CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION-LIFE!”
RESURRECTION POWER, RESURRECTION PRESENCE, RESURRECTION PRIVILEGE, ARRIVING, ABIDING, ASKING, EVEN PLEADING,CHRIST JESUS, RESURRECTED AND REIGNING, SAYS: “OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR, AND I, JESUS, WILL COME IN.” CHRIST BLED, CHRIST PLEADS, CHRIST KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR”, COMPASSIONATELY SAYING, “SIN NO LONGER YOUR MASTER ANYMORE. MY BLOOD I’VE SHED, YOUR BOOK OF LIFE I’VE READ – AND MY SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SIN? IT’S FOR ME AS IF YOUR SIN NEVER HAD BEEN!”
THOUGH SIN IS ONE’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD, PRODUCING THE “GRAVE OF LIFE” IN WHICH ONE DWELLS, THE SAVIOR COMES SAYING, “THE GLOOM IS GONE, YOUR TOMB IS NOW EMPTY; MY RESURRECTION IS YOUR LIFE OF PLENTY!
MY PLENTY IS YOUR GIFT OF GRACE, MY INTERCESSION IS YOUR GIFT OF A NEW PLACE! MY PLAN IS ‘IMMORTAL HOPE THAT DISPELS THE GLOOM, WITH MANY ANGELS MAKING SURE OF YOUR ROOM’!
EARTH MAY STILL REMAIN EARTH, ASHES WILL HOLD ON AS ASHES, DUST WILL BE DUST – BUT IN RESURRECTION LIFE, WE LIVE OVERCOMING STRIFE, THE GRAVE, AND THE DUST HAS LOST ITS STING – WE ONLY HEAR THE ANGELS SING!
CHRIST IS WELCOMED AS DEPARTED SAINTS SING, AND WE WHO FOLLOW WILL MAKE THE HEAVENS RING! YES, JOY TO OUR WORLD NEVER TO SUBSIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD FOREVER ABIDES!
NEVER TO LEAVE US, NEVER TO FORSAKE US, NEVER TO SAY TO US, “THIS IS NOT YOUR PLACE! THOUGH EARTHLY TIME IS REAL, ETERNAL LIFE REMAINS, AND HEAVEN ON EARTH WILL NEVER BE RESTRAINED!
ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU –MARRIED IN MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THOUGH I DIED ON A CROSS, BURIED IN A TOMB, THREE DAYS LATER I ROSE AGAIN, SO YOU WILL TASTE DEATH BUT CELEBRATE MORE IN RESURRECTION LIFE ETERNALLY; THAT’S HEAVENLY PRESENCE IN SHARED IMMORTALITY.
THE ‘SON-DIAL’ IS SET, THE SON AND MOON NEVER FALL, BECAUSE CHRIST JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL! REJOICE YOU SAINTS; IN YOUR SAVIOR ABIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD NEVER HIDES! HE’S EVER-PRESENT YOUR LIFE TO WATCH OVER, WHEN SATAN IN DARKNESS SEEKS YOU TO CLOSE, JESUS SINGS, BECAUSE HE AROSE!
AND OVER YOUR LIFE OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE AND SERVICE IN THE KING’S NAME, KING JESUS REJOICES AND REVEALS YOUR FAME – MADE FAMOUS IN CHRIST BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD THAT HE SHED, CONTINUALLY PRAISING BECAUSE OF THE FAITH YOU HAVE READ.
TRUSTING HIS WORD, PROVIDENTIALLY IN FAITH WE’RE FULLY BLESSED, CONFIDING IN ‘PROVIDENCE’, WE SURELY “REST”! THOUGH TESTED AND PRESSED AND HEMMED IN ON EVERY SIDE, CHRIST JESUS IS LORD AND SAVIOR REIGNING OVER YOU UNTIL HIS ETERNAL LIGHT SHINES THROUGH.
