CHAPTER THIRTY
AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?“EARTHLY VOICES OR HEAVENLY PROCLAMATIONS OF DIVINE TRUTH?”
Has there ever been a moment in your life when you hear or read something, and you ask yourself: “Is that man’s thoughts, his interpretations, her opinions, or is what I heard, read, and, maybe, wrestled with: “The Proclamations of Divine Truth?” And, of course, those questions, doubts, hesitations, have to be answered, responded to, or just denied a response: “Who cares?” God cares how you respond because He understands your wrestling with earthly voices or His heavenly proclamations of divine truth, your struggles with fleshly acceptance of others or divine approval of God, or even your desire to know only eternal truth or drawn by the powers of darkness to his devilish philosophies! And our world is filled with “earthly voices” that has no resemblance to the Voice of God or His proclamations of Divine Truth!
“Earthly voices”, yes, bound by the first opposer to Divine Life and Divine Truth, “the devil or Satan”, or as Genesis 3:1 entitled him, “the serpent”, cooperate with all new-born life in the ‘flesh’ without God, encouraging early in Adam and Eve’s life, “You will not surely die,” but they did – Why? “Because the wages of sin IS death” though the devil denies it! He told Eve in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it (forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Oh, God may “know” of “good and Evil”, but His choice is that you know Divine Life apart from good and evil! But the devil, unbelievers, ‘pretenders’, even some ‘preachers’ without regenerated hearts through the birth of the Spirit, affirm with their earthly voices, “Accept your good and evil, you will not die”, yet “The wages of sin is death!” Do YOU, with the devil and earthly voices around you, accept that ‘good and evil’ is OK?
The devil, the powers of darkness, the deniers of the reality of even God’s existence, the compromisers of Holy Truth, the inventors, perpetrators, even, yes, ‘liars’ about the need of hearing, receiving, and certainly not walking in any claim of the need of obedience to “the God of uneducated, brain-dead believers”, has gotten to the day and time of ‘scandalous, nonsensical claims’ about Christ Jesus and salvation by grace through faith! Many men, women have “washed their hands, minds, and hearts of the need of God in our lives!” You’ve seen them, heard them, witnessed them ashamedly make light of, yes, the only Lord and Savior who IS “the Light of the world”, but they call Him ‘darkness’ through their own blinded eyes!
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-20 we read of historic proclamations as to the reality of Christ Jesus and our relationship to Him. Paul wrote out of the overflow of his own heart under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saying, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME.
Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NOW if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – in in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW Christ IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Though dying and dead and buried, three days later, “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose, He arose, Hallelujah! Christ arose!….Death cannot keep his prey – Jesus My Savior! He tore the bars of death away, Jesus our Lord!”
But “earthly voices are still influenced by the devil himself or his demon forces”! This is why in Ephesians 6:11-13 Paul instructs and inspires us saying: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
True disciples understand the necessity of daily equipping and dressing one’s self in the full armor of God to withstand the strong assaults from the world, the flesh, or the devil that we once belonged to and entertained! The devil doesn’t cease his attacks because you surrendered your allegiance to Christ, but the brother of Jesus said in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That’s more than just resistance to temptation, but the active, alert, aimed resistance to the devil’s attempts to open any window or door in your ‘house of a redeemed, blood-bought life’, yes, devoted to Christ and His honor alone!
Your faith in Christ’s resurrection and His ascension to the right hand of God on Heaven’s throne as YOUR INTERCESSOR means more than most Christians have been discipled in – ‘sins forgiven’, yes, He watches over you, but according to N.T. Wright, in his strong book, “The Day The Revolution Began,” (p.5), “According to the book of Revelation, Jesus died in order to make us not rescued nonentities, but restore human beings with a vocation to play in God’s purposes for the world.” WOW! Are YOU a ‘rescued nonentity’ or a true disciple of Christ, a soldier in His army, yes, fighting the good fight of everlasting faith? If so, you’re busy daily being equipped in the “great warfare” against Satan and the powers of darkness!
