EVIDENCES
OF
REDEMPTIVE FAITH
BY
J. FARRELL FISHER
Charles Wesley, in “Free Grace,” wrote: Jesus, “Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race.”
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE: “EVIDENCES OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH”
CHAPTER TWO: “LIBERTY IN CHRIST OR A LICENSE TO SIN?”
CHAPTER THREE:”UNFORGIVENESS – UNFORGIVEN OR TRUE FAITH AND FOREVER FORGIVENESS?”
CHAPTER FOUR: “ABOUNDING MISERY AND CHAOS OR ADVOCACY PEACE AND BLESSING?”
CHAPTER FIVE: “WORLD PHILOSOPHERS OR WILLFUL PROMOTION BY GOD?”
CHAPTER SIX:”CHILDREN OF THE FLESH OR CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE?”
CHAPTER SEVEN:”SELF-EFFORT RIGHTEOUSNESS OR SOVEREIGN-IMPLANTED RIGHTEOUSNESS?”
CHAPTER EIGHT: “DARK NIGHTS – BRIGHT LIGHTS”
CHAPTER NINE: “HOW’S YOUR FAITH?”
CHAPTER TEN: “VOID OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH”
CHAPTER ELEVEN: “FAITHFULNESS OR DISTRESSING DISGUISES?”
CHAPTER TWELVE: “FAITH AND ITS FRUITFULNESS”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: “FAITH AND ITS FIGHT”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “FAITH AND ITS OVERCOMING POWER”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “HIDDEN SINS – FAITH’S EXPOSURE”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: “FAITH AND ITS STRONG FOUNDATION”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: “HALTING OPINIONS OR HOLY FAITH?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: “TRUE FAITH – BY LEGALISM OR LOVE?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: “A DESPISING OF FAITH OR THE GOODNESS OF TRUE FAITH?”
CHAPTER TWENTY: “FAITHLESS INDIFFERENCE OR REDEMPTIVE FAITH’S CELEBRATION?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: “A FLESHLY TENT OR FAITH’S MOUNTAIN-MANSION?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: “REDEMPTIVE FAITH’S FINAL DESTINATION”
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
“Evidences of Redemptive Faith”? It was written anonymously, but I found it to be a strong statement as a foundation in introducing this new book. Someone wrote: “In all His dispensations God is at work for our good. In prosperity He tries our gratitude; in mediocrity, our contentment; in misfortune, our submission; in darkness, our faith; under temptation, our steadfastness; and at all times, our obedience and trust in Him.”
But I pray that as you begin this journey with me in this new book that you clearly understand it’s content has been, will be, for the purpose of unveiling “Redemptive Faith” – not ‘failing faith’ or ‘wilting faith’ or a ‘worked-up faith’ that so easily wears out because the ‘gift of God’s redemptive faith’ is absent!
There is a man’s mental faculty that some call ‘faith’, and assume it even rises above human reasoning, but it falls far, far short of “Redemptive Faith”! In his writing entitled “Things New and Old,” Robert Collyer said, “Faith makes the discords of the present the harmonies of the future,” and I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What kind of faith is that? Mental faith, philosophical faith, ‘flesh’-mastering faith? Is God’s “Redemptive Faith” simply to bring one to singing better songs with better notes? Or are the “Evidences of Redemptive Faith” for the purpose of ‘birthing’ “new men,” “new hearts,” “new relationships” with Holy God?” What about YOUR life?
CHAPTER ONE
“EVIDENCES OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH”
Allow me to lay, I pray, a strong foundation in the very first chapter of the book that I have entitled as “Evidences of Redemptive Faith.” Book Title and Chapter One Title! Why? Because of what I wrote in the introduction about “faith” in many men that has nothing to do with “Redemptive Faith”!
I’m sure I’ve used it in another book or sermon some time ago, but I knew I had to use the statement again in beginning this particular journey! “A true hero of saving faith is a man whose heart’s desire is to honor his Master and Lord and Savior and Redeemer through his awareness that Christ’s work of Redemption is God’s willingness to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth through your repentant heart, becoming God’s gathering of born-again believers whose very lives become God’s Throne on earth!”
But there is a hesitancy in many hearts because, like the publican in Luke 18:13, we know what we have been in the ‘flesh’, so opposite to the nature and character of Christ Jesus! The tax collector said, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.” Jesus then said in Luke 18:14, “I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored.” [New Living Translation or NLT].
Think about the tax collector for a while. Give serious consideration of the awfulness of his occupation as he took advantage of people, even with Roman approval! He easily with governmental approval could take advantage of widows, the poor, the uninformed, and, yes, ‘steal’ from them to enrich himself as well as the government’s requested taxation. Who would ever know he was a ‘crook,’ a ‘thief,’ a ‘robber’ of the general public? HE KNEW!!
Sinful minds and hearts are cruelly equipped to take advantage of people to pump up their own bank accounts without one thought of its evil ways, intent only in enriching themselves at the expense of robbing others!
The Pharisees? One author described them as men “with eyes turned up to heaven with a sanctimonious gaze of hypocrisy,” but not the ‘tax collector’ – the weight of guilt has finally broken down the inner man even to personal despair, fear, and heart-ache! He KNOWS that he IS the SINNER, and he knows he needs the mercy and forgiveness of Holy God.
Are you aware of how many lost people, totally unaware of the evidences of redemptive faith, feel helplessly and hopelessly bound up, enslaved, captured, and cruelly accused by the devil himself of their unworthiness, stifled of any feeling of even ‘fleshly’ importance, convinced by the devil that they are the number one enemy of God and have no place in the gathering of true believers in the Body of Christ known as ‘the church’?
Do you have any understanding of what it means for a life to be totally spiritually bankrupt before Holy God? Are you aware also that at the same time one can be surrounded by people who make ‘professions’ of a faith that have no biblical substance at all – professors of certain ‘religious truths’ (?) someone fabricated but only seen by God as “pretense”?
In Matthew 23:13-16a (NLT) Jesus said: “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. HYPOCRITES! For you won’t let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and you won’t go in yourselves. Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him twice the son of hell as you yourselves are. Blind guides! How terrible it will be for you!”
Divine truth, eternal truth, biblical truth, redemptive truth, will always call for the “laid-down-life” of Christ before Holy God, and if ever, and it does happen, that one or many decide to no more follow His Lordship, disobedience becoming a death sentence spiritually, and they are “walking no more with Jesus,” (John 6:66), making themselves slaves of Satan, and, again, enemies of the love of God and the Cross of Christ!
Oswald Chambers wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.270], “We are apt to lie back and bask in the wonderful experience we have had. If there is one standard in the New Testament revealed by the light of God and you do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding, because it means your conscience does not answer to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you for going on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ or for going back as deserter.”
“Lord, help us! Because there are many without evidences of redemptive faith!” As we begin this journey of examining evidences of redemptive faith, WE MUST BEGIN WITH THE WORDS IN JOHN 3:1-9 WHERE JESUS BEGAN TO DEFINE THE REALITY OF THE “NEW BIRTH”! The Word of God tells us:
After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to speak with Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “we all know that God has sent You to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.”…
Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the kingdom of God.” “What do You mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”…
Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water [the Word] and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don’t be surprised at My statement that you must be born again…
Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” “What do You mean?” Nicodemus asked.
Did Jesus say, “unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God”? That’s John 3:3! In 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 Paul instructs us as to the necessity of the ‘second birth’ when he wrote: “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.’…
But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, and His Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets. No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And God has actually given us His Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us…
When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means…
We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all. How could they? For, ‘Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give Him counsel?’ But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
The older King James Version of Scripture says of 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him.”
Natural man or “new man”? Adamic nature or divine nature? Fleshly driven or Spirit-directed? Temporal or Eternal? Best efforts of human endeavors or blessed by Holy Spirit habitation in us and through us?
In Galatians 6:14-16 [NLT] Paul tells us: “As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead…
It doesn’t make any difference now whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people. May God’s mercy and peace be upon all those who live by this principle. They are the new people of God.”
Confronted by the Resurrected Christ, whether in the Holy Word or through the witness of the Holy Spirit or the spiritual “aliveness” of friends or family, one is brought to the “valley of decision” – allegiance to Christ or devoted to ‘best effort philosophies,’ glorying in the Cross or ‘banking’ on my ‘counterfeit’ interpretation of surrender, understanding without hesitation God’s verdict on my sin and sin nature in its death on the Cross through Christ or void of any view that my sin nailed Jesus to the Cross, captured by the awareness and reality that my ‘sin nature’ placed Jesus as my substitute for the consequences of my sin on that Cruel Cross, nailing my old sin-natured man with Him at Calvary, God identifying “me” with His suffering, pain, and death, OR ignoring any interest in Jesus’ “shed-blood-sacrifice” to atone for my sin?
“New birth” is “new life” as the gift of God’s love, grace, and mercy! “New birth” is the “new day oneness with God Himself” with His Promise of Eternal Presence and Eternal Blessings! “New birth” is the declaration of one whose life was crucified with Christ, “and your real life is hidden with Christ in God”! Glory!
Oh, and then Paul said in Colossians 3:4, “And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.” What an amazing revelation!
“Natural man” or REAL LIFE IN CHRIST? “Life-enslaved attempts” or CHRIST-FREEING ATONEMENT? In David Wilkerson’s book entitled “Victory Over Sin and Self,” in his introduction he wrote: “This book is for those seeking true peace of mind and freedom from a life-controlling evil. Even swingers have to face their lonely selves after the music stops. When the bars and discos close, the blues come rolling in. And for millions, Sundays are real downers. Somewhere along the line, the truth about ourselves has to be faced.”
And ‘the truth about ourselves’? “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And through Christ’s shed blood your sins are washed away, the old life put to death on His Cross, and His Resurrection Life abiding in and through your “new man”!
SECOND TRUTH OF EVIDENCES OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH? WE RECEIVE THE MIND OF CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT TO EXPLAIN TO US WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW!
In 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 God’s Word trains us: “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.’…
But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, and His Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets. No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And God has actually given us His Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us…
When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit…
It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all. How could they? For, ‘Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give Him counsel?’…
But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” [I don’t mind at all saying to you that, more likely than not, one’s lack of understanding of God’s will and God’s Word for a life is because of the absence of the Holy Spirit, revealing the need of the “new birth”! The inner presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life is evidence of “new birth” and God’s provision of the Spirit to guide us in all of God’s revealed Holy Truths! His absence? “You must be born again!”
THIRD TRUTH OF EVIDENCES OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH? ONE UNDERSTANDS THE SPIRITUAL NUTRITION OF THE WORD OF GOD AS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY IN ONE’S DAILY DIET!
Isn’t it amazing to you? As Jesus began His public ministry, the devil came to Him, challenging Jesus. And in Matthew 4:4 Jesus told the devil, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People need more than bread [physical bread] for their life; they must feed on every word of God.’”
