matthew 18:32, “wicked servant”!
3} God calls a ‘spade’ a ‘spade’ and nothing less! Matthew 18:32 “wicked servant”
4} There are things God is ‘angry’ about and unforgiveness is one of them! Matthew 18:34
5} An unforgiving servant of God causes God to deliver that one to ‘the torturers’ – that’s delivered over to the demons, the powers of darkness, for hopefully correction, forgiveness, and a God-honoring life. Matthew 18:34
6} Because of unforgiveness God reinstates the debt! Matthew 18:34
7} God gives an unfailing promise – if one does not forgive from his heart his brother, God will not forgive him. Matthew 18:35!
It’s important that you see how God uses the Deceiver, yes, the devil, the demons, the powers of darkness to discipline and hopefully bring correction to His own children. Come first to Isaiah 5:24-30: “Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend as dust; BECAUSE they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, [“THAT’S THEM – the demons!], and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one will be weary or stumble among them, no one will slumber or sleep; nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken; whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar and lay hold of their prey; they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver. In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds.” What an awesome passage!
But look also at Isaiah 7:18-19! “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will “WHISTLE” for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Syria. They will come, and all of them will rest in the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all thorns and in all pastures.”
How illuminating is God’s Holy Word! See if you’ve seen before or witnessed in churches what Job saw in Job 12:16-25!!: “With Him are strength and prudence. THE DECEIVED AND THE DECEIVER ARE HIS. He leads counselors away plundered, and makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, and binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes [priests?] away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and disarms the might. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.” “OH, God, help us!”
One last Scripture: Come to Joel 2:4-13, and Verses 25-29! God tells the prophet about a people coming, great and strong, then He tells the prophet what’s coming down the highways of life! “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array…
Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down…
They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness…
The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His words. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?…
Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm…
Then, Joel 2:25-29, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you…
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel; I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame…
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
And why is this? What’s the difference between the Isaiah passages we read and the last few verses of Joel we just finished reading? Because we choose to walk in FORGIVENESS, not unforgiveness; we choose to walk in the Spirit, not futile flesh; we choose to die to sin, not celebrate it as under the blood, so we can live and act and do as we please!
Let me close with a true story I experienced. I was in Madras, India, now Chennai, India, having finished a pastors’ conference during the week, then preaching on a Sunday morning for the host pastor, Pratap Singh, a graduate of Lee University in my hometown of Cleveland, Tennessee. Pratap Singh is a visionary and our Lord has blessed his ministry phenomenally and powerfully!
I preached that morning on “How Shall We Escape If We Neglect So Great A Salvation?” When I gave the invitation, a man in his mid-forties came forward, absolutely broken, weeping uncontrollably. As Pratap was taking me to my hotel after the service, I said: “Pratap, tell me about the man who was so broken at the invitation.”
He said, “He’s married to one of the ladies in our church with two grown children. Thirteen years ago he left his wife and children to go to California with a new engineering job. In 13 years he never talked to his wife or children, never sent one dime of support. In that 13-year period he lived in an adulterous relationship.
His wife never ceased to love him or pray for him. She went back to school, finished her degree, became a teacher, taught the children daily to pray for their father, honor him, love him, because one day he was coming home. She taught only love, respect, and confidence in God to hear and answer their prayers.
Pratap then said: “Last week the husband and father called the wife from the U.S. to see if it was alright for him to come home to see the children. She said, “Oh, yes! They are going to be so happy and pleased that you are coming home. You are most welcome!”
He came – and they received him as if he’d never been away! When he came during the invitation, he told Pastor Pratap, “Please tell me of this Jesus who built such a loving, forgiving heart in my wife and children!” SAVED BY THE GRACE OF GOD – because of a wife who walked in forgiveness!
I think the year was the time period between 2002-2003. I had gone to be interim pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Winter Haven, Florida, a church I had pastored previously. I told Pratap’s story.
Next morning my fishing buddy and I had launched our boat in a prime lake for big bass. I was ready to catch my lunker. About 30 minutes into our fishing extravaganza, I heard crying in the back of the boat –
“Bob, what’s the problem?” Bob Davidson said, “Pastor, I heard that story yesterday – I haven’t spoken to my 80-year-old father in over a year. Sorry, but we’ve got to go in – I need to be forgiven and reconciled to my father!” We did – and he did – and God was honored!
Have you seen the picture? Forgiveness – forgiven! Unforgiveness – unforgiven! What will YOU do?!?
CHAPTER NINE
“FAITH AND THE REALITY OF KINGDOM TRANSLATION”
It is so amazing to me to hear a lot of ‘church folk’ talk about “The Faith”, but they seldom mention the Kingdom of our Lord God and their citizenship in the Kingdom of His Sovereign rule over their lives. And I wonder if their “faith” has any awareness of the reality of “Kingdom Translation” out of earthly, fleshly, man-made kingdoms into the Kingdom of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
There was a scribe who told Jesus, after Jesus had responded to Him about “commandments” in Mark 12:32, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. Verse 33, And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Oh, and then Verse 34 tells us, Now when Jesus saw that He answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Do you understand that “not far from” doesn’t mean the scribe had kingdom citizenship, but that he was near, without having abandoned all and yielded his life and allegiance to the King of all Eternity?
In John 16 the Lord Jesus talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, saying in Verse 13-15, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, [which a lot of people do today!], but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take on Mine and declare it to you.”
Question! Are you SURE that what you hear in a lot of American churches is the undiluted Truth of Holy God? Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.248], wrote: “The pietistic movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; all that is required is a pious attitude and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost; it has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder – “That is the work of God Almighty.” That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.”
But when there is bestowed grace, there IS blessed victory! This is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…”. When it’s the victory of the Risen Christ through the Cross, His burial, and His Resurrection, and our surrender, yielded-ness, and appropriation of His Holy Word, then “new life” is blossoming!
Paul put it like this in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” And he then called that, “serving Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.”
Righteousness isn’t earned – it’s a holy gift through true faith. Peace isn’t fought for – it’s Holy Presence. Joy isn’t juiced up – it’s Christ Jesus in you that is the hope of glory!
Again, in Arthur Bennett’s book entitled “The Valley of Vision,” [pps.240-241], it’s another Puritan prayer from the 1800’s through the 1900’s. It’s title? “Divine Promises”! Read it with an open mind and heart, even with the content so far in this book!
“GLORIOUS JEHOVAH, MY COVENANT GOD,” All Your promises in Christ Jesus are yea and amen, and all shall be fulfilled. YOU have spoken them, and they shall be done, commanded, and they shall come to pass…
Yet I have often doubted You, have lived at times as if there were no God. Lord, forgive me that death in life, when I have found something apart from You, when I have been content with ephemeral things. [Ephemeral? “short-lived”!]…
But through Your grace I have repented; [That’s the ‘lost’ stepping stone to Holy Presence!]. You have given me to read my pardon in the wounds of Jesus, and my soul does trust in Him, my God incarnate, the ground of my life, the spring of my hope..
Teach me to be resigned to Your will, to delight in Your law, to have no will but Yours, to believe that everything You do is for my good…
Help me to leave my concerns in Your hands, for You have power over evil, and bring from it an infinite progression of good, until Your purposes are fulfilled…
Bless me with Abraham’s faith that staggers not at promises through unbelief. May I not instruct You in my troubles, but glorify You in my trials; Grant me a distinct advance in the divine life;…
May I reach a higher platform, leave the mists of doubt and fear in the valley, and climb to hill-tops of eternal security in Christ by simply believing He cannot lie, or turn from His purpose…
Give me the confidence I ought to have in Him who is worthy to be praised, and who is blessed for evermore.” Yes! That’s the WORK of Glorious Jehovah, Our Covenant God!
“Faith And The Reality Of Kingdom Translation”? But earthly, fleshly, man-made kingdoms are void of true faith and even the knowledge of the reality of “”Kingdom Translation”! But there’s “the remnant”, always has been “the remnant”, and the gathering around the Eternal Throne will be the “remnant” forever and forever! This is why King David prayed to Eternal God and Father, Lord and Savior, in Psalm 25:1-5,
“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.”
How familiar are you with Paul’s statement in Galatians 5:1 when he wrote: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”? Are you aware that there are many “pretenders” who know the Bible from cover to cover but are void of true oneness with and in Christ, void of deliverance from the bondage and captivity of the old sin nature, but fully acquainted with the devil’s style of impersonation? Are you aware that there exists a large group of “professors of faith” who sincerely believe that “Christians can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven”? And that’s with Jesus saying to His disciples, “Go, and sin no more!”
“Faith and the Reality of Kingdom Translation”? In Hebrews 10:19-23 we read with a joyous and thankful heart, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the House of God [which is the true disciple of faith!], let us draw near with a true heart IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [Water of the Word?]. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.”
Did Verse 19 tell us, “having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus”? Entering ‘the Holiest’ is the Holy of holies in His tabernacle which is the abiding presence of Holy God, and He says that through Christ YOU ARE ‘the temple” of God! I sense day by day through the Word of God that true discipleship is the awareness of "Christ in you the hope of glory”, and our pilgrimage becomes one of absolute awe and greater yielded-ness as we recognize His Presence within us!
I’m convinced one of the true believer’s great discoveries is what Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 5:7 when he said, “For we [true believers] walk by faith, not by sight,” but the ‘faith-walk’ for some is faith in themselves, their abilities, their dreams, their personal inspiration and attitude about their own abilities, and totally miss God and leave Him out of the pilgrimage. Oswald Chambers was truly a wise spiritual father in England for many years. He said once: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.88], “How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said – “I cannot do any more until God appears to me.” He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God we will have to get up. Then comes the surprise – “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration; our standard is our duty.” And our duty before Holy God and the Lord Jesus is His revelation through His Word!
In 1 Corinthians 2:11-14a, plus verse 16, we read: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but [in Christ] the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him…”.
“Faith and the Reality of Kingdom Translation”? But the Word is so very, very clear if one receives it, but apart from “new birth” men never even get the Holy Book opened by the Holy Spirit! The Spirit resides in true believers; in fact, Jesus said in John 3:5, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Are you ‘flesh-led’ or ‘Spirit-led’ as you come to the Holy Word of God?
It was Peter in 1 Peter 1:22-23 who, inspired of the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…”.
Divine conversion through the Word by the Holy Spirit translates us from our own fleshly kingdoms and desires to Life IN the Kingdom of God! ‘Obeying the truth’ of the Holy Word of God is the eternal biblical evidence of divine conversion – no obedience, no salvation; no feeding on the Word – no spiritual maturing out of ‘babyhood’ to spiritual full-grown men and women of faith; no standing in the Word – no armor or heavenly weapons to ward off demonic powers against the sons of faith!
You know that Hebrews 4 talks about God’s Promise of “eternal rest,” but in Verse 2 the author wrote: “…but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it,” and God then said, “they shall not enter My rest.” In naming the Name of Christ, does that naming build in you a strong foundation of Biblical Faith or does that come as one faithfully “feeds” on the Word of God? Didn’t Jesus say, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”?
[Every conference I led in India over twenty-five years was a strong emphasis on the discipline of the Holy Word daily, even stressing , beginning in Genesis and Matthew, five chapters from the Old Testament and five chapters from the New Testament every day until they met Him at Heaven’s throne in the “after-life”!]
“Faith and the Reality of Kingdom Translation”? Do you, as I do, find Hebrews 5:8-9 a challenging unveiling of the very process of our salvation walk? It says, “though He [Jesus] was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,…”!
“The author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him”? In Romans 16:25-27 Paul tells us: “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH – to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”
As you’ve read the Scriptures I’ve shared in this chapter, has there been in you a strong awakening to the “new beginning” from rebellion to submission, from disobedience to obedience, from ‘my way’ to His Way in and through Christ alone, that as He obeyed the Father, so we submit ourselves to His Kingdom rule through us as we reject ‘self-will’ and yield to our Lord and Savior’s divine will? Can you, right now, say without hesitation, “Lord Jesus, I sense Your abiding love for my life because You took my sins to the Cross with You, suffered, bled, and died, that my life would be free from bondage and discovering “life-change” through the Victory of Your Cross on my behalf! You took my sin unto yourself, exposing through my sin, the necessity of re-birth in Your Spirit, nature, and character, and as You are, so am I! In me it is no longer ‘a form of godliness’ but the very Faith of God-likeness because of my “second birth” through my faith in Your sin-sacrifice! I thank You for Your purifying blood, for Your Resurrection Life, and for the gift of the Holy Spirit to honor You through my journey!”
It was Paul again who said in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” It’s certainly not natural birth that Paul was speaking of, but the reality of the “Seed-Birth” of the Word of God in us and through us, and from birth spiritually, to growing spiritually, feeding on the milk of the Word of God, we come to maturity in the faith through that daily yieldedness to the Word of Christ!
Earthly kingdom or the Kingdom of God? Exchanged devotion to the sinful self or exchanged devotion and submission to the Word and will of God? Adapted or converted? Natural birth only or the blessedness of spiritual birth in repentance toward God and faith and surrender to Christ’s Lordship? A temporary ‘religious spasm’ or eternally birthed in the “new man”? I’m sure, even as a true spiritual child of God, that you’ve wrestled with the war between spiritual reality and the natural affinities that you’ve seen, yes, in the worldly man/woman that seem so appealing, and yet can be that sinister trap of Satan to lead you astray! The walk of the true disciple is “being conformed to the image of Christ,” not taking on what appears to be ‘good human traits’.
There is a challenging, freeing, completing Verse in Luke 21:19 when the Lord Jesus said, “By your patience [steadfastness] possess your souls.” In the process of maturing into the image of Christ, there is to be the claiming, the forming, the acquisition of Christ-likeness, yes, even the warfare of ‘possessing’ the “new-man in Christ” and daily dying to the old man – it’s not at times an easy pilgrimage! Have you ever watched someone dealing with pulling out ‘wild hairs’ both physically and figuratively? If the “Kingdom way and the Kingdom life” is to be first in the true disciple, the ‘care’ of our lives must be ‘what honors God’ and not ‘what pleases or satisfies one’s ‘flesh-nature’!
It was Matthew Henry who once wrote, [probably in one of Matthew Henry’s New Testament commentaries!], “Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces. – Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.”
How about John Brown’s word in his writing entitled, “Barbarossa,” [Act 5, Sc.3], “Now let us thank the eternal power, convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction: That often the cloud which wraps the present hour, Serves but to brighten all our future days!” But YOU don’t see Calvary’s Cross as meaningful to you in your journey of life?
“Faith and the Reality of Kingdom Translation”? Remember, if you need to be reminded, that there is the ‘kingdom of this world’ or the Kingdom of God; there is the fleshly kingdom of self-will and self-promotion or the spiritual Kingdom of God Almighty; there is the demonic, Satanic kingdom or, Yes, the Ruling Kingdom of Holy God, the Lordship of Christ Jesus, and the very Power and Authority of the Holy Spirit!
And whether a life, a family, a government, or a church, it is never to be by ‘fleshly efforts’, as good as they can be at times; it must be by Spirit-anointing, yes, by the very “hall-mark” of the Holy Spirit as He is allowed to work through us in honoring Christ, as Christ Himself said, “And when He, the Spirit of Truth is come…He shall glorify Me”; so we submit, surrender, and daily celebrate the Holy Spirit’s presence in us to honor Christ through us!
The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to affirm YOUR celebration of Christ in you, but His affirming of Christ through you! He unveils the Lord Jesus in you that you might be captured by God’s eternal intent and able-ness to unveil Him through you!
It was William Knox, in his “Oh, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?”, who wrote: “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Like a swift-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, a flash of lightning, a break of the wave, he passes from life to his rest in the grave.” The writer of Proverbs tells us wisely in Proverbs 25:28, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.”
The “religion of self-centeredness” is a world-wide dilemma and dangerous trend! Do you sense, understand, been enlightened by the terrible dilemma of multitudes of lives, families, governments, schools, businesses, who so easily close the door on God Himself and lock Him out? If a man has determined to rule himself, he becomes more than a fleshly king of his own kingdom – he’s opened the door of his life to be ruled, dominated, controlled, and blackened even more in his heart by the devil himself and destined for the devil’s eternal house in Hell!
“Faith and the Reality of Kingdom Translation”? ‘Flesh,’ ‘the old sin-nature,’ ‘the temple of self-righteousness’, ‘the selfish reign of one’s demonic up-bringing’, ‘the bridled reverence of self unbelievers ride upon is the bucking mustang that continually, ultimately, will put sinners down where they don’t want to be’!
Selfish, sovereign power is the ‘rule’ of unbelieving men who crowned themselves as rulers over the fallen sin-nature, and proud of it – it’s the kingdom of selfishness rather than the kingdom of selflessness ruled over by the Indwelling Christ who is both Savior and Lord or Master of the Eternal Kingdom – and if there is in you true faith and the reality of Kingdom Translation, there has been, yes, self-denial, self-renunciation, self-interest, and glad Jesus took it with Him to the Cross, and as He died, so what diseased and dis-eased YOU! Tolstoy once talked about, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.” Well, Christ Jesus thought of YOU and declared YOU were only deserving of death with Him on Calvary’s Cross!
When that awareness sinks in by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and one receives the divine gift of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary, repents, confesses, yields, and dedicates the life to glorifying his Lord and Savior, the journey begins as Jesus said, “When He the Spirit of truth is come…He shall glorify Me” through YOU!
What did John say in 1 John 1:7? “But IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” [Are you even aware of what sin is?] [Are you aware of Who and What God IS, and are YOU lining up with Him with no diversions or separations from Him?] Is His loving nature at work in you as you grow in faith and understanding of what honors Him in your pilgrimage? Did YOU receive righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit?
And, thank God, we serve the God who fulfills His promises to all who receive them! Standing on the promises is not a matter of a spiritual determination to please God by ‘self-filled pride’ and ‘mustered up determination’, but, “Lord, You said…I receive; Lord, You determined…I depend on You; Lord, You spoke…I have surrendered to let Christ BE Christ in me!”
There is nothing in our walks, lives, opportunities, that is redemptive apart from the shed blood of the Lamb of God! There is to be, not even a thought, about ‘me’ being able to walk in a way on my own that would honor and bless and exalt His Name! But in Him, through Him, by His Holy work, my house of clay becomes His Holy Temple; my self-deception was crucified and Jesus’ Resurrection Presence graced me with His infinite wisdom; my fleshliness of darkness, my spirit of mental deficiency about Him, my limitless infirmities by the absence of the divine nature, my weaknesses void of Spirit-power and authority, my personal imperfections like visible scars, my powerlessness against the powers of darkness, did a work in me that Christ took to the Cross and translated me out of the kingdom of the devil, the flesh, and the world, translating me, now and forever, in the Eternal, Spiritual Kingdom of Holy God!
It was H.L. Gilmour and Rev. H.J.Zelley who wrote the old hymn, “He Brought Me Out.” It says: “My heart was distressed ‘neath Jehovah’s dread frown, And low in the pit where my sins dragged me down; I cried to the Lord from the deep miry clay, Who tenderly brought me out to [His] golden day…
He placed me upon the strong Rock by His side, My steps were established and here I’ll abide; No danger of falling while Here I remain, But stand by His grace with the crown I gain…
He gave me a song, it was a new song of praise; By day and by night its sweet notes I will raise; My heart’s overflowing, I’m happy and free, I’ll praise My Redeemer, who has rescued me.” Amen?
CHAPTER TEN
“FAITH AND THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST”
Pride never entered into the heart and mind of Paul the Apostle, but only deep and sincere and celebratory confidence in the gift of God through Christ Jesus. He said in Romans 1:5-7a, “Through Him [Christ Jesus], we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom ‘you also’ are the called of Jesus Christ; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints…”. Is it ‘you also’ that Paul would consider a ‘saint’?
Saints are not “the holier than you” but those “set apart by God for the glory of God.” And if you are unsure about saints, it’s those who know how to take soap and towels, and wash someone’s feet! It’s the “servant spirit and heart” that Christ Jesus so dramatically portrayed as He knelt and washed and served and blessed others, even sacrificing His eternal life and body to the Cross for our Eternal Redemption!
Again, Paul the Apostle, hit the “life-winning” home-run when he wrote in Philippians 3:7-10, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being confirmed to His death…”.
Life’s excellence has nothing to do with human achievements that come because, more likely than not, most ‘achievers’ have set aside divine blessing of a life to show their ability to do it “on my own”; “who needs God”?
But then, you “see” those who count self-achievement as total loss that they may gain Christ as Lord of their lives. Christ Jesus already determined, even before we were born, that “the crucified life” was necessary if one was to be reconciled to God, which was each of us wrapped up ‘in Christ’ and put to death with Him that we might inherit by faith “the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…!”
In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul tells us, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He [God the Father] made Him [Christ Jesus the Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” “In Him” is the true definition of every born-again believer! Oh, and then Paul told us in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him [“in Christ”] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power!”
What did the Lord Jesus say in Matthew 11:28-30? “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” “In Him” dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily! “In Him” you’re reconciled to God – there’s no other way! “In Him” you’re seen by the Savior as His completed work, molded in His loving image by His strong hands of revealed Truth!
But, sadly, there are multitudes all across the world who live with the blockage of spiritual impertinence and sick rebellion and self-soulish importance, with an unwillingness to submit themselves to His Lordship because their fleshly independence demand allegiance to “Number One,” the warped self who sees no need of the love, grace, and mercy of God!
One of the greatest blunders of unsaved mankind is that they don’t need a Savior and Lord – they can oversee their own lives, but they cannot redeem themselves from soulish bondage, they cannot in themselves break the chains of the devil off of their lives, they cannot birth or implant for themselves even a semblance of God’s righteousness, and they cannot on their own be a perfected example of God’s eternal purpose through Christ!
I am awestruck when I read what God said about men who rejected Him but then magnified the true faith and follow-ship of Caleb in Numbers 14:20-24! It says: “Then the Lord said: ‘I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord – because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”
Do YOU look beyond your walk of faith and obedience “in Christ” to see the faithful journeys of your descendants? What did Moses say earlier in Numbers 14:18? “The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” In no way is God unkind or unforgiving, but He sees the deadly ‘fruit’ that comes from godless, disobedient, rebellious fathers! And, “what you see is what they get”, who follow the life-styles of the unbelieving, even generational curses!
Again, I remind you of what Paul wrote in Romans 1:5-7a, “Through Him [Christ Jesus], we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom YOU ALSO ARE THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, CALLED TO BE SAINTS…!” Do YOU know that through Christ Jesus a “saint” is one “set apart” to honor the Lord by daily death to self and dependence upon His Resurrection Life in and through you to reveal Him to an unbelieving world that surrounds you? “In Him” you are the called to extend His grace and mercy and peace to a troubled majority of the world’s societies who presently are the unredeemed, alienated and separated from the God of Calvary’s Cross, in need of “blood atonement”!
“Faith and the Fullness of Christ”? Examine carefully John 1:14-16 as we see God’s intent and eternal purpose “in Christ Jesus” to reconcile a sinful world to Himself! “And the Word [Christ Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth…
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” Faith in the fullness, not some freakish, minimal faith!
The author of Hebrews builds an eternal foundation under the house of faith that is true, strong, and eternally blessed. He wrote: Hebrews 10:19-23, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us HOLD FAST the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Faith and the Fullness of Christ is a God-given gift – we don’t buy it, earn it, or imitate it! “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9]. Through faith, the God-given gift, one then appropriates its fullness, living the blessed, overcoming, victorious life in and through Him!