IN CHRIST YOU’RE VICTORIOUS, THOUGH IT SEEMS YOU OUGHT TO FROWN, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS RESURRECTION PRESENSE IN YOU, ALL SATAN CAN DO IS ACT LIKE A CLOWN. YOU ARE THE WINNER BECAUSE “IN CHRIST” YOU ABIDE, KNOWING JESUS STANDS WITH YOU, BEHIND YOU, AND BY YOUR SIDE.TOUGH, ROUGH, FIERCE TIMES MAY COME YOUR WAY, LIKE A SPARROW THAT SUDDENLY FALLS TO THE GROUND, BUT THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR WILL SURELY BE FOUND, KEEPING WATCH OVER HIS CHILDREN AS THE FATHER OF THEIR FAITH; STRONG IN HIS WORD, SOUND IN HIS WILL – WHEN HIS CHILDREN ARE TESTED, HE DOESN’T REMAIN STILL!
THE “PURE IN HEART” ARE THOSE WHO SEE GOD, WHILE THE SPIRITUALLY BLIND ARE THOSE WITHOUT HOPE WHO SPEAK IN FLESHLY ELOQUENCE WHILE THEIR CHAINS GROW TIGHTER, BUT THE CHILDREN OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE ARE TRUE SAINTS WITH NO DESIRE OF ANY TAINTS! KNOWING GOD LOVES THE “PURE IN HEART”, A MAN OF TRUE FAITH NEVER LETS ‘RUST’ REMAIN, BUT EVERY DAY HE TAKES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH THAT HE MIGHT CONTINUALLY REJOICE IN HEAVEN’S DOMAIN! THE “PURE IN HEART” NEVER CONSIDER FORSAKING THE WORD’S BIBLICAL STANDARDS, BUT DAILY TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH TO THE OLD MAN THAT THE NEW MAN “IN CHRIST” MAY UNCEASINGLY REJOICE, SECURELY RESTING ON HIS FAITHFUL PROMISES, MIRRORS OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE!
“IN CHRIST” ONE’S HEART IS TO BE TRANSPARENT AS PURE CRYSTAL; “IN CHRIST” ONE’S MIND IS THE SOUL’S NEW IMAGE, EVEN FIGHTING TO BE BOLD TO KEEP IT PURE! “CHRIST IN YOU IS YOUR HOPE OF GLORY”, HIM FAITHFULLY STANDING TO FIGHT YOUR FIGHT OF FAITH WHEN THE ‘STORM CLOUDS’ RISE, SATAN SURE THAT HE AND HIS DEMONS CAN TAKE YOU DOWN HOPING YOU NEVER RISE TO RESIST THEIR FLOOD; SO IN FAITH PLEAD THE BLOOD!!“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED LIFE HAS NEVER LOST ITS POWER”! SO IN JESUS, IN THIS HOUR OF EARTHLY TESTINGS, RELAX IN THE WORD, THE SPIRIT, AND THE PROMISES, WATCHING JESUS FIGHT FOR YOU AS GOD’S VICTOR! HE’S MORE THAN CONQUEROR – HE’S ETERNAL VICTOR, OVER THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND SATAN!”
THAT’S THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN A VESSEL (ME,YOU!),THAT SO DESIRES HOLY GOD TO RELEASE,UNVEIL, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST’S PRESENCE, SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, HAVING HIS WAY “IN ME,IN YOU AS WE HEAR OR READ HIS MESSAGE”! ARE YOU FAMILIAR AT ALL WITH THE POWERFUL UNVEILING OF CHRIST JESUS IN JOHN ONE? THAT’S WHERE THE APOSTLE JOHN WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE THE FOLLOWING:
JOHN 1:1-5,”IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.(IS THAT JESUS, “THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING, ‘RICH IN LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY’, THE SOVEREIGN MERCIFUL SAVIOR AND LORD?”)
THE SAME WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM; AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANY THING MADE THAT WAS MADE. IN HIM WAS LIFE,(LITERALLY, “IN THE HOLY SPIRIT’S BIRTHING, AND WITH THE “CREATOR’S ETERNAL BLESSING”,JESUS PROMISING “I’LL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU!”); AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. (BUT) THE “LIGHT” SHINES IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.”
