“COMPETING LIFESTYLES OR
CONCECRATION TO CHRIST’S LORDSHIP?”
J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 20-21,2019
LEVITICUS 11:44 IS SO VERY, VERY CLEAR & PLAIN. IT SAYS: “FOR I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. YOU SHALL THEREFORE CONSECRATE YOURSELVES, & YOU SHALL BE HOLY; FOR I AM HOLY.” BUT IN OUR WORLD, OUR DAY & TIME, JUST AS IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE : “SO-CALLED” PEOPLE OF GOD, THEIR LIVES WERE BEING CONSUMED BY “COMPETING LIFESTYLES.” ‘HOLINESS’ BECAME, & STILL IS, EVEN IN SOME ‘CHRISTIAN’ (?) CIRCLES TODAY, A STRANGE WORD, A DEROGATORY WORD; RATHER THAN AFFIRMATION,& IT HAS BECOME A FROWNED-UPON CONCEPT OF “THE LESSER INFORMED”, BECAUSE, ‘THEY’ [THE SPIRITUALLY ELITE] ARE SO ‘ABOVE’ SUCH AN ‘ILL-INFORMED, UNEDUCATED, NARROW-MINDED GROUP’, WHO CAN’T POSSIBLY REPRESENT GOD!!
YET IT’S GOD HIMSELF WHO SAID, “..BE HOLY,” & “CONSECRATE YOURSELVES.” AND THE MEANING OF THE WORD, ‘CONSECRATE’? IT’S FROM A HEBREW WORD MEANING, ‘TO BE SET APART,’ OR ‘SACREDNESS’! WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONATY SAYS OF ‘SACRED’, “HOLY, PERTAINING TO GOD OR TO HIS WORSHIP; DEDICATED; DEVOTED; DUE REVERENCE OF GOD [IN THE WAY ONE LIVES!!]; IT MEANS, SET APART TO HONOR GOD WITH ONE’S LIFE & ONE’S WALK.”
I THINK YOU’LL UNDERSTAND THE TITLE OF THIS MESSAGE WHEN YOU REMIND YOURSELF OF GALATIANS 6:14 WHERE PAUL SAID, “BY WHOM THE WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO ME; & I UNTO THE WORLD.” REALLY? IN JOHN 17:15 JESUS PRAYED TO THE FATHER ABOUT HIS DISCIPLES: “I DO NOT PRAY THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT THAT YOU SHOULD KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL ONE.” WE’RE LEFT IN THE WORLD, NOT TO BE CAPTURED & CONSUMED BY ITS FALLEN SPIRIT, BUT TO BE OUR LORD’S WITNESSES OF HIS SAVING GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE! BUT SOME RECEIVE ‘SEED’ IN THE MIDST OF ‘THORNS’- MATTHEW 13:22 SAYS, “NOW HE WHO RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS IS HE WHO HEARS THE WORD, & THE CARES OF THIS WORLD & THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES CHOKE THE WORD, & HE BECOMES UNFRUITFUL.”
“COMPETING LIFESTYLES”? SOMEONE ANONYMOUSLY WROTE: “THE SHIP’S PLACE IS IN THE SEA, BUT GOD PITY THE SHIP WHEN THE SEA GETS IN IT. THE CHRISTIAN’S PLACE IS IN THE WORLD, BUT GOD PITY THE CHRISTIAN IF THE WORLD GETS THE BEST OF HIM.” COMPETING LIFESTYLES? IT WAS THEODORE MUNGER WHO ONCE SAID: “THE UNREST OF THIS WEARY WORLD IS ITS UNVOICED CRY AFTER GOD,” & SADLY DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT’S ‘UNVOICED CRY’ IS ALL ABOUT!