It’s so amazing to me that I read in the Word that our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, shed His blood on the Cross, not only for the sins of believers, but, yes, unbelievers! In 1 John 2:1-2 we read, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And IF anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only BUT ALSO FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.” Separation from God comes, not because of sin forgiven, but faithlessness in His Lordship and Sovereign Rule over, in, and through their lives!
Do you remember the testimony of John in John 1:29,34? He said, first, in John 1:29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Verse 34, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” Are you aware that “growing in faith” is a heart and mind that “says what God says”? Faith is the free gift of God, and then there is the process, the battles, the warfare of “learning to stand on the promises” rather than just sitting around on His premises!
What was Paul speaking about when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”. Do YOU see that ‘faith and the fullness of Christ’ is unveiled, demonstrated, appropriated, yes, in the personal warfare of the faith between your ‘old man’ and the “new man in Christ”?
Warfare? Is it ‘sinner’ or “saint”? Is it bound by the curse or blessed by His blessing? Is it the daily experiencing of death in the flesh or Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope in Him? Is your life a testimony of spiritual poverty or the richness of God’s continuous provisions? Is it doubts and fears that dominate you or dependence upon God’s revelation concerning a growing faith? Are you a “slave to your flesh [your old sin nature]” or a servant under God’s Holy Spirit’s administration of your walk?
Is your walk EMPTY or filled in His “All in ALL!” Are you presently hiding in disappointment and frustration or abounding in Holy Spirit discipline and His Holy Fire? Are you governed by your ‘feelings’ or guided by the Faith in what God says? Is it bondage for you or the blessing of Christ’s on-going gift of liberty and freedom and fulfilment in Him?
Do you live with a clouded mind about your identity or a renewed mind of your unending identity in and through Christ? Are you ‘of the world’ or are you “a citizen of God’s Kingdom?” Are you AIMLESS in your discipleship walk or understanding of your “ambassadorial ministry”? Is it for you a “down-in-the-mouth”, sad, “pity-me-state of spiritual-affairs” or do YOU rejoice in the Lord always and OR again I say rejoice? In your mortal body are you being swallowed up by defeat, discouragement, disappointments, defilements, OR are you being swallowed up by His Life knowing YOU ARE MORE THAN CONQUEROR THROUGH CHRIST JESUS?
“Faith and the Fullness of Christ”? Do you remember the role, the function, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your spiritual journey? Didn’t Jesus talk about ‘born again’ through the water [of the Word] and the Spirit, because without the ministry of the Word and the Holy Spirit one cannot enter the kingdom of God? [John 3:5]. Then Jesus said in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And we praise God for “new birth”!
But also, understanding “Faith and the Fullness of Christ”, it was never God’s intent to birth babies who would remain babies, but babies who would mature into Christ-honoring servants! And does the Holy Spirit have a vital ministry in our maturing from babies to, yes, spiritually adult men and women? In John 14, two vital passages related to one ‘born-again’ and by God’s grace receiving the Holy Spirit:
John 14:15-18 says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father [Holy God], and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for HE DWELLS WITH YOU AND WILL BE IN YOU. I [the Lord Jesus] will not leave you orphans [spiritually]; I will come to you.” And He does so in Holy Spirit Presence within you!
Then, John 14:25-26, our Lord and Savior tells ALL born-again believers: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
John 16 has two extremely important teachings every believer must rest in as he/she grows in the Faith. The first is John 16:7-8 where Jesus said of the Spirit, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you; and when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…”
And then in John 16:12-14, Jesus trains and equips and unveils more truth about our need of the Holy Spirit! He said: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you.”
What is the Holy Spirit up to in you after your spiritual conversion? Did you read and receive also John 16:14, convicted by the Holy Spirit of the greatness of Christ’s ministry in your behalf? Jesus told us, “He will glorify Me [that’s through YOU!], for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you!”
And He glorifies Christ, not by your best efforts, but by the Holy Spirit’s empowerment and anointing on your life, your testimony, your daily pilgrimage, and your witness to an unsaved world!
“Faith and the Fullness of Christ”? Did John tell us in John 1:16 that, “And of His fullness we have all received [as true believers], and grace for grace.” But you would question the fullness of Spirit-anointing as different from the fullness in Christ? There is not the weakest of saints who cannot come into Spirit-fullness because of the saint’s weakness! God gives the Spirit’s anointing and empowering because all new children in the Faith are weak, and the Spirit’s anointing is a must! You’re not aware the Holy Spirit illumines God’s heavenly truths to you and through you?
Do you remember reading in the Book of Acts Paul’s declaration in Acts 1:1-8 of things pertaining to “the kingdom of God” AND the promise of the Holy Spirit? Receive His words to the glory of God!! “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God…
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”…
And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
A word of personal testimony: I pastored churches for about twenty-two years, and then something very dramatic happened spiritually to me. Our Lord and Savior opened my heart to the missions – need worldwide, saying to me, “The church in America will no longer be the leader in world evangelism and missions. I’ve opened the door for you to ‘missions and evangelism and teaching my pastors in India’, because India will become now “the spiritual nation and servants” who will touch My vast world with the Redemption message of Christ Jesus!” And it is happening right now!
But, also, for every born-again believer, there is a vital word of blessed assurance you must receive and walk in: Ephesians 1:13-14 is a necessary word of encouragement, enlightment, and energizing to the true believer who rests in God’s unveiling of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in YOU! Paul said: “In Him [Christ] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed [trusted in, adhered to, relied upon], you WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, who IS the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Were you ‘discipled’ concerning the Holy Spirit’s ministry to empower YOU “in Christ” to be a faithful witness of our Lord’s saving grace? Have YOU received, surrendered, welcomed the Holy Spirit’s ministry in you and through you to honor Christ Jesus, not by your natural gifts and fleshly abilities, but by the very “power” of God that resurrected Jesus from the dead? It’s not your educational degree or degrees but the discipline of complete yieldedness to the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in you and through you, and you trusting the Holy Spirit’s power to manifest the reality of our Lord’s Resurrected Life, Liberty, and His faithful Love through us with God’s faithful promises to our needy world!
Have you personally grasped, held onto, surrendered to the Spirit’s control? Are you allowing Him to fulfill His eternal ministry in honoring Christ in and through you in His supernatural way?
Follow Oswald Chambers’ words in “My Utmost For His Highest” [pages 194-195], “The expression of Christian character is not doing good, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as “God’s” life, not as a human life ‘trying’ to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God. When we come in contact with things that create a buzz, we find to our amazement that we have power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all.”
Would you say that YOU are poised in pleasing God or a prisoner of self-pleasure in indulging the ‘flesh’ or your old sin nature? Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:5, about those who are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” with some “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Or, would YOU say, you are consumed with the passion of living your redemptive faith in the divine providence of the Holy Spirit honoring Christ Jesus through you? The Holy Spirit of God is the Almighty Teacher and Instructor guiding us, girding us, governing us in honoring our Savior and Lord through us, even moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day! Have you received, invited in, fully surrendered yourself to the Holy Spirit’s sovereign control?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“FAITH AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF SPIRIT-IDENTITY”
If you are blessed of God, through Christ Jesus, with an eternal calling, and it relates to you having an assignment in your world around you, is there ever a danger of the world impacting you rather than you impacting the world around you with the example, gospel truth, His abiding Presence, and His message proclaimed through you as to His saving grace, mercy, and love?
There is an enriching and encouraging and eye-opening word from Paul in Romans 15:13 when he wrote, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Abounding believers or dejected ‘sons’ who rebel? The hope-filled or the hopeless? Neglecters of biblical truth or devoted disciples of the eternal truth?
In Ephesians 2:11-13 is a necessary reminder of where we were without Christ and where and who you are in Him NOW! “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
One without Christ as Lord and Savior and the Sovereign over his life is known by his ‘flesh-identity’ and ‘hopeless dreams and aspirations’ and ‘self-conceit’ – and that one who owns biblical faithlessness is seen by God as one without hope, without redemptive faith, without passion for God, as he lives deceived by his unbelief and rewarded for it only with despair, disappointment, and darkness, as he dies more and more daily under the devil’s horrendous administration.
Are you aware that goodness without God is the seed of godlessness? How many have you witnessed in your journey who genuinely believed that doing evil was sometimes necessary to bring about good? For instance, examine Arthur Hugh Clough’s statement from his “Dipsychus,” [Part 1, sc.3], “What we all love is good, touched up with evil – religion’s self must have a spice of devil.” Do you realize how reckless man-induced religions and ‘faiths’ can be as they oversee people’s lives and families and indoctrinate them with death-delivering indoctrinations without any comprehension of “new birth,” “new identities,” and the “new hope” of eternal life now and forever because of the “new life” through the shed-blood of the Lamb of God?
Most ‘religions’ approve and try to excuse the deceitfulness of sin, affirm loving one’s perverse nature, deny Jesus’ plea of “You must be born again,” have no disappointments in one’s spiritual failures, explain away the fleshly powers of one’s soul that degrades, destroys, and darkens what ‘little light’ one may have held, and will call the true preacher irresponsible and irrelevant if he preaches “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you look at Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, you’ll find a man who was “called of God, sanctified by God, and preserved in Christ Jesus!” He authored Jude 20-22, saying, wisely, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life…
And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh [or old sin-nature].”
“Faith and the Faithfulness of Spirit-Identity”! That’s not a man-made faith or the fleshliness of self-identity in its foolish demonstrations of what some call, “Just a temporary demonstration of one’s good and evil, which is all God expects of us!” How wild an imagination is that, how far from divine truth is that, how foreign to the nature and character of God is that?
What did Isaiah the prophet say in Isaiah 5:20-21? “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”
Human minds and deceived hearts, willingly and unwillingly, cloud the hearts and minds of “the fallen away from God crowd”, yet, at times, will parade themselves in the pretense of righteousness, self-deceived that they are as ‘holy as Jesus and His followers’, when in reality it is ‘hole-li-ness’ in both the head and heart, deceived by the devil again and again that “one can sin and not die”! In far too many lives across the world there is no shame of insensibility to the love and mercy of Holy God.
In the centuries of the past, even in the Garden of Eden onward, and still being modeled in our present day, there is an acceptance of ‘evil’ by many as an acceptable way of life, holding adverse reactions to God saying, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” The reality of the modern world, with sunlight and the nights of darkness, is the picture of the need of ‘fallen men’ who often promote their good and evil nature as a mixture of both, and there is, for them, no problem with a little of both, not realizing their ‘little light of goodness’ is as compromising as their ‘dark nights of the soul’!
It was Spurgeon, in his writing on “Holiness”, who said, “Holiness is the architectural plan upon which God builds up His living temple,” and that’s the born-again believer, not some architectural spiritual genius with sticks and stones! And with “true believers” it is not the self-determination with a “little light of goodness” and with the powerful hold of “dark nights of the soul”, but from the Apostle Paul we read of his encounter with the Resurrected Christ after saying to Him, “Who are You, Lord?” And Jesus said to him [and us!], “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified BY FAITH IN ME.” [Acts26:15-18].
As we consider “Faith and the Faithfulness of Spirit-Identity”, the question that we MUST genuinely face and deal with is whether or not in our spiritual relationship with Holy God our true foundation is Holy God’s provision of eternal scriptural awareness that, [John 4:24], “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth,” which is the result of “Spirit-birthing,” “Spirit-guidance,” and “Spirit-unveiling of Holy Truth” to settle our lives and faith on the strong foundation of Eternal Truth, and “Spirit-empowerment” to fulfill our divine calling as His witnesses, His proclaimers of divine truth, and raising ‘eternal trees’ of divine life producing the very “fruits” of the Spirit of God!
Our Savior and Lord gave us a powerful warning and then gracious encouragement in Matthew 7:15-20 when He said: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM.”
If a true disciple of Christ is known by his fruits, and the Holy Spirit IS the “Fruit-Producer”, then what is that Spirit-germinated ‘fruit’ in the life of a disciple? In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul’s Spirit-anointed letter tells us, trains us, teaches us, that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fruitfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, don’t quench the Holy Spirit, and if there is no hunger in you to be led by the Holy Spirit, don’t you be grieved when He becomes silent toward you, but repent and yield yourself truly and completely, willing to be led by Him alone, not your own quirky conscience! Especially ‘repent’ before the Holy Spirit of God when you know He’s witnessed your disobedience and allowed bondage to disappoint your sin-leaning when He calls you to holiness, submission, and obedience!
Beyond the Holy Spirit glorifying Christ in us and through us, beyond His fruit-production in us, I personally rejoice and thank God for ‘Holy Spirit helps’! In Romans 8:26-27 we read, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, BECAUSE HE MAKES INTERCESSION FOR THE SAINTS ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD.”
Thank God for the mighty Holy Spirit that indwells, anoints, guides, convicts, enlightens every true believer, glorifying Christ Jesus through us by His Presence, His Power, His Purpose, His Passion of exposing sin’s darkness, old self’s captivity to spiritual infirmities, the ‘flesh’s’ unruly passions and reckless, senseless, God-dishonoring, disordered, defiling lusts, and even deceiving the wisest of men about the devil’s power over his life, his body, his mind, and his spirit! The devil wants fallen men totally blind to his nature of evil, his hatred of Holy God, and his power to destroy, while the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, honors Christ Jesus, and in a true believer heightens the glory of God, unveils God’s Holy Purpose, exalts and honors the Resurrected Christ in His Royal Family, guides them in holy Truth, in the vibrant life of the Garden of His Holy Presence with the fragrance of Heavenly fruit, radiant with the rich taste of the wine of His Word, radiant with the shining light of the immenseness of Calvary’s love, and loosing believers’ new minds to the voluminous Victory of Christ’s “It is finished,” and with the Holy Spirit’s power, we “rest in Jesus’s love and grace and mercy” for us!
Every single day of true believers’ lives are to be witnesses and affirmers of Holy Spirit presence within them as they “lean not to their own understanding, but in all their ways, walks, and witness,” yield themselves to Spirit-control! This is why Paul instructs every believer in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” And I’m sure you are aware of “the flesh of one’s old sin nature” and “The Spirit’s power to honor Christ through your new divine nature”!
The Holy Spirit converts, the Holy Spirit characterizes a “new creation” distinctively, the Holy Spirit infuses the rich treasures of Holy Presence, converts one’s despair from the old life to delight in the divine life, the Holy Spirit manifests eternal fruit, melts fear and pours in faith, buries one’s doubts, fears, tendencies of rebellion and enriches one’s true confidence in God and God’s fullness in him with eternal life, heavenly treasures, abiding hope, the Prince’s peace that passes all understanding, God’s glory that glows within and without, and gives the Hand that holds us peacefully as we even walk through the very shadow of the valley of death!
How thankful are YOU for the Holy Spirit’s, Yes, divine intervention in your life and walk AND circumstances of life you face, often wondering if it’s possible you’ll survive?!? In Romans 8:26-27 we read about the Holy Spirit that ‘comforts,’ ‘comes alongside of,’ “intercedes,” “searches,” “prays” for Christ’s true disciples! It says, “Likewise the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, BUT THE SPIRIT HIMSELF makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
If our ‘bodies in Christ’ are the very temples of God, which is what He tells us, I pray you’ll remember, be reminded of, or taught for the first time in your spiritual life and journey: “Your body IS the temple of the Holy Spirit”! [2 Corinthians 6:16b]. But beyond that unveiling of Holy Truth to you, what about what Jesus told us through the spiritual mountain of His Holy Word in Matthew 5:8 when He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;” and Oswald Chambers called all believers to account when he said, [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.61], “If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember this vision [“you shall see God”] depends on character – “the pure in heart” see God.”
In John 16:7-8a the Lord Jesus teaches us about the awareness of our need of the Holy Spirit and His ministry of Spirit-assistance in honoring Christ in us:
Jesus speaking, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…”. Have you ever witnessed ‘spiritual folks’ who say, “I don’t need the Holy Spirit in my life and walk – I’m able!” And sadly they never learn what the Spirit is up to in guiding them in all truths of the Holy Word!
“Oh, Holy Spirit, we come to You, knowing your conviction has exposed us to our sinful natures; you’ve opened our minds and hearts to our desperate state of life without Christ; you’ve eternally revealed to fallen mankind their need of the Savior and, through the anointing of God’s Holy Word, the need of daily partaking of “the bread of life”, and the need of the discipline of Holy Spirit control in glorifying Christ in us and through us, opening the gift of understanding of the Word of life, through it all magnifying Jesus and honoring Holy God through us, as You, Holy Spirit, graciously guide us into all Truth. Spirit of God, plant the seed and watch over it, until the Seed of Christ is fully formed, and His fruit abounds. Spirit of God, “water us faithfully with the water of the Holy Word, watch over us daily until Christ’s deliverance of us from the old sin nature and until Your eternal work in us finds the fullest, eternal, complete expression of Christ Jesus, and we are able to say to our Lord God, ‘Father, it is finished in me the work of Christ finished on Calvary’s Cross, that through His sacrificial death, You put to death my old sin-nature, and raised me up in His Resurrection Life. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to You, oh, Holy Spirit!”
Do you remember what Jesus said in John 16:14-15 Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” A daily walk in Christ is the daily ministry of the Holy Spirit in us, testifying, illuminating, inspiring the perfect will of God for every believer! “You’ll never walk alone,” is not a trite song but an eternal declaration of God to assure YOU the Holy Spirit will in-fill your life, inform your mind, and integrate God’s eternal purpose in your life fully, completely, and so reverently! The angels see the Spirit’s ministry in and through you, singing a song of rejoicing!
I.H.Meredith wrote the old hymn, “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit”. It says: “Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your impress, we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.
Seal us, O Holy Spirit, help us His likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others, Streams of rich blessings shall flow.
Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make us His own from this hour; Let me be useful, Dear Master, seal us with witnessing power.
Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.”
What a source of great encouragement the Word of God truly is! In Romans 12:1-2 Paul taught “the brethren,” “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Didn’t Paul tell us earlier also in Romans 8:2 that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made [us] free from the law of sin and death”? And if you profess “faith” in Christ, what are you doing now with the law of sin and death, that so strangles one’s “professing testimony”?
I tell you, it’s time the church-at-large worldwide sets aside ‘sin in the flesh’ and have fulfilled in us now, no longer walking in the likeness of sinful flesh, but walking in the very likeness of Christ who came to glorify Christ in YOU! Let the Holy Spirit have His way in you honoring Christ Jesus, your Savior and Lord!
Will YOU look to Calvary’s Cross and witness the abounding love of God for you as He allowed the Cross, because of the amazing grace and awesome preciousness of the Lord Jesus’ shed blood, and hearing God say for yourself, “My Son’s shed blood has blotted out the guilt of your sin and selfish nature, and every sin-soiled man across the world, can now be free!”
It was P.P.Bliss who wrote the old hymn, “Once for All.” It says: “Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus has bled, and there is remission; Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, Grace has redeemed us once for all.
Once for all, O sinner, receive it; Once for all, O brother believe it; Cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”
Are you aware of “divine freedom”? And if it is divine freedom through Christ’s blood from sin, from bondage, from separation from God, then why would any man spout so sickly, “You can’t but sin as long as you are in your mortal body”? Eternal life in Christ is not the bondage of sin again, it was broken; He is not the free ticket through His blood to allow you to go on sinning because He understands, the bondage was broken; His blood shed was not Satan’s license to allow him to deceive you, but the Savior’s atonement to set you free from the law of sin and death, the bondage was broken!
What did our Lord tell us in John 8:36? “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed!” And Paul’s word in Galatians 5:1 is so essential and necessary for every true believer: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
It’s a sad day in America, whenever you turn on your television, to be blasted by ungodliness, defiance to Truth, denial of sin or denial of the godly opposition to its expression , blasted by heresy, or demonstrations of godlessness, perversion after perversion, and think that that is freedom, when sadly, it’s the awakening to Hellish living and devilish bondage that bleeds, drains, fouls even the veins in one’s brain, with no comprehension of the love of God!
Let me close this chapter with a serious reminder from Galatians 6:7-8! “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” AMEN?
CHAPTER TWELVE
“FAITH’S VERBAL FAILURE OR FAITH’S VICTORIOUS FINISH?”
Have you ever heard someone say, “What you say is not necessarily what you do”? And I don’t know it ever being plainer than when Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
Is there ever a time that God’s grace is purely revealed, but compromising men will proclaim their ‘salvation’ when His amazing grace becomes self-defiance to that amazing grace, and becomes altered ‘grit’ as one tries to prove his salvation and sanctification through his fleshly, self-determined abilities?
Are there “professors of faith” who have no evidence at all that they are “possessors” of the fullness of His Indwelling Life? Are there, in this modern world of a religious nature, men who are affirmed by men as ‘religious’ as they are, but one who has never identified or walked in the Gospel he/she professes to believe in? In 2 Peter 2:9-10c, we read, “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and ESPECIALLY those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed,” but they have declared “faith in Christ”!
How on target and truthfully illustrative was Jude when he wrote to us a description of ‘faith’s verbal apostates’ in Jude 3b-7? Jude said, “…I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ…
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
In 2 Corinthians 13:5 there is an eternal awakening verse that must be received. It says: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is IN YOU? – unless indeed you are disqualified.” Verbally it is so easy for multitudes to state, “Why sure I am a Christian – it goes back a long way in the family-line that we always say that we’re a Christian family. We attend church some, usually Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, but otherwise, we’re so busy with a lot of things that we enjoy that takes a lot of time.” How does that fit with the Word telling us, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is?”
Is there a “Judas” that you have witnessed betraying Christ? In Matthew 16:14-16, we read, ‘ Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.’ Greedy Judas betrayed God’s Son, just as it happens today when what the world has to offer people is more important to the ‘flesh’ than what Christ instills through the Spirit!
In Philippians 3:10-11 Paul shared the divine will of God for every man concerning Christ Jesus when he said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” And, certainly, as Paul took “the sentence of death daily that Christ’s resurrection life would be manifested daily,” so true disciples today appropriate “God’s Way of victorious living”!
But, ‘saying’ and ‘doing’ are two totally different things when it comes to faith and allegiance concerning submission to Christ’s Lordship, authority, and Example! How did Peter describe ‘pretenders’? “They are presumptuous, self-willed”, being loud and boisterous in their fleshly declarations!
“Faith’s Verbal Failure”, sadly, is usually found within the church community, even as Paul warned the church at Colossae about those cheating true believers there with their philosophies, empty deceptions, traditions of men, and the basic principles of men, not according to the Resurrected Christ! [Colossians 2:8]. I would not be shocked if you, as a faithful pastor in a church over-loaded with ‘pretenders’, said to me, “Pastor Fisher, as pastor, I’ve sought to be faithful in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, but I’m shocked, shattered, almost disillusioned by members of the congregation angry with me, saying to me, ‘That may be what the Bible says, but that’s not OUR belief!’ And I don’t know what to do.” REMAIN FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH!!