UNBELIEVERS, IN THEIR DARKNESS, HAVE TO HAVE A WITNESS THAT, YES, THERE IS “THE LIGHT OF CHRIST” THAT CAN TAKE ONE OUT OF THE EMPTINESS OF A SPIRITUALLY DARKENED, SIN-FILLED,SATANICALLY DEVISED,SELF-RULING EXISTENCE TO BRING ONE INTO “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!”
LET THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE “YOU” OUT OF SPIRITUAL DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT UNVEILING FOR YOU THE HEAVENLY,ETERNALLY, LIFE-GIVING SAVIOR AND LORD WHO FOREVER REIGNS VICTORIOUSLY THROUGH REPENTANT, “TRUSTING” HEARTS AND SOULS, WHO “TAKE UP THE CROSS, CHOOSING TO FOLLOW JESUS”!
NOTICE,JOHN 1:6-7, “THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROMGOD, WHOSE NAMES WAS JOHN. THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL MEN MIGHT BELIEVE (OR TRUST, SURRENDER, YIELD!).” WHY? BECAUSE RELYING UPON ONE’S INNER,SOCIAL,SELF-ACCEPTED RIGHT TO RULE WITHOUT THE HEAVENLY FATHER’S, YES, INNER SPIRIT AGENDA IN A REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART, THAT, YES, CHOOSES “DYING DAILY TO ‘THAT’ SELF SO THAT RESURRECTED JESUS IS GIVEN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE TO LIVE IN YOU AND REIGN THROUGH YOU, TOUCHING YOUR WORLD WITH HIS LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, WITH YOU AS HIS “WISE, REPENTING, TRUSTING, YIELDED SERVANT,OBEYING TO ‘GO INTO ALL YOUR WORLD PREACHING THE GOSPEL, WITNESSING OF HIS ETERNAL ‘MASTER-WORK’ IN BIRTHING DEAD SPIRITUAL LIVES INTO TEMPLES OF THE INDWELLING LORD AND SAVIOR, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND HIS ETERNAL VISION OF WORLD REDEMPTION, THROUGH “YOU” IN FAITHFUL MINISTRY OF INTRODUCING THOSE AROUND YOU WITH THE “GOOD NEWS” OF CHRIST JESUS’S BLOOD SACRIFICE, RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD, AND REIGNING ETERNALLY IN REPENTANT MINDS AND HEARTS, ALLOWING, “JESUS, BE JESUS, IN ME – NO LONGER ME, BUT THEE; RESURRECTION POWER, FILL ME THIS HOUR, JESUS, BE JESUS IN ME!”
ALSO, IN JOHN 1, NOTICE VERSES 8-16! “JOHN WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO “BEAR WITNESS” OF THAT LIGHT. THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT, JESUS, WHICH LIGHTS EVERY MAN THAT COMES INTO THE WORLD. (THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AMAZING UNVEILING OF EVERY MAN IN ANY NATION – HOLY GOD HAS BORNER ‘WITNESS’ UNTO THEM WHETHER THEY RECEIVE IT OR NOT!!!). JOHN CONTINUES, VERSES 10-16,
JESUS WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT. HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN (HIS JEWISH HERITAGE, HIS EARTHLY RELATIVES!), HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. “BUT” AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM HE GAVE POWER TO BECOME SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE (OR “TRUST”) ON HIS NAME:
WHICH WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD, NOR OF THE WILL OF THE ‘FLESH’ (OR OLD SIN-NATURE’), NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF FATHER-GOD!DID “YOU”?), FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.JOHN BORE (&BARES) WITNESS OF HIM, CRYING OUT, SAYING, THIS WAS “HE” OF WHOM I SPOKE, ‘HE THAT COMES AFTER ME IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME; FOR HE WAS BEFORE ME. AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE.”
