“CALVARY the CROSS – CALVARY the CALL”
SEPT.11-SEPT. 12, 2017, by J.FARRELL FISHER
In Genesis 1:26 the God-head had a sovereign meeting , God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and the Father said in Genesis 1:26, God speaking, “Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness…”, but the Father was not interested in ‘spiritual robots’ that had no will to respond positively or negatively – God wanted the human race to be His by choice in the mind and heart of men, not a ‘push-button’ philosophy void of man’s free will!
But it didn’t take long for ‘trouble’ to brew because in Genesis 3 the “serpent” appeared! (That’s Satan!), and how did he address Eve who’d been told by God, “You may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” And Satan’s response? “You surely will not die”, they ate of the forbidden fruit – AND SURELY DIED the spiritual death that we all have inherited through “flesh”!
Be assured! Satan casts doubt on the Word of God! Satan twists the truth! Satan spawns doubt, confusion, and unbelief! Satan spouts “the Lie” – “You surely shall not die”, but they did and so does modern man today!
In Romans 1:20-23 Paul said: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into ‘images’ made like corruptible man -“!
Oh! And then Paul unveiled what God DID to expose their fallen nature saying: Romans 1:24, “God..gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
Romans 1:25, who exchanged the truth of God for THE LIE (one can sin and not die!), worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Romans 1:26, “God…gave them up to vile passions.” Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…”
Romans 1:32, “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
Oh, but then in Colossians 1:12-18 the Apostle Paul magnifies the “preeminence of Christ and His precious promises”, saying: “giving thanks to the Father who has ‘qualified’ us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS and CONVEYED US INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE SON OF HIS LOVE, in whom we HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins. He (Christ Jesus) is the image (exact, perfect likeness) of the invisible God, the firstborn over all (the old or “new”) creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him AND for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (or are “held together”). And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”
Question! “Are YOU loyal to Christ Jesus in all things, or, have you reserved a segment of your life under your own administration?” “Do YOU declare allegiance to Christ Jesus, yet sense, in yourself, ‘There are some things He may ask me to do, but He must be mistaken because that’s not in my reasonable ‘notions’ for a sane man to do?’” Or, “Isn’t obedience my option in the days of grace and mercy? Don’t I have the right to say, ‘Yes, Lord, that may be true for others, but not for me?’” How ‘fool-ish’ some ‘believers’ become!
In Psalm 102:12-13, 18-22 are uplifting verses when one faces a ‘down-grading’ world, religious gatherings, or, yes, a demonic system! It says: Verses 12-13, “But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations. You will arise and have mercy on Zion (Your chosen people!); for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come. (Is THIS your set time?).
Verses 18-22, This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth (Is His eye still on you?), To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, When the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.”
Please come with me to Hebrews 11:8-10 and ask: “As Christ has called me to come and follow Him, where does He lead me?” The Hebrew passage? “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
And, DO YOU, as a professor of faith in Christ, do you know of the “new Jerusalem” which is, yes, a part of the present then, now, and forever abiding place for the true disciples of Christ IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD? We come into this “capital city” of the Kingdom of God because our forever residence is assured in and through Christ alone – we repented, put our faith and trust in Him alone, and Holy God declared us citizens of Christ’s Kingdom!
“Calvary the Cross”! Are YOU identified with Christ in His death on the cruel Cross over 2000 years ago? What does Galatians 2:20-21 tell us? “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. I do not set aside the grace of God…”
I tell you, there are many, many men and women who ignore the crucifixion of Christ to their present loss and ignore their destiny without Him in a dark world of devilish, demonic, and unbeliever-rage, not knowing or appreciating the horrible scourging, suffering, and dying by Christ Jesus for them, as if they were the only humans ever to live! The Cross of Christ was dreadfully real because He dreadfully took your sin nature and mine, dying, to put an end to those who had no way of being reconciled to God the Father unless the Son paid the price Himself for our sin, our death, and our separation from the God who loves us more than we love ourselves – He WAS the “sinless One”, yet He took our sins unto Himself, and shed His own blood, and died, that we might have the opportunity of being reconciled to God, God’s Way – through “Jesus Only”!