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? GOD’S PEOPLE ARE TO BE FAITHFUL “TO THE WORLD IN ITS WITNESS,” BUT… “FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD [MAKES ONE] THE ENEMY OF GOD.” (JAMES 4:4). WE ARE TO BE DISENGAGED FROM ITS WAYS BUT ENGAGED IN ITS CONVERSION & SUBMISSION TO HOLY GOD THROUGH THE “RECONCILER” & “REDEEMER”, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? THE ‘WORLD’ IS A NET TO SNARE, ENTRAP, & CAPTURE ONE’S SOUL – IT HAS NO SPIRIT OF CONTENTMENT BUT ONLY DISCONTENT, NO PEACE BUT CHAOS, NO FORMING BUT FRACTURING, NO LAYING UP OF TREASURES IN HEAVEN BUT WASTEFUL SPENDING & ROTTING OF WHAT COULD HONOR HOLY GOD! COMPETING LIFESTYLES? THE ‘WORLD’ BIRTHS WORRY, WAR, FALSE WORSHIP, CHAINS & BONDAGE, RATHER THAN FREEDOM & LIBERTY, CHAOS RATHER THAN “THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING.”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? “DAY OF WRATH THAT DAY OF BURNING, SEER & SIBYL SPEAK CONCERNING, ALL THE WORLD TO ASHES TURNING,” [THOMAS DE CELANO]. MASTERS OF ‘SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS’ BECOME MIDGETS MIRED IN THE MUD OF ONE’S OWN MAKING.IT WAS JAMES MILNER WHO SAID: “WHILE A MAN RESTS IN HIS OWN MERITS FOR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD, IT IS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE WHETHER HE BE A PAGAN IDOLATER, OR A PROUD, ARROGANT PHARISEE – I KNOW NOT WHICH OF THE TWO IS MOST DISTANT FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? IRREVERANCE IS THE NAME FOR TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO BOW BEFORE THEIR ‘FLESHLY IDOLS’,NOT EVEN KNOWING IT IS A ‘god’ THEY BOW BEFORE & WORSHIP. FOULNESS IS ITS FRUIT, SMELLY STENCH ITS JUICE, POISONOUS VINES THE VEINS WITHIN THEIR ‘SICKENED, SINFUL, NATURAL, THO’ RELIGIOUS PRESENCE’, BUT “STILL” ALIENATED & SEPARATED FROM HOLY GOD, BECAUSE, THOUGH ‘BELIEVING’, THERE’S BEEN NO TRUE REPENTANCE OR TRUE “RESTING” IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS & HIS EMPTY TOMB,OR WELCOMING OF HIS REIGNING PRESENCE!
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? WEALTH IS THE ‘god’ BEFORE WHOM MANY BEAR WITNESS! JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 6:19, “LAY NOT UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES UPON EARTH, WHOSE MOTH & RUST DOES CORRUPT, & WHERE THIEVES BREAK THROUGH & STEAL.” IT WAS ROBERT SOUTH WHO ONCE SAID: “THERE ARE NOT A FEW WHO BELIEVE IN NO GOD BUT MAMMON, NO DEVIL BUT THE ABSENCE OF GOLD, NO DAMNATION BUT BEING POOR, & NO HELL BUT AN EMPTY PURSE; & NOT A FEW OF THEIR DESCENDANTS ARE STILL LIVING.” NO WONDER JOHN FOSTER WROTE: “THE PRIDE OF DYING RICH RAISES THE LOUDEST LAUGH IN HELL.”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES! I’VE SAID BEFORE, & I’LL SAY IT AGAIN: “RELIGION IS NOT AN ETERNAL, VIBRANT RELATIONSHIP, BUT AN OCCASIONAL ‘SUNDAY-NODDING OF THE HEART’, BUT ABSENT OF A “NEW, GRACED, SPIRIT-ANOINTED LIFE & HEART”!! YET ‘RELIGIOUS GATHERINGS’ ALL OVER THE WORLD WILL INCLUDE JESUS CHRIST AMONG THE ‘WORSHIP’ (?) OF THEIR NATURAL GODS!! BUT THERE IS NO GRASP AT ALL OF THE LORD’S WORDS: “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”!!
WALTER BAGEHOT WROTE: “THE WHOLE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IS STREWN WITH CREEDS & INSTITUTIONS WHICH WERE INVALUABLE AT FIRST, & DEADLY AFTERWARDS.” (CONTEMPLATE THAT THOUGHT FOR A DAY!). COMEPETING LIFESTYLES? HOW MANY DO YOU KNOW WHO’VE BOWED BEFORE THEIR OWN MINDS AS THEIR ULTIMATE ‘god’? I DO KNOW THAT IN PHILLIPIANS 2:5 PAUL WROTE: “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS,” BUT THAT’S CONTINENTS AWAY FROM BOWING BEFORE ONE’S OWN MIND AS HIS RESOURCE OF SALVATION, WISDOM, & UNDERSTANDING! BUT HOW MANY ‘EDUCATED’ UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS HAVE DISAVOWED ALLEGIANCE TO GOD & BOW BEFORE THEIR FLIMSY, FAITHLESS BRAINS?
