“BEST EFFORTS OR BORN AGAIN?”
By J.Farrell Fisher, August 13-15, 2017
“Best efforts” are the personal noose around one’s neck if he/she thinks that is a good substitute of being “born again” by the Spirit of God through true repentance and inheriting the “True Life” in Christ alone!
“Best efforts” relate to self-determination in proving one “worthy” of God’s blessing on his/her life when man at his worst AND his best was crucified with Christ on the Cross. Most men walk in the best of their natural affinities because Satan still deceives men as he did Eve and Adam when he said to them, “Has God really said, “If you sin, you will die? You shall not die if you sin!” So, deceived men and women are still living in their ‘self-deception’ having bought “the Lie”, and are living ‘performing’ without any consideration of God’s promises, still “falling short of the glory of God”!
“Best efforts” means walking through life apart from God’s “promised blessings”! “Best efforts” means walking with determination of one’s “lesser things” rather than Holy God’s “better things”! “Best efforts” means fleshly repudiation of the “revelation of God” and a “manly determination to do the best I can”, for some even a shaking of the fists to God’s face in defiance, while for others it’s intentional deafness to the voice of God saying, “Forsake all, and come, follow Me!” In Hebrews 6:13-20 we read about the Father’s infallible promise to all mankind about an “anchor to his/her soul”: It says,
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
In the Sovereign administration of Holy God He chose Melchizedek, a man who “chose” to be made “in the likeness of the Son of God”, though it would be thousands of years ahead before the Son of God would appear on earth, but he knew Him! Amazing revelation! Even before Christ had been born on earth, this man, Melchizedek, knew Him to be “the anchor of his soul”, and that he, in his faith in the Savior’s work to come, could enter, live in, be blessed by His Holy Presence behind the veil!
“Atoned for” is not a philosophy of “try your best”, “attempting the best I can” is not “Life in Christ through Christ’s blood atonement,” even “head belief” in all Christian doctrine is not “self-transformation into ministers of righteousness” but the false deception that “my effort counts” in the place of the shed blood of the Lamb of God!
All through biblical history, even up to this present hour, there ARE “self-ordained” speakers who proclaim themselves ‘ministers of righteousness’, ‘angels of light’, ‘messengers of truth’, when in reality they are Satan-deceived, Satan-inspired, Satan-ordained, and even fool, ‘in the church’, many believers who are not grounded in the true foundation of the Word of God.
“Best efforts” are much like Hollywood’s “imitation” of life persons and events, but as the film actors and actresses, many “professing believers” are nothing more than “cheap imitations” of the divine Life in Christ! It’s like the truth of Proverbs 14:9, “Fools mock at sin…!”, after saying in Verse 8, “…the foolishness of fools is deceit!” Didn’t John say in 2 John 7-11, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”
“Best efforts” are “shouted” by premier, all-star, self-determining individuals, getting high acclaims from the fleshly-motivated-‘super-stars’ in all arenas of life, because “pumping their flesh” rebounds in excuse of one’s unbelief of the need to be reconciled to God! In 2 Peter 2:10-15a Peter wrote 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, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. 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…”.
Do YOU see “best efforts” as God’s Holy Word and His penetrating eye sees the attempt of a life living apart from Him with no need of Him since they “are able to live a satisfying life without being reconciled to your Holy God”? But Paul defines them in 2 Timothy 3:13 saying truthfully and convincingly, “But evil men and impostors (“pretenders”) will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
“Best efforts”? That’s one’s ‘common sense commitment’ to “do the best I can”’ without any consideration of what Holy God requires! Do you remember Jesus saying to some of His ‘followers’ in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?” Oswald Chambers wrote in his book “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.105), “Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us.” In Mark 4:18-19 Christ Jesus spoke about those “planted” on stony ground, receiving the word with gladness, but are “rootless”! He said: “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word; AND THE CARES OF THE WORLD, THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, AND THE DESIRES FOR OTHER THINGS ENTERING IN CHOKE THE WORD, and it becomes unfruitful”! “Best efforts” are guided by “the cares of this world”, not the Kingdom-Rule of Holy God through Christ Jesus the Lord!
