“DISCOVERING YOUR GREATEST NEED”
By J. Farrell Fisher, July 9-11, 2017
Paul gives us holy, eternal, and life-changing truth when in 1 Corinthians 2:14 he wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” even mentioning in 1 Corinthians 3:3 about those, in the Corinthian church, who “are carnal and behaving like mere men”!
How clear was Christ Jesus when in John 3:6 He said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and that’s true of every natural man – and born of flesh, his greatest need is to be “born of the Spirit”!
As you study the Word of God, are you clear about why Christ Jesus “exposed” the religious Jews of His day? In John 8:31-44 is an unveiling of the “True seed” and those of Satan’s family loyalists! It says: The Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free.” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin (present tense, continuous action!) is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from (or out of) God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
To be confronted by Christ Jesus is to have one’s heart and mind exposed to Truth, to the need of blood redemption, to the alternative of ‘life in Christ’ or death under Satan’s domination, or to “the desires of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do,” or to resurrection life, resurrection power, or resurrection hope!
If you continued in John 8:48-51, you’d discover your greatest hope! Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”
“Never see death”? We all ‘see’ death, but Christ Jesus was saying that if anyone stands in His Word he’ll never be held in death’s bondage eternally but live in His life throughout eternity, and those who live without Him will be held eternally under Satan’s control in the death that never dies with all unbelievers! And dare I to say, “to live without Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and Master of one’s life is to be bound by a hopeless and unfulfilling existence forever and ever”?
And one has to wonder: “Why the great chasm between ‘professing Christians (?)’ and true disciples, true followers, true sold-out-disciples?”
I was highly impressed and encouraged when I read in Dallas Willard’s book, “The Great Omission”, in his introduction, he satiated, “The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples.” And he called it the Great Omission with Great Disparity flourishing, or, “Will they break out of churches to be His Church”? So, I would assume, one of the greatest needs across ‘modern-day’ church life is the necessity of re-instituting “making disciples”!
So, let’s examine, FIRST, in discovering YOUR greatest need: HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE GIFT OF CHRIST JESUS IN REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD AND TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE WORK THROUGH HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?
In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul tells us, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”?
My concern? Sometimes one’s grief about his circumstances and situations in life is but the shadow of God’s convicting presence apart from a true desire to be reconciled to God! But Isaiah 61:1-3 unveils a true repentant mind and heart! It says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
It was William Cowper who once wrote: “The path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; no traveler ever reached that blessed abode who found not thorns or briers in his road.” And I would ask YOU, “Have you recognized, repented of, and seen the blood of the Lamb removing from you what separated you from Him? Is there, was there, sorrow in your heart when the Holy Spirit convicted you, if He did, of your sin and separation from Holy God?
It was Harriet Beecher Stow who many years ago wrote: [The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Com., Westwood, N.J.], “Sorrow is divine. Sorrow is reigning on all the thrones of the universe, and the crown of all crowns has been one of thorns. There are many books that treat of the sympathy of sorrow, but only one that bids us glory in tribulation, and count it all joy when we fall into divers afflictions, that so we may be associated with that great fellowship of suffering of which the Incarnate Son of God is the head, and through which He is carrying a redemptive conflict to a glorious victory over evil. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”
How familiar ARE YOU WITH THE Book of Lamentations? [But, of course, there are those who would say, “Old Testament truths have nothing to do with New Testament disciples,” but I would say, “These folks are far, far from the Truth!”]. You should read ALL of Lamentations, but let me share Lamentations 1:12-16!!
“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought upon me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger.
From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it overpowered them; He has spread a net for my feet and turned me back; He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions was bound; they were woven together by His hands and thrust upon my neck. He made my strength fail; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst; He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord trampled as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things I weep; my eye, my eye overflows with water; because the comforter, who should restore my life, is far from me; my children are desolate because the enemy prevailed.”
SECOND, HAS YOUR LIFE SITUATIONS BROUGHT YOU TO THE ETERNAL SITUATION OF EXAMINING YOURSELF, DETERMINING WHAT REALLY HAS YOUR HEART? I’m really sorry if the Word offends you, but YOU must examine what really has your heart! It’s as if some church folk today, and certainly those in and of the world, are convinced it’s their choice as to what rules and reigns in their own hearts!