“Faith’s Verbal Failure” is often because of one’s own bias or limit to what they want to receive from God in His Holy Word! And many times it is because of a particular ‘mind-set’ apart from a yielded heart to the God of All Truth! Do you think that attitude could be the result of what the author of Hebrews meant when in Hebrews 5:12-14 he wrote: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Are you aware of “the once enlightened” who “fall away”? Do you remember Paul opening his letter to the church at Rome, saying in Romans 1:1b, “separated to the gospel of God”? And, Who does the separating – spiritually immature men or Holy God Himself? But if I verbally declare allegiance in my ‘infancy’, I can ‘say’ without any anointing to ‘do’ what I say on my own! Far too many ‘professors of faith’ are inward bound to their own abilities and estimations of their own self-will to honor their Savior, and decide for themselves what they need without God’s help! Even Israel NEEDED the Savior, Emmanuel –“God with us” – but they crucified the Lord Jesus, maintaining their ‘religious fervor’ for their ‘verbal faith’!
But “Faith’s Verbal Failure” has no transformation power to transform a ‘sinner’ into a ‘saint’, which is “set apart to the glory of God alone”, not to a man’s fleshly abilities to make a name for himself! And what you see in a person’s independent walk in “wanting to honor the Lord Jesus” is the spirit of tiredness that leads to indifference that leads to abandonment! Do you remember Psalm 87:7? “All my springs, my fresh, renewing, restoring, reinvigorating, rehabilitating rivers of living water are in the Living Lord and Savior, my Mighty God”, who then, by His own power and purpose releases His own empowering streams! The best of human flesh falls far short of renewing in the Spirit of the Lord!
How on God’s beautiful earth can ‘fallen men’ even think they have a fleshly ‘prescription’ that will heal or make new a blackened heart diseased by the ‘heinousness of sin’ or miraculously exchange it for a “new heart”? If it’s “by His stripes we are healed,” then fleshly efforts for redemption fall eternally short and void of the “Great Physician’s” healing grace and mercy!
At least if one attempts a faithless walk to honor God, even if “short-term” or foreign to His Way, it reveals one who has surfaced who has a general idea that his/her fallen state needs ‘repair’, but believes he/she is “able”, and don’t understand they ARE NOT GOD, though they want to be! Religious people who are self-guided are spiritually blinded to the degree of their “fall away from God”, but sincerely believe they can overcome the damage, cure the sin-sickness, and arise as ‘one of God’s greatest servants’, when in reality they’ve become a tool of God’s enemy the devil! Do you understand or sense at times that “Faith’s Verbal Failures” is because of a man’s extreme reverence of himself apart from the unveiling of Christ or possessing a desire to please and honor the Holy God who created him by ‘flesh’s best effort’?
“Faith’s Verbal Failures” are implemented by ‘shells’ with no evidence in them of divine will, divine power, or the divine miracle of love and grace able to resurrect the dead. Irrational souls are godless beings who think their ‘fleshly faith’ is more than enough to resurrect dead sin natures into living monuments of a man’s best efforts. Irrational souls can be strong creations evidencing the best of ‘fallen sin-natures’, unveiling the fleshly vanity of a proud, self-centered, warped mind and heart, able to compete with the most wicked, but assured they do things better than God Himself with more ‘pleasures, rewards, and devilish pay-offs’! Are you aware of the vanity, pride, self-worshipping creatures, who depend solely upon themselves because they are self-assured their ‘faith’ in themselves out-does the Redemptive Faith of Holy God? They are not interested in God unveiling their rebellious heart, defiant mind, and self-centered ‘religion’ – they have no interest in God exposing the dunghills of hollow hearts and maddening minds – their faculties are faithless, their wills in bondage to the devil, their hearts blinded to the love of God for them; so they celebrate their independence with the demons!
“Faith’s Verbal Failures”? “I celebrate my faith in God, but cower down before His eternal Word; I profess that I’m no enemy of Jesus as I celebrate with His enemies; I believe that the Bible is Truth, my meat, milk, and bread every day, but who needs to partake of it since I know in my own mind what truth is without ever partaking of it with thanksgiving!” And, sadly, many ‘professors of faith’ will violate daily the very spirit of the Holy Word as they profess allegiance!
A lot of ‘professing believers’ have no desire to be warned by God – “God wouldn’t terminate my relationship with Him if I set aside His Bread of Life, He wouldn’t shut me out if I ‘praise Jesus’ and at the same time celebrate with the devil’s dark nights of the soul and flesh, Jesus may have taken every man’s sin-nature to the Cross but that doesn’t mean I have to die to it, sin crucified but not willfully mortified by my own death to sin is excusable.” Oh, really?
Wild hearts can speak religious language while they tell how moved they are by what Jesus did on the Cross for them, but never hear His Word, “Go and sin no more,” while they play the ‘flesh-games of a fallen society’, believing everything is OK between them and the Crucified Christ and Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords! Consciences may have been white-washed by mere sentiment, but guilt before Holy God still reigns as they join hands with the world, the flesh, or the devil, or all three at the same time!
“Faith’s Verbal Failures”? I was so strongly awakened to the need of revival, renewal, and re-awakening in our nation when in the “Valley of Vision” book I read the following: [“Valley of Vision,” pps.128-129], as one writer stated: “Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be an EVANGELICAL HYPOCRITE, who sins more safely because grace abounds, who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanses them, [‘as they keep on sinning?’],who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, for he is saved, who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily.” I tell you, it’s TIME for brokenness in America, and especially in churches nation-wide!
Prophetically, God called to Israel through His prophet Isaiah, who had a deep love for God’s chosen people as well, but recorded for Israel and us a warning about “Faith’s Verbal Failures”: Isaiah 65:11-12, “But you are those who forsake the Lord, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, [a foreign god or idol], and who furnish a drink offering for Meni. [Another foreign idol of “destiny”.] Therefore I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; Because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.” And in Verse 15, God said to Israel and all who speak verbally but walk rejecting all that God stands for, “For the Lord God will slay you,” and earthly existence is over while the guilty “dance with the devil!”
“Faith’s Verbal Failures”? Are you aware that “service to God” can be reality for some because they see and say that, even serving as sinners, should be acceptable to God? They ‘glory’ in themselves, they ‘glory’ in their own strength, they glory in their own fleshly dreams and visions, assured in themselves of their valiant, brilliant, self-effort, certain they’ll be acceptable to God, yes, apart from His blood sacrifice through Jesus’ death on the Cross!
Is there such a thing as “vain service” that pumps ‘flesh’ but brings no glory to God Almighty? Is ‘patting one’s self on the back’ an acceptable applause from God’s throne? Are “mere men” the tools Almighty God is interested in using or “men Mastered by Christ for His glory alone”?
I’m telling you with all my heart and soul, “Holy God wants vessels of unconditional surrender to His omniscience and His omnipotence; Holy God wants emptied hearts of ‘self-love, self-pleasure, self-will’ that He might fill with the Glory of His Resurrection Power and Eternal Hope in the able-ness of God Almighty; God is looking for ‘gardens of life’ He can plow through, prepare the soil, and plant the eternal seeds of His awesome love, grace, and mercy, and watch the fields of divine ownership, divine provision, divine labor, sprout with the “fruits of His Spirit”, plus He longs to change the house of your fleshly soul into the Holy Temple of Divine Presence in the Resurrection Life of His Son and our Savior, and through YOU touching the world around you with His mercy, grace, and love!
Let me ‘shift’ gears as we change life’s highway from “Faith’s Verbal Failures” to “Faith’s Victorious Finish”! And no better way to “do” that than standing firm on the divine revelation of Hebrews 10:19-25! It says:
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
“Faith’s Victorious Finish”? Living in “the Holy Place” is not by one’s good or best effort, but by the divine recognition that through God’s grace YOUR body has become the temple of our Lord’s resurrected presence because of the historic shedding of His own blood on the Cross of Calvary, with us crucified with Him, and repented and rested in His blood redemption, now owned and made one by His grace and mercy, we’re never left alone but live in boldness to rest in Him and in boldness appropriating all He is to honor and glorify Him as we ‘lean not [even] to our own understanding [fully,yet], but in all our ways [at all times] acknowledge His Holy Presence and yield to Him’ to lead us, empower us, and give Him His rightful place in us as King of kings and Lord of lords! The old heart of ‘fallen man’ was spiritually dead, but through repentance toward God and faith in Christ Jesus’s finished work at the Cross, new disciples or true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have been sovereignly and miraculously chosen as “the holy and beloved of God,” and according to Philippians 2:15-16 [NKJV], are learning to “become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…”!
If God says, and He still does, “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” what has been YOUR choice? And, of course, Holy God understood, even before the foundation of the world, that created mankind, blessed with ‘free will’ would “fall away” to be rulers and saviors of their own destiny and missing out on oneness with God Himself! But, then, “God so loved the world…!” And we see the Cross!
And 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Upon the basis of repentance and faith, it is not a man altering his life through “best effort adjustments”, but the “new birth” through the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me at the Cross!
And when the “new birth” occurs, the battle begins, the warfare starts, the struggle between ‘flesh and Spirit’, intensifies, and only when one understands the sanctification journey, that he/she is “set apart” to the honor and glory of his Savior and Lord, and he/she puts on the whole armor of God and fights the good fight of faith is he/she matured, not of possibility but eternal reality, that he/she IS “more than conqueror through Him who loved us”, and fully assured, divinely blessed, in the revelation that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” because, we are persuaded by divine revelation, (Romans 8:38-39), “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The emancipation proclamation IS “Christ in you the hope of glory!”
I pray that YOU understand that Almighty God loved YOU as if you were the only one who ever lived, and what He did for the whole world would have been done for YOU individually, to His glory, honor, and praise!
Receive the Word of God! Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you CONFESS with your mouth the Lord Jesus and BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And the evidence of “Faith’s Victorious Finish”?
Examine carefully Romans 6:15-18 with rejoicing and thanksgiving! “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? CERTAINLY NOT! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But GOD BE THANKED that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
If you’ve been delivered from captivity to the bondage of sin, then why are you feeling it’s OK to go on sinning? Who told you that? Not God’s Holy Word! Through Christ’s blood the debt of your sinfulness was paid for; because of the Master’s willingness to die IN YOUR PLACE the debt and penalty of your sin has been washed away by His own precious blood; and “in Christ” we’ve been set apart, being anointed by Him, “to preach deliverance to the captives”!
God’s true people sing the eternal song of Revelation 5:9-10! “You [Lamb of God] are worthy to take the scroll, and to pen its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.” Are you reigning, rejoicing, resting, releasing the Worthy Lamb through you to touch our needy world with Christ’s amazing love?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“FAITH AND ITS EVIDENCE OF THE FATHER’S FRUITFULNESS”
Question: “How is one’s faith determined, even if searched out by unbelieving communities or people or family or friends?” As Christ Jesus differentiated between “false prophets” and “true prophets”, between “bad fruit” and “good fruit”, what did He say in Matthew 7:20? “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
You are aware, I’m sure, that there are those who “claim” the name “Disciple of Christ” who have no intent of following obediently but ‘professing’ verbally only, while there are those who have truly identified themselves as “crucified with Christ” and have been raised to “new life.”
Is there an unseen war between ‘imitation’ and “immortal presence and power and purpose that truly honors and glorifies Christ only”? If I insert Christ Jesus into Joseph Addison’s “Cato,” [Act V, sc.1], I see hope and blessing in true faith and its evidence! He wrote: “The stars shall fade away, the sun himself grow dim with age, and nature sinks in years, But you shall flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, the wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.”
Fleshliness has nothing but bad fruit, but God’s Spirit births faith and its evidence of the Father’s fruitfulness! It was Edward Young, in “Night Thoughts,” [Night V111, l.704], who wrote: “A foe to God was never true friend to man, Some sinister intent taints all he does.” And if you didn’t know, fallen mankind and, yes, true disciples of Christ have spiritual foes who are out to bring both down! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” who wrote: [p.194], “The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going with Jesus in the life we are living now?”
Examine carefully the words of Walter Rauschenbusch in his writing, “The Little Gate to God.” He said: “When I am with God my fear is gone in the great quiet of God. My troubles are as the pebbles on the road, My joys are like the everlasting hills.”
And, we are on the road of life determined by “flesh” or determined by true faith and its evidence of the Father’s fruitfulness in us! “Flesh”, man’s old sin nature, crashes with sad consequences. “Flesh”, man’s devilish-influenced, cavalier attitude of haughtiness toward God Himself, corrupted by its selfish ways, at peace with compromise, calloused, colored with the deceptions of the devil, will even sign up with God but never show up, even declaring but never delivering, announcing but never applying!
I’m sure if you’re reading this book that you are one who is beyond satisfaction with your old ‘flesh’ nature and, yes, desiring or desperate for “spiritual depths within” that you’ve never experienced! In you, there is no satisfaction with where you’ve been or where you presently are; you want more of what you know God has to offer you! You agree: “Restore a right spirit within me!” There must be a person’s ‘will’ involved, which is exactly what John was talking about when in 1 John 1:7 he wrote: “But IF [in other words, are YOU choosing? Have you NOW chosen – no more desiring to walk in sin!] we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
True Faith, living faith, the faith that is the gift of God, the faith that generates God’s work of grace in me to radically transform me from sinner to saint, from world-prisoner to heaven’s freed son, from earthly bondage to a place around our Lord’s eternal throne, from spiritual emptiness to the fullness of blessing of the Godhead bodily – that’s the pricelessness and the eternal evidence of Holy God’s Master-full heart of love, grace, and mercy! And we find ourselves “grafted in” to His true “tree of life”, amazed at the eternal “fruit” He produces in us and through us!
You are aware that “bad fruit” is the testimony of many, many people who are enslaved to their old sin natures, even if they are ‘professors’ of a ‘faith’ that is totally un-redemptive, Christ’s name stitched on their outer garments; but then there are the “good fruit” bearers, taken over by the Resurrected, Indwelling Christ Jesus – He knocked and you opened the door with the key of repentance toward God and faith and surrender to the Lordship of Christ in you! Yes, you received by grace through God-given Faith the new heart! What did Paul write in Romans 3:23-24? “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being ‘justified freely’ by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed…”.
Jesus made it clearly plain when He said in Matthew 12:33, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” When it comes to fallen mankind, they resent, ignore, explain away, even ridicule those who trust God and His Word and who rest in His redemptive grace and mercy, because they are satisfied with independence from God, possessing no desire to know Him or serve Him, addicted, enslaved, imprisoned in the slavish patterns of their old sin natures!
If fallen men were really truthful, they would have no problem or resentment in saying they genuinely hate the good and love the evil; ‘fleshly’ love is selfish and self-centered and opposed to God’s ‘agape’ love of a “laid-down, loving, serving, yes, faithful love”, more concerned about others’ blessing more than themselves! [Look at 1 Corinthians 13!].
Do you remember Jesus drawing near to Jerusalem and weeping over the city? I have no doubt as He approaches world-leading cities today all He can do is weep! Luke 19:41-44 tells us, “If you had known even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
How many around you know nothing about “their time of visitation” – it comes, and they have no concerns, until “Hell-fires” begin to consume them with the death that will not die?!?
“Faithlessness”? What did the Lord Jesus say? “If YOU had known…!” But deafened ears to the voice and truth of God birth fields of life with “no seed of Holy Truth” to sprout in one’s heart and mind! “If You had known…!” But massive numbers do not have a clue of “their day and its opportunity to know, serve, and love the King of kings and Lord of lords”! “If YOU had known…!” What might have been never is because unbelieving people are more committed to satisfying fleshly lusts than loving and serving the God who gave His own Son for their salvation!
“Faithlessness”? Do you understand “fields” unfit for the seed of the Word of God because of neglect, annoyance of the need of “field preparation,” no desire to consider the cost at all, no projection of even confidence by the grace of God or in the grace of God that in their field an abundance of divine fruit can come forth, but no acceptance of God’s plowing, God’s planting, God’s watering, or God’s harvest, because of a life devoted to one’s eternal barrenness, yielded to human potential without God, and bound by the devil’s chains of narrowness, bound by the dark spirit of scorning anything that has to do with “God-likeness,” and bound to the devilish and fleshly spirit of unbelief!
“Faithlessness”? That mind-set of fallen men leads men on the highway of inner spiritual blindness to God, produces deeper darkness in the inner man, destroys human potential implanted in the Christ-follower and leaving humans in charge of the divine destiny they really know nothing about. Faithlessness encourages godless emotions, compromising willfulness, corrupted consciences, man’s pagan philosophies, superstitions rather than revealed Truth, abusive responses to any Word shared, loving and serving “self,” “sinful, sensuous, separated from God patterns of living,” traveling on a highway of flesh’s choosing with no interest in God’s highway of holiness, or His “Lighted Path,” or His “fresh springs,” or His “rivers of living water”!
Have you encountered it? “No moral godly law for me – I’m in charge of my own destiny!” “So? I sell my soul to the world, my flesh, and the devil himself? What’s that to you? I don’t care what you think about my sin-enslaved life!” “Let it be known: I willfully choose to defy God! Religious faith is a farce; if I’ve been “sold as a slave to sin, what is that to you Christians? I could care less about what you believe?” It was Oswald Chambers who once wrote: “As long as our eyes are upon our own personal whiteness we shall never get near the reality of Redemption.” “Let it be known to you Christians: I’m guided by my own affinities, not your atoning message!” “The peril I find myself in, separated from God, is my own maddening pleasures, and I choose to hold onto what pleases me!”
“Faithlessness”? At 79 years of age I look back at personal encounters with all kinds of descriptions about people concerning their aims, attitudes, loyalties or lack of them, and without a doubt, the most alarming, most enslaving, and most destructive power separate from God’s power and His anointings is extreme, enslaving, entrapping “selfishness or total self-centeredness”! And only Christ Jesus “forgives, frees, and faithfully breaks the chains that bind a person”!
Having lived in Florida for a number of years as a pastor in several cities, our young kids, then, enjoyed the beaches around the Daytona area. One of the things we had to always alert our kids to were the “under-currents” that could trap, ensnare, and sweep someone away. In life’s spiritual realm of faith, yes, there are strong “under-currents” to sweep one away from his/her devotion to the Lordship of Christ! Hold on to “kept by the power of God” every day!
Now, what about “Faith And Its Evidence of the Father’s Fruitfulness”? Laying the foundation for the next few pages, I’m convinced it’s important that you and I determine what “tree” it is that unveils for us “fleshly choices” or “Divine choice”! You’ll remember that as God unveiled His “Garden” he gave to Adam and Eve trees that could bless them or trees that would put them under ‘the curse’! In Genesis 2:8-9 we read, “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Please read and reflect with me Verses 15-17! Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. [Just an insert question: Are you tending and caring for the garden He has chosen for you?] And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
When you come to Genesis 3 you find Satanic, demonic, devilish deception to lead Adam and Eve and, yes, you and me to the “Fall or Falling Away From God”! Genesis 3:1-9 explains what has happened in every life, every family, since God birthed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Opportunity to glorify Him and yet they yielded to ‘flesh bondage’! The Word says:
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
Fallen men are in the spiritual condition of ‘death’ because the wild serpent cast doubt on the revealed will of the Word of God, twisted and distorted His Truth, confused the man and the woman, clearly lied to them as Satan still does today, and made ‘unbelief’ a digestible enticement! All of a sudden, having sinned, their eyes physically and spiritually were opened, became aware of their nakedness, established what I call “Fig-Leaf Religion” as they tried to cover themselves, and hearing the sound of the coming of the Lord, they hid themselves from His presence – but you don’t think that goes on today? Then there is God’s voice, God’s Word, God’s calling! “Adam, where are you?” The clear calling was not to define his physical location or proximity, but to challenge Adam’s awareness of his rebellion to the Holy God who made him! “What spiritual state of life, mind, will, do you now find yourself ? Disobedience or submission to My will?”
There is a term still used today in many places called “backsliding”, but for Adam and Eve it was “frontsliding”, an exposure by God of desperateness when one genuinely sees his rebellion and disobedience, and how desperate it really is to become aware of your “nakedness” before Holy God!
And, the ‘fruit of the tree’ from which they chose to eat after God graciously warned them? The fruit of the tree that God warned them not to partake of – but they did? Spiritual death emerged though they were physically alive! Are you personally aware of the difference between “shrubs in the deserts of life” that give no fruit of divine sustenance or have you truly settled in to God’s spiritually evident trees manifesting ‘the eternal blessing’ of “Christ-manifesting fruit”? It’s amazing to me that in Judges 9:7-15 there is a parable that related to who men wanted to reign over them, which gave choices by ways of the trees before them – sweet, tasty, good fruit, OR the ‘bramble bushes’ easily flaming!
Oh, the multitude of God’s promises related to our Lord’s fruitfulness available to every born-again believer and follower of the Lamb of God! In John 1:14 and verse 16 we read, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth…Verse16, And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”
Don’t you find it so amazing and so uplifting and so encouraging when you read Paul’s words in Romans 15:29 as he wrote to the Roman believers, “But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ”? What a dramatic and blessed encounter when Paul met Christ Jesus on the Damascus Road! Divine transformation – Divine calling – Divine provision – Divine vision – Divine empowerment in living the overcoming, serving, blessing others style of life!
We’ll see “fullness” in the next few pages, but understand: There is “blessing after blessing in Christ”, there is the gospel or “good news”, and there is “Christ Himself indwelling YOU as God’s hope of glory”, expressed in you and through you as daily you die to yourself and allow the unveiling and expression and revealing of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IN HIS FULLNESS!
A few words I wrote in this very moment of looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith in Him:
“Father, You unveiled Christ Jesus to me, as the Spirit you divinely lent, to show me the Way our Savior was sent, to reconcile the world to You.
God, in your goodness and mercy, You took our sinfulness and placed it on Christ; and through His shed blood You brought Your mercy before our sight.
You took sinful lives, placed them on Christ, and challenged their death, and gave us new life. For our emptiness, you gave us Christ’s fullness; of our bondage, you denied the devil’s rudeness.
Wisdom to enlighten, fear of death to no more frighten, by Your Word You enlighten, and our love for You has been gratefully heightened.
Your fullness so free in the bountifulness of Your goodness, so amazing to me because, toward You, the world lives in rudeness.
Your strength so able by Your grace to sustain me, Your wisdom so blessed to eternally guide me, Your Resurrection Life forever enlightening me.
At the throne of Your grace, all fears, all doubts, all worries are erased, as in the awareness of Christ’s presence, I rest in divine life’s eternal place.
What marvelous blessings in partaking of Your love, knowing by Your grace, I’m welcome in the Throne-room above.
You draw me daily to Your calling, so blessed by Your mercy and grace so enthralling; it’s to You I cleave and never will leave, because Your forgiveness and love I forever receive.
Yes, my Lord and Savior is Jesus Your Son, the work of Redemption has been fully done; Your Son You sent and He gladly went, even knowing the suffering, that His body would be rent!
You are God All-Sufficient, and with no hesitation, as Your Son was sent, You made sure the world knew , through divine revelation, and without hesitation, Your love and grace would give us restoration!”
“Faith and Its Evidence of the Father’s Fruitfulness”? In Romans 7:4-6 Paul gives us an eye-opening and mind and heart enlightment when he declared: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law THROUGH THE BODY OF CHRIST, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, “that we should bear fruit to God.” For when we were in the flesh [dominated by that old sin nature!], the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But NOW we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
The “newness of the Spirit” is the reality, because of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross as our substitute, of The Spirit’s indwelling within every new, repentant, surrendered, yielded life!