Thank God for ‘fathers of the faith’ like Paul who poured out his spiritual journey to others, like Timothy! In 2 Timothy 3:12-17 Paul wrote: “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will go on deceiving others, and they themselves will be deceived…
But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive that salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus…
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.”
It was Spurgeon who preached: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol.7, p.149, Memorial Library], “He who takes the naked word of Christ to be the basis of his hope, stands on a rock while all other ground is sinking sand.”
“Nominal ‘Christians’, ‘professing believers,’ ‘self-assertive church members,’ ‘self-indulgent, self-righteous’ church crowds whose “righteousness” definitely exceeds the righteousness of the Old and New Testament scribes and Pharisees but absent of Jesus’ imputed, imparted, implanted divine righteousness, vowed their loyalty to the ‘church’ but have no understanding at all of the crucified, resurrected, victorious life God’s Word reveals’!
If a supernatural revival is needed today in America, and it is urgently needed, God must super-impose in all church crowds a massive, moving, mountain-ascending hunger for His Holy Word! When the Holy Word of God tells us in Luke 11:28, Jesus replying to a woman talking to Him about God blessing His mother, He responded: “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Blessed are the Word-hungry, blessed are the obedient to the Word, blessed are those true disciples who live daily with the attitude, “His Word – my command, His Word-my daily bread, His Word – my eternal spiritual sustenance, His Word – my shout of Victory as I see the “walls of Jericho” coming down, His Word – my freedom from fleshly prisons of the spirit-man, His Word – my principality and power of Heaven’s divine order, His Word – my never-ending prescription to transform one’s self-effort to divine occupancy, sin-sickness to Holy Health in the fullness of His grace, mercy, and divine power, His Word – God’s eternal healing for our sick world’s disturbing pain and distressing shamelessness.”
Adam ‘lost us’ but the Word says, “Jesus found us;” Adam ‘hid us’ but the Word says “Jesus uncovered our hidden identities;” Adam ‘betrayed’ God’s calling but the Word tells us Jesus entrusted Himself in us; Adam, by his sin, blinded us all but the Word tells us Jesus gives us new vision; Adam escorted all mankind to a dark valley of oblivion to Divine Truth, hidden away in graves of deceit, unbelief, and spiritual death but the Word tells us that “Jesus came that we might have LIFE and have it abundantly!”
In John 14:15-21 our Lord tells us all about the vital importance of His Word, God’s Holy Word, the Sacred Scriptures, and how we all should be [being] obeying it! It says:
“If you love Me, obey My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads you into all truth. The world at large cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him, and doesn’t recognize Him…
But you do, because He lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans – I will come to you. In just a little while the world will not see Me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you…
Those who obey My commandments are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal Myself to each one of them.” And that Eternal Truth has not changed!
At 79 years of age, as of June 12, 2015, since early childhood in Sunday School and church, the Word of God has been my faithful guide. Psalm 119:9-19 tells us:
“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying Your Word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find You – don’t let me wander from Your commands…
I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your principles. I have recited aloud all the laws You have given us. I have rejoiced in Your decrees as much as in riches…
I will study Your commandments and reflect on Your ways. I will delight in Your principles and not forget Your word. Be good to Your servant, that I may live and obey Your word…
Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your law. I am but a foreigner here on earth; I need the guidance of Your commands. Don’t hide them from me!”
FOURTH TRUTH OF EVIDENCES OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH? “THAT IS TO LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD WITH ALL OF OUR MIND, HEART, SOUL, AND STRENGTH, AND TO REACH OUT TO TOUCH OUR WORLD WITH GOD’S GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE, AS JESUS TOUCHED US, TRANSFORMED US, TOOLED US, AND TRIUMPHANTLY TABERNACLED IN US FOR THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF REACHING OTHERS THROUGH US!”
In the spiritual journey of faith we’re not alone but so blessed with His Holy Presence, empowered by His Holy Spirit, watched over by God our Father, and motivated by His eternal desire to touch our world through us, and instructed, equipped, and trained us as a missionary in a world desperately needing God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Mighty Holy Spirit – the Blessed “Three In One”!
In Romans 8:27-30 Paul unveiled further our eternal partnership with God in His evidences of Redemptive Faith. He wrote: “And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them…
For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And He gave them right standing with Himself, and He promised them His glory.”
Are you aware God has a plan for every true believer’s life, calling, mission, and ministry? Do you understand God KNOWS YOUR NAME, YOUR IDENTITY, and He certainly knows HIS OWN ETERNAL DESIGN IN HIS BLUEPRINT OF YOUR LIFE, JOURNEY, AND MINISTRY?
There is not a believer, a born-again believer, anywhere on our planet who exists without Eternal Intention! God knows YOU, God has equipped YOU, God has empowered YOU, and God has promised YOU His glory, His honor, His eternal ministry – and if YOU are in Christ and Christ is in YOU, your circumstances of existence are ordained of God to uniquely work through you to touch your world with mercy and grace and love.
‘Happen-chance’ is a language that God does not speak! But our Lord clearly understands “ordained by God”! Oh, ‘coming upon you unexpectedly,’ from your point of view, can surely occur, but God is faithful in expediting His eternal mission through your life!
In fact, Romans 8:28 in the older King James Version of Scripture says, “All things work together for good to them that love God” – and I would assume if love of God is absent that ‘all things’ for you could be good, bad, insignificant, if you’re the master of your own destiny! But if God Himself sits on His Throne IN YOU, then hold on, get ready, be prepared, because Heaven is about to break loose in you and through you to His honor, glory, and praise!
In 1 Thessalonians 3:2-6 Paul had sent Timothy on an important mission. What is God saying to you as you read this Holy Word? “and we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our co-worker for God and our brother in proclaiming the Good News of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith, and to keep you from becoming disturbed by the troubles you were going through…
But, of course, you know that such troubles are going to happen to us Christians. Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come – and they did, as you well know. That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the Tempter had gotten the best of you and that all our work had been useless…
Now Timothy has just returned, bringing the good news that your faith and love are as strong as ever. He reports that you remember our visit with joy and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you.”
Holy servants of Christ live daily with divine opportunities to touch their world with God’s grace. Oswald Chambers called all Christian workers as “a sacramental ‘go-between,’ to be so identified with his Lord and the reality of His Redemption that He can continually bring His creating life through him.”
Are you available to Jesus for His faithful ministry through you to others? It was George Eliot who once wrote: “It is vain thought to flee from the work God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found – in loving obedience.”
I close this first chapter with words from Christina Georgina Rossetti’s “From House to House”:
“Although today He prunes my twigs with pain, Yet does His blood nourish and warm my root; Tomorrow I shall put forth buds again and clothe myself with fruit.”
Are YOU acquainted with “the fruit of the Spirit?”
CHAPTER TWO
“LIBERTY IN CHRIST OR A LICENSE TO SIN?”
It’s really amazing when you come to John 8 and read about Jesus talking to those who “believed in Him.” Verses 31-48 says, Then 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 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 and said to Jesus, “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 has 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 you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell you 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.”…
Then the Jews answered Him and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
“Liberty in Christ Or A License to Sin?” You do understand that in a lot of churches across America today, and, yes, even across the vast world of ours, there are those who publicly teach and believe that “Christians” can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven!
I just pray you hear Jesus for yourself saying, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” He does sin and he keeps on sinning, he does sin and he keeps on sinning, he does sin and he keeps on sinning – that’s the nature of a man who has fallen away from God, regardless of his ‘profession’!
In 2 Peter 2 Peter has been illuminating “the danger of false teachers” as we read Verses 12-22: “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
And will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.
They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; [Numbers 22]; but he was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’”
John 8:34? Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”
Would you dare consider slavery and bondage to a government that spurns God Almighty? And yet, the majority of our world is enslaved to godless governments – with or without people’s approval! Would you dare even look at or examine ‘religious traditions’ that have no relevance to revealed truth? Just think about those unreservedly committed to an Old Testament tradition that has already been fulfilled in the Resurrected Life of Christ!
Has ‘self-righteousness’ played a role in the bondage and slavery of men to themselves and what their ‘flesh’ dictates? Have you ever considered, thought about, entertained, dealt with the demonic bondage you’ve been a part of your whole life up until now? If you didn’t know it, Satan owns you and comes after you every day to fulfill his godless purposes!
In Job 1:6-22 we read: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the works of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away – indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
You do realize, you know, that every individual without the Lord and Savior in their hearts and minds, belong to Satan and the powers of darkness – they are enslaved, they’re bound with spiritual chains they can’t even see, and are imprisoned by him in a “slavish” state obeying the dictates of their ‘lord’ and ‘master’!
What about the real bondage and slavery to unbelief of the historic Christ and His able-ness to forgive you, set you free, and to fulfill God’s eternal destiny of your life? Enslaved to godless governments, enslaved, yes, even to some religious traditions, to ‘self-righteousness,’ to demonic bondage; what did Jesus say in Mark 4:15? “The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the message, but SATAN COMES AT ONCE AND TAKES IT AWAY FROM THEM.” Bondage then – bondage now!
In 1 Timothy 5:15 Paul spoke of some “professors” who had no true possession of the title deed of their lives to place in Jesus’ hands: “For some have already turned aside after Satan.”
In Isaiah 61:1-3 the prophet informs us of Sovereign God’s eternal plan as he speaks of the Coming Messiah: “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.”
Do you truly understand ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom’? Without a doubt it is the liberty and freedom to totally ignore God and make a mess of your life and surroundings with a sad eternal consequence or the liberty and freedom to let God in Christ Jesus have His way in your life forever!
I found William Cowper’s statement to be so fundamentally true. He said: “To die for the truth is not to die merely for one’s faith or one’s country; it is to die for the world. Their blood shed is shed in confirmation of the noblest claim – the claim TO FEED UPON IMMORTAL TRUTH, TO WALK WITH GOD, AND BE DIVINELY FREE.” And if you didn’t know, Satanic freedom is greater bondage and enslavement! But (John 8:36), “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Liberty or liberated or liberation or freedom – tremendous words for every man regardless of his residence or rank or realm! That relates to personal liberty, national liberty, or even marital liberty in the sense that mates don’t enslave but free a partner to become highest in God’s determination for a husband or a wife in the mutual submission in the very fear of God!
Liberty or freedom is best understood as a person who has truly been in bondage in his/her past but who now is no longer in the chains of relationships but free and certainly able to respond to God for every choice that one makes.
Liberty or freedom is clearly revealed as the defense of the freedom of discovery of who God intends that man/woman to be and intends for that man/woman to do what honors God the most through his/her life, even at the point of suffering, or sacrifice, or the choice of death to himself/herself in every circumstance or situation.
But you ask: “What is liberty?” It is the eternal license of Heaven to honor God in submission and obedience. Bondage comes when the sin nature reigns, disobedience is the constant of one’s life, and a phony license of satisfying one’s ‘flesh’ or ‘old sin nature’ is a constant and even favored by the fallen majority.