And it was Oswald Chambers who once commented on either ‘selective affinity (that) dies’ or the ‘sanctified abandonment’ of lives that live in and through Christ only! [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.120]. He said: “You cannot consecrate what is not yours; there is only one thing you can consecrate to God, and that is your right to yourself (Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experience out of you. God’s experiments always succeed. The one mark of a saint (One set apart to God’s glory!) is the moral originality which springs from abandonment to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing wellspring of original life all the time; the Spirit of God is a well of water springing up, perennially fresh. The saint realizes that it is God Who engineers circumstances, consequently there is no whine, but a reckless abandon to Jesus.”
And the question of this very moment for you before Holy God is: Are you abandoned only to the glory of Christ alone or does ‘selective affinity’ rule and reign over you? What YOU face in your life’s pilgrimage up until now, have those ‘life experiences’ brought you to what or who has your heart?
THIRD, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, HAVING DETERMINED WHO HAS YOUR HEART, AND NOW AS “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS”, ARE YOU EXERCISING THROUGH GOD’S DIVINE POWER ALL AUTHORITY OVER THE THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS?
You do understand that in the ‘religious world’, including even your local church setting, that you will find some awareness or awakenings we all need to be alerted to! For example: There can be an inclination to without the appropriation of, there can be thoughtful considerations without transformation, there can be argumentation without acceptance by God, there can be theories of the mind religiously without Truth that transforms, and one can possess a ‘thirst’ but no desire for the “Living Water’!
In 2 Peter 1:1-11 Peter awakens us to the true righteous remnant! (And I’ll never forget Miss Bertha Smith, missionary to China most of her adult life, who said on an occasion, teaching in a church I pastored: “Probably 90-95% of the church pastors in America need to be “born again”!” I tell you, it scared Hell out of some pastors that day!) Peter wrote:
“To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,
To virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
THEREFORE, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Our modern-day world, related to ‘Christian activity’, is faced with, I believe, three distinct choices that people everywhere can choose from: 1) Cultural Christianity (where a very significant number have chosen to live, 2) World religions, that number millions upon millions, or 3) Christ-Given Re-Birth! In fact, in John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In the kingdom of God, King Jesus rules and reigns! Does He rule over, in, through your heart, mind, spirit, and body?
A spiritual evaluation? 1) Is there in you “undivided devotion”? Check Luke 14: 26! 2) Is there costly commitment? Check Luke 14:27! 3) Is there costly analysis? Check Luke 14:31! 4) Is there “awesome and full surrender? Luke 14:33!
Frank S. Mead wrote “The March of Eleven Men”. Listen with both mind and heart!! “James the brother of Jesus and James the son of Zebedee preach and are killed by mobs in Jerusalem; Matthew is slain on a sword in Ethiopia; Philip is hanged in Phrygia; Bartholomew flayed alive in Armenia. Andrew is crucified in Achaia, Thomas is run through with a lance in East India, Thaddeus is shot to death with arrows, a cross goes up in Persia for Simon the Zealot, and another in Rome for Peter. Matthias is beheaded; only John escapes a martyr’s grave.”
D.W.Whittle and May Whittle Moody wrote an old hymn entitled “Moment by Moment”. (The American Hymnal of 1933). It says: “Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; living with Jesus, a new life divine; Looking to Jesus till glory does shine, Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Never a trial that He is not there, Never a burden that He does not bear; Never a sorrow that He does not share, Moment by moment, I’m under His care.
Never a heartache, and never a groan, Never a teardrop and never a moan; Never a danger but there on the throne, Moment by moment He thinks of His own.
Never a weakness that He does not feel, Never a sickness that He cannot heal; Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.”
In “Christ Ascended,” Michael Bruce wrote: “In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows has a part.” He’s with you, He’s in you, He works through you!
Can you say that Christ Jesus is your “everlasting portion”, more than a friend or life, all along your ‘pilgrim journey’, but the Lord and Savior of your inner strength?
Can you say, “not for ease or worldly pleasure, not even for fame will your prayer be, but you’ll gladly toil, even suffer, if it gives glory and honor to Him”?
Can you say, “Lead me, if necessary through the vale of shadows, Just bear me over the fitful seas, Knowing the gate of life eternal, Open it wide, Lord, for You and me”?
In Ephesians 1:11-14 are powerful verses unveiling “our greatest needs” met and fulfilled in and through Christ alone! It says: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise pf His glory.”
YOUR GREATEST NEED? To be reconciled to Holy God through Christ! To be forgiven because of His shed blood! To come into oneness with God through Christ, His ambassador and reconciler! To be made a part of the Holy Family as sons and daughters birthed by the Spirit of God! To understand and make yourself available to others as His messenger! To see the significance of being joined with the choir of angels and fellow family members singing in the heart daily the “Hallelujah Chorus” as a “born-again” song-bird of Saving Faith!