IT WAS J.B.PHILLIPS IN HIS “NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY” WHO WROTE: “THE MODERN INTELLIGENT MIND, WHICH HAS HAD ITS HORIZONS WIDENED IN DOZENS OF DIFFERENT WAYS, HAS GOT TO BE SHOCKED AFRESH BY THE AUDACIOUS CENTRAL FACT THAT AS A SOBER MATTER OF HISTORY, “GOD BECAME ONE OF US.”!!
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? “HAPPINESS IS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT – GET BUSY WITH WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY!” HOW PHONY IS THAT? NOWHERE DO YOU FIND GOD SAYING, “BE HAPPY”…HIS CALL ON YOUR LIFE? “BE HOLY” – BUT WITHOUT HIM IT NEVER HAPPENS! BLESSED IS OUR LORD’S SERMON. BLESSED IS OUR SAVIOR’S PROVISION. BLESSED IS TRULY THE FRUIT OF A HOLY-SPIRIT-DIRECTED, GOVERNED LIFE.
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? “THERE IS NO GOD!” IT WAS PLATO WHO LONG AGO SAID, “ATHEISM IS A DISEASE OF THE SOUL BEFORE IT BECOMES AN ERROR OF UNDERSTANDING.” I CHOOSE TO STAND WITH GOD HIMSELF WHO SAID: “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART ‘THERE IS NO GOD’!” IT WAS MARY ANN VINCENT WHO SAID: “AN ATHEIST’S MOST EMBARASSING MOMENT IS WHEN HE FEELS PROFOUNDLY THANKFUL FOR SOMETHING, BUT CAN’T THINK OF ANYBODY TO THANK FOR IT.”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? ALL ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF HUMANITY FLOWS THE IDEA IN MANY MINDS THAT THEY CAN, IN & OF THEMSELVES, FULFILL THEIR OWN DESTINIES & BE RICHER FOR IT THAN ‘THOSE POOR CHRISTIANS’, YET GOD SAID IN JEREMIAH 2:11-13: “HAS A NATION CHANGED THEIR GODS, WHICH ARE YET NO GODS? BUT MY PEOPLE (ISRAEL) HAS CHANGED THEIR GLORY FOR THAT WHICH DOES NOT PROFIT. BE ASTONISHED, OH YOU HEAVENS, AT THIS, & BE HORRIBLY AFRAID, BE YOU VERY DESOLATE, SAYS THE LORD. FOR MY PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED TWO EVILS; THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, & HEWED THEM OUT CISTERNS, BROKEN CISTERNS, THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER.” (IS THAT ‘WATER’ THE “WATER OF THE WORD” THAT ISRAEL DID NOT UPHOLD?). (BY THE WAY, THE “WATER OF THE WORD” IS KING JESUS THAT THEY WILLINGLY CRUCIFIED!!).
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? THAT’S THE ‘godless’, THE ‘convenient’, THE ‘careless’, THE ‘self-exalting, self-ruling, self-indulgent, self-deceived individual, who, like Israel, (Gen.11:4), “..LET US BUILD A CITY, & A TOWER, WHOSE TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN; & LET US MAKES US A NAME, LEST WE BE SCATTERED ABROAD UPON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH.” SELF-EXALTATION, NATIONAL EXALTATION, FAMILY EXALTATION, BUSINESS EXALTATION – & MAKE SURE THAT YOU LEAVE ‘YOUR ‘god’ out of our self-governing right!’ REALLY? IN JOHN 5:44 THE LORD JESUS SAID TO THE ‘SELF-REIGNING JEWS’, “HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOR ONE OF ANOTHER, & SEEK NOT THE HONOR WHICH COMES FROM GOD ONLY?”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? IN 2 CORINTHIANS 13:5 PAUL SAID TO THE “CHURCH” IN CORINTH, “EXAMINE YOURSELVES, WHETHER YOU BE IN THE FAITH; PROVE YOUR OWN SELVES. KNOW YOU NOT YOUR OWN SELVES, HOW THAT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU, EXCEPT YOU BE REPROBATES?” WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU READ GALATIANS 6:1-8? IT SAYS: “BRETHREN, IF A MAN BE OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT, YOU WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL, RESTORE SUCH A ONE IN THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS; CONSIDERING YOURSELF LEST YOU ALSO BE TEMPTED.