I’m telling you without hesitation: one of the most God-honoring things a man can do is to shed his own blood in behalf of divine truth, in behalf of the all-out commitment to walk with God, and to exemplify freedom even as one is crucified for the redemptive faith in Christ alone!
Liberty in Christ overrules, let’s say, ‘freedom in America to determine one’s destiny’; there are literally millions in our nation who experience degrees of political freedom but are in bondage concerning their sin natures and rebellion towards the God who made them, lost them, and bought them with a price! Divine freedom, spiritual freedom, is so far superior to one’s political freedom. In fact, for a true believer, a loving smile will even be extended to his executioner as his head is chopped off! That’s true freedom and heavenly liberty!
What did Isaiah say, again, in Isaiah 61:1? “He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.”
Alexander Maclaren, in his “Expositions of Holy Scripture,” [Vol.10,John 1-10,p.349], said: “But when once you get to understand the depths of your own need, and the depths of your brother’s need, then nothing less than the Christ who died to solve the problem, insoluble else, of how to emancipate the soul and the world from the tyranny of sin, will be enough for you.”
John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” In Romans 6:15-18 we read: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that THOUGH YOU WERE SLAVES OF SIN, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. AND HAVING BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN, you became slaves of righteousness.”
There’s no greater word in the English language than the word “free” – and there’s no greater man on earth than the man who spends his life for the freedom of others. That’s Jesus!
Governmental bondage is for those who see no significance to the Godly-rule whose leadership is spiritual freedom that cares about, commits to, and continually seeks after setting captives free! And I firmly believe eternal honor is given to those who expend their lives to free others from the chains of civil bondage and are committed to seeing that men are possessing and enjoying God-given rights. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and blessing is not intended to be a USA only principle!
The chains of religious superstitions and demonic philosophies are violations of the very nature and character of God Himself! There are dark and deadly influences that will overshadow, shut down, oppress, and even enslave sincere but unsuspecting souls who are not rooted and grounded in God’s Holy Word!
The bondage of carnal desires and instinctive, fleshly, sin-anointed inclinations are abundant, taking one further downward than he/she already is, blackening the heart more, corrupting the mind unmercifully, rotting one more and more with the bad fruit of a deadly spiritual virus and disease, enslaving one more and more and more with the devil’s yoke of bondage.
But have you also become aware of the “time-bomb” of self-reformation and self-improvement and self-adulation as one promotes himself/herself and pats one’s back for that ‘fleshly’ accomplishment? Transformation is God’s business alone – ‘flesh’ improvement is the devil’s corner of our world! “Born again” is Jesus’ miracle of grace and mercy – acceptance by an unbelieving world is Satan’s push through you of his prominence and perversions and demonic pride.
Also, what about chained to the hurts and pains of the past? And one refuses to deal with it, expose it to the Light, forgive it through the Savior’s blood, and find reconciliation where needed? Some just blame God and never consider that their pains of their past was a ‘masterpiece’ of the devil himself! The devil is a ‘master-strategist’ and he knows how to capture, deceive, and embitter folks, certainly promoting unforgiveness and promoting ‘self-protection’ against what pains you, not realizing or knowing that exposure of past hurts can be Heaven’s help in holy healing!
Far more and deeper darkness and greater bondage is one’s, yes, ignorance of his/her spiritual death before God! It’s clear: Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…!” But how many do you know who would laugh at you because you quote them God’s Truth, and then pass you off as a religious ‘freak’? Others know their spiritual depravity, their present awareness of “guilty before Holy God”, and sense for themselves a spirit of hopelessness – “God’s love can’t be that extreme and unlimited to forgive me!” Here’s the Truth:
1 John 1:5-10 declares: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that 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.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Again, John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The Son? That’s the Son of God! That’s Emmanuel, ‘God with us’! That’s Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, who willingly chose the Cross for Himself for our Redemption and our Release!
There’s no true freedom apart from Christ Jesus! The highest intellectual, the most brilliant scholar, is destined for the emptiness of divine recognition without Christ as Savior and Lord of his life! Self-effort righteousness is vain, slaps God in the face, and is a curse upon one’s life while Sovereign-implanted righteousness in Christ is one’s saving grace, Masterful mercy, and eternal likeness, liberty, and the loving stamp of God’s approval and our God-like identification!
Do you even understand your redemption and freedom and liberty was planned by God even before the world was created? In Revelation 13:8 we read, “All who dwell on the earth will worship, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the LAMB SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
There’s several vital Truths I want to emphasize before I close this chapter. ONE, YOUR SALVATION SOVEREIGNLY PLANNED, PERSONALLY IMPLEMENTED, AND WILLINGLY CHOSEN BY JESUS WHO IS THE ETERNAL LAMB OF GOD! Isaiah 53:4-10 tells us,
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was lead as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked – but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”
TWO, YOUR SALVATION SACRIFICIALLY PURCHASED! In 1 Peter 1:18-24 we read, “KNOWING that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”
Listen to Spurgeon!! [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.8,p.201]: “You go free (clear of your sin debt) because He bore your burden (your sin-burden and guilt) for you. See Him bear His agony – ‘crushed beneath the millstone of the law, till all His head, His hair, His garments bloody be.’ See Him yonder, dragged to Pilate’s hall, bound, whipped like a common felon, scourged like a murderer, and dragged away by hell-hounds through the streets, fastened by those cruel fetters which went through His flesh to the accursed wood! See Him yielding up His liberty to the dungeon of death! There the Mighty One sleeps in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Dearly did He purchase with His own bondage the liberty which He so freely gives.”
THIRD, YOUR SALVATION SWEETLY PRESENTED! In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus, Lord and Savior, speaks to us ALL: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus doesn’t come to you with a big stick but with open arms! He doesn’t come in anger but with mercy and grace! He doesn’t come in an accusatory tone but with holy admiration and heavenly love. He sees us as slaves to the world’s darkness and offers us His Eternal Light, He sees us imprisoned in the chains of sin and death and offers us forgiveness, freedom, and a forever relationship.
He comes to us and knocks on our hearts’ door because the truth is, no man has ever sought God on his own merit but only because of the Master’s mercy! That man in the deepest darkness of a hellish existence, alienated and separated from God, is offered an open door to Heaven, an eternal relationship with the Son of Light, and, yes, given us a mission responsibility of touching the unworthy around us with God’s Calvary Love!
FOURTH, YOUR SALVATION IS A PRESENT POSSESSION! There’s an interesting verse that David gave us when in Psalm 27:4 he said, “The one thing I ask of the Lord – the thing I seek most – is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in His Temple.”
But a new day has dawned, a new event has occurred, a new residence has been established by God – and your redeemed, regenerated, re-made, restored to eternal intent body, has actually become the Temple of the Lord, His earthly dwelling place, His, yes, desired residence on this earth – and it’s IN YOU as a redeemed son or daughter of God!
Examine 1 Corinthians 3:16-17! “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
Do you receive God’s Eternal Truth? Do you walk in it? Does Holy Scripture guide your life? Listen to 2 Corinthians 6:16-18! “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD! As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” In Ephesians 2:22 Paul reminds us, “in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Does the “building inspector” put His ‘OK’ on your life?
FIFTH, YOUR SALVATION IS A PERFECT PARDON! I love what Paul wrote to us and the Philippian church when he said in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Do you understand, live by, grasp the truth every day that Holy God is, does, and will complete His good work in you, and that, really, His perfect pardon inspires YOU more and more to honor and bless the Holy One who has touched you with His grace and mercy and called you: ‘another son, another daughter, just like My Eternal Son, Jesus Christ’?
In Matthew 18:3 Jesus clearly said: “I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“A perfect pardon”? That’s as a baby, a growing infant, a maturing child is totally dependent upon his parents, so our perfect pardon is our Lord and Savior overseeing our lives of faith as we grow and mature in Him – we’re birthed in the Kingdom as if we’ve already finished the race – He sees us as “complete in Christ” lacking nothing!
A hardened, godless heart, encountering Christ and surrendering to His Lordship and His salvation as the Promised Messiah and Savior, finds a new heart of total
Tenderness and love, like a stony heart that now beats with the heart-beat of Christ every moment since the moment of divi9ne conversion!
It was John Keats, in his “Letter to J.H. Reynolds,” who said: “There is an awful warmth about my heart like a load of immortality.” That’s so amazing, so true, and so encouraging and uplifting!
Hear the Word! “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY!” What does the Holy Word say to us? “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Maybe these newly composed words will encourage and inspire you:
“Free from bondage because Christ paid the price, Free from the devil because our Lord broke his chains, Free to live victoriously because it’s King Jesus who reigns…
From God’s throne grace reigns, and Jesus shed His blood and there is remission; Because He paid the price of sin and death, there’s no condemnation – He’s given us a perfecting salvation…
His glorious calling will never be amended because Jesus’ sacrifice was holily attended – blood shed, LIFE DIED, but in God’s power our Lord was resurrected…
Self-effort is vain and always the same, but Jesus in His sacrifice glorified God’s Name; though troubled by the Cross He never saw it as His loss, but lifted up, He drank the cup of suffering and death to clothe us in God’s amazing grace.”
In John 11:25-26 Jesus told Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
There are such blessed, inspired, heart-warming words that Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:3-6! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials…”
Follow Alexander Maclaren’s words in his “Exposition of Holy Scriptures”: [ John 1-14, pps.349-350], “And, brethren, just as the ignoring of the fact of sin makes the real understanding of Christ and His word impossible, so it makes the real reception of Him for ourselves impossible. Many men are brought near to Jesus by other roads; thank God for it! There are a thousand ways to the Cross, but it is the Cross that we must clasp, if any in true sense we are to clasp Christ. And there is all the difference between the superficial, partial, and easy-going profession of Christianity which is so common among us today, and the life-and-death clutching and clinging to Him which comes when, and only when, a man feels that the tyrant whom he served as a slave is close behind him, and that his only chance of freedom is to hold fast by the horns of the altar of the sanctuary, and to cleave to the Christ in whom, and by whom alone, we are free indeed.”
1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily” – Is that YOUR testimony? 2 Corinthians 1:9, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”
What did Paul tell us in Galatians 5:1? “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage.”
Many years ago Samuel Francis Smith wrote the song, “America”. One of the verses says: “Long may our land be bright With freedom’s holy light; Protect us by Your might, Great God, our King.”
Freedom! It’s “the pearl of great price” given to us by Christ alone through His shed blood at the Cross – and through the Cross, we’re set free to be free to choose daily to live only in and through His Resurrection Life and Hope!
CHAPTER THREE
“UNFORGIVENESS-UNFORGIVEN OR TRUE FAITH AND FOREVER FORGIVENESS”
It sounds like an extremely harsh title of a sermon or teaching, but His Word is truth and that is what His people are to stand upon. And I’m convinced, whether husband and wife, pastor and people, employer and employee, friend to friend, God’s Word is clear.