Do you think this just might be why Paul said 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”? Oh, and how does ‘worldly wisdom’ compare to divine wisdom or do I not even go there? Don’t believe I will – why waste my time and yours when even the worldly know their limited wisdom can’t even compare to His, so even though they may deny His wisdom, they latch their ‘star’ to it and soar to the moon! Right?
It was William Cowper, in his writing, “The Task”, (Bk.111, l.221), who wrote: “God never meant that man should scale the heavens by strides of human wisdom,” but I’ll guarantee you that man aligning himself with God’s wisdom, as yet, we haven’t seen how high and how far a man can really go as he, they, we ‘lean not to our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him’, or give Him His rightful place in our lives, minds, and hearts as “Lord, Savior, and Master” of our lives!
For the man who intellectualizes the world for his own purposes and plans apart from being yielded to the eternal, divine, ‘mind-of-God’ intention, is a secularist intent on shutting out God in Christ from His redemptive, blood-bought purpose! The ‘man of the world’, with no paramount love, faith, and trust in Holy God, is a ‘substitute’, ‘bench-warmer’ that never really plays God’s intended ‘game of life and faith’, but sits, missing out on the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ! It was, yes, Robert E. Lee, in a “Letter to his Wife”, who wrote: “What a glorious world Almighty God has given us! How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar His gifts.”
Marred gifts? Does that ring a bell in your mind and heart? In Jeremiah 18:1-10, rather than simply a kingdom like Israel, think of the kingdom of YOUR own heart, family, your nation, your world! It says: The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into ANOTHER VESSEL, as it seemed good to the potter to make. THEN the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, (O house of the Fishers, O house of Ft.Worth, Bedford, Dallas, Texas, or my growing up city of Cleveland, Tennessee), can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it, if it does evil in My sight so that IT DOES NOT OBEY MY VOICE, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”
Benefitted or blasted by the, yes, judgment of God? Blessed or ‘pulled down further’ to the reaches of Hell itself? Built up in faith by God’s glory, power, and mercy or assigned your self-willed bondage under Satan’s domination? Truly, I do not believe or even think that the majority of unbelievers knows what awaits a godless existence in eternity – if they did, there would be an about-face from Hell’s gates to outstretched arms and hands reaching out for God’s mercy, but even then, it could be too late!
In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.56), Chambers wrote so wisely: “I have to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (And he’s already taught that cleansing is through the Lamb’s Blood alone!) until both are in agreement with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I insubordinate in intellect? Am I forming the mind of Christ, Who never spoke from His right to Himself, but maintained an inner watchfulness whereby He continually submitted His spirit to His Father? I have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in agreement with His Spirit, and by degrees Jesus lifts me up to where He lived – in perfect consecration to His Father’s will, paying no attention to any other thing. Am I perfecting this type of holiness in the fear of God? Is God getting His way with me, and are other people beginning to see God in my life more and more?” What a challenge to every ‘professing believer’!
“Calvary the Cross – Calvary the Call!” Do you know what Jeremiah 7:13 says? God spoke then, He speaks now! “I called, but you did not answer.” In fact, the content is, “I called over and over and over, but you refused to answer My calling to YOU!” But “Calvary the Call”? In 1 Corinthians 9:16 Paul said: ‘For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” Necessity laid, yes, upon every believer? Without a doubt! In the old “Broadman Hymnal” is a song, I’m afraid, many of my Baptist friends never really understood or sang. It’s entitled, “The Kingdom Is Coming.” (of course, if any believed it, to them it was a future event in the “last days”, not in the “here and now”! It says:
“From all the dark places Of earth’s heathen races, O see how the thick shadows fly! The voice of salvation Awakes every nation, Come over and help us, they cry.
The sunlight is glancing Over armies advancing, To conquer the kingdoms of sin; Our Lord shall possess them, His presence shall bless them, His beauty shall enter them in.
With shouting and singing, And jubilant ringing, Their arms of rebellion cast down; At last every nation The Lord of salvation Their King and Redeemer shall crown!
The kingdom is coming, [jff: And IT CAME!! King Jesus Reigns NOW!], O tell you the story, God’s banner exalted shall be! The earth shall be full of His knowledge and glory, As waters that cover the sea.” AND IT DOES, CONTINUES TO BE, AND FOREVER WILL BE!!! Amen?