And “the newness of the Spirit” in Christ is no longer bearing fruit to death, but fruit that honors Christ as we die to the old self and live unto our Lord and Savior’s honor, glory, blessing, exaltation of His Name, and adoration of His life-changing presence in us and His outreach through us to touch our world with His grace! Doesn’t Romans 8:14 tell us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”? Born of the Spirit, in-filled by His Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, convicted by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, glorifying Christ in us by the Spirit! But you think “best effort” is the answer for you?
What did Peter tell us in Acts 2:38? “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Amazing grace so freely bestowed! God’s graciousness grants every true believer the gift of His Holy Spirit! Verse 39 says, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
To the Ephesian church then and the church worldwide today, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:17-21, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
“Faith and Its Evidence of the Father’s Fruitfulness”? In the realm of God’s Kingdom and our citizenship in it, there is the absolute necessity of KNOWING HIS TRUTH AND WALKING IN IT! And, thank God, Jesus said in John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…Verse 14, He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
Do you remember the question that is so essential to every true believer? “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Have you yielded to Him daily as you seek to honor Christ through your walk of faith? Godlessness is a chaotic lifestyle, but the Holy Spirit comes and “convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come!” There’s “new birth,” and divine fruitfulness erupts like an exploding volcano! Spirit-anointing brings “Light” where the awful darkness of unbelief had prevailed, unveiling for us through God’s inspired Word our “new identity,” and imparting to us the understanding of eternal Truths!
In fact, God’s Holy Word is so enabling for every true believer in understanding God’s desire that we see, sense, and secure ourselves in the very “fruit of the Spirit”: Galatians 5:22-25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. “
Our Heavenly Father IS “fruitful,” birthed for the world physical fruit, and for His spiritual family released the Holy Spirit to see that eternal fruitfulness abounded in every child of faith!
As a true disciple of Christ Jesus, have you surrendered to the fruitfulness of God’s Life, His Word, His will, His ministry in you and through you being fulfilled by the evidence of the Spirit?
Doesn’t the Word declare [Galatians 6:7-8] the danger and the Victory every believer faces? “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Tell me about your crop, your harvest, your fruit, in your walk in the Spirit! Amen?
I close this chapter with words Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8-14, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” Glory!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“FAITH AND ITS MAGNETIC, DRAWING POWER!”
The wise man of Proverbs was inspired by God in all his writings, but several verses hit me hard recently as I was reading through Proverbs and came to verses in Proverbs 24:9-12 that erupted instantly in seeing our society today in the U.S.A. with deep sorrow and contemplation of what might happen if there is no “Spiritual Awakening” through God’s Sovereignty and eternal time-schedule! It says:
“The devising of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?”
How are you responding right now, and especially, when you see the calling: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter”!? Those drawn toward death need to be ‘delivered’? Those stumbling toward the slaughter need to be redeemed, born-again, in-filled with Christ Jesus’s Resurrection Presence, celebrating His gift of eternal life?
And, I pray, the one thing YOU grasp and hold on to is the eternal Truth AND possibility of what Paul said under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration when in Galatians 2:20 he wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
In Matthew 25:34 we read, Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” but one thing is very sure: It is not only eternal Faith offered by Christ with its magnetic, drawing power, but the reality of Satan as the master-deceiver who offers his magnetic, drawing power to satisfy your sinful lusts, and give you a ‘costly ticket’ to his eternal abode – and there are major differences between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness! Didn’t we just read in the previous chapter, Ephesians 5:8-12? “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.”
Almighty God knew and knows now the awfulness and consequences of the devil’s ‘drawing power and constant allurements and enticements’ and his ‘gift’ of bondage and enslavements with a “big, red bow” tied around them, but then, Jesus said in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” But much of fallen humanity, by God’s gracious gift of life in the human body with ‘freedom to choose his/her loyalties’, determine ‘sinful flesh’ is more profitable to them than loyalty in the spirit-realm to Holy God – and they end up with ‘counterfeit currency’ from Satan himself!
It was Thomas Adams who long ago wrote: “The devil is no idle spirit, but a vagrant, runagate walker, that never rests in one place.- The motive, cause, and main intention of his walking is to ruin man.”
What was it Jesus said in Matthew 7:26-27? “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Holy God, the Loving Savior, the Holy Spirit, isn’t interested in you constructing your life without a solid foundation, or on a life journey for the unfruitful works of darkness, or participation with evil men and imposters who grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, or yoked together with unbelievers and the devil’s degraded, deceived, damned eternally crowd, or not even knowing that the eternal Master of all life, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come when you aren’t looking for Him and at an hour when you’re not aware, and for deceived people, He will cut them in two and assign them their portion with the unbelievers! [Luke 12:46].
Foolish men, partakers in foolish deception, captives of a self-centered world philosophy, are men who walk ‘in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,’ ‘because of the spiritual and scriptural ignorance in them, blinded in their hearts and minds, given over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness’, and who often refuse Christ’s knock at their heart’s door, and deny “Faith and Its Magnetic, Drawing Power,” satisfied with “the old man which grows corrupt according to their deceitful and selfish lusts”!
Unbelief is a powerful, devilish, and fleshly frame of mind and heart that closes the doors of men’s minds and hearts to the graciousness, kindness, mercies, and love of Holy God – just look at Calvary’s Cross, and you’ll know why: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son”! Of unbelief, Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher once wrote: “Unbelief does nothing but darken and destroy. It makes the world a moral desert, where no divine footsteps are heard, where no angels ascend or descend, where no living hand adorns the fields, feeds the birds of heaven, or regulates events.” Unbelievers wander in the wildernesses of silence, sin, sorrows, sensuality, superstitions, and shadowy sources, and he/she doesn’t know or understand why! True believers challenge them with Christ’s message of eternal hope in Him! Why? Because they were once darkness, but now they are light in the Lord for the blessing of fallen humanity through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior and Master of Eternal Life!
Do you sense that spirit, right now, whether across the world or in our own nation of the past, God-Blessed U.S.A? But in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul challenges Timothy and believers today, true believers – “Be careful where you walk!” He said, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” [And that’s not touching the lost with the love of Christ, but avoiding the nature of their fallen existence in your own daily disciplines!]. The ‘unfruitful’ are enslaved to the “unfruitful works of darkness”, sickened by their sin and darkened in their minds and hearts, and, Yes, we are commissioned by Christ and anointed by His confidence, and we will “Not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…!”
In John 6:44 there is a powerful word from Jesus when He said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”. And, what does 2 Peter 3:9 tell us? “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” But do ‘all’ come to repentance and faith? Sadly, No! Why? 1 Corinthians 1:18 declares, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
This particular chapter that you are now reading? “Faith And Its Magnetic, Drawing Power”! And did Jesus tell us that no one came to Him apart from that magnetic, drawing power of God? In fact, in Psalm 14:2-3 King David wrote about “A Fool’s Paradise”, and said, “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, No, not one.”
If “none seek,” how did those of redemptive faith find Him? They didn’t! God Himself found them, drew them, and longed, by His love and grace and mercy, to draw them, you, me, to Himself! In 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 Paul wrote: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to GIVE the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Have you sung it? “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed!”
Do you understand ‘inheritance’? In 2 Peter 1:3-4, we catch a glimpse of true inheritance when Peter wrote: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him “who called us by glory and virtue,” [not our glory and virtue, but God’s!], by which have been given to us [given to us, given to us, given to us – let it be repeated by you over and over and over!], exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
“In Christ” we are not ‘versions’ of Him, but vessels of His very Resurrection Life and vessels of Holy Spirit presence and power! We’re not “in Christ” detachments from who He is but people aware of our own ineptness that the Inspired Christ through us can be Himself! Again, “Christ in us the hope of glory!” What did Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:4? “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit [of Christ] and of power [of the Holy Spirit], that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” [Even overcoming is not by some special human gene but by the Word and Presence of Christ in you, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!”]
“Faith And Its Magnetic, Drawing Power”? People of true faith, through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ, are available vessels to all Christ Jesus is in His reigning and ruling everlasting Kingdom, and it’s not our “best” for Him but our availability to all “He desires” to do through us! This is why Paul trains and equips true followers with “the Truth”! Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” which is His overflow of Himself through available vessels!
Charles Wesley, in his “Psalms and Hymns” of the year 1738, wrote “And Can It Be?”, which is one of the richest, most valuable hymns ever written. Two verses I want to share:
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; God’s eye diffused a quickening ray – I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee…
No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in Him is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own. Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, Through Christ my own.”
Christ Jesus had been brought up in Nazareth, and as was His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, stood and read from Isaiah the prophet6: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives…”! There’s more, but I want to impress upon you Christ’s coming “to preach liberty to the captives…!”
Have you accepted the divine truth that in your sin you are a ‘captive,’ a ‘prisoner’ detained in the limitation of a corrupt nature, but in Christ, through blood redemption, YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND SET FREE? Look at Psalm 146! “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being…
Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever…
Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever – Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!”
Are there spiritually blind who need the Lord to open their spiritual eyes? Are there the ‘crushed’ who need to be raised up? Are there hopeless who need our Lord’s gracious gift of hope? Are there fatherless children who need God the Father? Are there widows who need the Eternal Husband? Are there those around you whose plans have perished, and only the Lord can help their downcast, forlorn, deserted, desperate spirits? And how would you find yourself if you had to say like Paul, “but all forsook me.” But God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!”
“Faith and Its Magnetic, Drawing Power”? John Greenleaf Whittier, in his “The Eternal Goodness,” wrote: “I know not where His islands lift their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift beyond His love and care.”
When a man has been “saved by grace through faith, and faith is the gift of God,” the convicted man, the repentant man, the transformed man, the man inhabited by the Resurrected Christ and the fullness and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, is blessed by Holy Presence, Holy Power, Holy Privilege, Holy Persuasion that needs no argument, Holy Peace even in the midst of life’s greatest storms, and through Holy Providence is divinely blessed; and Edward Garrett once said, “To doubt the providence of God is presently to wax impatient with His commands,” which is why there are defyers of God, deniers of God, deflectors of God, degraders of God, and even departees from God!
Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “You [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” And you’re not sure what drawing power you should attach yourself to? Paul told the Ephesians, Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
Do you remember, as early as Genesis 5:24, that we learned of Enoch when we were straightened, alerted, guided, inspired, even convicted, that in the early days of human history, here was a man “who walked WITH GOD”! I so appreciate what Oswald Chambers wrote about Enoch when he said, [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.211], “The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights,” or ‘not on stage performing or imitating,’ but living out a united Life under Jesus’ Lordship, simply available to all He is and all He desires to do through you, even if it’s a casual walk together in sweet harmony and heavenly blessing being in His Presence!
I was given a gift years ago by dear friends from the Dayton, Ohio area, where many, many years ago I led a Bible conference. A number of years later these precious friends sent me Arthur Bennett’s book entitled “The Valley of Vision,” which was a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, some probably back in the 1700’s and 1800’s. It has been such a blessing!
One writing is entitled “Love-Rest In God.” [pps. 332-333]. Follow with opened heart and mind! “My Dear Lord…I depend wholly upon You, wean me from all other dependences. You are my all, You overrule all and delight in me…
You are the foundation of goodness, how can I distrust You? How be anxious about what happens to me? In the light of Your preciousness the world and all its enjoyments are infinitely poor: I value the favor of men no more than pebbles…
Amid the blessings I receive from You may I never lose the heart of a stranger. May I love You, my Benefactor, in all my benefits, not forgetting that my greatest danger arises from my advantages…
Produce in me self-despair that will make Jesus [more] precious to me, delightful in all His offices, pleasurable in all His ways, and may I love His commands as well as His promises…
Help me to discern between true and false love, the one consisting of supreme love to You, the other not, the former uniting Your glory and man’s happiness that they may become one common interest, the latter disjointing and separating them both, seeking the latter with neglect of the former…
Teach me that genuine love is different in kind from that wrought by rational arguments or the motive of self-interest, that such love is a pleasing passion affording joy to the mind where it is. Grant me grace to distinguish between the genuine and the false, and to rest in You who are all love.” Amen & Amen!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“THE FAITH JOURNEY AND FOUL WATERS”
The first three verses of Hebrews 12 really highlights for us this ‘journey of faith’ true believers are a part of with a challenge of being alert, informed, and ready for the battles and circumstances of the faith walk we’ll find ourselves in at times. It says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Christ Jesus Himself, on His journey of redemption of fallen mankind, experienced the reality of ‘heavy weights,’ the ‘temptations of sin,’ the ‘bitter waters’ of the surrounding world population enslaved to demonic passions and fleshly desires.
If you go to the Book of Ezekiel, you’ll find challenging words AND convicting words that relate to the “faith journey.” In Ezekiel 2:8 God told Ezekiel, “eat what I give you,” and he ate, and Ezekial 3:3b tells us, Ezekial speaking, “So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.” Then God told Ezekial that he was being sent, not to a people of unfamiliar speech or of hard language, but to the house of Israel, a people who then would not listen to God or receive His Word, a people who rejected the “faith journey” and drank “foul waters”, and found no joy in partaking of God’s sweet word that Ezekial said “tasted like honey”!
I’m sure you remember the journey of God’s people, Israel, in bondage in Egypt for about 400 years! Then deliverance, freedom, and the journey back to the Promised Land began. God miraculously opened the waters of the Red Sea and they, Israel, walked on dry land! In Exodus 15:21 Miriam said, “Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!”
Then Exodus 15:22-25 tells us, “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”
[Would you dare consider that the ‘tree’ Moses showed them related, previewed, represented the Cross of Calvary?].
You, no doubt, at least were awakened from the singing and dancing of Miriam as they celebrated freedom and deliverance from the bondage of Egypt! And then they came to “bitter waters”! Have you experienced that high swing and celebration of your freedom in Christ, but then experienced a moody, an emotional, and a changeable frame of mind and spirit, finding yourself hanging by a thin thread of hope, joy, and faith?
About sixty years ago I was a running back at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and back then you played both offense and defense. I can tell you, there were times in certain games that “catching your second breath or wind” was a must – but at least we had “good water” to arouse us at times. Israelites? They had a long, long journey, got to Marah, and found “bitter waters” – they wanted to go back to Egypt! [Was that a test from God?].
They complained against Moses: “What shall we drink?” And thank God for those who know to cry out to Holy God! Thank God for those who know He “changes things”! Thank God for those who lean not to their own understanding, but in all their ways, paths, problems, appointments and disappointments, call out to Him, and, Yes, even find miraculous things that can and do occur!
Then, you read further in Exodus 15 and verse 27 tells us, “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped by the waters.” Where are YOU camped? How many do you personally know who are camped by their dry river-beds of their intellectually genius and never camp by the “rivers of living waters” called the Holy Word of God? “God so loved the world,” and they don’t even know it! “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and they could care less! They choose the fleshly life evidenced by “no waters of Life in Christ”!
If the Lord God Almighty showed Moses a tree to toss in bitter waters and make those waters ‘sweet’, will God not do the same for you and me? And if the Lord Jesus Christ can say from that “tree”, “It is finished,” has His finished work on Calvary’s Cross made YOUR “bitter waters” sweet? Several truths I want you to see:
FIRST, IN THE “FAITH-JOURNEY” WE LEARN QUICKLY THAT WE ARE NOT IMMUNE FROM TROUBLES, TRIALS, AND TESTINGS! Dare I tell you that ‘wilderness journeys’ are not occasional ‘way-side events’ but even the norm for every true believer? Were you surprised when you read Matthew 4:1-10? Then Jesus was led up BY THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS TO BE TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL…
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”…[Lust of the flesh!]
But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”…
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ [Boastful pride of life!], and, ‘In their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.’”…
Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” [Lust of the eyes!].
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Oh, and by the way, I truly love verse 11 which says, Then the devil left Him, and BEHOLD, angels came and ministered to Him. [And I thank and praise God for ministering, caring angels of mercy!].
In John 16:33 we read Jesus saying to us in this day of tribulation, temptation, even torment for some, and troubles that are fleshly, worldly, and demonic, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And in Christ Jesus you are or can be “more than conquerors”!
I can’t tell you exactly what your troubles, trials, or testings, may be exactly, but be assured, one, two, or three, are on your path, following close and ready to move in for your encounter with ‘reality’! No water, some water but excessively bitter to the taste, and then God grants them “miracle water” through His Sovereign touch!
But be assured: Faith journeys are not exempt, immune, or separated from what will shape us or break us, define us, or discipline us, enrich us in faith or declare us ‘poverty-stricken’ in faith! God “births” sons not snakes, God “transforms” not tolerates, God “writes” your faith-story not fiction, God “breaks” not belittles, God “exercises mercy” not madness, God “enriches” not bankrupts, God “atones” not annihilates, God “feeds faith” not starve, and God comes to you not as a growling bear but “the precious Lamb of God”!
If the Lord Jesus was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, [Isaiah 53:3], as a follower of Christ, committed to His Lordship, do you think that your ‘faith’ has removed trouble from you? I am so enriched by what Oswald Chambers wrote in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.127]. “Sin has made the basis of things wild and not rational. We have to recognize that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is red-handed mutiny against God. Either God or sin must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue. If sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is no possible ultimate but that. The climax of sin is that it crucified Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will be true in your history and in mine. In our mental outlook we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin as the only explanation as to why Jesus Christ came, and as the explanation of the grief and sorrow in life.”
SECOND, IN THE “FAITH-JOURNEY” WE LEARN BY HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT COMPLAINING HAS NO EFFECTIVE RESULT!
Israel was on a God-blessed journey from bondage in Egypt to the blessing of the God-ordained “Promised Land,” but the trip was to encourage complaining rather than heighten thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God?
Do you remember Job losing everything, even family, and then falling to the ground, he WORSHIPPED? Job 1:21 says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord,” with verse 22 then saying, In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Then, in Job 13:15, we read Job saying, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
The disciples were with Jesus in a boat when a great ‘storm’ arose, which is so possible in any believer’s journey, and they came to Jesus saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Matthew 8:26 then says, Jesus speaking to His troubled disciples, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then, Jesus arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
At times I wonder when terrible storms naturally, socially, politically, spiritually, arise in America with terrifying ‘winds’, what will the people of America do, and especially the “faith-troopers”? “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”
Is it possible that believers misplace ‘faith’ and put it in themselves rather than full confidence and trust in Who Christ Jesus truly is? There are times, events, circumstances, that happen, coming on many as a test of faith, but they don’t know it is, don’t appreciate at all what God has allowed, and don’t even know that they should not lean on themselves, but they do – God intended for true believers to lean on Him, trust Him, wait on Him, call on Him! So they complain with no calling upon Holy God!
Have you experienced “faltering faith” because it was faith in yourself and not faith in God? Have you received God’s Word that He will never leave you nor forsake you? Hebrews 13:6 says, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Did you catch the last part of Hebrews 13:5 that says: “For He Himself has said…”. If God “has said”, where do your doubts and fears come from? If God “has said”, is your ‘faith’ without a trustworthy foundation? Dare I tell you that one of the greatest treasures you can ever hold onto in your life is the fact that “God never fails”! He never falls short, and His ears are always open to your needy cries! You may say at times, “No man cares for my soul,” but never, ever, can you say, “God doesn’t care!” Just look at the Cross – and if YOU were the only man to ever live, what Christ Jesus did 2000 years ago for the whole world, He would do for your soul alone if you were the only one God allowed to be created! GOD LOVES YOU!
THIRD, IN THE “FAITH-JOURNEY” UNAFFLICTED LIVES NEVER SENSE THE NEED OF GOD’S HELP! Oh, it may be an unafflicted life physically, but one void of the very spiritual, eternal Life of Holy God, is sick and needs the touch of the Great Physician!
Do you remember Moses and Aaron, sent by God delivering a message to the Pharoah of Egypt? [Exodus 5:1-2], “…Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharoah, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.” And Pharoah said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”
If the “fruit” one partakes of is from the “tree of good and evil,” affliction in the spirit-realm is immediate! And like Pharoah, they can only ask, “Who is the Lord God?”, because their supposed ‘unafflicted life’ is already in the state of spiritual death, desiring only the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, which is a ‘curse,’ and places one in the state of condemnation! In John 3:18-21 Jesus alerts the unbelieving! “He who believes in Him [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to, OBEYS!] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is CONDEMNED ALREADY, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil…
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Is YOUR ‘walk of life’ a sad drama of godlessness or is your “walk in Life” that of the Resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, and is your walk to the honor of Him prophetically named as Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, upon whose shoulders all life is supposed to rest! Are you ‘resting in Him’ or being ravished by the devil himself?
From what ‘cup’ are you drinking? The cup of God’s indignation or the cup of His inspiration? The cup of the devil or the cup of Christ? The cup of the curse or the cup of the Lord’s blessing? The cup of New Testament life in Christ or the devil’s cup of constant deaths? The cup of devilish celebration for evil or the cup of Jesus’ suffering for your salvation and your suffering for His honor and glory alone?
Oh, hear me!! Christ Jesus’ Resurrection Life within the penitent heart and yielded body, mind, and soul, is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise! As Jude finished his brief writing, he said in Verses 24-25, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”
A bitter life for a blessed life! A cursed life for a converted life in Christ! A dead life for Resurrection Life and Resurrection Power and Resurrection Purpose! A separated life from Holy God to a united life as One in the Spirit! A meaningless life for the Master’s Life of ministry, loving, caring, blessing others as He has blessed you! The bitterness of a mortal life for eternal presence united with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! An in-bondage life chained by the devil for the Life of eternal freedom in Him! A Satanic owned life but bought by Christ with His own precious blood! A life ticketed for Hell but raised up to be seated with Christ in heavenly places! Marah’s bitterness for the Master’s blessing! The heathen transformed into the heavenly one! The woefulness of fleshly despair for the wonder of Faith’s delight!
The dark places of devilish bondage for the Light that never grows dim and shows us His Highway of Holiness! Self for the Savior. Earth’s bitterness for Heaven’s unending blessing! World hatred for Heaven’s sacrificial love and grace! Passing words of intellectual meaninglessness for Eternal Truth from the Throne of God! Hell today – Heaven forever! Separated to self, selfishness, diabolical sensuousness, a slave of the flesh Or servant of God separated to the very life, work, and ministry He calls us to! Amen? Bitter waters sweetened! And it is so good, so blessed, so thrilling, so exciting, so fulfilling, so redemptive, so rich in the grace of God for His glory, honor, and praise!
Why “foul waters” when Jesus gives you “streams of Living Water”, “seas of Holy blessings,” and “oceans of His omnipresence and omnipotence”? Amen?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“FAITH’S FIRST LOVE – FOLLOWERS’ FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE”
I’m sure that you’ve been deeply impressed, convicted, and inspired by Paul’s early words in Romans 1:8-12 when he wrote: “FIRST, I thank God through Jesus Christ [good place for any man of faith to begin any day in his life’s journey of faith!] for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established – that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”
Faith, first, followers, faithful? These are words of eternal importance interpreted by the Presence and Power and Promises of God, but heightened, strengthened, expanded, enlarged, when we read John’s precious words in 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He FIRST loved us.” And if Paul says he wrote to the church in Rome, and us today, “so that you may be established,” or ‘made to stand’, there is no better beginning in the “faith journey” than taking hold of “Faith’s First Love” and exercising “Followers’ Faithful Obedience”!
“We love Him because He FIRST loved us”! Without awareness of God’s FIRST loving us, I’m not sure of fallen men loving Him without knowing what door of faith and obedience would have been opened! But fallen mankind was and is forever blessed by the “Father’s love” and awareness that it was He who knocked on our heart’s door and illumined our minds with the brightness of Heaven’s Light gloriously shining on the reality of God’s love demonstrated through Christ’s Cross!