Come first to Matthew 6:12, 14-15! Get ready! Verse 12, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Verses 14-15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Please look at the nature and character of Christ as you read Luke 23:33-34, “And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Sinless Jesus nailed to a Cross as a common criminal, but He said, “Father, forgive them.’” Holy Jesus, crucified as an unholy man, but He says, “Father forgive them.” Pure Jesus brutalized as an impure sinner, but He says, “Father, forgive them.”
There are some things you must wrestle with and come to a clear understanding about: Forgiveness is far better for any man than bank accounts filled with earthly riches – especially the forgiveness of God – but unforgiveness is self-imposed personal bankruptcy!
Forgiveness is of the spirit and nature of God Himself, while unforgiveness reveals the frailty and failures of fallen flesh. Forgiveness is a revelation of the indwelling nature and character of Christ, while unforgiveness is the unveiling of the malignant sick nature of “the old man”, the “first Adam,” “The fallen sinner” at odds with God Himself.
Forgiveness is freedom in and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, while unforgiveness is the living picture of a despairing soul, locked in a self-imposed cage of vanity and vindictiveness.
Forgiveness is peace and the portrait of the indwelling Christ, while unforgiveness is an enslaved, dying sinner, maybe even with sorrow and remorse but dreading to face the prospect of their future because they have an inkling their attitude is horribly wrong and even inexcusable, and even sense a bleak, dark future if things aren’t made right!
I read Spurgeon recently who said, because of unforgiveness: “You will bewail in everlasting misery the mercy that through your willfulness was unavailing.”
Religion without reality is, yes, a professing believer walking without eternal purpose to be conformed to the image of Christ but captured by his old sin nature and willfully walking in unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, resentment, holding grudges and determined to have his selfish way and refuse to bear witness to the spirit of Christ and His saving grace!
Relationships – and it doesn’t matter what the relationship is: marriage, business, church, friend to friend, family member to family member, parent to child or child to parent – relationship is not a matter of winning or losing, BUT…is God glorified in any of this or ‘flesh’ magnified? – what matters is whether or not we decide to walk in the nature and character of Christ and glorify Him in the good and the bad, in the down and the dirty, even ‘flesh’ activity or ‘Spirit’ activity.
Sometimes I wonder if God allows, permits, yes, difficult events or circumstances, to expose us as to how and where and why and with whom we choose to walk: with the forgivers or the unforgivers, flesh folk or Christ’s fullness folk, sweet Jesus or sour grapes? And Lamentations 3:32 gives us a challenging word: “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.”
Oswald Chambers really hit a ‘grand-slam homer’ when he wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.241]: “Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God – God is so loving and kind that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favor is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made for us.”
Hear me! Forgiveness is the testimony of the Cross, the unveiling of the indwelling Christ, and the power that transforms circumstances and sets the captives free!
Unforgiveness denies God, closes the door on eternal relationships, honors the devil, and blemishes the name of Jesus!
I know you’re familiar with Stephen and his prophetic stand and preaching to Israel. Acts 7:51 says, Stephen speaking, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
And remember, they took him out of the city and stoned him, as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then in Acts 7:60 it says that he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
True believers walk in forgiveness. True believers choose the attitude and actions of their Savior and Lord because to do otherwise shames the holy name of Jesus. They’d rather take stones snuffing out the breath of life than deny the Lord’s spirit and grace and mercy.
And the one thing I want you to see out of Stephen’s testimony is its impact on one called Saul of Tarsus. After the stiff-necked Israelites stoned Stephen to death, Acts 7:58 says, “And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Acts 8:1 says, “Now Saul was consenting to his death.”
But then Saul met our Lord on the Damascus Road – he was redeemed, saved, transformed, set aside as a mighty witness of the Faith. In 2 Corinthians 2, the converted Saul, now Paul, had to deal with the church at Corinth in exercising church discipline but then failed to walk in loving forgiveness toward the brother. Look at 2 Corinthians 2:1-11,
“But I determined this within myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent – not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
Does Paul talk about forgiveness exercised in church discipline? You need to realize ‘restoration’ is always God’s intent in the necessity of church discipline.
My wife Sue and I celebrated our 50th anniversary June 10, 2006. Friends from Temple, Texas, came to our celebration and gave us a print that said: “A successful marriage is the union of two great forgivers.” We loved and still love that gift! I’m SURE if I allowed Sue in on the writing of this chapter she’d say: “We never thought about divorce – the word ‘divorce’ was never allowed to be mentioned by any of our four children! But murder? That is on the table!”
Daniel 9:9 says, “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” And that’s true – but don’t stop reading there! Look at Daniel 9:10-13!!
“We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws [His Word], which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.” [Is that a relevant passage for today?]
A number of years ago my son, Scott, and I were in the Phillipines doing pastors’ conferences and on a weekend an open-air crusade right outside Manila in a city park. Before the service our Filipino organizer asked me, “I know you’ll give an evangelistic invitation after your message, but will you also pray for the sick?” And, of course, I said “Yes”.
There were four Americans and four Filipino pastors that formed eight lines to pray for healing grace on the sick. A young mother stood before me after I’d prayed for several others. When she came I said, “Young lady, how can I help you?”
She said, “I’ve been sick for several weeks but I don’t know what it is.” Immediately I heard the Lord say, “Ask her about her husband.” And when I did, I saw the demons manifest all over her – her face began to contort, her teeth began to grind back and forth, anger began to boil over – and she said: “My husband left me and our three children three weeks ago for another woman – and I hate him.”
I said, “Young lady, I’d like to pray for you, but I can’t. God will not heal your sickness by accepting your hatred, bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness.” It rang a bell within her! She said, “What must I do?” And I said, “If you promise me, after I pray, that you’ll go find your husband and ask his forgiveness for your hatred and anger and unforgiveness toward him, I’ll pray for you – and God will heal you.” She said, “Yes”!
I prayed – brokenness came, tears began to flow, Christ Jesus began to be radiated all over her and in her. Though I never saw her again, I believe her new-found spirit and attitude even brought a wayward husband home to a new wife and his three children!
Come to Matthew 18:21-35! “Unforgiveness – Unforgiven!” Read it carefully at least five times! Forgiveness is the heart-cry of Jesus for Peter and all disciples! It’s not an option! I see several vital, important, life-altering truths from the lips of Jesus:
- Forgiveness is without limit! Matthew 18:22 2) God Himself settles accounts – there is a reckoning! Matthew 18:23
3)God calls a ‘spade’ a ‘spade’ and nothing less than what it is! Matthew 18:32, “wicked servant”!
4) There’s things God is ‘angry’ about and unforgiveness is one of them! Matthew 18:34
5) An unforgiving servant of God causes God to deliver that one to ‘the torturers’ – that’s delivered over to the demons, the powers of darkness, for hopefully correction, forgiveness, and a God-honoring life. Matthew 18:34
6) Because of unforgiveness God reinstitutes the debt! Matthew 18:34
7) God gives an unfailing promise – if one does not forgive from his heart his brother, God will not forgive us. Matthew 18:35
It’s important that you see how God uses the Deceiver, yes, the devil, the demons, the powers of darkness to discipline and hopefully bring correction to His own children. Come first to Isaiah 5:24-30:
“Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend as dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them, and the hills trembled.
Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, [“THAT’S THEM – the demons!], and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.
No one will be weary or stumble among them, no one will slumber or sleep; nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken; whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar and lay hold of their prey; they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver.
In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds.” What an awesome passage!
But look also at Isaiah 7:18-19! “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will “WHISTLE” for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Syria. They will come, and all of them will rest in the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all thorns and in all pastures.”
How illuminating is God’s Holy Word!! See if you’ve seen before or witnessed in churches what Job saw in Job 12:16-25! “With Him are strength and prudence. THE DECEIVED AND THE DECEIVER ARE HIS. He leads counselors away plundered, and makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, and binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes [priests, preachers, pastors] away plundered, and overthrows the mighty.
He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations and guides them.
He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.” Oh, God, help us!
One last Scripture: Come with me to Joel 2:4-13, and Verses 25-29! God tells the prophet about a people coming, great and strong, then He tells the prophet what’s coming down the pikes of life! “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.
Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another, every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief.
The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?
Now, therefore, says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.”
Verses 25-29, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust. And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel; I am the Lord your Gods and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
And why is this? What’s the difference between the Isaiah passages we read and the last few verses of Joel we just finished reading?
Because we choose to walk in FORGIVENESS, not unforgiveness; we choose to walk in the Spirit, not futile flesh; we choose to die to sin, not celebrate it as under the blood, so we can live and act and do as we please!
Let me close with an awesome story. I was in Madras, India, now Chennai, India, having finished a pastors’ conference during the week, then preaching on a Sunday morning for the host pastor, Pratap Singh, a graduate of Lee University in my hometown of Cleveland, Tennessee. Pratap is a visionary and our Lord has blessed his ministry phenomenally and powerfully!
I preached that morning on “How Shall We Escape If We Neglect So Great A Salvation?” When I gave the invitation, a man in his mid-forties came forward, absolutely broken, weeping uncontrollably.
As Pratap was taking me to my hotel after the service, I said, “Pratap, tell me about the man who was so broken at the invitation.” He said, “He’s married to one of the ladies in our church with two grown children – 13 years ago he left his wife and children to go to California with a new engineering job. In 13 years he never talked to his wife or children, never sent one dime of support. In that 13-year period he lived in an adulterous relationship.
His wife never ceased to love him or pray for him. She went back to school, finished her degree, became a teacher, taught the children daily to pray for their father, honor him, love him, because one day he was coming home. She taught only love, respect, and confidence in God to hear and answer their prayers.
Pratap then said that last week the husband and father called the wife from the States to see if it was alright for him to come home to see the children. She said, “Oh, yes! They are going to be so happy and pleased that you are coming home. You are most welcome!”
He came – and they received him as if he’d never been away! When he came during our invitation time after I had preached, he told Pastor Pratap, “Please tell me of this Jesus who built such a loving, forgiving heart in my wife and children!” SAVED BY THE GRACE OF GOD – because of a wife who walked in forgiveness!
It was about 12-13 years ago I had returned as interim pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, Winter Haven, Florida. I told Pratap’s story. Next morning my fishing buddy and I had launched our boat in a prime lake for big bass. I was ready to catch my lunker. About 30 minutes into our fishing extravaganza, I heard crying in the back of the boat!
“Bob, what’s the problem?” Bob Davidson said, “Pastor, I heard that story yesterday – I haven’t spoken to my 80-year-old-father in over a year. Sorry, but we’ve got to go in – I need to be forgiven and reconciled to my father!” We did – and he did – and God was honored!