BEAR YOU ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS, & SO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST. FOR IF A MAN THINK HIMSELF TO BE SOMETHING, WHEN HE IS NOTHING, HE DECEIVES HIMSELF. BUT LET EVERY MAN PROVE HIS OWN WORK, & THEN SHALL HE HAVE REJOICING IN HIMSELF, & NOT IN ANOTHER. FOR EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN. LET HIM THAT IS TAUGHT IN THE WORD COMMUNICATE UNTO HIM THAT TEACHES IN ALL GOOD THINGS. BE NOT DECEIVED; GOD IS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP. FOR HE THAT SOWS TO HIS FLESH SHALL OF THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION; BUT HE THAT SOWS TO THE SPIRIT SHALL OF THE SPIRIT REAP LIFE EVERLASTING.”
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? YOU’VE HEARD THE WORLD’S ‘EDUCATIONAL ELITISTS’ SAYING, “WE “are” the “ELITISTS”!! WE ARE THE SUPERIOR MINDS OF OUR DAY! WE ARE OF SUCH AN ACADEMIC MENTALITY THAT OUR EDUCATIONAL & SCHOLARSHIP COMPETENCE LEAVES NO ROOM FOR DISCUSSIONS ABOUT GOD, YOUR ‘JESUS’, THE BIBLE, LIFE OR DEATH, ‘SALVATION’, OR WHAT YOU ‘CHRISTIANS ‘ (?) CALL ‘FREE GRACE’ – WE’LL JUST SLIDE INTO ‘YOUR HEAVEN’ BY OUR ‘GREASE’!” BUT I CHOOSE JOHN 17:6 FOR MY EDUCATIONAL DEGREE! IT SAYS: (THIS IS JESUS SPEAKING TO FATHER-GOD!), “I HAVE MANIFESTED (UNVEILED) YOUR NAME (FATHER-GOD) UNTO THE MEN WHICH YOU GAVE ME OUT OF THE WORLD: THEY WERE YOURS, & YOU GAVE THEM TO ME; & THEY HAVE KEPT YOUR WORD.” (WHAT AN AWESOME WORD OF HOLY TRUTH!!).
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? ARE WE IN “THE LAST DAYS”? IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 WE READ, “THIS KNOW ALSO, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS (OF JUDAISM?), PERILOUS TIMES SHALL COME. FOR MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, COVETOUS, BOASTERS, PROUD, BLASPHEMERS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, UNTHANKFUL, UNHOLY, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, TRUCEBREAKERS, FALSE ACCUSERS, INCONTINENT, FIERCE, DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD, TRAITORS, HEADY, HIGHMINDED, LOVERS OF PLEASURES MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD; HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF: FROM SUCH TURN AWAY.”
OH, I HAVE NO DOUBTS AT ALL! WHAT WE JUST READ REFERRED TO JUDAISM IN THAT DAY & TIME PERIOD, BUT THAT ‘FALSE SPIRIT’ DOESN’T ABOUND IN THE 21ST CENTURY OF “MODERN-DAY CHRISTIANITY”? HAVE “YOU” NOT GRASPED THAT ALL YOU SEE IN “YOUR” ‘LAST DAYS’ IS ALSO MUCH ‘godlessness’ THOUGH MANY ARE “PROFESSING BELIEVERS, CHURCH-GOERS, & STRONG PROMOTERS OF THEIR ‘SELF-RELIGIOUS DECEPTION’? YES, EVEN IN THE CHURCH THERE ARE THOSE, MEN & BOYS, WOMEN & GIRLS, WHO HAVE DECIDED, “THE LOW LIFE IS THE HIGH LIFE,” “VIOLENCE IS VIRTUOUS,” “REBELLION IS SPIRITUAL INDEPENDENCE”, “GODLESSNESS IS GREAT”, “SIN IS JUST THE CELEBRATION OF “WHO WE WERE”, BUT NOT WHO WE ARE NOW (EVEN AS WE CONTINUE TO MANIFEST, CELEBRATE, & PROFESS OUR ‘TWO-WORLDS FAITH’, “OURS & GOD’S”!)”. REALLY?