Is it any wonder to you that Psalm 119:64 tells us, “The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes”? Oswald Chambers wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.272], “Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.”
Neither fallen man’s guilt or his goodness was a strong consideration in the sacrifice of Christ, but the reality of redemption came as the overflow of the powerful heart of the God of eternal love! Reflect upon John’s statements in John 1:10-13,16: “He [Christ Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name [trust in, relies upon, adheres to]: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Verse 16, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” Grace? Undeserved, unmerited favor of God Almighty because of HIS GOODNESS, not ours!
If there is any love in humanity, it’s because love comes from God! If there is any kindness in humanity, it’s because God is kind and it flows, at times, even through the unredeemed! If there is any goodness in unbelievers, it’s because “God is so good”! And, if God’s love is a proven eternal reality, is that the door that opens our true love of Him and the spreading of His love through us to a loveless world and its deprived humanity?
“FAITH’S FIRST LOVE – FOLLOWERS’ FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE”? Whether we consider ourselves personally or a ‘lost world’ collectively, OUR FIRST CONSIDERATION OR EVALUATION OF OURSELVES AND THE WORLD AT LARGE MUST BE THE AWARENESS OF OUR NEED OF HIS ETERNAL LOVE RECEIVED AND RELEASED BY THE REALITY OF RE-BIRTH AND THE “REST” OF SAVING FAITH!
If Christ Jesus tells us in John 3:3 as Jesus said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, is it optional for us? “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and then in John 3:5, Jesus compassionately declared, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [that’s the ‘water of the Word!’] and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” because flesh IS flesh and the Spirit is the necessity of the spirit of fallen men!
In 1 John 4:7-11 John also said, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love IS OF GOD [not fallen flesh!]; and everyone who loves [agape love or God’s love of the ‘laid-down life spirit’, not simply phileo or friendship love!], is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Consider the lost, alienated from God world around you – what do you see, not only before your very eyes across America, but worldwide, in every area of every nation, large or small? Vainness foments, viciousness fights, vice poisons, venom penetrates, victims retaliate, vagrants wander through life with no consideration of Holy God or His purpose for their lives, vanity pumps ‘flesh’ without any consideration of eternal value ‘in God’ or His plans for human existence, a constant veering away from God rather than running to Him, and as He speaks loudly to them, they then run to find their own locked vault ‘where God cannot see me and I don’t have to hear Him!’
You’ll remember as you read Adam and Eve’s experience in Genesis 3 about what I called their “Fig Leaf Religion”, when their ‘eyes’ were opened and they realized their nakedness before God, that they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves, and then hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, understanding that today unbelievers are creative in hiding themselves from Holy God, but He keeps coming because of His deep and abiding love for every one of His created beings!
Are there ‘loveless beings’ in the world of God WHO IS LOVE AND LOVING? In 1 John 4:8 we read, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Love received is love given, but when you find a ‘loveless society’ of fallen away beings, you find a society of individuals who neither love themselves, others, or even Holy God Himself! “God SO LOVED THE WORLD that He gave His Son…”, but you could care less about even those around you? And what does 1 John 4:11 tell us? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Didn’t Hebrews 12:2 tell us, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”? Do you believe that faith is submission to the Father’s will? You say, “I love God,” but you refuse, and occasionally, as it fits YOUR desires, yield yourself to Master Jesus, Lord Jesus, Submissive Jesus to the Father’s will, but for you, as a believer, to obey would be you saving yourself? What DECEPTION!
What does Hebrews 11:6 tell us? “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” You seek, but you don’t have to submit? I tell you, true faith knows the Father’s will, and does it! This is why we’ve already seen Jesus saying, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, but you do not do what I say?” Oh, but there are those who truly are aware of the Great God they serve and know their need of Him every day, good and bad days, days when trouble seems to reign, one’s God-given strength seems to weaken, sorrow stings like it’s a non-ending pain and loss, afflictions emit bitterness, and this “valley” brings one to a place he/she must decide: me or the Master, grit or His grace, resentment for my dilemma or rest in His promises?
And, thank God, we read in John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” You as a disciple of Christ Jesus are not called to reason but to revelation of who He is and what He has said – and you “rest” in Him!
SECOND, From “Faith’s First Love” to the FOLLOWERS’ FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE, WE DISCOVER THE ETERNAL LOVE OF GOD BEING EXPRESSED THROUGH US TO THOSE WHO NEED SAVING GRACE, NEED DIVINE BLESSING, AND NEED HIS FAITHFUL PROVISIONS!
1 John 3:14 lays it out in a consecrated way, a way of conviction, and a way that converts and calls one TO the love of God! It says: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” Apart from Christ, fallen mankind lives in the state of spiritual death, alienated from God, unaware of the eternal extent of His love, bound by the chains of the old sin nature, poisoned by the infection of a ‘fleshly’ love, blighted by the scorn and indifference of God’s amazing love, darkened in the mind to the very Light of God and His liberty to every repentant man who trust in the shed blood of Christ!
Loving the brethren, loving the lost, loving the alienated and separated from God, loving the indifferent, loving the spiritually ill, loving the town’s number one sinner, loving the very enemies of God, loving the guilty, the misguided, the mean, the hard-hearted, the decent and the indecent; God’s love is boundless, even immeasurable, abundant; loving others for the honor of Christ is the dynamic of bringing God and His love into human hearts and seeing the reality of divine transformation!
“Arise, shine” is the Old Testament version of “Arise, love” as an act of obedience, as an expression of His presence in you and through you, as a heart-felt belief and a mind renewed by God Himself, as the divine reality it is, reaching out to touch His world with His very own spiritually implanted heart, reaching out to raise the dead, uplift the fallen, restore not one’s imagination but his inheritance of the very wealth of God’s eternal love, sharing with the unloved the constraining power of divine love envisioned in Christ suffering on the Cross, unveiling for them the ‘paradises’ on earth enveloped in the fullness of Holy Love!
Do you remember Peter’s instruction in 2 Peter 1:5-11, following his declaration in Verse 3 that “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” saying, Verses 5-11, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love…
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins…
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
But Paul calls us ALL to spiritual evaluation of where our allegiance really lies. In Galatians 1:10 he stated, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”
In my Holman Edition of the New King James Version of the Bible, Luke 14:26-33, highlights four calls to true discipleship in following Christ:
- Undivided Devotion – Luke 14:26, 2) Costly Commitment – Luke 14:27, 3) Costly Analysis – Luke 14:31, 4) Awesome Surrender – Luke 14:33
Who or what truly has your heart and mind? And, if Jesus says, “This man cannot be My disciple because…,” and in the Holy Court of King Jesus, some are warmly welcomed while others hear, “Depart from Me, I never knew you,” is there a response you have that would change the King’s mind?
It was Frederick William Robertson who once wrote: “Sacrifice alone, bare and unrelieved, is ghastly, unnatural, and dead; but self-sacrifice, illuminated by love, is warmth, and life; it is the death of Christ, the life of God, and the blessedness and only proper life of man.” Didn’t Jesus tell us about the man who saves himself for himself, then loses his life that he so treasured?
THIRD, From ‘Faith’s First Love” to the “Followers’ Faithful Obedience,” Consider THAT SELF-DENIAL IS THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!
What did Jesus tell us in Matthew 16:24-25? “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
But what if “self-pleasure” rules in a man’s heart and life, and denying himself is like a foreign language he cannot understand? Rather than “We ought to obey God rather than men,” you find those who obey themselves as fallen men in disrespect of God’s divine will? The world, the flesh, and the devil consume many who only know spiritual deception, and Holy God must come like a mighty wind, blowing down those walls of deception that ‘the lost” may be “found” fully convicted, sick of their sin and sin nature, and fully desirous of God’s graciousness and kindness and love as they discover that Christ Jesus took their sin and guilt with Him as He shed His own blood in obedience to Father-God’s command, and set the “captives” free!
Though God had declared us ‘unclean’ before the Cross, the heart of Father-God led in the establishment of “the Fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,” and convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sin, that same Holy Spirit unveiled Christ to the darkest of sinners that they might discover the “Light of life” in and through Him! Men bound in the temporal were freed to rest in the Eternal! Men bound in the wells of emptiness discover life in the fullness of God’s blessings! Men fully attached to “shadows” are delivered from them to the very substance of Christ’s Resurrection Life and Hope! Men deceived in their world by “good and best efforts” discover Christ Jesus as their “All in all!”
And to that man of faith, what did the Lord and Savior say? “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” Would YOU dare to say daily, “I personally choose to live under the awesome administration and the ruler-ship of His omnipotence” without any hesitation? Are you a true believer who lives in an attitude of praise because you know what you were saved from and what God intends to do through you as His representative of “Amazing Grace”, unveiling, exemplifying, even demonstrating your recovery from “the fall” and from “the chains Satan used to bind you with”, revealing gladly the freedom, the inheritance, and the marvelous wonders of love and grace poured out on you? “We love Christ Jesus because He “First” loved us!”
FOURTH, IF A FOLLOWER”S FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE IS COMPROMISED, DECEIVED, OR FALLS AWAY FROM FULL DEVOTION, IS THERE HOPE OF RENEWED FAITH AND A RETURN TO THE WAY OF BLESSING?
There are highly interesting and significant verses in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 when Paul has learned of spiritual immaturity in some lives within the Corinth fellowship. He said, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal, “AND BEHAVING LIKE MERE MEN?”
“Behaving like mere men?” Is that resurrecting the old ‘animal instincts’ of the fallen sin-nature? Is that tearing God from His throne in us and assuming “I’m able to choose for myself what pleases me; God knows it’s just a child’s ‘play-time’, not permanent.” Rather than understanding absolute dependence upon God Himself for one to live the victorious, over-coming life, many feel “I’m able”, and fall away quickly.
It was A.G. Lawson who once said, “Usually he is most empty who is most full of himself.” Are you aware of why Paul chose daily to “die to himself” taking the sentence of death that Christ’s Resurrection Life would reign supreme? I’m convinced one of the major ministries in discipleship training is over-viewing for all new disciples that, apart from the devil and the world, their old self can be very deceiving and lead one to “play” with sin, getting burned! If YOU are out to satisfy yourself, you’re pouring ice-cold water on your devotion to honor Christ!
Have you read Jeremiah lately? In Jeremiah 3:11-13 God spoke to the prophet about ‘backsliding’: Verse 12-13, Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.
If you are a ‘backslider’, God loves you enough to come to you and tell you the Truth! “Repent, or else!” Gross rebellion of a son or daughter of the “faith-in-God-family” CAN find mercy and grace if the repentant heart is resurrected; and God loves “the remnant”, even of Israel that turned their backs on Him – the “remnant” were delivered, saved, washed clean, returned to give God His rightful place as Sovereign Savior and Lord! Doesn’t 1 John 2:1b tell us, “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
That should intensify your love and devotion to the God of your salvation! Renewed faith and a return to His blessing ministry, to His awesome presence, to the Throne of a Godly rule that compels you to bow, to renew, to yield to the God who loved YOU before you’d even be born?
A.J. Gordon wrote the old hymn entitled, “My Jesus, I Love Thee,” which needs to be restored to our modern-world worship! It says:
“My Jesus, I love You, I know You are mine, For You all the follies of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Savior You are; If ever I loved You, my Jesus, it’s now.
I love You because You first loved me, And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree; I love You for wearing the thorns on Your brow; If ever I loved You, my Jesus, it’s now.
I’ll love You in life, I will love You in death, And praise You as long as You lend me breath; And say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow, If ever I loved You, my Jesus, it’s now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight, I’ll ever adore You in heaven so bright; I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow, If ever I loved You, my Jesus, it’s now.”
Tell me about YOUR love-song to Christ Jesus, your Savior and Lord! Are you singing right now?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“FAITH’S CALL OR FAITH’S COMMITMENT?”
How do you respond when you hear Christ Jesus say, as He did in Matthew 16:24-25, Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Denying self? But don’t you know?, “Why, my individuality is mine to express it as I please! Why God says, ‘deny yourself,’ I’ll never know!”
I have no doubts that this is why Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.257], “Individuality counterfeits personality as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.”
As a reminder, do you remember Samson’s story of many, many years of strong exploits to the glory of God, but then a day came when his physical strength was overshadowed by darkness in the mind, playing with fire and being burned, overcome by Delilah’s enticements, and chained like a prisoner? He knew “Faith’s Call” and for years and years honored the Lord, but ‘the calling’ took a backseat apart from “Faith’s Commitment”, and the enemies of God brought temptations, snares, evil opportunities to disgrace initial faith and obedience, and lead him down what appeared to be “primrose paths of pleasure” but became hellish shame!
But opposite of Samson’s “fall”, I want you to see “Faith’s Commitment”! [I challenge you to read all of the Book of Esther before continuing!]. Here is a young lady, beautiful in appearance, chosen to become the wife of the King, Ahasuerus, a very strong leader. Among the “support team” was a man by the name of Haman, a man very opposed to the Jewish people, who got a door opened to bring about the very destruction of Esther’s people.
There was a man by the name of Mordecai who went to Esther, challenging her to go and seek to persuade the king to ‘save the Jews.” Esther 4:5-7 tells us, Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was. So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews.” [And don’t you wonder, pause, think, “Why such hostility?” Was Christ Jesus to be born through the Jewish line? Would even in Esther’s days there be an undercurrent of resistance to the birth of the Lamb of God?]
In Esther 4:13-14 we read, And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” Later, in Esther 8:5-6, Esther arose and stood before the king, saying, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?”
“If I perish, I perish!” In the sovereignty of Holy God, was God, Holy God, simply granting her the position of queen because she was beautiful or so she would become known as a glorious queen as a prize picture in the king’s court? I don’t think so! In His sovereignty God chose Esther as Queen to save her people in her outreach to Holy God! [Who are you reaching out to God for concerning their salvation, deliverance, or healing?]
In Esther 7:6, before the king, when asked who it was, she said, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!” Verse 8 then tells us, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.”
But, what if Esther had no desire to defend her own countrymen? What if Esther thought only of herself? What if her ‘individuality’ was uppermost in her mind, spirit, and heart, closing herself off to the consideration or possibility of the massacre of her own people, the Jews? And Esther did what? She stepped up to do a work of compassion, love, and faithfulness, in seeing her people saved from Haman’s heartless, selfish, and devilish plan!
And, how thrilling, encouraging, uplifting is the word we find of Christ Jesus’ intervention to save us out of the death throes of spiritual disappointment when He went to the Cross in our place? Paul told us and the world, in Romans 6:4, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” That’s His resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope!
You do understand that Haman operated his life from “darkness” while Esther walked and served in the “Light”, and “Light” does expose and expels ‘darkness’ wherever Esther or YOU find yourself!
In Ephesians 4:17-19 Paul calls to our attention the ‘role’ the fallen sin nature played in Haman’s self-centered existence and in all of fallen man’s history when he wrote: “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
If Haman walked in darkness and Esther walked in the “Light”, have you wrestled with your own existence up until now? Darkness or Light, ‘myself’ or ministry unto the needy, self-preference or dead to self that our Lord’s resurrection ministry may be manifested through your mortal flesh, self-concern or Kingdom rule? Didn’t Paul add in Ephesians 5:15, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Circumspectly? Would that be godly observance, caring watch-care, prudent and wise and holy observance, with awareness of how one intercedes to the glory of Christ?
Many years ago Archibald Alexander made this wise statement, “All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass – Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” And when it comes to “Kingdom living” today, have you invented or accepted a different way of life than “Christ in you the hope of glory”? And how does it come to pass that an Esther can say, “If I perish, I perish”?
First, A Redeemed Life Sees Life Lived No Longer Unto Themselves But Unto The Eternal Purposes Of Holy God And King Jesus! What did Paul tell us in Galatians 6:14? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
I’m really not sure if the modern-day, professing church has ever heard much about the word, the spirit of, the actual participation in “consecrated”. In Hebrews 10:19-23 we read, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by A NEW AND LIVING WAY which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the ‘confession’ of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
That “New and Living Way” that we just read about IS “the laid-down life” in service unto others! Whatever honors and glorifies Christ Jesus through true believers is acceptable, even if it is the pains and agonies of physical persecution for the Lord’s honor and glory! What about “lions” dens? Are they acceptable to you if necessary? What about isolation, even imprisonments for the faith, or even loss of job or income, or ‘bearing in your body the marks of suffering for Christ’?
But, you are aware that, rather than consecration many, like Israel in the Old Testament, live in desecration without a thought of holy allegiance and honor and blessing of their Savior, Master, and Lord, through the life they live as “professors of the faith”! But not a true disciple like Paul the Apostle! In Acts 20:18-24 Paul, having called for the elders of the church in Ephesus, said to them, “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Are you aware of the calling as a “royal ambassador of Christ”? 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 we read, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He [God] made Him [Christ Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Second, A Redeemed Life, Set Apart To Honor Christ And Extend His Earthly Witness Is A Man/Woman Empowered By God’s Spirit! The “best” of fleshly effort in the warfare for the souls of men is like a soldier sent into battle without guns or ammunitions for his guns – he either dies young or spends his life behind bars, but never as “more than conqueror”!
But in 2 Corinthians 3:1-6 the Apostle inspires true believers saying, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. NOT THAT WE ARE SUFFICIENT OF OURSELVES TO THINK OF ANYTHING AS BEING FROM OURSELVES, BUT OUR SUFFICIENCY IS FROM GOD, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE.”
Have you been “commissioned by Christ,” “anointed by and in the Spirit,” “empowered by Heaven’s authority,” knowing “that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him,” [Psalm 4:3]. Set apart in the sovereignty of God are “chosen vessels”, and Acts 1:8 tells us, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Empowered by God’s Spirit? Jude 20-21 says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up ON your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” And, I say to you, a prayerless man is an impotent servant who ‘tries’ but seldom trusts! Believers are powerless seeking to honor Christ by “best efforts” – Your Savior and Lord longs for you to daily empty yourself and daily yield, surrender, abide in, even WAIT upon the Spirit’s leadership! We don’t ‘walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit’! [Romans 8:1]. We are sons of God who are to be led daily by the Spirit of God!
Third, A Redeemed Life, Set Apart To Honor Christ And Extend His Earthly Witness Is A Man/Woman Who Will Be Cornered, Challenged, Confused, Condemned By The Devil And His Evil Forces Called Demons!
Dare I tell you that one of the devil’s battle plans is to “pump your ego” as to all you have to offer God in your service for Him? Yet Paul talked about you taking the sentence daily to your old man so the Resurrection Life of Christ, by His Spirit, might be manifested in your mortal flesh!
Are you ever wondering about the “self, back-slappers” who are certain God couldn’t get by without them? That, my friends, is demonic deception at an extreme high level!
You are aware that our Savior, the Lord Jesus, encountered satanic opposition as He walked those three years of ministry before His death, burial, and resurrection. Over and over Satan was driven to bring Him down, but Jesus stood strong. Satan would leave Him alone for a period of time, looking for a more opportune moment to bring Jesus down! Jesus won! And His triumph over the powers of darkness is your victory-present to enjoy, walk with, and stand tall with in your walk in honor of Christ!
But are you aware that the self-indulgent who ‘profess’ allegiance to Christ are the easy targets of satanic soldiers representing Hell and its head, the devil? And the reason? Self-indulgence is, at times, unseen forces at work, encouraging and opening door after door to satisfy the ‘flesh’ and seek to suffocate the Spirit! All of a sudden delight in satisfying the flesh breeds even ‘the delight of despair’, with the victim deciding, “I might as well go Hell’s way and have some fun,” not realizing Satan is a faithful pay-master with illegal currency!
There were those that John told us about that our Lord would not commit Himself to them, because He knew what was in them and who was directing their steps to the slippery slopes, descending downward, not upward toward God!
The devil’s intent is to deceive us and lead us away from God, not toward Him! And without the healing, the deliverance, the saving of our souls by His blood, men are in a state of utter helplessness because of unbelief, with severe wounds that put them, without our Lord’s grace and mercy and gift of faith, in a hopeless condition! It’s so tragic to see, sense, and sorrow over man’s sin-sickness, yes, physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and walking downward with the devil’s deceptions on a reckless, irresponsible path, easily scarred, tragically deformed, like “the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together until now.”
It was E. Stanley Jones, a very strong, anointed missionary to India many years ago who wrote the following: [“The Christ of the Mount,” New York: Abingdon Press, 1931,p.9], “Loosed from the moorings that have held life, many are now adrift. They claim to be free. They have thrown overboard the chart, the compass, the steering wheel, and the consciousness of destination. They are free from everything – except the rocks, and the storms, and the insufferable inanity of being tossed from wave to wave of mere meaningless emotion…The modern man is ‘left by science without a goal; by exploded humanitarianism without a hero; by logic with an impasse’ – he needs a way out;” Dr. Jones then shared our Lord’s words from John 8:31-32, speaking to the Jews who had believed Him,
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
I pray that YOU are not surprised that Christ Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But how many do you know who “profess” devotion to Christ by baptism and church membership without even a hint of understanding the truth or opening His Word as their “daily bread” and “meat of the Word”? That, my friends, is deadly deception!
Closing this chapter, I want to use a small section of Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.262-263], entitled “The Test of Loyalty.” He quoted Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, [Check out the Book of Job!!], to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Chambers said:
It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances. We take such liberty with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord. Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the realization comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that He had ordered them; we never saw what He was after, and that particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life. The test of loyalty always comes just there. If we learn to worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds when He chooses…
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the thing that we “stick at” today. We will be loyal to work, to service, to anything, but do not ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Many Christians are intensely impatient of talking about loyalty to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more emphatically by Christian workers than by the world. God is made a machine for blessing men, and Jesus Christ is made a Worker among workers…
The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us – ‘I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine.” God wants to use us as He used His own Son.”
Are YOU available to Him as the vessel through whom He pours Himself!!??
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“TRUE FAITH – YOUR THOUGHTS OR GOD’S TRUTH?”
Studying the Book of Jeremiah recently I was challenged by God’s words through his chosen prophet in Jeremiah 6:13-16, “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace…
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord..
Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Does that sound familiar in our modern-world?
And the result of strong rebellion to Holy God? Verses 17-19 enlightens us about what a nation will visibly see as Holy God brings judgment on unrepentant nations, even the U.S.A.! “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’…
Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! BEHOLD, I will certainly bring calamity on this people – “the fruit of their thoughts”, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it.”
Contemplate what you’ve just read, examining your own heart, mind, walk, and your pilgrimage of faith’s journey: Are YOU being reconciled to God through the witness of Christ Jesus in you and through you? What does 2 Corinthians 5:9 say to us through Paul’s inspired word? “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him,” Paul saying, “When I’m with you, my aim is to honor Christ in a yielded walk before you, and when I’m absent from your presence, I’m guided by the same commitment: I want Christ Jesus to be honored through me at all times!”
But how tragic do you find the story of Israel’s history as God had set them apart to prepare a lost world for the coming of “Promised Messiah, Redeemer, Lord and Master, Emmanuel – God in the flesh,” but they rejected Christ Jesus, even their ‘religious’ Judaizers leading in Jesus’ crucifixion and rejection, with only a slim minority like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, resting in Messiah’s coming!