Have you seen the picture? Unforgiveness – unforgiven! Forgiveness – forgiven! What will YOU do?
CHAPTER FOUR
“ABOUNDING MISERY AND CHAOS OR ADVOCACY PEACE AND BLESSING?”
I really don’t know for sure the public’s response to the Scripture I’m about to share, but I sense in my inner man an awful rejection of the Scripture. It comes from John 3:36 when John said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
I’d personally say that what we’ve just read is a frightening and future event that you’d think most people would like to avoid! “The wrath of God abides on him!”
In Jeremiah 45:5 our Lord spoke: “And do you speak great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord, “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”
The last part of that verse reminds me of “I must decrease – He must increase.” But the first part is about those who have not believed, trusted in, or relied upon, will not believe, and, as a result, the wrath of God abides on him.
“Abounding Misery and Chaos or Advocacy Peace and Blessing?” Jeremiah 32:38-40 speaks of those who enter an everlasting covenant with Holy God. It says: “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.”
But I want you to know that much or most of what Jeremiah wrote, he did so from behind prison bars! His devotion to Truth and its Author cost him dearly! At the very same time as he was writing from behind bars God was at work establishing the door to Advocacy Peace and Blessing! In fact, Jeremiah 33:30 tells us, God speaking to Jeremiah, and us, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Jeremiah didn’t know and never would know if Almighty God had not opened his door of understanding to “Advocacy Peace and Blessing” – he would have, as most men, only known “Abounding Misery and Chains.”
Godless, the majority of men know only “abounding misery and chaos,” while the few, broken by Holy God, discover “advocacy peace and blessing.” Show me a man of peace and eternal blessing and I’ll show you a man who’s been to the Cross of Calvary, to the very Cross of our Lord’s crucifixion!
It’s not a reason to rejoice at all, but in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul wrote: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the [exact] image of God, should shine on them.”
A ‘veiled gospel’ that has erupted in “abounding misery and chaos” and they don’t even know they are enveloped by it? Death is already at work in them!
Do you understand someone speaking of “a soul as base as mine”? That’s a picture of one “abounding in misery and chaos” who know nothing about amazing grace and eternal peace through Christ alone! They know and understand the paralysis of sin and the pulverizing power of a dead conscience, basically powerless to believe in Christ’s shed blood of the Atonement shed fully at Calvary’s Cross! Their own sin overpowers divine grace [or they choose that position] and fills them only with despair because they are turned totally inward! It’s as if the powers of darkness instill within unbelievers a deadly disease called ‘sin’ that breeds despondency, discouragement, doubts and fears, and cements their minds with lies that God Himself couldn’t help them, and all of a sudden they seem to be emotionally, rationally, and mentally paralyzed with hopelessness.
But if Jesus says, and He does, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,” what He did 2000 years ago, He still does today! But people who are ‘heavy laden’ are acutely anguished, body, soul, and spirit, and add more ‘weights’ trying to overcome on their own with their burden of sin growing stronger with despair and discouragement intensifying.
Have you heard the defiant to ‘saving faith’? “If I try harder, I’ll find the peace I’m looking for.” “If I earn my place on an athletic team, I’ll quiet my demons.” “If I earn a lot of money, everything will be OK.” “If I make a name for myself, I’ll adjust the mental, moral, and spiritual problems.” “If I stay busy, busy, I won’t have time to worry, worry, doubt, doubt, or be afraid, afraid.”
Above all, they want to ignore God’s knock at the door of their heart. They want to totally shut out any references to the Cross and Christ’s shed blood. They want to refute the necessity of repentance and faith because that speaks of accountability before Holy God!
Opposite of self-effort and fleshly intent to be an overcomer of sin and death in and through one’s self is Jesus as He faced the judgment of unbelievers and the Cross, praying to the Father in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” So true, because every willful sin represents the nails in our Lord’s body!
In fact, in Matthew 24:12, Jesus said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” But ‘cold-hearted’ people need to know that the Holy Word of God tells us, in Romans 5:20, “…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” Verse 21, “so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And I believe that our Lord is telling us that the person who is the furtherest throw away from God is His target with the arrow of grace, mercy, and love – and though they’ve abounded in misery and chaos, our God is ABLE through advocacy peace and blessing, to birth new life, new hope, new purpose, with God glorifying Himself through a transformed sinner to a Heavenly saint!
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 speaks so clearly, hopefully, and powerfully about those who had abounded in misery and chaos, sinners separated, bound, hopeless – but they meet the Resurrected Christ and are ‘comforted’ by God! It says:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God…
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation…
And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”
Abounding misery or Advocacy Peace? Abounding chaos or Advocacy Blessing? Tribulation or consolation? Trouble or comfort? Hopelessness or steadfastness? Sufferings or eternal salvation? Bondage or liberty and freedom? A sin-bound life of death and separation or sainthood by the Life and oneness with Christ? A paralysis of sin and guilt or the pleasure of forgiveness and freedom through our bondage-breaker, Jesus?
And the amazing, life-changing truth? Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Do you long for the Lord’s nearness to you? In Psalm 34:18 David said: “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite (or crushed) spirit.” David didn’t stop there but went on to say in Verse 19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Advocacy peace and blessing reigns supreme! Years ago Andrae Crouch wrote and sang the song entitled “Through It All.” It’s a spiritual classic! It says:
“I’ve had many tears and sorrows, I’ve had questions for tomorrow, there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong…But in every situation, God gave me blessed consolation, that my trials come to only make me strong…
I’ve been to lots of places, I’ve seen a lot of faces, there’s been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus lets me know that I was His own…
I thank God for the mountains, and I thank God for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I’d never had a problem, I wouldn’t know God could solve them, I’d never know what faith in God could do…
Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God…Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”
No doubt this is why David wrote in Psalm 32:7, “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” Do you believe, trusted in, relied upon, adhere to the Living Lord, experiencing the reality of the God who “gives songs in the night”?
Reading through Acts recently I came across Acts 16:25. “But at midnight Paul and Silas [imprisoned] were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
I’m telling you: Dark nights are our opportunities for “songs of light”! A night of sorrow may be your hallowed moment of Holy Presence like you’ve never known before! It may be in “the dark” when your enemies come to arouse and threaten you, but then Holy God steps in in the Light of His Glorious Presence! It may be a dark night of fear and doubt but Holy Truth raises you above it! It may be a dark night of worrisome anxiety but Holy Peace stands up in Holy Promises! And the dark night becomes your “song of light”!
Out of “The Mourning Bride,” William Congreve wrote: “What do the damned endure, but to despair?” Despair or to delight, sorrow or to celebrate, assaulted by the powers of darkness and the enemies of God or to be affirmed by our Advocate of peace and blessing?
It was John Calvin, in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” who wrote: “God foreordained for His own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.” Are you the “called” or the “cursed”?
Can you believe it? Jesus dared to say, [Matthew 23:33], “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” I love what Thomas Scott once wrote when he said: “No affliction nor temptation, no guilt nor power of sin, no wounded spirit nor terrified conscience, should induce us to despair of help and comfort from God.”
Why? How? Who? Because His Word says: “Whosoever will may come.” That tells me of God’s pardon and forgiveness, not of His penalty and unforgiveness! What does Revelation 22:17 tell us? And the Spirit and the Bride say “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Acts 2:21 tells us, “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And how could even one resist the words of Jesus in John 11:25-26? “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” “Believe”? That means “trust in,” “rely upon,” “adhere to!!” Is that YOUR testimony of belief and trust and surrender to His Lordship? Do you really have a mind and heart yielded and trusting in Him?
It was Horace Bushnell who said, “Trust God for great things: with your five loaves and two fishes, He will show you a way to feed thousands.”
ABOUNDING MISERY AND CHAOS OR ADVOCACY PEACE AND BLESSING? I’m sure you understand that a Christ-less life is a life of continual, addictive sin but when we come to Christ as Lord we hear Him say, “Go and sin no more.”
But the beloved John tells us in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” John then said in Verse 6, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked,” and He never walked in sin but He went to the Cross to die for your sin and mine!
And before Father-God we see Jesus, our advocate, representing us before Him because of our faith and trust in our Lord and Savior’s atoning work in our behalf as our “legal attorney”!
I don’t know who wrote it but the words are so encouraging: “We have listened to the preacher – Truth by him has now been shown; But we want a Greater Teacher, from the everlasting throne: APPLICATION is the work of God alone.”
In 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11 there’s powerful statements of encouragement by Paul. It says: “You are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of the night nor the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober…
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation…
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
Both the above Scripture and words by Spurgeon really challenge all true believers of their personal ministries! Spurgeon said: “As the spiritual guide of the flock of God along the intricate mazes of experience, it is the duty of the gospel minister to point out every turning of the road to heaven, to speak concerning its dangers or its privileges, and to warn any whom he may suspect to be in a position peculiarly perilous. Now, there is a portion of the road which leads from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, which has in it, perhaps, more dangers than any other portion of the way. It does not abound with lions; there are no dragons in it; it has no dark woods, and no deep pitfalls; yet more seeming pilgrims have been destroyed in that portion of the road than anywhere else, and not even Doubting Castle, with all its hosts of bones, can show so many who have been slain there. It is a part of the road called Enchanted Ground. The great geographer, John Bunyan, well pictured it when he said:
‘I then saw in my dream that they went on till they came into a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it…’And here Hopeful began to be very dull, and heavy of sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up my eyes; let us lie down here, and take one nap…
‘Christian’: By no means, said the other, lest sleeping, we never awake more.
‘Hope’: Why, my brother? Sleep is sweet to the laboring man; we may be refreshed if we take a nap…
‘Christian’: Do you not remember that one of the shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground? He meant by that, that we should beware of sleeping; wherefore, ‘let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”
And Spurgeon went on to speak “concerning the condition of the majority of churches in the present day.” He said, “they are lying down on the settles of LUKEWARMNESS, in the Arbors of the Enchanted Ground. There is not that activity and zeal we could wish to see among them; they are not, perhaps, notably heterodox; they may not be invaded by the lion of persecution, but they are somewhat worse than that – they are lying down to slumber, like HEEDLESS and TOO-BOLD in the Arbor of Sloth. May God grant that His servants may be the means of arousing the church from its lethargy, and stirring it up from its slumbers, lest haply professors should sleep the sleep of death.”
What was the verse that inspired that? 1 Thessalonians 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober [self-controlled].”
Advocacy peace and blessing does not breed abounding misery and chaos – but sin and self-abandonment to sin does just that! Sin and self-abandonment to sin breeds a person so insensitive to the things of God, making a person so subject to satanic deception, breeding spiritual paralysis concerning the things of God, and depriving one of true security but basically spiritually producing one so insecure of who he is and what he’s about! But I pray, not YOU, as you read this writing!
CHAPTER FIVE
“WORLD PHILOSOPHERS OR WILLFUL PROMOTION BY GOD”?