GRACE FOR GRACE? GRACE GIVEN-GRACE SHARED! GRACE WORKING IN ME – GRACE WORKING THROUGH ME! GRACE FOR THE LOST – GRACE FOR THE FOUND! GRACE TO EXPOUND-GRACE TO ENLIGHTEN OTHERS! GRACE TO GROUND ONE ON THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF VICTORIOUS LIVING – GRACE TO TRANSPORT US THROUGH THE GRAVE UNTO OUR EARTHLY MINISTRIES THEN UNTO OUR ETERNAL HOME AROUND CHRIST’S THRONE, GOD GRACIOUSLY ALLOWING US TO ETERNALLY BE CHRIST’S “FOOT-WASHERS” AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING OF GLORY!
DEATH IS AND HAS NO “STING” –IT’S THE OPENING OF THE DOOR TO UNENDING SERVICE TO THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR AND LORD ON HIS THRONE! RESURRECTION LIFE! RESURRECTION POWER! RESURRECTION GLORY AND GRACE AND GLOW!
IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, COPYRIGHTED IN 1940, IS THE OLD HYMN “PEACE!BE STILL!”, WRITTEN BY MARY BAKER AND H.R.PALMER. IT SAYS:
“MASTER, THE TEMPEST IS RAGING! THE BILLOWS ARE TOSSING HIGH! THE SKY IS O’ER-SHADOWED WITH BLACKNESS, NO SHELTER OR HELP IS NIGH: “CAREST YOU NOT THAT WE PERISH?” HOW CAN YOU LIE ASLEEP? WHEN EACH MOMENT SO MADLY IS THREATENING A GRACE IN THE ANGRY DEEP?
MASTER, WITH ANGUISH OF SPIRIT I BOW IN MY GRIEF TODAY; THE DEPTHS OF MY SAD HEART ARE TROUBLED; O WAKEN AND SAVE, I PRAY! TORRENTS OF SIN AND OF ANGUISH SWEEP O’ER MY SINKING SOUL! AND I PERISH! I PERISH, DEAR MASTER; O HASTEN, AND TAKE CONTROL!
MASTER, THE TERROR IS OVER, THE ELEMENTS SWEETLY REST; EARTH’S SUN IN THE CALM LAKE IS MIRRORED, AND HEAVEN’S WITHIN MY BREAST. LINGER, O BLESSED REDEEMER, LEAVE ME ALONE NO MORE; AND WITH JOY I SHALL MAKE THE BLEST HARBOR, AND REST ON THE BLISSFUL SHORE.
“THE WINDS AND THE WAVES SHALL OBEY GOD’S WILL, PEACE, BE STILL!” WHETHER THE WRATH OF A STORM-TOSSED SEA, OR DEMONS, OR MEN, OR WHATEVER IT BE, NO WATER CAN SWALLOW THE SHIP WHERE LIES “THE MASTER” OF OCEAN AND EARTH AND SKIES; THEY ALL SHALL SWEETLY OBEY MY WILL; PEACE, BE STILL!” ARE “YOU”AT PEACE WITH HOLY GOD, BY CHRIST JESUS, CONVICTED, CONVINCED, CONSECRATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT?
IN EXODUS 14:8, PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT, LIKE SATAN OVER HELL, HAD HIS HEART HARDENED, AND HE CONTINUED PURSUING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, LIKE SATAN TODAY STILL PURSUES THE SONS OF FAITH, THE CHILDREN OF GOD, THE JOINT-HEIRS AND ANOINTED AMBASSADORS OF CHRIST JESUS,BUT IN VERSES 13-14 WE READ: AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE, “FEAR YOU NOT, STAND STILL, AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, WHICH HE SHALL SHEW TO YOU TODAY; FOR THE EGYPTIANS (THEN, BUT THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, AND SATAN NOW!) WHOM YOU HAVE SEEN TODAY, YOU SHALL SEE THEM AGAIN NO MORE FOR EVER. THE LORD SHALL FIGHT FOR YOU, AND YOU SHALL HOLD YOUR PEACE.”