So God brought judgment on their thoughts? “Oh, I know God resists my sin and sinful ways, but He also condemns and brings judgment on my sins that are in my mind?” In Genesis 6:3 the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh…Verse 6, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…Verse 8, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” BECAUSE GOD FOUND A MAN WILLING TO WALK IN GOD’S WAYS, NOT HIS OWN! And in that early time period, related to mankind, we see the beginning of the unfolding of the mercy and grace and love of God!
But what should catch your ‘eye’ and enlighten your mind is GOD SEEING “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”! Even King David’s prayer should enlarge your understanding when in Psalm 51:3-5 David prayed, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight – that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.”
But I want you to know that in the spiritual realm of all humanity, the Word calls us to attention to consider God’s intent that all men, through repentance toward God and faith in Christ alone for His sacrificial death to restore us all to our callings, which Revelation 1:5-6 reveals, with John saying, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
God’s desire? God’s intent? God’s sharing of Kingdom rule on earth as it is in Heaven? God’s will for men to rule, but evil thoughts assume leadership in men’s minds and hearts rather than submitted to the authority of God? Satan’s intent? Satan’s plan? Satan’s scheme? Building his own kingdom in opposition to Holy God and His Kingdom! And the tragedy erupted, sin spawned in the hearts and minds of men, and rebellion, disobedience, unbelief, fleshly intent, swept over all mankind, with the fallen world becoming dominated by Satan’s ‘friends’, thinking they’ve won the spiritual war for the souls of all men – but then there was the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus, and He began to reign, build His Kingdom, looking for the final days of spiritual warfare to be brought to a glorious victory “in Jesus”! But the “war” is on right now!
First, Let’s Look At False ‘Faith,’ False ‘Fruit,’ ‘True Finality’! Thank God for a Jude who was a contender for the true faith! Jude 5-7,11, divinely recorded, tells us: “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day, as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire…Verse 11, Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” [It would be to your spiritual benefit to study Verse 11 thoroughly!].
In Matthew 24:24 Christ Jesus said: “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders TO DECEIVE, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.”
Vain thoughts in a vain ‘professor’s life’ produce vain images of ‘self-righteousness’, again ‘pumping flesh’ or the old sin-nature, thinking they are honoring God Almighty, when all they’ve done is to promote themselves!
You do understand that ‘fallen men’ have always lived with ‘self-pretense’, aware of it or not, like the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus called ‘hypocrites’ in Matthew 23:14-15! He said of them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites [“play-actors”]! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Hypocritical thoughts? Self-promotion thoughts? Coveting thoughts? Proud thoughts? Pumping flesh thoughts? Self-vindication thoughts? Frothy thoughts with no true substance? Mill-stone thoughts? Haughty thoughts? Thankless thoughts? Unbelieving thoughts? Bitter thoughts? Resentful thoughts? Unforgiving thoughts?
In Galatians 6:3 we read, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Just how dangerous do you believe self-deception to be? What did Paul tell Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:13? “But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Is “sin” a sinister plot even in many believers to take them down? It is truly such a blessing to have men like Paul who reached out to young disciples like Timothy to warn them of the dangers of “false fruits”! Or even the author of Hebrews who rose up so valiantly to warn “professing believers” of the dangers of deception. Hebrews 3:12-13 tells us, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Second, What About The Dangers Of Slothfulness Or Spiritual Laziness? Come with me to Ecclesiastes 10:18 (NKJV), where Solomon wrote: “Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks.” The old King James Version says, “By much slothfulness the building decays…”. Did Solomon ‘profess’ and not fully ‘possess’?
I love Moffatt’s translation of James 1:4 that says, “Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.”
But some older believers, sadly, and some immature young believers, drift from devotion to the Faith to complacency, and find themselves in a “falling away” cloud of indifference, at least for a time, until a caring, mature believer challenges them as to their sincere faith or lack of it.
There are ‘believers’ who are spiritually deceived and fail to understand the true warfare against them by the world, the flesh, and the devil, and find spiritual “armor” unnecessary until they are slammed to the ground by the powers of darkness!
Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:15, and us, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Diligence? Can you fathom an athlete who doesn’t see the necessity of diligence in game preparation, and so he goes into the game and gets his untrained, unequipped, uninformed ‘butt’ kicked from one goal line to the other! Diligence? It’s the Obama socialist excuse of wasting funds on soldiers he could give to the soldiers’ enemies! No diligence in the medical profession? No diligence from the teachers of your children’s education?
And is there to be diligence in the spiritual community as followers of Christ Jesus? Diligence of taking up His Cross daily for the holy appropriation of His power and authority or unconcern about the warfare of the old self, the sin of rebellion, worldliness calling us, even throwing aside The Savior’s word: “Without Me you can do nothing;” so not wanting to be strapped by allegiance to honor Him, many are setting diligence aside and desecrating the life He redeemed by His own blood!?!
Third, Does ‘Fleshly Pride’ Hang Around To Heighten “Falling Away” From The Faith? In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4,7-12, you’ll find verses that, no doubt, referred to Israel’s “falling away” from their divine appointment to bringing in, yes, the birth of “Emmanuel”, but, at the same time, understanding “flesh,” “religious flesh,” and the reality of divided allegiance between “flesh” and Spirit, ‘fleshly pride’ does become the lightning rod of ‘falling away’ from the Faith!
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God….
Verses 7-12 then says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
That’s ‘fleshly’ Israelites, ‘fleshly’ church folk, prominent ‘fleshly’ leaders of churches, denominations, major or minor religions across the known world! But the “Remnant” stands strong, faithful, devoted, leaning on Christ alone! Do you think this might be why Paul said in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage”? Do you think the calf, the cow, or the bull would ever say to its ‘owner,’ “I don’t need your yoke – I can handle my own responsibility and calling”?
Is there the ‘test’ in believers’ walks of faith when they must decide, “Who is in control in this time of testing? Myself or King Jesus?” But, sadly, some never consider, they commit to what their ‘flesh’ cries out! But Jesus says, “Come to Me, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you…!!!”
Fourth, Is Unawareness Or Unbelief In The Devil’s Attempts To Take You Down A Major Concern In the Faith Journey AND Faith Warfare? In 1 Peter 5:8-9 Peter lays out for us the enemy, besides ‘flesh,’ that so desires to take down committed, yielded, strong OR weak followers of Christ. He said: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
Of course, unbelievers have no awareness concerning spiritual warfare involving the devil himself because of their engrained unbelief, but ‘believers’, having reported for duty under Christ’s Lordship, are not void of understanding of wars, battles, conflicts with the devil, because they learned from their Lord’s Life experiences and encounters with the powers of darkness. But even do ‘believers’ or ‘true Life in Christ disciples’ face spiritual warfare with their enemy, and at times yield to ‘darkness’ rather than to the “Light”? I’m afraid they do, but healing and deliverance can come, by the grace of God, to those who fall into a trap! “Yell for Help to the Keeper of your life and soul – don’t surrender, fight the good fight of faith!”
In Luke 4:13 we read, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Christ Jesus until an opportune time.”
But what about unawareness or unbelief in the ‘demonic’ activity against, especially, those who are the true followers of Christ? If you read further in Luke 4, in Verse 33, we read, “Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!” Jesus cast the demon out, and the crowd around Him were amazed, talking among themselves, saying, Verse 36, Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
I’m not sure I should even mention demonic deliverance in a book for American Christians and even the mission stations across the world where I’ve ministered and taught since the mid-1970’s. Why? Because I’m not sure how many “professing believers” are walking equipped in discipleship training in all phases of ministry, and especially ‘deliverance’, ending up wounded, scarred, even in danger of walking away because they find themselves bitterly wounded by the “spirits” and don’t even know what is going on! It was Michael Drayton, in “The Owl”, who stated, “Better sit still, than rise to meet the devil.” No doubt true for those ‘professing faith’ but never equipped to take the demons on!
It was an Anonymous writer in Frank Meads’ “Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, [p.107], who wrote, “Talk of devils being confined to hell, or hidden by invisibility! – We have them by shoals in the crowded towns and cities of the world. – Talk of raising the devil! – What need for that, when he is constantly walking to and fro in our streets, seeking whom he may devour.”
But, of course, you are aware that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus that ‘the devil’ IS a defeated enemy, not only of Christ but of every true believer! So…resist him steadfast in the Faith!! His victory over Satan is your victory through Christ!
I don’t know who wrote the following sentence, but it jumped off the page and touched my mind, heart, and will: “But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.” Your task? Resting in the finished work of Christ Jesus at the Cross and the Empty Tomb!
“Truth Faith – Your Thoughts Or God’s Truth”? Romans 8:37-38 lifts us high to the mountain-top of our Lord’s High Mountain of forgiveness, freedom, fulfilment, and forever winning the battle over the world, the flesh, and the Devil! Paul said, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” AMEN?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“A FAULTY FAITH OF DEPARTURE OR FAITH THAT SUSTAINS, FEEDS, AND PROVIDES”
Come with me to Matthew 14 and follow carefully Verses 13-21 that relates to the Lord Jesus feeding the five thousand! It says: When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick…
When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”…
And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” Jesus said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes…
So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
If there were five thousand men, plus women and children, would it be safe to say that the total was ten thousand at a minimum? “Five loaves and two fish”? “They need to go to surrounding villages and buy themselves food, because how can one miss a meal when all they’re doing is listening to a man teach?”
“They’ve got to take care of themselves, because, even if it is a man representing God, their natural tendencies have to be met, and can God meet our food needs? We’ll go elsewhere for that need to be met; five loaves and two fish can’t meet the needs of ten thousand people!”
But is it possible when you read this event that it arouses in readers, not simply physical hunger because they’re about to miss a meal, or does it go beyond physical hunger to the, yes, spiritual hunger of the souls of men who are without a living relationship with the God who created them? And, if YOU are spiritually hungry, why look to worldly communities to meet your need? Yet, our world is overflowing with “hungry people” who don’t know of God’s desire to meet their every need according to His riches in glory in and through Christ Jesus, the Eternal- Food Blesser and Provider!
In fact, in Psalm 37:25, David tells us, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.” Does it mean the ‘righteous’ never have hunger pains? The human body does alert us when it is time to eat, but even with that alert, some deprive themselves of food occasionally because their ‘busy-ness’ substitutes for a ‘sit-down meal’! You probably have encountered a number of friends or acquaintances that are “too busy” to eat!
What about though when Jesus said to those disciples in Matthew 14:16, after His disciples came to Him to encourage the crowd to leave and go find food, “They do not need to go away. YOU give them something to eat.” The disciples responded, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And you must ask, “Did His disciples not understand that the huge crowd’s greater need was the “Living Bread”?
In Matthew 14:18 we read, He [Christ Jesus] said, “Bring them here to Me.” And a supernatural miracle occurred before their eyes as Jesus blessed what they had and exploded it to care for multitudes! Verse 20 says, “So they all ate and were filled,” with left-over fragments totaling twelve baskets full!
What are the eternal, practical, personal, spiritual lessons Holy God would have each of us to learn from this demonstration of Christ’s awesome power and authority and love concerning “hungry lives and hungry hearts”?
YOUR INNER HUNGER IS NOT TO BE A DISTRACTION FROM CHRIST BUT THE OPEN DOOR TO CHRIST! Do you remember Satan testing Jesus right after He had begun His public ministry? In Matthew 4:1-4 the Holy Word tells us: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted [tested] by the devil. And when He [Jesus] had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In the main text of this chapter, Matthew 14:16, our Lord and Savior was so very clear: “They do not need to go away.” The ‘going away’ was from Him to find food when He is “food’s inventor”!
In our day to day living in this modern world, most men are drawn away from Christ, not to Christ, because their appetites are strictly ‘fleshly’ and not spiritual as to one’s eternal life and relationship to Holy God! Their main emphasis is satisfying their sin nature and what it calls for, or the world’s chief emphasis, or, yes, the tempting, twisting, troubling activity of the devil to draw men away from God’s bidding and following the deceptive emphasis of Satan himself!
Life in the modern world today is no different than life 2000 years ago with occupations, responsibilities, interests, callings, or ministries – the problem is that the deceived heart of men today is just as enslaved to the devil as the men in Christ’s day, and He came to set the captives free where they begin to discern, whatever their calling, task, or responsibility, what it is God would have them be and do, not deceived by the powers of darkness to work for darkness, the flesh, and under demonic control rather than Christ control, living in honor of Him who created them, loved them, and assigned them His ministry calling through them whether a carpenter, an educator, a pastor-teacher, medical profession, or whatever, but it IS to the glory of God alone, not satisfying ‘fleshly’ appetites!
YOUR INNER HUNGER IS NOT TO BE AN ATTEMPT AT SATISFACTION BY IMITATION OF A FALLEN WORLD AROUND YOU! But, of course, blinded sinners by the powers of darkness have no explanation for their “fall” because those powers of darkness excuse the fallen world by deceiving men, “This is just the way you are; look around you; join yourself to those who have a ‘happy’ identity in their state of life!”
Paul, in Ephesians 4:17-19, explains this “fallen, away from God, imitation life” by saying, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
But, understand, “God so loved the world…,” and is not willing for greedy people, blinded people spiritually, those with the futility-mind-disease, comfortable in darkness, no problem with alienation from God the Creator, Lord, and Savior, sadly, blinded by their sin-state, and at home with lewdness, uncleanness, and alienation – So God Himself, by the Spirit, by the Savior and Lord, by the true family of Holy God stands tall and vocal:
Ephesians 5:14, Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, and Christ Jesus will give you light.” That isn’t human initiative though human initiative is an unspoken of religion all over the world; when the anointed Word and the Spirit of God, yes, even through His redeemed family, is spoken in love, grace, and mercy, we “Arise” and follow our Lord and Savior! If the Savior says to YOU “Arise from the dead”, do you think that’s an option you hold or a command to respond immediately to in honoring King Jesus!
When you consider the Old Testament prophets, why did Holy God raise up the true prophets in challenging His chosen, holy people called Israel who were to be those who were chosen to usher in the Messiah? – it happened, He came, but then the religious elite of Judaism, not the “remnant”, but the chief priests and the Sadducees had Christ Jesus crucified because they imitated the fallen world around them without any consideration of the prophetic Word!
Isaiah 59:20 says, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the Lord,” but the majority of Israel bought “the lie” of Satan, “You can sin and not die,” but they sinned and they died without Emmanuel and His ministry to them and through them!
YOUR INNER HUNGER IS NOT TO BE MAN’S BEST EFFORT BUT THE ACTUAL DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE! It’s highly important and effective in sharing with young converts the reality of the necessity of discipline and especially as it relates to spiritual endurance.
The walk of a true disciple is never easy because, though saved, re-born, and in-filled with the Holy Spirit, the highway of holiness is a demanding walk! I know this is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure [that’s Christ’s Light and knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, now shining in us and through us who have been “born again”] in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us.”
Oh, and then in Verses 8-11, Paul challenges us about “resting in Christ”! He said, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also MAY BE MANIFESTED IN OUR MORTAL FLESH.”
That’s the choice of daily death to yourself that Christ’s life is revealed through you! Question! Through YOU is it His nature and character or your best effort? Through YOU is it His spirit, His sure confidence, His sweetness and toughness, His strengths or your weaknesses, His manifested presence within you or your mental premises of a good Christian?
YOUR INNER HUNGER IS NOT BY THE RECOGNITION OF ONE’S PERSONAL RELIGIOUS INCLINATIONS BUT THE INSPIRATION OF ENLIGHTMENT OF SCRIPTURAL TRUTH AND ONE’S CONTINUOUS APPROPRIATION OF THAT TRUTH! In Ephesians 1:17-19 we gladly receive, trust, and walk in the revealed truth of one’s victory in Christ alone! It says: “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”
How does this revealed Word speak to your personal examination of your present relationship to Holy God? Best effort or blessed Presence? Trying or trusting? Adapting or appropriating? Your resilience or His “rest”? What YOU say or feel or what Christ Jesus declares?
If Christ Jesus is the “Great I Am”, how does that relate to YOU “in Christ”? In Galatians 2:20 Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Important question to follow! “Do YOU frustrate or set aside the grace of God, and give your best or rest in Christ’s Resurrection Life in you?
In 1 John 4:17 John deciares, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; BECAUSE AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD.” Your past IS OVER, crucified with Christ 2000 years ago – it is not you but Christ in you as the hope of glory that’s makes the difference! And do you understand why Paul would say, “I take the sentence of death in me daily that the resurrection of Christ is manifested in my mortal flesh”? If your old man was crucified with Christ, then why do you give the crucified life so much attention? Why do you degrade the old self of yours that He allowed to die with Him?
I want to close this chapter with “My Testimony”, written by Milton Green of Cleveland, Tennessee, written over thirty years ago. I don’t think Milton ever finished the 8th Grade, early into service in the army, returned home and began, I believe, a window-washing business, married, I believe it was three times. His third wife was a friend of mine and Sue’s, Joyce Samples, who begin a positive influence in his life. He was led to the Lord by someone I do not know, went to his home pastor asking for the pastor to disciple him – but the pastor was too busy, and ignored him. My wife and I moved back to Cleveland from Tempe, Arizona, and met Milton – the first thing he said was, “Farrell, would you disciple me?” As I was traveling doing revivals and evangelism conferences, I told Milt that when I was in town, I’d train him every Wednesday night at 9pm after our church’s prayer meeting. After about a year and a half of that, my wife I moved to Dothan, Alabama, where I served as pastor of First Baptist Church. On a Sunday evening service sometime after the move there, Milton and Joyce entered for the Sunday evening service. They stayed in our home for two or three nights – and Sue and I saw a divine transformation! It was so encouraging to see what our Lord had done in Milton’s life – a powerful miracle of grace! Milton ended up teaching in conferences all over the world, many times with 10,000-20,000 seekers after Truth! It was a phenomenal ministry of encouragement to see what God Almighty did through the “carpenter- cleaner’s life”! The following is Milton’s Testimony!:
“MY TESTIMONY”
I cried out to the Lord and He heard my cries. He lifted me up out of a pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet on a rock – making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth – a song of praise to my God. Many will see and fear and trust in the Lord. And blessed is the man whose trust is the Lord, who has not turned to the proud or to those who have lapsed into falsehood. Many Oh Lord my God are the wonders You have done – and yet Your thoughts are toward me. There’s none to compare with You! My ears were opened and then I said, “Behold, Lord, I come to You. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God. Your Law is written upon my heart.”
Because I’ve been born again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…to an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, is reserved in heaven for me. I’m kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last times.
Although I’ve never seen You – I love You. And although I don’t see You right now I believe You and I trust You and I rejoice with a joy unspeakable full of glory, receiving the end of my faith – even the salvation of my soul.
Because I’ve been redeemed. I’ve been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus – without blemish or without spot. I’ve been born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed – by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
Jesus Christ is my cornerstone. He’s rejected of men but chosen of God and precious. And I’m a lively stone. I’m a lively stone that makes up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in Jesus Christ.
I’m a chosen person, a royal priesthood, a holy priesthood, a peculiar person – to show forth praises unto Him who delivered me out of darkness – into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of All my sins. He took all my sins in His own body on the tree, that I, being dead to sin, would live unto righteousness – by whose stripes I was healed, in Jesus’ Name!
Now who is going to harm him who follows after that which is good? Who is going to get him?
I sanctify the Lord God in my heart and I’m ready to give an answer to every man that asks me, with meekness and fear. Casting all my cares on Him – because He cares for me!
Jesus Christ is the exact image of the invisible God. He’s the first born of all creation. And in and through Jesus Christ all things were created, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities – Everything has been created through Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is before all things. And in Jesus Christ all things hold together. Jesus Christ is also head of the body – the Church. For He is from the beginning – the first born from the dead – that He should have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure that all His fullness and goodness should dwell in Him.
And God has reconciled me to Himself. Having made peace through the blood of the Cross. And although I was formerly alienated from Him, I was hostile in my mind. I was engaged in evil deeds – Jesus Christ reconciled me to Himself to appear before Him holy and blameless.
For in Christ Jesus the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. In Jesus Christ I’ve been made complete. All my sins have been blotted out and nailed to the Cross. In Jesus Christ I’m sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise!
God, after He had spoken long ago to the Fathers through the Prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us through His Son Jesus – Whom He appointed heir of all things, and through Whom He made the world. He’s the radiance of His glory – the exact representation of His nature – and He upholds all things by the power of His words, and after He had made purification for sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high!
And because of His great love for me, He has raised me up to be [seated] with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus – just as He has chosen me before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him.
And He has taken every weakness, infirmity, sickness, cures, sin and disease – and by His stripes I am healed in Jesus’ name!
I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Oh, the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints, and exceeding riches of His glory to us who Believe, according to the riches of His mighty might – which He performed in Christ Jesus when He raised Him from the dead and sat Him at His own right hand. He placed all things under His feet and gave Him to be head of all things to the church, which I am a part of, the full ness of Him who fills all in all.
The Son of God appeared for this reason – He has already destroyed the works of the devil. He disarmed him, He made a public display of him, triumphing over him at Calvary. You know of Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil.
He has given me authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm me. These signs will follow those who believe: In His name I will cast out demons. I will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. The Lord works with me – He confirms His word and signs follow. I let the high praises of God be in my mouth, a two-edged sword in my hand to execute vengeance upon the heathens, punishment on the peoples – to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written. This is an honor that belongs to every saint.
My weapons are mighty in God to tearing down strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every lofty thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And I take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus.
My Father’s word is forever settled in heaven. My Father’s word is the fixed authority. My Father watches over His word to perform it. Heaven and earth will pass away – but my Father’s word will never pass away. My Father’s word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
My Father’s word is life to those who find it and health to all their whole flesh. My Father’s word doesn’t return without accomplishing what He desires and succeeding in the manner in which He sent it.
My Father’s word sanctifies me, renews my mind, separates me from the world into righteousness. And I rule and reign in life through the gift of righteousness in the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
I’m MORE than a conqueror in Jesus’ name! God is my Father – Jesus Christ is my Lord – and I’m a product of His love!” I have love, I have joy, I have peace, I have patience, I have longsuffering, I have goodness, I have gentleness, I have meekness, I have temperance, I have faith. I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.
Greater is the Lord Jesus in me than he who is in the world. I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony. Old things have passed away – All things have become new. As Jesus Christ is in the world – So am I!
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has anointed me to bind up the brokenhearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and that day of vengeance of our God. To comfort those who mourn.
It was the Father’s good pleasure to give me the kingdom. And His Son Jesus has given me the keys to the kingdom. So that whatever I bind on earth will be bound in heaven – and whatever I loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
I am a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God – which is just my reasonable form of worship. I’m not conformed to this world. I’ll not walk and talk and act like this world! But I’m transformed by the renewing of my mind – that I’ll not only know, but prove what is the good, perfect, and acceptable will of God.
I rejoice greatly in my God. I’ve declared the glad tidings of Your righteousness in the great congregation. Behold, I’ve not restrained my lips. Oh God, You know. I’ve not hidden Your righteousness within my heart. I’ve spoken of Your righteousness and Your salvation. I’ve not concealed Your truth from the great congregation.
Now let those who seek the Lord rejoice and be glad in Him. Let those who love Your salvation continually say, “Let the Lord be magnified”!