There’s an interesting couple of verses for you to examine carefully as you look at Psalm 75:6-7 where the psalmist says: “For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge; He puts down one, and sets up another.”
In Psalm 147:6 it speaks of God’s Word AND His providence: “The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.” All world philosophers are not “wicked”, but the majority are “too smart in themselves” to ever see God as necessary in their lives!
Didn’t Paul tell us 2000 years ago, in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ”?
Acts 17:16-21 is about philosophical “new things” in opposition to the Eternal Truths of God. Follow it: Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit provoked him when he saw that the city was given over to idols…
Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there…
Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection…
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”
And if you follow it carefully, you’ll discern that ‘world philosophies’ are devotion to “wise things” that really have nothing to do with the heart – it’s all mental and divorced from the spiritual nature of fallen men!
Participants in world culture of which we all are a part does not mean we deny Him but affirm, surrender, and yield to our Lord and Savior who IS the King of kings and Lord of lords! It doesn’t mean we’re “not at home” unless we sell our souls as the majority of the world, but we recognize our “worldly home” is in need of God’s grace, mercy, and love.
World philosophers or willful promotion by God Himself! Read carefully Oswald Chambers in his writing, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [pps.175-176], “Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount of God. If you don’t obey the light, it will turn into darkness. ‘If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness!’ The second you waive the question of sanctification [it means: ‘set apart to the glory of God only’!] or any other thing upon which God gives you light, you begin to get dry rot in your spiritual life. Continually bring the truth out into actuality; work it out in every domain, or the very light you have will prove a curse…The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the smug satisfaction of an experience to which he can refer back, but who is not working it out in practical life. If you “say” you are sanctified, “show it”… Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent”! What’s that? What pleases me and doesn’t line up with the Spirit of God who sacrificed His all!
World ‘philosophers’ are so adept at convincing people that belief, trust, repentance and faith in Holy God is so unnecessary for the ‘smart folks’ – yet the educated crowd can center their lives in the darkest darkness and call it ‘light’!
It doesn’t take long to discover the worldly, self-righteous individual, or the ‘professor’ of self-satisfaction – and if you stay around them very long you sense a spirit of discontent with all they know and an uncertainty of mind as unbelief always brings on fractures in what they really think.
So often when the Holy Word and the convicting Holy Spirit is shared with a world philosopher, you’ll see and sense degrees of dismay in many because they’re on the threshold of discovering their lost condition and separation from God!
In life as a believer, transformed by the grace and mercy and love of God, aren’t you shocked at times when you see the worldly crowd comfortably seated at a worldly table, easily laughing at any worldly, gutter, dirty joke, when in the innermost heart is a person at war with Holy God, embittered by their own set of circumstances, AND WILL NOT LOOK UP TO THE CARING THRONE OF GOD AS THE GOD OF CALVARY’S CROSS?!?
Psalm 4:2 says, “How long, O you sons of men, will you turn My glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?” You realize there are “sons of men” and there are “sons of God”! You understand that there are those whose hearts are cemented in ‘earthly, fleshly values’ that are worthless in comparison to the heavenly treasures that increase in worth and blessing and true enrichment more and more!
In 2 Corinthians 4:1-4 Paul lifts the worldly veil that blinds or hinders true spiritual understanding of the gospel of Christ. He wrote: “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart…
But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God…
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
And that will break your heart if it hasn’t already because there are those whom you know whose hearts are ‘veiled’ to truth and whose minds are ‘blinded’ by the god of this age – they at least feel comfortable in their spiritual state of lost-ness because they are not alone; tragically, they’re blinded to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, not knowing they reflect the darkness of the devil himself!
“World philosophers”? It was Paul in Colossians 3:2 who said, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” And because you received the death of Christ and your crucifixion with Him, and you died, with the result that your life is now hidden with Christ IN GOD, verse 5, “therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
An ‘idol worshipper’? That’s the worldly ‘dude’ who has saved his life for himself because he loves the world and all that it offers, not God! I know that you are not totally ‘brain-dead’ because you look at our world today and you witness ‘civilization catastrophes’ that grow more corrupt and, yes, ‘sinful’, world-wide!
“World philosophers” certainly major on ‘riches’ any way you can get it! But they are void of understanding about what ‘great gain’ is all about. In 1 Timothy 6:6-10 Paul advised his spiritual son, saying: “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out…
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition…
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” When did that change? I believe when the author of Proverbs 14:24 spoke of “the crown of the wise”, he certainly was not speaking of “the crown of life” or “the crown of glory” because wisdom apart from God’s wisdom and revelations is a false righteousness that does not lead to repentance and true faith. It says: “The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly.”
In Proverbs 1:28-33 the ‘wise-man’, inspired by God Himself, gives us ALL a word of warning: “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord…
They would [have] none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof…Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices… For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them…
But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
“World Philosophers or Willful Promotion By God?” Oh, I tell you, God’s Word is so rich and man’s worldly philosophies so bankrupt! Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Led by the world or led by God Himself?
What did Paul say in 11 Corinthians 4:3-5? “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who arte perishing, whose minds the god of this age [the devil] has blinded, who do not believer, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”
Willful promotion by God? Bound in the flesh to the world philosophies, ideals, earthly gains, human pride in self-effort, but freed in Christ to divine life, eternal principles, heavenly blessings, holy privilege in sharing God’s faithful provisions, joy in the Lord forever not fleshly happiness, and a crown of glory and rejoi9cing that does not fade away, with an eternal family under the Fatherhood of God and His Sovereignty!
Willful promotion by God? We’re no longer “slaves of Satan” bound in satanic chains – in Christ we’re “sons and daughters of God” in the Heavenly Family! We’re no longer ‘flavorless’ but we’re the salt of the earth! We’re no longer ‘darkness’ – we’re light in the Lord! We’re no longer empty in the inner man, but filled with the Holy Presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!
We’re no longer of the unrighteous descendants but men and women who through repentance and faith in Christ have been declared righteous in the very righteousness of God imparted and implanted in our washed vessels of trust in Him! We’re not the “happy hour” crowd – we’re the eternally blessed members of the Royal Family of God! Our identity is no longer slaves of Satan, but now the very children of God! We’re not ‘impersonators’ of our Lord and Savior, but possessors of His Resurrection Life, “vessels of the Victor”!
We’re not distant stars blinking in the darkened nights of men’s souls but “lights” on a hill that cannot be hidden!
Robert Browning, in “Paracelsus”, wrote: “If I stoop into a dark tremendous sea of cloud, it is but for a time; I press God’s lamp to my breast; its splendor soon or late Will pierce the gloom; I shall emerge one day.” And even when destiny brings us temporarily to a “dark tremendous sea of cloud,” WE WILL EMERGE BRIGHTER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
We’re sons and daughters of God’s eternal faith, and though doubt, at times, will try to rob us of light’s glow and meaning, and even when I find myself in my darkest moment as a follower, I choose to rest in Him!
I found it so interesting that the agnostic or atheist, Robert Ingersoll, at his brother’s funeral, spoke and said: “From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word. But in the night of Death, Hope sees a star, [but for him it was not the Bright and Morning Star whose name is Jesus!] and listening Love can hear the rustle of a wing.” Oh, that somehow he learned of the Love of God but I doubt he ever did!
If God gave you “existence”, did He do so apart from eternal purpose? Of course not! His one beckoning call is, “Be reconciled to God,” and in that ministry of reconciliation, the blood of Jesus takes center-stage, first place, the only door through which we can walk into the presence of God! It’s why in Matthew 5:8 Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”
It was Thomas a’ Kempis who said: “simplicity reaches out after God; purity discovers and enjoys Him.”
I so appreciate Noah Webster’s description of ‘providence’ in his 1828 Dictionary. He said: “Providence – in theology the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a ‘providence’, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence…By divine providence is often understood God Himself.”
The God who made you, is He unable to save, sustain, and complete you to His good pleasure? In Romans 3:24-26 God’s Holy Word tells us: “being JUSTIFIED FREELY by His grace through the resurrection that is in Christ Jesus…
Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Thank God for Chambers’ insight! Listen to what he wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest”: [p.247], “The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.” BUT THAT’S IT! IT’S ALL OF HIM and not of us in the matter of our redemption, our re-birth, and our reconciliation!
He said a few sentences later, “He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter His Kingdom through the door of destitution.” WOW!
Oh, I’m telling you: Jesus is to every repentant believer the complete and whole treasury of God!
Remember – we’re looking at “World Philosophy OR Willful Promotion By God”! And when “world philosophy” begins to surface strongly and willful promotion by God takes a backseat, you begin to sense a sad decaying of true faith, an allegiance to the flesh [your old sin nature – so anything goes!], even church attendance by many who have no intention of denying self and taking up His Cross [and our own], and suddenly the Word of God is set aside, truth is left outdoors, and doubt about the veracity of God’s Holy Word takes over the pulpit and the church pews and the classroom!
Philosophy may give a few insights or thoughts, but Christ Jesus births “new men”! It was the German theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, who said: “Not until man has become so utterly unhappy, or has grasped the woefulness of life so deeply that he is moved to say, and mean it: LIFE HAS NO VALUE FOR ME – NOT TILL THEN IS HE ABLE TO MAKE A BID FOR CHRISTIANITY.”
AND ALMIGHTY, HOLY, WISE, LOVING, CARING GOD STEPS UP TO REVEAL HIS UNCHANGING LOVE AND MATCHLESS MERCY TO WOUNDED HUMANITY BY OUR SELF-INFLICTED SIN NATURES!
John 3:14-18 illumines Heaven on earth! “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Paul built out of the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection eternal truth!! Look at Romans 5:6-11!! “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die…
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be [being] saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life…
And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
There’s an old hymn entitled “Grace Greater Than Our Sin.” It says: “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt…Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled…
Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, Threaten the soul with infinite loss; Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can we do to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, Brighter than snow you may be today…
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive?
Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within, Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.”
World philosophers or Willful Promotion By God? It’s your choice!
CHAPTER SIX
“CHILDREN OF THE FLESH OR CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE?”
Please, with all of your mental and spiritual feelings and faith and faculties, read Romans 9:1-5 with an alert mind and heart! It will reveal where one truly is in his/her faith walk of compassion for others or a lack of it. In Romans 9:1-5 it’s as if my aged Bible has been drenched again and again with tears of sadness. Paul wrote:
“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh…
Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, came through the “seed of Abraham,” but not all of Abraham’s descendants became “children of promise”, but only children of flesh, because that was their level of commitment, living only with a desire to be “religious” apart from surrender to obedience to God’s Holy Word!
In Romans 10:1-4 Paul went on to write: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge…
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Paul clearly understood, was spiritually heart-broken over the Israelites who had a “zeal for God”, but not according to the revelation Truth of the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the True, Eternal, and Historic Christ that they never saw with spiritual eyes, understood, or comprehended, but willfully rejected Him, ignored Him, and, yes, willingly had Him crucified!