“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE?” THAT’S INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IN YOU AS YOU DAILY DIE TO YOUR OLD SELF THAT THE “NEW MAN” IN CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH! AND YOU KNOW IT’S REALITY BY THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHO ESTABLISHES THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN AND BEARS FRUIT! GALATIANS 5:22-25 SAYS, “BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS (TEMPERANCE OR SELF CONTROL!); AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. (AS A RESULT) VERSE 24 SAYS, AND THEY THAT “ARE CHRIST’S” HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!?!) WITH ITS AFFECTIONS AND LUSTS. VERSE 25! “IF WE LIVE ‘IN THE SPIRIT’, LET US ALSO “WALK IN THE SPIRIT”!
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY OF FAITH IN THE CHURCH, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR NATION, AND THE WORLD! ARE YOU THE “FAITHFUL AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST THE LORD”? IN A BOOK I HAD PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER, 2006, ENTITLED “OUR GRACIOUS GOD”, ON PPS.90-91, I WROTE: “I CAME ACROSS A STORY THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN MY LIFE. LOCATION –BELLE CHASE, LOUISIANA. A COUPLE WAS OUT ON A ROMANTIC DRIVE THROUGH A WOODED SECTION. ONE OF THEM GLANCED ASIDE TO SEE A SHIMMERING, WHITE GLOW THAT CAUGHT THE EYES. THEY DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE AND FOUND A DEAD TEENAGER HANGING FROM A TREE LIMB WITH A BED-SHEET WRAPPED AROUND HIS NECK. HE LEFT A NOTE ADDRESSED TO “MOM AND DAD.” IT SAID:
“I NEVER DID DEVELOP INTO A REAL PERSON AND I CANNOT TOLERATE THE FALSE AND EMPTY EXISTENCE I HAD CREATED. WHAT FRUSTRATED ME MOST IN THE LAST YEAR WAS THAT I HAD BUILT NO TIES TO FAMILY OR FRIENDS. THERE WAS NOTHING OF LASTING WORTH AND VALUE. I LED A DETACHED EXISTENCE. I AM A BOMB OF FRUSTRATION AND SHOULD NEVER MARRY OR HAVE CHILDREN. IT IS SAFEST TO DEFUSE THE BOMB HARMLESSLY NOW, SIMPLY CREMATE ME AS JOHN DOE.” I WENT ON CLOSING OUT THAT CHAPTER, WRITING: “NO ONE EVER CLAIMED HIM OR TO HAVE KNOWN HIM. HE TRULY DIED ‘alone’,(a lonely, godless, unbelieving ‘child’!).THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN THE STORY OF MY LIFE. COMING OUT OF A FAMILY OF A BROKEN MARRIAGE, I WAS THREE YEARS OF AGE, TAKEN TO LIVE WITH MY GRANDPARENTS –AND EVEN THOUGH THEY LOVED ME, THERE WAS THAT GNAWING EMPTINESS OF UNIMPORTANCE TO ANYBODY. ALL THROUGH THE YEARS OF MY LIFE (EVEN COLLEGE & SEMINARY!!!) UNTIL MY LATE THIRTIES SUICIDE WAS A POSSIBILITY – BUT SOMETHING HELD ME BACK UNTIL I WAS BORN AGAIN IN FEBRUARY, 1974!! IT WAS THE LOVE OF MY WIFE, SUE, MY CHILDREN, THE LOVE OF FAMILY, AND YES THE LOVE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, THEIR LOVE FOR HIM SHINING THE LIGHT THAT GOD HIMSELF ALWAYS LOVED ME AND WANTED TO BE MY SAVIOR, MY SHIELD, AND MY PROTECTOR AND PROVIDER AND PROVISION OF “CHRIST IN ME, MY HOPE OF GLORY”, YES, MY GUARANTEE OF “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR THROUGH CHRIST WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.
TELL ME! WHAT ABOUT YOU NOW, THROUGH DEATH’S DOOR, ENTERING AN EVERLASTING HOME: “IN CHRIST”, HEAVEN! APART FROM HIM, “AN ETERNAL HELL WITH SATAN, THE WORLD, AND UNREDEEMED LIVES”! CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY!!