THERE’S NO ‘GOD-THING’ IN THE RELIGIOUS CLIMATE THAT CELEBRATES BOTH ‘THE LOW-LIFE & THE HIGH-LIFE’, OR ‘VIOLENCE IS VIRTUOUS – IT HAS ITS PLACE’, OR ‘REBELLION ( A ‘LITTLE-DAB WILL DO YOU’!)’, OR ‘SIN IS JUST THE CELEBRATION OF WHO & WHAT WE ARE – GOD UNDERSTANDS OUR TWO-PART SYSTEM: FLESH & SPIRIT, WORLDLY & THE KINGDOM OF GOD ‘– SORRY, YOU CAN’T WALK ON TWO STREETS!!’ ‘SACRILEGE IS PERMISSABLE’, ‘THOUGH MY WAY MAY NOT BE GOD’S WAY, HE STILL OVERLOOKS MY ‘FLESHLY TRAITS’ & ACCEPTS MY ‘BEST EFFORTS’! NO! YOUR ‘BEST EFFORT MENTALITY’ WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!!!!
COMPETING LIFESTYLES? OH, THERE ARE THOSE WHO READ THE BIBLE & HEAR FROM JESUS, “IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE MUCH TRIBULATION, IF YOU FOLLOW HIM,” & YOU HEAR THEM SAY, “PLEASURE FOR ME – NOT PAIN; GOOD TIMES HELL’S WAY, NOT HEAVEN’S WAY; WE WANT “ALL” THAT ENCIRCLES US IN THE WORLD’S WAY”, [NOT KNOWING “IN CHRIST” THEY INHERIT HEAVEN’S FORTUNES!]; INTEGRITY? HOW ABOUT FOR US, COMPROMISE? ‘ALL-OUT’? – HOW ABOUT: HALF-HEARTED? HALF OF FLESH, HALF OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?’ COMPETING LIFESTYLES? DON’T TELL ME YOU’VE NEVER BEEN AROUND THEM! THEY’RE USUALLY VERY VOCAL!
THEY STAND INCESSANTLY AT THE “CONSTANT COMPLAINT CENTER”; THEY’RE A PART OF “MISERY IS COMPANY-CROWD; IT MAY NOT BE PRINTED ON A POSTER BOARD BUT IT’S EASILY VISIBLE: “FATAL FRETTING FULL OF FRUSTRATION FREE OF CHARGE!” COMPETING LIFESTYLES? IN GALATIANS 4:7 PAUL WROTE: “FORMERLY, WHEN YOU DID NOT KNOW GOD, YOU WERE ENSLAVED TO BEINGS THAT BY NATURE ARE NOT GODS.” HOW MANY DO YOU KNOW TODAY PAYING BIG BUCKS FOR THE SHYSTERS WHO “CAN READ YOUR MINDS”? HOW MANY DO YOU KNOW WHO PRACTICE WITCHCRAFT? HOW MANY DO YOU KNOW WHO TODAY CELEBRATE THE “DEMONS”? HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU WITNESSED “HELL’S ANGELS”? (JUST TURN ON YOUR TV &YOU’VE WITNESSED “HELL’S ANGELS”?)
BUT WHAT DID JOSHUA SAY? “CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE, BUT AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!” CHOICE! WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY SAYS THAT ‘CHOICE’ IS THE ACTS OF CHOOSING; THE VOLUNTARY ACT OF SELECTING OR SEPARATING FROM TWO OR MORE THINGS THAT WHICH IS PREFERRED..CARE IN SELECTING; JUDGMENT OR SKILL IN DISTINGUISHING WHAT IS TO BE PREFERRED…HOLDING DEAR…”
I DON’T THINK YOU’LL FIND IT SHOCKING THAT GOD HIMSELF MADE A CHOICE! IN ACTS 15:7-9 WE READ, AND WHEN THERE HAD BEEN MUCH DISPUTING, PETER ROSE UP, & SAID UNTO THEM, MEN & BRETHREN, YOU KNOW HOW THAT A GOOD WHILE AGO GOD MADE CHOICE AMONG US, THAT THE GENTILES BY MY MOUTH SHOULD HEAR THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL, & BELIEVE. AND GOD, WHICH KNOWS THE HEARTS, BORE THEM WITNESS, GIVING THEM THE HOLY SPIRIT, EVEN AS HE DID UNTO US (JEWS); & PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US & THEM, PURIFYING THEIR HEARTS BY FAITH.” [BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT GOD STILL DOES TODAY?].