Most Israelites denied Jesus Christ, deplored His presence in their Holy Book, denounced His preaching, and declared His worthiness only of the Cross. They had no sorrow, but in the prophetic passage of Isaiah 53:3 we learn of Christ Jesus, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”
I recently found a writing by Harriet Beecher Stowe that speaks of sorrow: “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 have been 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.”
Do you see and sense Paul’s sorrow over the Israelites denial of Jesus to be “that great fellowship of suffering” that you as a true believer in Christ Jesus share in? I have no hesitation in saying to you that grief, sadness, or sorrow are but the shadow of God’s Holy Presence over and around your life! It was Edwin Hubbell Chapin who said, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation robes glittering with fire, and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gates of heaven.” Glory!!
And we’re examining “children of the flesh” or “children of the Promise” with Paul as a child of the Promise willing to forego His place “in Christ” if His Israelite “family” could take his place! But it doesn’t happen, can’t happen – before Holy God every man stands alone before Him to answer for himself – “What then did YOU do with Jesus called the Christ?”
Listen to Romans 9:30-33! “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone…
As it is written: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
The unbelieving Israelites “stumbled at the stumbling stone and stumbled over the rock of offense” [whose name is Jesus, the Promised Messiah] because they substituted self-effort for the Savior and Lord, and, yes, attempted self-improvement by trying to keep the Law given to expose their need of a Savior, and revealed by their disobedience to God’s revelation that they would establish their own righteousness and crucify God’s righteousness – and things haven’t changed thousands of years later!!
Have you forgotten or omitted what Isaiah had to say at least 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ? It’s reported by Paul in Romans 10:16-17, “But they [Israel] have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Yes, the majority of Israel, then and now, have rejected God’s compassionate heart and redemptive Way, going about to establish their own worthiness and ability to “do right”, failing to understand from Adam and Eve onward, God determined all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are unworthy, taking us all, yes, ALL, and CRUCIFYING US ALL WITH CHRIST!!
What did Paul tell us in Galatians 2:20? “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. Verse 27, I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
JESUS DID NOT DIE IN VAIN – He died in “VICTORY”!! Yes, He was then raised, by God, from the dead three days later, continuing to live in and through repentant, trusting, surrendered, believing “sinners” who by their repentance are now declared “saints”, servants of Christ, ambassadors of our Lord and Savior, messengers, earthly “point-men” of the Resurrected Christ, witnesses of His winning Way that in “death” there is the new reality of “Life in Christ” alone! In Galatians 3:26 Paul tells us, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
And, having been crucified with Christ, birthed into the Kingdom as babes in Christ, indwelt by His Resurrection Life and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t mean that “babes in Christ” attain to instant adulthood in the faith, but we learn! It is why in Galatians 5:1 Paul wrote to us, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
Have you ignored the Word in your daily walk? I remind you that Jesus tells us, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” I’ll guarantee you that most men eat physically three meals a day with snacks in between – but, please, tell me how spiritually the Word of God sits on a table and you only occasionally open it? You “LIVE” by the Word of God, you are to “HUNGER” for the Word of God, you “MATURE IN FAITH” by the Word of God!
Look at Colossians 2:9-10! “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him…” Oswald Chambers made a statement that aroused concern in me for “believers” who take lightly the importance of “studying to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed…” He said: “Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ.”
Chambers wrote about a half-paragraph later: “We are apt to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we have had. If there is one standard in the New Testament revealed by the light of God and you do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding, because it means your conscience does not answer to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you for going on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ or for going back as a deserter.”
What do we find in John 6:60-68? It’s a startling revelation for some! It says: Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life…
But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”…
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life.”
Disciples who “went back and walked with Him no more?” Was that “professors” who never fully surrendered to our Lord’s Indwelling Life? Was that “followers” who had never been freed from spiritual bondage? Was that sympathizers with a “cause” who never understood “divine change” from the old man to the new man, from the sinner to the “saint”, from the fleshly to the Spirit-led, from a temporal devotion and not eternal surrender to the Lord of all of life?
Too many ‘church-goers’ are those really who’ve never put their hands to the plow of the Lord in preparing the “fields of their lives” for His seed, fruit, and harvest! Too many so-called “believers” are just like Pharoah on a fleshly pursuit religiously for Moses, but Holy God had removed their ‘chariot wheels’ and Pharoah drowned in the deep waters without a “Life-Preserver” whose name is Jesus Christ! Too many “scribes and Pharisees” impose ‘traditions’ apart from Truth and so burden the people trying to seek that they only are able to talk about their tiredness, their futility, their sadness, their darkness, and not the “Light of the world” whose name is Jesus!
“Children of the flesh” or “Children of the Promise”? What was Paul’s Prayer in Romans 10:1-3? “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
“Children of the flesh”? Without hesitation they are usually led by people who are “ZEALOUSY WRONG – EVEN OPPOSED TO THE REVELATION, UNVEILING, AND ACTUAL PRESENCE OF THE SAVIOR, LORD, AND REDEEMER, WILLING ONLY THAT HE BE CRUCIFIED!!”
That is a world of people who surround you totally indifferent to the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God to cover and wash away their sin and guilt by His precious blood! There is a world oblivious to His grace, mercy, and love! Oh, yes, some have a “zeal” FOR GOD, but they don’t even know, understand, or have a true desire to be reconciled to Him and under His Sovereign Rule as Lord, Savior, and Master!
Have you ever been around those absolutely “zealous” for their ‘church’ but void of redemptive love and a desire to truly honor the Lord and Savior through a surrendered walk to His Lordship? Have you ever been around those so vocal, so aroused, but off-base in every scriptural truth, and you wonder: “How many have bought the lies, misinterpretations, deceptions, and been led astray?”
But what about those who, yes, kill the opposition to their radical, devilish, unsound, ‘screwed-up’ teachings? It was Jesus Himself who said in Matthew 23:34-36, “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
You are aware that there were those, are those, who are so warped in their “religious minds” that they believe and believed that they were anointed servants doing God’s service killing others! How would you describe those unredeemed “scribes and Pharisees”? Would “self-righteous idiots” even get close? How about “spiritual ignoramuses”?
What was it Paul said in Romans 10:2-3? “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
Fleshly righteousness or divine righteousness? The sinners’ righteousness or the Savior’s righteousness? Self-righteousness or God’s righteousness? Self-improvement righteousness or Sovereign-declared righteousness? Ignorant righteousness or Spirit-inspired, implanted righteousness? A righteousness that declares one “guilty” before Holy God of a cheap imitation or Jesus’ righteousness that declares one eternally innocent before Holy God? “Fig-leaf righteousness” or “tree of life righteousness”? “My own estimation” righteousness or God’s robe of righteousness? Head-strong righteousness or the “new Heart” righteousness? God-insulting human attempts or God-inspired finished work? Righteousness by hook or by crook or righteousness in and through Christ alone? Feverish attempts tirelessly or the faithful Atonement truthfully, refreshing us without end? Righteousness in what we do for our own salvation attempt or righteousness because of Who Jesus IS and what Jesus did 2000 years ago on the Cross? Salvation by man’s grit or salvation by the Master’s grace? Salvation by one’s “best efforts” religiously or salvation by the willingness to rest in the “Blood-bought” release from guilt and eternal separation and “death” by the sacrifice of Christ in “my,” “our,” “your,” behalf! DO YOU SEE, UNDERSTAND, RECEIVE, REST IN BEING “A CHILD OF PROMISE”?
I close this teaching with words from Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.271], “The sign that God is at work in us is that He corrupts confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but remnants of what God created man to be. We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ which can never be described in terms of the natural virtues.” Dare I tell you? “Christ Jesus crucified your worst and your best” so that you, as a child of promise could live by the Life of Another, yes, Emmanuel, “God With Us,’ “God in us,” and “God through us”!! That’s “children of the Promises”!!
R. Kelso Carter wrote the old hymn entitled “Standing On the Promises”. It says:
“Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God…
Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God…
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God…
Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior, as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God.”
Tell me: What or Who are YOU standing upon?
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SELF-EFFORT RIGHTEOUSNESS OR SOVEREIGN_IMPLANTED RIGHTEOUSNESS?”
I want to lay a clear and solid and life-changing foundation for you out of Genesis 15:6 where the Holy Word tells us: “And he [Abram] believed in the Lord; and He [God] counted [credited, accounted] it to him for [or as] righteousness.”
But, fallen, faithless men are so assertive that they say: “I don’t need God because I can become righteous on my own – I’m able!” Faithless, or men of self-imposed faith, or ‘grand-creators’ of ‘self-effort religiosity and self-determined righteousness’ is a ‘sham’ with Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary saying of ‘sham’: “False, counterfeit, pretended…” And that is so on target!
It was Sir Francis Bacon who once said in the “New Atlantis,” “The reverence of a man’s self is, next to religion, the chiefest bridle of all vices.” Oh, how true is that!?! I was really shocked when I came across a statement By Benjamin Franklin: “God helps those who help themselves.” And I had to put a huge question mark by that statement! No! God helps those who empty themselves and trust God to fill them with Holy Presence through the Resurrection Life of Christ Jesus!
Yes, it’s the Cross of Christ before which lost men are to bow, but also one better would be placing his ‘self-effort’, his ‘self-promoting fleshly faith’, on the Cross of Christ or their ‘self-effort righteousness’ becomes a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart and mind, which leaves one eternally separated from Holy God!
Aren’t you aware of “pumped-up flesh” or “man-made principles of achieving, fleshly faith” that so easily identifies one as a ‘slave in bondage’ to “self-effort righteousness”? In Exodus 6:9 the Word says, “So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.” They weren’t even aware of their spiritual condition but had become ‘self-effort faith and righteousness’ even in their chains.
Do you remember Galatians 4:3 when Paul said: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” That’s ‘self-effort’ righteousness – no freedom but only bondage and slavery to a world culture.
I’m sure you’ve at least read Colossians 2:8 where Paul said: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” He later said in Colossians 2:23, “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
Self-effort righteousness is the constancy of self-enslavement. Self-effort righteousness is pulverizing pride with an awareness of its damage to one’s mind, soul, and spirit; it is one puffed up in himself just like Satan himself in opposition to Holy God. Job 35:12 speaks of those who at least ‘cry out,’ “but God does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.”
Listen to Proverbs 1:24-33! “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you…
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke…
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil.”
Oh, but notice Isaiah 54:17! It says: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, AND THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FROM [OR OUT OF] ME,” Says the Lord.”
Aren’t you aware of the great difference, the chasm, between “self-effort righteousness” and “Sovereignly-implanted righteousness”? A purchase price was paid for that “Sovereignly-implanted”, and the price paid was our Savior’s blood shed on the Cross! Is it ‘either-or’? Of course, it is – it always has been! Self in opposition to God, my righteousness to God’s righteousness, righteousness earned or His righteousness implanted? That’s you proud in yourself or you humbled by the awesomeness of God’s love, grace, and mercy!