FIRST, WHAT DID PAUL TELL US IN EPHESIANS 6:11? PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD! The reason? In order “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In Ephesians 6:16 Paul told us about “taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”
“Fiery darts of the wicked one”? It begins in the home faith-filled or faithless; it extends to, yes, the school rooms and universities, where godless teachers become tools of Satan to spoil minds, wills, and emotions concerning loyalty to the God who made them, lost them, then bought them with a price, the blood of the Lamb of God, even to neighborhoods or city gatherings where “your God isn’t welcome here!”, or even national governments that spurn God’s word and spin their ‘godless rhetoric’, or even, biblically criminal pastors and churches who promote their religious opinions rather than the eternal Truth of the Holy Word!
And dare I tell you that ONLY “the whole armor of God” withstands the wiles and wickedness of the devil and the powers of darkness? Sad to say, but even “Hollywood” accepts, promotes, and uses “the wiles of the devil” to capture, to trap, and to ‘entertain’ with the devil’s intent of overcoming the Godly truths, Godly lives, and Godly intents of “the Kingdom of God on earth” – they prefer the kingdom of flesh, darkness, and the devil!
SECOND, DID THE BELOVED JOHN INFORMS US AS TO HOW SATAN ENTICES THE GODLESS TO BECOME HIS SLAVES OF DARKNESS? OF COURSE! And – In 1 John 1:5b-6, the beloved John wrote: “… God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
In 1 John 2:15-17 the Holy Word through John exposes the ‘traps’ Satan uses to turn men from God to his kingdom of darkness and kingdom of slavery to the devil’s passions and evil ways! “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world (AND the kingdom of the devil’s darkness!) – the lust of the flesh (or sin-nature), the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
A slave of darkness is a prisoner of the kingdom of religious indifference! In 1 John 2:22-23 the faithful John declared: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges (or gives Jesus His rightful place as Lord and Savior!) the Son has the Father also.” And THIS TRUTH does cause major or minor religions across the entire world serious trouble because Christ Jesus is not a partner with their deception! Jesus said: “I AM the way, the truth, and the life – no man comes to the Father but through Me!”
THIRD, DIDN’T PAUL EDUCATE TRUE DISCIPLES ABOUT OVERCOMING WHEN SATAN ATTEMPTS TO SWAY ONE FROM THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT INTO THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS? That’s 2 Corinthians 10:3-6! Paul trains us as true soldiers of Christ against His enemy and ours – Satan! He said:
“For though we walk in the fleshly body, we do not war according to the flesh. 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, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
Oswald Chambers wrote powerful words about our spiritual warfare against the devil’s onslaughts against true believers! In his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (pps.185-186), Chambers wrote:
“Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise. (v4).
It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience (or step!) of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.”
FOURTH, AND LAST, YES, THERE MUST BE THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF EXERCISING THE WILL OF OUR LIVES TO HONOR HIM, NOT SATISFY ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE THAT WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST! Back to 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 captive to the obedience of Christ…!”
2 Corinthians 1:9 clearly states: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…!”
Arguments against God’s thoughts or submission to Christ’s Truth, fleshly speculations or the Savior’s eternal remedy, world accusations or the redemptive knowledge of God, high things of lofty philosophies or eternal truths of divine revelation, ‘my thought life’ or the Savior’s offer of “new life in Him”?
There’s possibly or probably that every day you live satanic invitations will come for you to ‘satisfy’ your flesh nature, OR, you can clothe yourself in the Savior’s presence, purpose, and power, to daily honor and give glory to God alone!
There may be assaults by Satan and the powers of darkness, but if Christ is in you, you can rest in His eternal presence, promises, and power! “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
In Philippians 4:6-9 we read: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Yes, thank God for the God of peace who is able to keep you, even against the wiles of Satan himself! Martin Luther wrote the old hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. The first verse only says: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Does seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.”
But out of Heaven to earth came the Conquering King, Jesus, and His truth and His kingdom IS the forever conqueror over sin, over Satan, over death itself! In Christ, yes, “we are more than conquerors – we’re sons of the conquering King Jesus!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?
THE KINGLY REIGN OF CHRIST!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY? …………..THE CONFIDENCE OF COMPLETION!”
……………………..CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
………………… “ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR
APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“CAPTURING THE VISION!”