THE BROTHER OF JESUS, JAMES, IN JAMES 2:5, WROTE: “HEAR ME, MY BELOVED BRETHREN, HAS NOT GOD “CHOSEN” THE POOR OF THIS WORLD RICH IN FAITH, & HEIRS OF THE KINGDOM WHICH HE HAS PROMISED TO THEM THAT LOVE HIM?” [I ASSUME THE QUESTION IS: “ARE ‘YOU’ THE POOR OF THIS WORLD WHO ARE, YES, RICH IN FAITH & HEIRS OF THE KINGDOM BECAUSE “YOU” TRULY LOVE THE GOD WHO PROVED HIS LOVE FOR YOU EVEN WHILE YOU WERE ‘CHIEFEST OF SINNERS’?”].
“GOD HAS CHOSEN! GOD HAS CHOSEN ME! GOD HAS GRACIOUSLY CALLED MY NAME, KNOCKED ON MY HEART’S DOOR, & ASSURED ME THAT HE HAS SET ME APART AS AN HONOR TO CHRIST, A TESTIMONY OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING PRESENCE, & AS AN ASSURANCE OF HIS SAVING GRACE & HIS ETERNAL POWER TO, YES, RAISE THE “DEAD” INTO HIS ABIDING PRESENCE!” IT OUGHT TO PUT YOU ON “HALLELUJAH GROUNDS” WHEN YOU READ JOHN 15:16 WHERE JESUS SAID: “YOU HAVE NOT CHOSEN ME, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN YOU, THAT YOU SHOULD GO & BRING FORTH FRUIT, & THAT YOUR FRUIT SHOULD REMAIN:THAT WHATSOEVER YOU SHALL ASK OF THE FATHER IN MY NAME, HE MAY GIVE IT TO YOU.” AN AWESOME DECLARATION!! YOU DO UNDERSTAND: “JESUS TOOK UNTO HIMSELF THE TWELVE INITIAL DISCIPLES,” & THEY WERE FOR SO LONG UNSURE OF HIS INTENT & PURPOSE WITH THEM, BUT THEY ‘FOLLOWED’.
I LOVE HOW OSWALD CHAMBERS PUT IT IN “MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST”, (P.158), “THE BRAVERY OF GOD IN TRUSTING US! YOU SAY – ‘BUT HE HAS BEEN UNWISE TO CHOOSE ME, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING IN ME; I AM NOT OF ANY VALUE.” & THAT IS WHY HE CHOSE YOU! AS LONG AS YOU THINK THERE IS SOMETHING IN YOU HE CAN’T DO WITHOUT, HE CANNOT CHOOSE YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE ENDS OF YOUR OWN IF YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE HIM YOUR BEST, (WHICH HE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS!); BUT IF YOU HAVE LET HIM BRING YOU TO THE END OF YOUR SELF-SUIFFICIENCY, THEN HE CAN CHOOSE YOU TO GO WITH HIM TO JERUSALEM, & THAT WILL MEAN THE FULFILLMENT OF PURPOSES WHICH HE DOES NOT DISCUSS WITH YOU.”