For You are our help and our deliverer. I rejoice greatly in my God. My soul exults in my God. He has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness. Like a bridegroom who decks himself with a robe of righteousness. Like a bridegroom who decks himself with a garland and like a bride who adorns herself with jewels – He keeps me from stumbling. He makes me stand in the glory of His presence – holy, blameless, without reproach – with great joy, the only wise God is my Savior – who is Jesus Christ. To You alone be glory and majesty, dominion and authority before all time, now, and forevermore.
I fight the good fight of faith. I lay hold of eternal life to which I’ve been called by Your grace – and I make the good confession before many witnesses.” Amen?
And your testimony? “A Faulty Faith of Departure” OR “A FAITH THAT SUSTAINS, FEEDS, AND PROVIDES?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“FLESHLY FAITH OR GOD-GIVEN FAITH?”
There are two verses of Scripture in Psalm 9 that I want to alert your attention to as we continue this study about fleshly faith or God’s God-Given Faith. Psalm 9:10 says, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”
And then Psalm 9:17 says so clearly, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
I really don’t know where you are personally in your faith journey as I write this, but I know the passion of my heart is that “God-Given Faith” is the true foundation of your spiritual journey and not a “Fleshly Faith” that comes from vain imaginations, false prophets, or even governmental religious control and fabrication!
Are YOU aware of the human tragedy of men who preach a “salvation” because of men’s best efforts without any regard to the sin that dominates, alienates, and dispenses an eternal poison in the human blood flow, and never relates at all to the “blood flow” of Christ on Calvary’s Cross? Are you aware of men’s inventions of world religions that have no relationship at all to the true Savior of mankind from sin and death? Are there religions of men’s mental capacities that have nothing to do with blackened hearts and devilish bondage?
It’s really interesting that even in Peter’s day that there was the presence of scoffers who believed themselves to be highly religious and ought to be first in line as God opens His door to Holy Presence! But Peter said: “that scoffers will come in the last days [of Judaism], walking according to their own lusts…” and possessing no awareness of the absolute necessity of being “born again”!
In John 12:32-33 we read Jesus speaking. He said: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” But drawn by Him doesn’t mean automatic human response! “Sad He died, but I’m able on my own to be of highly religious quality without the shedding of His blood!” And so they ‘go to Hell’ instead!
But if Jesus said, “I will draw all peoples to Myself,” isn’t it heart-breaking to realize the vast rejection of the “blood-bought Atonement” of Christ? Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” wrote: [p.264], “When you are face to face with a soul in difficulty spiritually, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the Cross. If that soul can get to God on any other line, then the Cross of Jesus Christ is unnecessary. If you can help others by your sympathy or understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ.”
Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:8? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” But purity of heart is not by what one refrains from but by the sacrificial, sovereign grace and mercy of God Himself through the shed blood of God’s Son on Calvary’s Cross! Religious people all over our known world are people who’ve grown up with a degree of intellectual understanding of their ‘man-made’ faiths, but sadly never understood surrender to the Resurrected Lord and Savior!
Do you even have any awareness of the degree to which fallen men have fallen when they would mar God’s character by insisting He is wrong if He cannot, will not accept their best efforts to please Him by their “genius inventions” of their religious steps to God? And if He doesn’t, then “He is unkind, unmerciful, unfaithful to Himself,” so they’ll just go their own religious way!
Is there ‘unfaithfulness’ because of the reality of ‘unfaith’, if there is such a word, which I believe is a mind and heart void of true biblical faith in what God says and what He does – and you trust or have ‘faith’ in His awesome eternal work in and through Christ Jesus?
The Random House College Dictionary of 1975 says of ‘unfaithful’: “Not faithful; false to duty, obligation, or promises; faithless, disloyal..(even) guilty of adultery, (Are there adulterous ‘believers’?}..not accurate or complete; inexact. Unbelieving, infidel.”
And if a man has settled into a state of life called ‘unbelief,’ which is evidence of “Fleshly Faith,” it is because of one accepting unbelief without knowing that literal unbelief is belief in the ‘lie’ that the devil promoted with Adam and Eve, “You can sin and not die”, when the Word declares that “The wages of sin is death”! Isn’t it interesting that in Proverbs 23:7 we read, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he”?
There is an Old Testament example of true believers and true unbelievers that Paul tells us about in 1 Corinthians 10:4-13! He said, “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. BUT WITH MOST OF THEM GOD WAS NOT WELL PLEASED, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, TO THE INTENT that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them AS EXAMPLES, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
You do clearly understand that biblical faith is far more than most modern-day churches or ‘preachers’ (?) have made it to be. Acknowledging “Truth” is not one’s surrender and yieldingness to that Truth! Edward Young once wrote: [The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H.Revell Com., Westwood, New Jersey], “Faith is not only a means of obeying, but a principal act of obedience; not only an altar on which to sacrifice, but a sacrifice itself, and perhaps, of all, the greatest. It is a submission of our understandings; an oblation of our idolized reason to God, which He requires so indispensably, that our whole will and affections, though seemingly a larger sacrifice, will not, without it, be received at his hands.” Are YOU a man or woman of true biblical faith?
In his book printed in 1973 entitled “Sent To Be Vulnerable,” by Creath Davis, [Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan,], he wrote, [p.19], “We can break His heart [that’s God’s heart] by our stubborn refusal to open ourselves to His truth and love, or we can cause Him to rejoice by responding enthusiastically to His promptings.”
In Dallas Willard’s book entitled “Renovation of the Heart”, published in 2002 by Navpress, [PO BOX 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935], Willard said: “External manifestation of “Christlikeness” is not, however, the focus of the process; and when it is made the main emphasis, the process will certainly be defeated, falling into deadening legalisms and pointless parochialism. That is what happened so often in the past, and this fact is a major barrier to whole heartedly embracing Christian spiritual formation in the present. We know now that peculiar modes of dress, behavior, and organization just are not the point.”
Much of “Fleshly Faith” is a promotion of ‘self,’ even demanding by some that God accept their best efforts when He crucified them with Christ! Isn’t that the ‘self-righteousness’ of the scribes and Pharisees?
“Fleshly Faith”? In James 1:12-15 the brother of Jesus wrote: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Did Paul, after his deceptive journey in Judaism, even as a rabbi, learn of “God-Given Faith” after being a devout proponent of “Fleshly Faith”? Listen to his words in Romans 2:4-11! “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, “who will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-SEEKING and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
“Fleshly Faith” is evident when one determines for himself what ought to be acceptable by God, because, in themselves, they’ve determined their own pattern of self-righteousness which ought to be acceptable by God, even if it is counter to the very revelation of Holy God! Romans 12:1-2 tells us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Haven’t we seen already about the serious nature of the influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil? But often the “pretenders” are in the forefront, the “play-actors” put on a good performance, the “dramatists” operate with no biblical foundation at all because they are smarter than God Himself, and even many “governmental leaders” are void of a Godly foundation while professing allegiance to Him, being physical in nature strongly but spiritually diseased, narcissistic nobodies fleshly neutered as to devotion to the God who made them!
“Fleshly Faith” is the promotion of a self-sanctified individual who has determined for himself/herself what is righteous, holy, and sovereign – the governance of their lives is by self-effort, self-love, self-promotion, and, yes, very religious! They don’t need to be saved from themselves because their nature and character is of a self-defined religious orientation – so, who needs God? [The man who is nearest to God is the man who knows the treachery of a selfish nature!]
“Fleshly Faith” today has large numbers on television promoting how you ought to feel good about yourself without an inkling that self-promotion and self -worship promotes one to a greater distance from God than he/she has ever known! I love what St. Augustine wrote centuries ago, “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our souls find no rest until they find it in You.”
Augustine leads us into a greater awareness of “God-Given Faith” than we’ve ever known! In Romans 5:1-5 Paul wrote: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Did you notice, “justified by faith” or accepted “just-as-if-I’d-never sinned”? But does the “God-Given Faith” also ‘sanctify’ or set one apart for the glory of God alone? And does true faith also glorify? Does one of God-given faith radiate the Holy Presence of the Indwelling Spirit of God? Yes! It does! “By their fruits you shall know them!”
“God-Given Faith”? If you didn’t know: “Heaven’s reality is Earth’s redemption!” And ‘earth’s redemption’ is one ‘blood-bought’ through Christ Jesus’ own shed blood on the Cross in 33AD, ‘the year of our Lord and Savior’! “God-Given Faith” that does not center in the source of divine forgiveness through the Lord’s shed blood is nothing more than religious idiocy brought on by those living in total rebellion to the love of God, convinced their sin is not serious enough to require the divine intervention through ‘that cruel cross’! But it does require Jesus’ shed blood or all mankind would remain under the demonic control of the ‘father of lies,’ the devil, facing eternity forever separated from Holy God, experiencing the devilish tribulation of fallen mankind, and eternally separated from the God of Calvary’s supreme love, grace, and mercy!
It was Oswald Chambers who once wrote: “The calling of a New Testament worker is to uncover sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior, consequently he cannot be poetical, he must be sternly surgical. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful discourses.”
“God-Given Faith”? How familiar are you with Paul’s anointed letter to the Corinthians? Follow his anointed Word in 2 Corinthians 7:1, followed by Verses 8-10: First, Verse One, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.” [Knowing that ‘word’ today will create heavy resentment in a self-righteous ‘church’!]
Verses 8-10 then tells us, “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Just how sorrowful were you, are you, over your sin that ushered in the shed blood of the Lamb of God? But, be assured, there is a world of people who have no recognition of “sin” in their lives that would require the crucifixion of the Son of God – they are so ‘pride-filled’ in themselves, they’d just as soon crucify you also for even repeating such an ‘untrue’ statement!
“God-Given Faith”? In John 12:27-37 you’ll find the Lord Jesus Christ predicting His own death on that cruel Cross! He said: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?’
Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.”
It is a sad and devastating thing for a man/woman not to believe, trust in, rely upon, or adhere to the very claims of Christ as to their “redemption”, even ‘good men’ who are not Godly, or ‘striving men’ who never trust in God’s eternal help, health, or holy purpose, or highly educated men in man’s worldly philosophy but never understanding or grasping God’s reach for their blood redemption! That is human tragedy in the highest level!
Do you understand the reality of the Eternal, Righteous, Powerful, Holy God, and His ‘down-reach’ for your eternal salvation? Have you ever wrestled with the reality of being “saved from yourself”? Have YOU been confronted with the ‘deceitfulness of your sin,’ or the vastness of your perverse nature and what you are capable of in your ‘fleshly’ state? Are you aware of Holy Presence, and without Christ, being one of constant rebellion to the God who loves you? Are you aware of the end result of a Christ-less life that walks through a vast tunnel of destruction in companionship with the devil and his demons and all unbelievers who omit Christ from their lives?
Are you at all ashamed that you have been totally insensitive to the love of God fully demonstrated at Calvary’s Cross? Is it just plain easy for you to forget God, neglect God, ignore God and His “Amazing Grace”? Have you ever confronted “the fatal enchantments” in your own mind and heart that cloud God’s amazing, personal love for you?
Have you ever stood before the Cross of Christ to say, “I just don’t care You died for me, because I don’t consider my heart, my life, my selfish dreams and selfish ambitions, to cause You to be ‘made a curse’ in my behalf! But I do acknowledge the reality of ‘sin’ in my life, however You want to define it, but to humble myself before Your Cross? Humble myself in the suffocating throes of personal humiliation, saying I need someone, something, outside of myself to ‘save me’? I don’t think so.”
‘Dead in iniquities’? Captured by the devil? Blinded by the old sin nature? A lustful rebel? A polluted person in the mind and heart? Vile passions like continuous nails in the mind and heart?
Yet, Jesus says, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,” and He forgives sin, He reconciles men to Holy God, He indwells the repentant heart, He births a “new creation,” He instills eternal, holy, Spirit-anointed living, He blesses me with His everlasting, eternal love, He dresses me in His eternal robes of righteousness, He releases the eternal stream of peace like His mighty river that never runs dry, I suffer – He comforts, I cry – He weeps with me, I find myself in a dark period of life and He releases the bright rays of eternal presence, I doubt – He unveils more and more and more of His eternal truths and releases the rays of His eternal Light upon me.
I’m not a ‘performer’ on a stage ‘play-acting’, but an individual who through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross, has become His “new man” by grace, mercy, and love!
“God-Given Faith”? Here’s how Paul related it for his journey in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
“But one thing I do…”; “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead…”! What’s ahead in your everyday pilgrimage with Christ? How about “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”?
What did Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10? And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Do you understand that your “God-Given Faith” is to be firmly established, resting in, and fully dependent upon God’s omnipotence to reign through you by your full surrender unto Him, not that “I’m able!” He’s the Great Shepherd who leads the sheep; He’s the Author of Truth who keeps me from deception; He’s the constant, available, “renewer” of my soul, spirit, ambition, and eternal purpose as I lean not to my own understanding but in all my ways acknowledge Him; He’s the One never ashamed of the eternal Truth of His Gospel, and neither will I be!
“God-Given Faith”? Dare I tell you that 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 we learn, “For all the promises of God in Him [in Christ Jesus] are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God THROUGH US. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has SEALED US and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” I feel so sorry, so heavy, so saddened by those who ‘live in the Faith’ but have never received the seal of the Spirit and His guarantee in their hearts! That, my friends, is delusional!
Is it possible through the Word that Holy God has given you an amazing advance in faith in the “Christ-life” by His mighty wave of eternal Truth that dispels fear, doubt, and uncertainty about your eternal security in Christ Jesus? It’s there! Not a lie, but His revealed Truth; not deception, but divine revelation – Christ Jesus doesn’t lie!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“TRUE FAITH – ITS DESPISERS AND ITS FOLLOWERS”
There is a word from our Lord and Master that should cause strong self-examination in the mind and heart of every professing believer when Jesus said in Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.”
So what did the Lord Jesus find as He came to unveil Himself to a lost, perishing, rebellious, man-centered existence? I’m sure you know! There was rejection, resentment, bitterness toward Him, and eventually His crucifixion, resurrection, and then His bodily ascension to the right hand of God the Father! But He had a passion, a prayer, an eternal mission and the spiritual fortitude to stand strong among His despisers.
In John 17:20-23 we read about our Lord and Savior praying for all believers in all parts of His created world and for all unbelievers, even those who despised Him and those who still do! He said: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved me.”
I find it so thrilling to be reading the Psalms and come across a passage that so emphasizes and magnifies the very spirit of what you just read from John 17! It’s Psalm 133, and across the number of the chapter I had written, “Unite our hearts to show reverence for Your name.” Psalm 133 says:
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head [anointing oil!], running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing – Life forevermore.”
Do you remember Psalm 86:11? “Unite my heart to fear Your Name!” But for the “despisers” of God, that is a ridiculous request! There are men with divided hearts, careless hearts, compromising hearts, callous, even cruel hearts, and they do despise the very mentioning of His Precious Name!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 is such a vital passage for grasping, understanding, and relying upon the Word of God! It says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
When you come to Luke 21:7-to the end of the chapter, you’ll find passages that truly related to “the signs of the Times and the End of the Jewish age” in 70 AD in the capture, overthrow, and destruction of Jerusalem. So… it has no meaning for all the rest of the world, even modern-day U.S.A? They asked Jesus in Verse 7, “And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” Follow carefully in your Bible!
Verse 8, “Take heed that YOU not be deceived!” Great deception! Verse 9, “…when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified!” Great conflict! Verses 10-11, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences…fearful signs and great signs…” Great natural catastrophes! Verse 12, “Great persecution”. Verse 16, “Great animosity…hated by all for Jesus’ name’s sake! Great anticipation! Verse 25, “Great confidence…”. Verse 34, “Great importance!” “Take heed to yourselves!”
[And notice Luke 22:3, “Then Satan entered Judas…”] Do you fathom the danger of deception and, yes, the very terror “despisers of the faith” can stir up?
You do remember from Old Testament history that Israel was divided between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. In Jeremiah 4 there is revealed the ‘backsliding Israel’ and ‘her treacherous sister Judah’! In Jeremiah 4:11-13 we read: Then the Lord said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.”
If I said to you, about ‘remaining faithful’ in your walk of faith, what would you think would be the response of many ‘professing believers’ in the Christian world? If I said to you, “To be Heavenly relevant is to be earthly radical in willing obedience to all our Lord says,” what would be YOUR response?
In Psalm 22 you’ll find one of the most powerful Messianic messages you’ll ever read, relating to the Lord Jesus’ rejection from men and even mentioning the ‘silence’ of God as He had to walk the path to the Cross alone. This is how the Messiah felt as He walked the Calvary Road! Verses 1-2 says, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent…[Notice, next: Verses 6-8!],
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and ‘despised’ by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’
Are you aware that it was the ‘religious elite’ that highly opposed the King of kings and Lord of lords? Yes, even “despised” by the people? Are you aware of the “martyrs” for the faith, slain by ‘religious’ promoters of one’s ‘sick’ opposition to the Living Lord, yes, the One God resurrected from the dead after His crucifixion? I think it was Spurgeon who once preached, “Reproach is the common heritage of the godly.”
Do you remember Jude’s challenge in Jude 3-4? “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you TO CONTEND EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH which was once for all delivered to the saints. FOR CERTAIN MEN HAVE CREPT IN UNNOTICED, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” But, in the good-old U.S.A, we don’t have to be concerned about the “despisers of True Faith”, right?
“True Faith’s Despisers”? Christ Jesus didn’t have to wait long in His journey, even from among the inner circle of His first twelve disciples. In Luke 22:47-48 we read, And while He [Jesus] was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Do you understand that many of the despisers of Jesus come from within what one might call “the family of faith followers”? And do you understand that Christ Jesus reads us all like an open book? In John 2:23-25 we read, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” And He KNOWS you and me intimiately?
Are you familiar with the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:51-60? He came on strong under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to expose those who professed but rejected Holy Truth! “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of the angels and have not kept it.”
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Oh, but then look at Acts 8:1, Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered…! Do you see it? Absenteeism opens the door to “making havoc of the church Jesus loved and gave Himself for”!
I tell you, I was so devastated this morning as I read Robert Burns: “The Cotter’s Saturday Night”, in which he wrote: “Compared with this, how poor Religion’s pride, In all the pomp of method and of art, When men display to congregations wide, Devotion’s every grace, except the heart!”
And how penetrating and convicting do you perceive Shakespeare’s Hamlet, [Act 111, sc.1 L.47]? “’Tis too much proved – that with devotion’s visage And pious action we do sugar over the devil himself.”
Rather than ‘devotion to’ there is denial of, rather than receiving there is rejecting, rather than submission there is rebellion, rather than yieldedness there is self-will, rather than divine conversion there is pretense, rather than trust there is fleshly betrayal, rather than “laying down one’s life to the glory of God” there is the looking out for number one, rather than true endurance there is ‘falling short’, rather than the witness of the Spirit there is the unveiled witness of the ‘old self’, rather than Christ-consciousness there is the self-indulgence, rather than divine will there is the spirit of self-satisfaction, rather than the delight in doing God’s will there is the disturbing intent of “my will”, and rather than the full surrender of obedience to God’s Word many choose to live under the dark-cloud of self-willed determination!
But NOW, WHAT ABOUT “TRUE FAITH AND ITS FOLLOWERS”? How clear and to the point about God, true faith, and His followers, is what Jeremiah 10:6-7 tells us? “Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your name is great in might), Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.”
True Faith, True Followers, because of the reality of the One, True God! And remember, it was John the Baptist who came blessing, preaching, teaching, exalting Christ Jesus as the Savior and Lord of all life! In John 3:27-36 John promotes the Name, the ministry, the answer of God for all mankind’s spiritual deliverance from bondage through Christ alone! He said:
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. HE [Christ Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.
He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.
He who believes in the Son [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to, obeys] has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” And God’s ‘wrath-cloud’ is slowly moving in over the lives of unbelievers who reject, disbelieve, and share in His crucifixion rather than exalting Him as Lord and Savior of their lives!
What did God say in Jeremiah 45:5? “And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh, says the Lord.” An introspective life, concerned only about fleshly ideals and achievements apart from full surrender to God’s Sovereignty, is “flesh” and not the spirit of surrender and yieldingness to Holy God!
Oh, but the psalmist tells us in Psalm 19:7-11, “The law of the Lord is PERFECT, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.”
Notice, Psalm 19:9, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” True and righteous judgments of the Lord! Take note!
John 1:6-9 says, There was a man SENT FROM GOD, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” Before YOU is the TRUE LIGHT!
Luke 16:10-11 Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” For you: “false riches or true riches”?
John 3:33 is John again, so bold, so on target! “He who has received His [Christ Jesus] testimony has certified that God is true.” Tell me about your life certification of Christ’s eternal person and purpose and pleasure!
John 4:23-26, WOW! GET READY! Christ Jesus declared, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the ‘true worshippers’ will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” So…as Josh MacDowell once said, “Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord God”?
Do you remember those who said to Jesus in John 6:28, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus responded in John 6:29-35 saying, Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe [trust in, rely upon, adhere to, obey] in Him whom He sent.”
Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.” But, listen carefully: IT IS “BROKEN BREAD AND POURED OUT WINE” that Christ Jesus is able to use for His glory, His honor, His praise!
Question! Are YOU ‘broken bread’ and ‘poured out wine’ to the honor, glory, and praise of Christ Jesus only? In Colossians 1:24 Paul wrote, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church…”. Tell me about ‘your’ sufferings for the sake of the Body of Christ, the church He loved and gave Himself for!
Please come with me to John 15:1-2 where Christ Jesus tells us, “I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Oh, and then in Verse 4 Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Our Lord then said in John 15:8, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” That’s ‘grapes’ for the wine of eternal Truth pressed, crushed, and poured out for His honor, but, ‘why not just be a good church member’?
How did Paul address the Ephesian church, yes, and those of us in the modern-day church? Look at Ephesians 4:17-24!! “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus; that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” [How much do you hear in modern churches about ‘true righteousness and holiness’?]
Do you clearly understand and receive and walk in what Peter talked about in 1 Peter 5:12 when he said, “exhorting and testifying THAT THIS IS THE TRUE GRACE OF GOD IN WHICH YOU STAND.” Oh, then, there must be a ‘false grace’ in which some stand? True Grace perfects, establishes, strengthens, settles one into a state of life of living in God’s glory and His dominion forever and ever!
Oh, but there is more concerning True Faith and True Followers! John put it like this in 1 John 2:8, “Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.”
Please understand: John says “the darkness is passing away”; in Christ every day is a new day, and what was total darkness in every unbeliever, because of Christ’s resurrection presence in us, the darkness is fading away and His true light grows stronger in us moment by moment!
It gets more exciting and encouraging and uplifting for Christ’s true disciples! In Revelation 19:11-13 John wrote: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”
True Faith and True Followers? False Faith and False Followers are presumptuous, proud, pointing to “Self-Effort” and determination to be their ‘shining qualities’ when it is nothing more than deception that leads to despair. Despair is deceit when one is dominated by the old sin nature rather than full surrender to what the Word describes for you who, in Him, are “more than conquerors”!
I have no doubts that this is why James wrote in James 1:21, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
I had a book-gift given to me after major surgery some years back, sent to me by Ken and Stephanie Hunley, entitled “The Valley of Vision.” [Published by The Banner of Truth Trust, PO Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013, USA, 2012]. I so want you to receive this prayer entitled “The Gospel Way,” [pps.62-63, Author unknown.]:
Blessed Lord Jesus,
No human mind could conceive or invent the gospel. Acting in eternal grace, You are both its messenger and its message, lived out on earth through infinite compassion, applying Your life to insult, injury, death, that I might be redeemed, ransomed, freed.