“Best efforts” are ‘pressure-filled’ without any release, and the demands on “best efforts” multiply exponentially and are, yes, ‘self-explosive’ in difficult moments, and especially when called before the Judgment Throne of Holy God to explain one’s spiritual stupidity and heartless and ‘held-back grasp’ of the proven love of God! What or who are you devoted to? When there is a “self-world” in one’s life, motivated by Satan himself, the foundation of that life is ‘crumbling sand’, not the Solid Rock; that “self-world” is personal promotion, personal interest, personal ambition, personal motivation, overshadowing any word or directive from Christ, the True Master; that “self-world” becomes, yes, a “den of a thief” because it ignores, denies, and robs God of His eternal purpose written for that life and formed before even the foundation of the world! But “best-effort folks” say: “That’s not my cup of tea – I don’t have to drink it, don’t even desire it!”
But Christ Jesus still comes, Christ Jesus still knocks on the doors, hearts, and minds of men, Christ Jesus the Lord inspires the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to Come – and the Spirit WILL upon your repentance and faith birth you into “new, resurrection life in Christ”!
You do understand! Walking in the “best effort of flesh” does not reconcile one to Holy God! In Romans 8:5 Paul said: “For those who live according to the flesh (or old sin-nature) set their minds on the things of the flesh…” saying in Verse 6, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,” continuing in Verses 7-8, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
“Flesh living” is void of the Spirit of God, and especially as the Spirit convicts, but those who want the “best of flesh” deny the Spirit’s presence because they live in the “perverted frame of reference that ‘sin’ is OK, and I don’t need the Spirit guiding me to Truth”! In 1 Corinthians 2:14 we read, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him.” Thank God for His inspiration of Paul who wrote also in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6,”But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded (Satan), who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image (exact likeness) of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded the 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”,
With Christ Jesus explaining for us the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16:7-15, “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; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
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. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said to you that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
Question! “Day by day are YOU being taught by the Spirit as a man of true faith who, yes, lives on the Word of God day by day, since Jesus said that ‘man does not live by physical bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’?”
“BEST EFFORTS OR BORN AGAIN?”
In 2 Timothy 2:11-26 Paul moves folks of a “seeking faith” from self-determination to “Sovereign grace, love, mercy, and hope”! He wrote: This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him (that’s “crucified WITH Christ”), we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. (Does that suggest that there is the reality of ‘reigning temporarily over the world, the flesh, and Satan, but one “falls away”?). If we deny Him, He also will deny us. (Does this line up with Matthew 7:21-23?). If we remain faithless, He remains faithless. He cannot deny Himself. (“The wages of sin is death”? Still is, even if you’ve claimed allegiance to Him but hold on to the world, the sin nature, and Satan’s temptations?).
REMIND THEM OF THESE THINGS, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words that have no profit, (“I tried”), to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetis are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS”, and, “LET EVERYONE WHO NAMES THE NAME OF CHRIST DEPART FROM INIQUITY.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peaxce with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
Paul once said: “Examine yourself whether you are in the true faith” because the Holy Word can be twisted by individuals who want the Word to confirm to their chosen lifestyle rather than them converted, transformed, born again by the Spirit of Truth!
I would ask: Are YOU living in and by and for personal glory through your “best efforts” OR have you been “born again” through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, standing on His Word, not the words of deceived men and snaring demons, and living for the honor of Christ alone? Hattie E.Buell and Rev. John B.Sumner had the hymn, “A Child of the King”, published in the “American Hymnal” in 1933. It says: “My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holds the wealth of the world in His hands! Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men, Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them; But now He is pleading our pardon on high, That we may be His when He comes by and by.
I once was an outcast stranger on earth, A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth; But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down, An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
A tent or a cottage, why should I care? They’re building a palace for me over there; Tho’ exiled from home, yet, still I may sing: All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.
I’m a child of the King, A child of the King; With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.”
Is that YOUR daily song of eternal thanksgiving? And do YOU yield to His glory, His honor, and His praise every day, as you lean not unto your old fleshly self, but gladly, daily, moment by moment, give Him His “blood-bought” place in You?