HAVE “YOU” HEARD HIS VOICE OR HIS ‘KNOCK’ ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR? “FOLLOW ME”!! MRS. CECIL F. ALEXANDER WROTE AN OLD HYMN ENTITLED “JESUS CALLS US.” IT SAYS: “JESUS CALLS US; O’ER THE TUMULT OF OUR LIFE’S WILD, RESTLESS SEA; DAY BY DAY HIS SWEET VOICE SOUNDS, SAYING, “CHRISTIAN FOLLOW ME.”…JESUS CALLS US FROM THE WORSHIP OF THE VAIN WORLD’S GOLDEN STORE, FROM EACH IDOL THAT WOULD KEEP US, SAYING, “CHRISTIAN, LOVE ME MORE.” IN OUR JOYS & IN OUR SORROWS, DAYS OF TOIL & HOURS OF EASE, STILL HE CALLS, IN CARES & PLEASURES, “CHRISTIAN, LOVE ME MORE THAN THESE.” JESUS CALLS US: BY YOUR MERCIES, SAVIOR, MAY WE HEAR YOUR CALL, GIVE OUR HEARTS TO YOUR OBEDIENCE, SERVE & LOVE YOU BEST OF ALL.”
OH, I KNOW THAT EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER DOESN’T HAVE THE EXACT EXPERIENCE OF JOHN ON THE ISLAND CALLED PATMOS, BUT I PRAY THESE VERSES STIR YOUR HEARTS TO AFRESH & ANEW HEAR HIS VOICE! REVELATION 1:12-18 SAYS, AND I TURNED TO SEE THE VOICE THAT SPOKE WITH ME. & BEING TURNED, I SAW SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS; & IN THE MIDST OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS ONE LIKE UNTO THE SON OF MAN, CLOTHED WITH A GARMENT DOWN TO THE FOOT, & GIRT ABOUT THE PAPS WITH A GOLDEN GIRDLE.
HIS HEAD & HIS HAIRS WERE WHITE LIKE WOOL, AS WHITE AS SNOW; & HIS EYES WERE AS A FLAME OF FIRE; & HIS FEET LIKE UNTO FINE BRASS, AS IF THEY BURNED IN A FURNACE; & HIS VOICE AS THE SOUND OF MANY WATERS. & HE HAD IN HIS RIGHT HAND SEVEN STARS, & OUT OF HIS MOUTH WENT A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD; & HIS COUNTENANCE WAS AS THE SUN SHINES IN ITS STRENGTH.
AND WHEN I SAW HIM, I FELL AT HIS FEET AS DEAD. & HE LAID HIS RIGHT HAND UPON ME, SAYING UNTO ME, ‘FEAR NOT; FOR I AM THE FIRST & THE LAST: I AM HE THAT LIVES & WAS DEAD; &, BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE. AMEN; & I HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL & OF DEATH.” CHRIST JESUS CONQUERED DEATH, THE GRAVE, & HELL ITSELF! OH, & THEN, IN MATTHEW 16:19, WE READ: “AND I WILL GIVE UNTO YOU THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN; & WHATSOEVER YOU SHALL BIND ON EARTH SHALL BE BOUND IN HEAVEN; & WHATSOEVER YOU SHALL LOOSE ON EARTH SHALL BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN.”
DO YOU BELIEVE ONE OF THE “KEYS” IS THE KEY OF TESTIMONY? EXAMINE ROMANS 5:1, & VERSES 6-11! “THEREFORE BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST:
VERSES 6-11 THEN SAYS: FOR WHEN WE WERE YET WITHOUT STRENGTH, IN DUE TIME CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY. FOR SCARCELY FOR A RIGHTEOUS MAN WILL ONE DIE:YET PERADVENTURE FOR A GOOD MAN SOME WOULD EVEN DARE TO DIE. BUT GOD COMMENDS HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.MUCH MORE THEN, BEING NOW JUSTIFIED BY CHRIST’S BLOOD, WE SHALL BE (BEING) SAVED FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM.
FOR IF, WHEN WE WERE ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD BY THE DEATH OF HIS SON, MUCH MORE, BEING RECONCILED, WE SHALL BE (BEING) SAVED BY HIS LIFE. & NOT ONLY SO, BUT WE ALSO JOY IN GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM WE HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE ATONEMENT.” DO “YOU” TRULY UNDERSTAND THE WORD, ATONEMENT, OR WOULD IT BE BETTER TO SEE IT AS “AT-ONE-MENT” WITH GOD THROUGH JESUS ONLY?