Blessed be You, O Father, for contriving this way, Eternal thanks to You, O Lamb of God, for opening this way, Praise everlasting to You, O Holy Spirit, for applying this way to my heart.
Glorious Trinity, impress the gospel on my soul, until its virtue diffuses every faculty; Let it be heard, acknowledged, professed, felt. Teach me to secure this mighty blessing; Help me to give up every darling lust, to submit heart and life to its command, to have it in my will, controlling my affections, moulding my understanding; to adhere strictly to the rules of true religion, not departing from them in any instance, nor for any advantage in order to escape evil, inconvenience or danger.
Take me to the Cross to seek glory from its infamy; Strip me of every pleasing pretense of righteousness by my own doings. O gracious Redeemer, I have neglected You too long, often crucified You afresh by my impenitence, put You to open shame.
I thank You for the patience that has borne with me so long, and for the grace that now makes me willing to be Yours. O unite me to Yourself with inseparable bonds, that nothing may ever draw me back from You, my Lord, my Savior.” Amen?
Even with that attitude of heart and mind, I must remind you that the True Faith and the True Followers WILL FACE DIFFICULT TIMES, DIFFICULT STRUGGLES, AND EVEN DIFFICULT INTERFERENCES, ATTACKS, AND TEMPTATIONS, TRIALS, AND TESTINGS! But don’t forget: “You are ‘more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus’!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“TRUE FAITH – TRIUMPHANT WARS!”
I find Hebrews 12:1-3 some of the most uplifting words in all the Bible because they are so challenging, comforting, correcting, and even caressing us with the very arms of Holy God as we face “True Faith – Triumphant Wars!” It says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” And, “where He is, so we are”? Absolutely!
If what you’ve just read is ‘eternal truth,’ and it is, what about Verse 3 that says, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls”? Do you consider ‘hostility’ to be a part of spiritual warfare concerning redemptive faith? Is weariness or discouragement spiritual ‘naturalness’ for a true believer or an abnormal response since the Word declares “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us”?
If our Lord and Savior says, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,” what is going on in our spiritual journeys or spiritual ‘wars’ if ‘tiredness’ is our testimony rather than spiritual resilience and divine strength? Our Savior and Lord never called us to a spirit of self-determination – He crucified it! He never called us to a spirit of self-dependency – He nailed it to the Cross voluntarily!
Oswald Chambers said in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.169], “Am I willing to be destitute of the sense that I am destitute? [That’s one without Christ Jesus!]. This is where discouragement comes in. Discouragement is disenchanted self-love, [or] self-love may be love of my devotion of Jesus.” If I am ‘one in Christ’, that’s crucified daily ,taking the sentence of death daily to ourselves, that His resurrection life is fully manifested every moment of every day, then this is why Paul said, “I die daily!”
But ‘faith’ can be adulterated, and one begins to feel “useless and unstable” [Bonhoeffer], and ‘fleshly faith’ experiences spiritual warfare defeat one after another! It was E. Stanley Jones, great missionary in the past to India, who wrote: [“The Christ of the Mount”. New York: Abingdon Press, 1931, p.9], “Loosed from the moorings that have held life, many are now adrift. They claim to be free. They have thrown overboard the chart, the compass, the steering wheel, and the consciousness of destination. They are free from everything – except the rocks, and the storms, and the insufferable inanity of being tossed from wave to wave of meaningless emotion…The modern man is ‘left by science without a goal; by exploded humanitarianism without a hero; by logic with an impasse’ – he needs a way out.” [I believe I would say, “he needs a way up”, and that’s through the Reigning Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords!]
In Matthew 3 John said to the ‘religious Pharisees and Sadducees’, Verses 7-8 first, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,” and then in Verse 11 John said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Modern-day ‘church’ response? “Who needs the Holy Spirit and who needs purified by fire?” So many willingly accept ‘false faith’ and ‘continuing smoke’ without the fire of God in their bones! I’ve often wondered how many have become a part of a local church fellowship absolutely enamored with the feeling of how that church ought to be ‘blessed’ by their presence because they serve in ‘self-pride’ and personal admiration for their fleshly abilities, rather than Christ Jesus extending His life, expressing His love through them, and demonstrating His awesome, available, atoning presence and heavenly power!
If ‘following Christ Jesus’ means bearing the Cross faithfully in death to self but life in Him, when the enemies of Christ, enemies of the Cross, enemies of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, rise up against you, do you, as Christ, trust Father-God to deliver you because God sees that YOU delight in Him, rejoice in Him, yes, even sees you willing to die for the honor of His name?
Do you remember Jesus, in bodily form, considering the penalty, cruelty, suffering, and death of the Cross, initially saying, “Lord, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done”? That wasn’t doubting the Cross but being fully aware of the physical, bodily pain, as David highlights the suffering of the Promised Messiah in Psalm 22:1-21!
Verse 1 and following: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? Oh My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.
But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.
But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.” You’ve just read a prophetic Word hundreds of years before Christ’s death on Calvary’s Cross! It’s called “the grace of God”! And Christ Jesus rested in that grace even if an unbelieving world would, and did, crucify Him!
“True Faith – Triumphant Wars”? Follow Colossians 2:13-15! “And you, [Does that You include YOU?], being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it, [or the Cross!!].”
Is your faith, your trust in anything else, but not the Cross? Then, if so, your life of a sinner’s ‘faith’ is in yourself, best efforts, striving to improve your standing, on your own before Holy God – and He neither sees you, acknowledges you, nor welcomes you into the “blood-bought” family of God!
But “true faith” in the midst of “triumphant wars” is perfect peace because that is the awesome holiness of God, even if you face the enmity of the caustic nature of the devil himself and his deceiving demons! Peter extended a warning to everyone he knew in 1 Peter 5:8 when he wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your ADVERSARY the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Verse 9, Resist him, STEADFAST IN THE FAITH, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
And, “the brotherhood in the world” are prime examples of “true faith” who know, understand, and exercise ‘the fight’ or “the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” [1 Timothy 6:12!].
How easy is it for many “professing believers” to have no clear understanding of the demands of true discipleship in our modern world, just like Peter in Mark 8:31-38? It says: And He [Jesus Christ] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
He spoke this word openly. THEN PETER TOOK JESUS ASIDE AND BEGAN TO REBUKE HIM. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Are you aware of how ‘stinging’ these words are to one without clear understanding of the cost of true discipleship? It’s absolutely amazing to me that in Mark 8:29 Jesus had said to the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”, with Peter answering “You are the Christ,” the anointed and promised Messiah, Emmanuel; and moments later He had to rebuke Peter for not being mindful of the eternal intent of Holy God through the “laid-down life”!!
Was Peter, in the infancy of his following Jesus, unaware of the fact of suffering, even rejection, and then the Cross? So, this young disciple wanted to correct Jesus, taking Him aside to say, “Jesus, this isn’t what You’re here for, ease up!” And then, WOW!, Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan!”
But how many today, like Peter then, have no comprehension of the eternal plan of God in reconciling the lost to eternal reconciliation through “shed blood”? How many today want “the crown” without “the cross,” how many today reject the “sentence of death to the old man, old sin nature” with Peter, because the path of a ‘laid-down life,’ the path of ‘suffering servant,’ the path of ‘a crucified life’ daily, was to be the willful choice daily of death to one’s aim of self-centered living! Kingdom living, in Christ, is “self-denial” daily, which some find totally unrealistic to the way of life they want for themselves!
What did Jesus say in Mark 8:34-38? When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life [for himself, for his fleshly dreams and ambitions, for the satisfaction of his fleshly lusts] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Is ‘today’ different from the ‘day’ of our Lord’s public ministry? Jesus spoke of “this adulterous and sinful generation” that were “ashamed of Me and My words”; and then in Mark 9:1 Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” For you, how current is “seeing the kingdom of God present with power”?
“True Faith” in the midst of “Triumphant Wars”? “True Faith” is so very, very personal! In Matthew 10:32-39 Jesus tells us about open confession, open division, and open allegiance for His sake. He said: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. BUT whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Is “the declaration of allegiance to the Lordship of Christ” as vital today as it was when He walked this earth? Is “open testimony” as important today as when Peter and John and other disciples then faced imprisonment for their avowal of His Lordship? When a nation, like the U.S.A, begins to ‘deny the faith, squeeze the testifiers, even promote lawless unbelief and put the unashamed behind bars,’ how does that relate to YOU? What will your response be?
In Acts 9 Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle, was journeying near Damascus when “suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.” Being awed, he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Verse 4, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said to Saul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Verse 6, So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Amazingly, in Verse 20, we read: “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.” Amazing grace!
I so love Jesus’ words in Luke 12:8-9, at least that which tells us about His confession of our faith before the angels! “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” I don’t think ‘hiding in the hedges’ as a follower of Christ is what He calls us to!
I’m so thankful for what we read in Hebrews 10:39 which says, “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” “True Faith” in the midst of the “Triumphant Wars”! Faith and world foundation, Faith and the dawn of historical humanity, Faith and the strong men of biblical obedience, Faith and eternal, heavenly hope, Faith and the advancement of Sovereign Rule, Faith and the overcoming gift, then telling us in Hebrews 11:39, “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”
Of course, there are large numbers of unbelievers who look at people of Biblical Faith, considering them folks of weak minds, battered brains, foolish wills, strange beliefs and behaviors – but “True Faith” and “Triumphant Wars” still stand strong as the world, the flesh, and the devil “go to Hell”!
Charles Spurgeon, in his book, “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Memorial Library, Vol.15,p.307], wrote: “Faith in God is a thing to be reverenced rather than reviled. True religion is sanctified common-sense. It is the most common-sense thing in the world to put your trust in One that cannot lie. If I trust myself, or trust my fellow-man, I am thought to be in the first case self-reliant, and in the second case I am judged to have a charitable disposition; yet in either case I shall, sooner or later, prove my folly; but if I trust God, who can bring a reason against my confidence? What is there to be ridiculed in a man’s trusting his Maker? Can He fail that created the blue heavens, that settled the foundations of the earth and poured out the waters of the great sea? Can the Almighty retract His promise because He is unable to fulfill it? Can He break His word because circumstances master Him and prevent His performance of it? ‘Trust in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.’”
Do you remember Jesus asleep in the boat with His disciples when a storm arose? Matthew 8:25-27 says, Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’”
Stormy seas of life, turbulent winds of opposition and oppression, hurricanes of demonic, devilish hatred of true believers, critical crisis of enormous consequences, troubles that torment, dark clouds that are the darkest of threatenings, and one wonders if there is a way of escape, and then we read, Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The question of this very moment? Is He exalted in YOUR life and circumstances this very moment? And in Verses 1-7 the psalmist says to us, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Glory!!
Oh, and then what does Psalm 46:10 tell us, as a reminder? “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The question in this moment is: Will He be exalted through YOU?
In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul challenges us all with God’s eternal intent! “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It was Fanny J. Crosby and Robert Lowry who wrote the old hymn, “All The Way My Savior Leads Me.” It says: “All the way my Savior leads me; What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my Guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, Here by faith in Him to dwell! For I know, what-e’er befall me, Jesus does all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me, Cheers each winding path I tread, Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, And my soul athirst may be, Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me; Oh, the fullness of His love! Perfect rest to me is promised In my Father’s house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal, Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless ages: Jesus led me all the way.”
Are you aware of the awesome word in Genesis 24:27? “As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me…”! Do you understand the reality of ‘divine consistency’? That’s, “the Lord led me”!
But beyond, “the Lord led me,” are you able to say, yes, joyfully, “I followed, and was glad”? If our Lord says, “Follow Me,” is that an option one holds or the command HOLDS YOU? Have you put your hands to the plow and you don’t look back?
Doesn’t it amaze you? God told Peter, “You [and those of true redemptive faith] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Glory! Glory to God in the Highest! I’m His – He is mine!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“FAITH’S PROBING – FAITH’S PROVING”
In John 20:24-30 you’re going to be reading powerful verses about disciples then and now and the challenges of “Faith’s Probing – Faith’s Proving.” It says, Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. [Resurrected!]. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
“Unless…”! What are your conditions of accepting what seems to you to be impossible rationalization, or wishful thinking, or speculative considerations, or uncertainties in one’s life, even if you don’t know or expect what may be coming your way in the near or far future?
Have you ever been around those who live with the clouds of uncertainties and are never at peace for today because they don’t know what tomorrow holds? Oh, and then there are those, as someone said, who see their torturous days now, and forget both present and future, unsettled at every turn or event of life.
At the same time there are those so cemented in the present, even locked into it, that they never think about the eternal ‘after-life’!
What did Thomas say? “Unless..I see, I will not believe!” He saw – and he believed! But, have you ever been around a ‘prober’ intent on searching out, delving into, examining carefully, because he/she is one who wants to know, receive, be blessed by, and forever changed by the discovery of eternal Truth authored by God Himself?
What did Thomas say? “I saw, I believed, and I’ve been forever changed, ‘born again,’ raised up from spiritual death to eternal life, raised out of ‘religion’ to spiritual re-birth, raised out of the temporary to the eternal!”
How did Paul the Apostle explain this eternal phenomenon of spiritual re-birth and the promise and security of your appearance with Him ‘in glory’? In Colossians 3:1-3 he wrote, “If then you were raised with Christ [crucified, buried, raised up], seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, [Did you? Were you crucified with Christ?], and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
“In Christ” we are not to be ‘earth-bound’ but “earth-blessed” because we’ve become One with Him, and we’re sharing in His eternal intent to so love this world that we see the world, the flesh, and the devil bound and limited by lies of darkness, but freed by His eternal truths and brought into the Light, and as “free men and women” we live the blessed life of Holy Presence, Eternal Purpose, and Powerful Ministries of sharing His Life and Expressing His love to the spiritually needy around us!
And, if we are “earth-blessed”, what does that entail? One of the things Paul had to say to the church in Corinth is just as vital for churches today as it was then. In 1 Corinthians 15:34, Paul wrote: “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame,” and especially when much of “modern-day Christianity” promotes, “we can’t do anything but sin until we get to Heaven,” a lie from the devil himself!
But in Galatians 6:14 Paul also wrote, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The cross was ‘death for sin and death to sin,’ but you want to excuse sin in the life of true believers when Jesus said, “Go, and sin no more”?
The eternal reality of victory over sin and death is because one accepts God’s love for him/her through the Cross of Christ as an expression of His eternal love and His power to raise the dead, freeing them from the weight and penalty of sin, through Christ’s shed blood, putting to death one’s interest in the sin nature and its deathly, destructive influences, and letting us know, when Jesus was nailed to the Cross to die, we were there on the Cross with Him! “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!!”
“Faith’s Probing”? Self-made men have a hard, hard time accepting that their fleshly lives and fleshly allegiances brought on the death of Christ Jesus! Self-made men are out to “find themselves”, and all their worth and value in what they are able to accomplish becomes a “noose” around their necks, yes, even choking out the Holy Spirit’s conviction of their eternal need!
No doubt this is why Jesus said in Matthew 10:39, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Eternal consequences to ‘self-determination’, empty of any desire to be reconciled to God, or answer from God’s point of view, “What is your life?”
I want you to come with me and examine Psalm 38 and Psalm 39 as we read about God Almighty confronting, convicting, conforming David through self-examination of his own heart and what in him brought about the disciplines of Loving God, like a faithful, true parent!
In my Holman’s NKJV, Psalm 38 is entitled “Prayer in Time of Chastening”, as David was bringing to the forefront of his spiritual evaluation his sad state of mind and spirit as Holy God brought him into account for his open and hidden sins. Notice, in Verse 3, David acknowledged “willful rebellion” because of ‘my sin.’ In Verse 4, he acknowledged “weighty results”, ‘like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” In Verse 5, David revealed a “wounded spirit”, saying, “My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.” Oh, and then in Verses 6-8 David revealed a “warped walk,” saying, “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are full of inflammation, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.”
Are YOU aware of “Faith’s Probing”? In Psalm 39:4-5 David truly evaluated himself as he dealt with every man’s uncertainty of the length of his days – and then the judgment seat before Holy God! He said in Psalm 39:4-5, “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.”
As I’ve been writing this chapter, we’ve been experiencing the last day or two strong southern winds out of the Gulf, moving up quickly to the Dallas-Ft.Worth area on in to Oklahoma; they’re here, they pass, and then they’re gone! Does it surprise you that that is how our earthly lives are, and sadly, some never consider their standing before Holy God’s Eternal Throne of, yes, Judgment!
In Revelation 6:15-17 the sixth seal is opened and John is given a ‘last days’ vision! He wrote: “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Let me ask you: “Is the word of the Lord being sounded forth from you or through you? In 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 Paul wrote: “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, EVEN JESUS WHO DELIVERS US FROM THE WRATH TO COME.”
Who stands when the day of God’s wrath comes? Who is protected when the day of God’s wrath comes? In the midst of our vast world with resources everywhere, why is it that the majority of the world lives in spiritual bankruptcy? But in the midst of tragic unbelief there are vast numbers of people who have moved out of spiritual bankruptcy to eternal wealth, from spiritual death to eternal life, from the fearful face of deathliness, bondage, and Satanic oppression, to the eternal glow of Heaven’s Glory!
“Faith’s Proving”? In Romans 12:1-2 Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, BY THE MERCIES OF GOD, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
In “faith’s proving,” are you aware of the “Resurrection Factor”? In Acts 1:3, Luke’s Gospel, anointed by the Holy Spirit, he wrote: “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
Do you remember, after His Resurrection, Jesus appearing to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “their eyes restrained, so that they did not know Him”? They said to the Resurrected King of kings, Luke 24:21, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” Initially there was disappointment in Him! Then, in Luke 24:25-27, Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Glory! Glory, Hallelujah!! From Genesis to the end of Revelation there is the UNVEILING OF CHRIST JESUS, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!
“Faith’s Proving”? Jesus not only ‘entered into His glory”, He opened Heaven’s Door to every child of faith who truly knows ‘repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross’! His purpose? Hebrews 2:9-10 tells us, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Didn’t Peter tell us in 1 Peter 2:24, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” The Cross? God’s judgment on sin! The Cross? God’s sacred triumph over Hell’s foundation! The Cross? The eternal unveiling of the very heart of God! The Cross? The gateway of fallen mankind to an eternal relationship with Holy God! The Cross? 2 Peter 1:3-4, “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, THAT THROUGH THESE [PROMISES] YOU MAY BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
The “way of salvation”? The Way of the Cross leads home [to God]!! Romans 6:6 declares: “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” But unaware of the “way of salvation, unaware of the ministry of the Cross, unaware of the slavish bondage to one’s sin nature”, only through the death of Christ on the Cross, does one find freedom from sin’s guilt, sin’s slavish bondage, and sin’s result of spiritual death and eternal separation from Holy God!
Paul went on to say in Romans 6:7-11, “For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise YOU ALSO, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How clear for you was Paul when in Romans 6:5 he said, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection…”. Here’s how Oswald Chambers describes it in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.74],
“The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the moral decision to be identified with Jesus has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus invades every bit of my human nature. It takes omnipotence to live the life of the Son of God in mortal flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a Guest in a house, He invades everything. When once I decide that my “old man (i.e.,the heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, then the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything, my part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals. When I have made the moral decision about sin, it is easy to reckon actually that I am dead unto sin, because I find the life of Jesus there all the time. Just as there is only one stamp of humanity, so there is only one stamp of holiness, the holiness of Jesus, and it is His holiness that is gifted to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new order spiritually.”
Yes, in Christ we become the “King’s kids”!! E. Edwin Young, in the early 1930’s, wrote the hymn, “Jesus, Revealed in Me.” It says: “Christ, the Transforming Light, Touches this heart of mine, Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory shine.
Here, Lord, I bring my heart, My love, my strength, my will; Cleanse me in every part, With all Your Spirit fill.
Life is no longer mine, I yield it all to Thee; Fill me that I may shine Until Your face I see. Triumphant peace is mine, Now Jesus reigns within; He gives me joy divine, And victory over sin.” Amen?
CONCLUSION
You’ll remember that John 17 was Christ Jesus’ prayer as His betrayal, His arrest, and His impending crucifixion was weighing heavy on His mind and heart. But as you read that prayer you find Jesus “praying” for His disciples then and now!
In Verses 14-19 Jesus said to the Father, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
“Sanctify”? That means “set apart for the glory of God alone”! When Jesus said in Verse 18, “I also have sent them into the world,” every disciple has Jesus’ calling on their lives to be ‘Salt’ and “Light”! That is DIVINE COMMISSIONING!!
And I often have wondered, “Lord, do You have de-commissioning days when ‘professing believers’ are ‘black pepper’ and ‘burned out bulbs’ rather than strong, vocal, faithful witnesses of the Message you entrusted to Your people?”
Silent churches do not touch the lost world with saving grace and mercy! Silent witnesses have lost the blessing of proclamation to the needy! Small hearts have little, if any, affection for the unsaved. Limited minds concerning Holy Scriptures live in a sad state of mind basically saying by their indifference to the lost and alienated, “We could care less; we’re fine, and that’s all we care about!”
Their eyes are closed to the ‘spiritually dead’, their ears are shut to the painful cries of the enslaved, they’re gripped by ‘darkness’ rather than “The Light,” and it’s as if their lips are stitched by the deceit of the devil! It isn’t “Christ Alone” but whatever their ‘flesh’ calls for!
But there is the “Eternal Call of God” upon true believers to be His witnesses to the utter-most parts of our world! Christ’s calling to be His witness, His ambassador, should be the greatest response given by every true believer’s spiritual journey and pilgrimage!
Christ Jesus IS the Eternal Savior of mankind! He comes with forgiveness, unfailing love and compassion, tender mercies for the most rebellious man on the face of the earth! He pardons, He atones, He redeems, He washes one clean and pure, He heals the sick, He casts out demons, He impresses the divine image of Holy God upon every repentant heart!
He implants Holy, Resurrection Presence, Eternal Power of the Godhead, He soothes the extreme sorrow-filled man because he weeps over his sinfulness, He indwells every repentant life, establishing His Sovereign Throne within us, He sets us free from the devil and the powers of darkness, He gives eternal understanding about mapping your Christ-honoring Life in your pilgrimage, He opens the Word of full-orbed Truth and shows you the Way, He’s the Divine Redeemer who ushers in “Victory In Jesus,” He washes us clean in the blood of the Lamb, fills our minds and understandings with the blessed consolations of His Resurrection Life and Eternal Hope! His “Victory” is our ever-present blessing, conquering our foes, our enemies, even transforming our fleshly extremities into Spirit-Excellence!
Christ Jesus authors our blessings, our hopes, our eternal aspirations – He gives us the gift of faith and His faithfulness, He proves in us and through us the power of His blood, He bestows the Power of His Holy Spirit, He opens wide the door on ministry service and blessing, and, oh, He builds strong foundations under us, and radiates His glory all around us!
Hear me! “You are loved with His everlasting love! You are dressed, by Him, in His eternal robe of righteousness, He gives you joy unspeakable and full of glory, He writes on YOUR eternal ledger seat: Justified, Sanctified, Glorified! And as you embrace His declarations, you begin to hear the angels’ song and the song of the redeemed! “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, I go to Him marching in!!”