IN PHILIPPIANS 1:21 PAUL WAS SO CONFIDENT, EVEN IN PRISON, THAT WHETHER BY LIFE OR BY DEATH, THE LORD JESUS WAS GOING TO BE MAGNIFIED IN HIS BODY BECAUSE HE SAID, “FOR TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, & TO DIE IS GAIN.” WHAT HAD JESUS SAID IN JOHN 10:10? “I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, & THAT THEY MAY HAVE IT MORE AVBUNDANTLY.” THAT’S “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY!” IT’S LIFE, THE LIFE IN & OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, LIFE THAT IS ABUNDANT, LIFE THAT IS ETERNAL!
GALATIANS 2:20-21a TELLS US, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST:BUT I LIVE;& THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESHLY BODY I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME. I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD…!” OUR “LIFE” IS CHRIST, OUR “DAILY WALK” IS CHRIST, OUR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT “IN CHRIST” DWELLS ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY: “AND YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM!”
THAT TELLS ME OF THE “POSITIVENESS OF HIS PERSON: RESURRECTION LIFE, RESURRECTION POWER, RESURRECTION HOPE” – & I AM WRAPPED UP “IN HIM” IN THE VERY FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY! THIS TELLS ME OF “THE POSITIVENESS OF PRECIOUS PRIVILEGE”- ONE IN CHRIST, AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD HIMSELF – OPENING THE DOOR EVEN BROADER & WIDER TO THE “POSITIVENESS OF DAILY PURPOSE” – LIVING IN HIM, BY HIM, THROUGH HIM, WHICH OPENS DOOR AFTER DOOR TO THE PATHS OF CHRISTIAN GRACES, FOR THE HONOR OF CHRIST ALONE!!
I CLOSE WITH THE WISE WORDS OF PETER IN 2 PETER 3:9-14!! “THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING TO US-WARD, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ‘ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.’ BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT; IN THE WHICH THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, & THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, THE EARTH ALSO & THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP.
SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED, WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN ALL HOLY CONVERSATION & GODLINESS, LOOKING FOR & HASTING UNTO THE COMING DAY OF GOD, WHEREIN THE HEAVENS BEING ON FIRE SHALL BE DISSOLVED, & THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT?
NEVERTHELESS WE, ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE, LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS & A NEW EARTH, WHEREIN DWELLS RIGHTEOUSNESS. WHEREFORE, BELOVED, SEEING THAT YOU LOOK FOR SUCH THINGS, BE DILIGENT THAT YOU MAY BE FOUND OF HIM IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT & BLAMELESS.”
IT WAS CHARLES WESLEY & S.B.MARSH, IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”,(P.131), (PUBLISHED BY “THE BROADMAN PRESS,” NASHVILLE, TENN.), WHO WROTE THE HYMN, “JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL.” IT SAYS: JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL, LET ME TO YOUR BOSOM FLY, WHILE THE NEARER WATERS ROLL, WHILE THE TEMPEST STILL IS HIGH! HIDE ME, O MY SAVIOR, HIDE, TILLTHE STORM OF LIFE IS PAST; SAFE INTO THE HAVEN GUIDE, O RECEIVE MY SOUL AT LAST!
OTHER REFUGE HAVE I NONE;HANGS MY HELPLESS SOUL ON YOU: LEAVE, AH, LEAVE ME NOT ALONE,STILL SUPPORT & COMFORT ME!ALL MY TRUST ON YOU IS STAYED, ALL MY HELP FROM YOU I BRING; COVER MY DEFENSELESS HEAD WITH THE SHADOW OF YOUR WING.
YOU, O CHRIST, ARE ALL I WANT; MORE THAN ALL IN YOU I FIND; RAISE THE FALLEN, CHEER THE FAINT, HEAL THE SICK, & LEAD THE BLIND.JUST & HOLY IS YOUR NAME, I AM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; FALSE & FULL OF SIN I AM, YOU ARE FULL OF TRUTH & GRACE.
PLENTEOUS GRACE WITH YOU IS FOUND, GRACE TO COVER ALL MY SIN; LET THE HEALING STREAMS ABOUND, MAKE & KEEP ME PURE WITHIN.
YOU OF LIFE THE FOUNTAIN ARE; FREELY LET ME TAKE OF YOU; SPRING YOU UP WITHIN MY HEART, RISE TO ALL ETERNITY.” (IS CHRIST “RISEN” IN YOU?).