You do understand, from earthly beginnings through Adam and Eve, until this present generation, the powers of darkness until now are out to sell Satan’s lie: “You can sin and not die!”
You and I have an enemy whose goal and ambition is spiritual blindness, eternal deafness, to the will, mind, and heart of Holy God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the voice and intimacy with God’s Holy Spirit! But His Word speaks louder, plainer, to the point of our Lord’s love, grace, and mercy – and if one listens and responds, he/she walks away from the bondage of self-righteousness and walks free in God’s Sovereign-implanted righteousness, a new man!
Self-effort righteousness is one’s self-determination of what gives him/her satisfaction or happiness. It’s fallen man/woman living by self-rule to give ‘peace’ to his/her passions as he/she settles in to satisfying the flesh [or old sin nature]! What or who controls my passions, my desires, my longings, my temptations, my fleshly fulfillment? “Whatever silences ‘the demons’ within and gives me a sense of reward for my ‘fallen-away-from-God’ decision!” Really?
Horatius Bonar put it like this: “No man can quench his thirst with sand, or with water from the Dead Sea; no man can find rest from his own character, however good, or from his own acts, however religious.”
Why? Because ‘self-effort righteousness’ is counterfeit, counter-productive and addictive like an illegal drug, not honoring God or giving glory to His Name! “Self-effort righteousness,” “self-control programs,” “self-attempts at being religious,” “self-mastery over sin and death and alienation and separation from God,” are attempts at a “new birth” that proves deathly at its inception! What’s a “good thought” if Truth is absent? What’s a “passionate prayer” if all you’re doing is indulging and promoting and calling attention to yourself, and even the name of Jesus is completely omitted?
Robert R. Brown once said: “It is part of our human nature, but there is that within us which always wants to make self the center of its own universe and, in that selfish way, wants to tear God from His throne and deny his brother and advance his own ambition.”
I love what Sir Walter Scott wrote in “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” VI. He said: “The wretch concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubling dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored and unsung.”
I’m telling you ‘self-mastery’ in one’s own determination of self-righteousness is Satan’s number-one achievement in your life if your only goal and ambition is to think well of yourself!
But I want you to look carefully at the eternal reality of “SOVEREIGN-IMPLANTED RIGHTEOUSNESS”! In 2 Corinthians 5:21 our Lord opens the heart and mind of true understanding and saving faith when He said through Paul: “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Oh, what a strong, redemptive revelation!
Speaking of the passage in 2 Corinthians 5:21, Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.224], “The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sins not by sympathy, but by identification. He was ‘made to be sin.’ Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Fatherhood of God, the loving-kindness of God; the New Testament says He came to bear away the sin of the world. The revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Savior. Jesus Christ never spoke of Himself to the world as one Who revealed the Father, but as a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24).”…[In closing out his understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:21, Chambers said: “It is not Christ “for” me unless I am determined to have Christ formed “in” me.”]
Don’t ever forget or even overlook Isaiah 54:17! Remember, God said, “…This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from [out of] Me,” says the Lord!
Spurgeon preached on Isaiah’s word for us: [Spurgeon’s Sermons,” Memorial Library, Vol.2, p.164], “Now, if I wished to test you all, and might ask you only one question, I would ask this: What is your righteousness? O, I am as good as my neighbors. Go along with you; you are not my comrade. What is “your” righteousness? Well, I am rather better than my neighbors, for I go to chapel regularly. Off with you, sir; you do not know the watchword. And you next; “what is your righteousness? I have been baptized, and am a member of the church.” Yes, and so you may; and if that is your hope, you are all in the gall of bitterness. Now you next; what is your hope? O, I do all I can, and Christ makes up the rest. RUBBISH! You are a Babylonian, you are no Israelite; Christ is no make-weight – away with you. Here comes the last – What is your righteousness? My righteousness is filthy rags, except one righteousness which I have, which Christ wrought for me on Calvary, imputed to me by God Himself, which makes me pure and spotless as an angel. Ah, brother, you and I are fellow soldiers: I have found you out; that is the watchword. “Your righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” I do not ask whether you are a Churchman, or whether you are Methodist, or Independents, or Baptists, if you do but know this watchword – ‘Your righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” I can forgive all those other minor things, if you can sing: ‘Jesus, Your blood and righteousness, My beauty are, my glorious dress.”
Again, Isaiah so truly educates, informs, instructs, and inspires us as he tells us in Isaiah 64:6, us apart from saving grace and mercy, “But we are ALL like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.”
And when one becomes so aware of that true condition of unrighteousness, is graciously exposed to true righteousness, and knows without Christ’s shed blood washing his life, he’s hopeless, and, yes, begins to cry out, “God, be merciful to me THE sinner,” then and only then does the repentant heart begin to experience and appropriate and stand in with eternal confidence the righteousness of God!
Don’t you find it so amazing that Almighty God, author of His Holy Word, God of the Cross, practically informs us of who true believers are, and gives us a picture of both the righteous and unrighteous? For example, Jesus tells us about a wedding in Matthew 22 and opens our understanding of who is refused entrance for the wedding and who enters! This is Jesus telling, informing, revealing, yes, the ‘righteous’ who enter the wedding and the feast: Verses 11-13,
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Tell me about your preparation of attendance at that awesome, glorious, sacred, celebrated wedding of Christ Jesus and His bride! Are you the called, the chosen, the true faith-full bride of Christ who daily prepares for the wedding celebration? Or do you “seek to enter” on your own terms?
‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And you’re unsure what it is? Do you even consider, think about, put on, God’s gift of mercy and grace? But, you are aware that the independent soul takes on Frank Sinatra’s famous song, “I did it my way”? “Your way” is that distinguishing mark that shuts the door to your entrance to the eternal wedding!
‘Friend, you are not clothed in a wedding garment! Is there no respect, no acknowledgement in you, no desire to honor the King of kings and Lord of lords, or no appreciation of submission to His way?’
‘Friend, this is the prince’s wedding – not yours.’ And the wedding we’re seeing is a picture of Christ and His bride, but the ‘friend’ came dressed in rebellion, in disobedience, self-assertion, a breed of independent walks of life that only pours out contempt on the Crucified Christ and spits on His empty tomb!
Consider also that many are of the opinion that there’s more than one way to find acceptance with God – and multitudes are of the opinion’, “it’s what I believe, it’s how I feel, and God should accept my offering and share my way with His way!”
Where in God’s Holy Word do you ever find reconciliation with Him by man’s activity through that man’s personal wisdom, practical efforts of flesh driven self-effort being the sole remedy of his ‘salvation experience’ which is better called ‘evil evolution’!
I remind you again of what Paul preached in Romans 10:2-3! “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
Are you familiar with the terms, IMPARTED, IMPUTED, IMPLANTED righteousness which comes out of the mind and heart and will of God only? Have you failed or neglected to read the words of God Himself through Isaiah the prophet? Isaiah 1:18-20 tells us: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; through they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;’ For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Oh, how powerful, but look also at His convicting word in Isaiah 1:27-28:
“Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”
Spurgeon spoke of “the insolence of self-righteousness” which so easily, emphatically, denies the righteousness of God through Christ! Oh, and then, of the ‘self-righteous’ religious crowd, he said: “Spiritually he [they] is a very well washed corpse – that is all.”
Haven’t you witnessed it, seen it, been astounded by the discomfort and denial of the chorus that speaks of: “Oh, the blood of Jesus” – and many want no part of it because it doesn’t highlight “what I do, what we do”!! And that’s outward religious appearance without an inner-heart change! “Born again” to them is offensive bible-babbling!
Irving Peake Johnson once wrote: “Righteousness as exemplified by Christ is not merely the absence of vice or the presence of virtue. It is a consuming passion for God which sends you forth in His name to establish His kingdom.”
Church attendance without recognizing your calling to establish His kingdom, bow to His rule daily, and practically to embrace Him in submission to His eternal purpose of reconciling a fallen world to Holy God, and seeing yourself brought in to His divine intent in YOU LIVING THROUGH HIM A RIGHTEOUS LIFE, and touching our world with His grace and mercy, is to be a participant on a playground pretending to be something or someone we’re really not!
In 1 Corinthians 15:34 Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” And have you overlooked Romans 5:17? “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
He went on to say in Romans 6:13, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Oh, I pray, that you’ve rested in Paul’s words in Romans 10:9-10, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” YES, a heart matter! And one “believes unto righteousness, not “I’m able”!!
Self-effort righteousness or Sovereign-Implanted Righteousness? In Philippians 3:8-10 Paul defines the surpassing value of knowing, receiving, and resting in Christ Jesus: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, NOT HAVING MY OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM THE LAW, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” WOW!
In closing, remember that “wedding” garment? Revelation 19:5-9 tells us, Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen IS THE RIGHTEOUS ACTS OF THE SAINTS.” Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
True sayings? IMPARTED, IMPUTED, IMPLANTED RIGHTEOUSNESS or your works of the flesh?
CHAPTER EIGHT
“DARK NIGHTS – BRIGHT LIGHTS”
I’ll never forget a “dark night” event in my home when I was about eleven to twelve years of age. I HAD GONE TO BED EARLY BECAUSE MY MOTHER AND STEP-FATHER WERE HAVING A PARTY. It was late, late, past midnight, maybe 3-4 a.m., when I was awakened by loud noises of things breaking, people screaming, as a drunken brawl occurred in the home. I was so frightened I just hid under the covers of my bed until about 5 a.m., and after I braved getting out from under the covers, I looked around to see devastation; all were gone including my mother, but my step-father was passed out on the bed in the guest room.
It was pitch-black night as I made my way to my grandparents’ home, so afraid, plus I had to go down an unlit alley-road to get to their home. I felt so safe when the lights came on and they opened their door to me. Needless to say, I never again experienced that ‘dark-night’ of the soul! [And you should know that, finally, within a few weeks of his eighty-ninth birthday, my step-father asked me to explain the Gospel of Christ to him once more – and he prayed to receive Christ! Weeks later, he died, a definitely changed man so at peace with our Lord and Savior! The nursing home that cared for him were shocked by his change!]
Jeremy Taylor, in his “Holy Living” writing, [p.259], said: “A man may be damned for despairing to be saved.” Thank God, my step-father finally saw, not “dark nights” but “bright lights” for his eternal journey with his Lord and Savior!
Dark nights? Leo Tolstoy, in his writing entitled “The Kingdom of God,” [ch.12], said: “The only significance of life consists on helping to establish the kingdom of God; and this can be done only by means of the acknowledgement and profession of the truth by each one of us.” But you do realize that darkened hearts, minds, and free wills delight in the fallen nature of men alienated and separated from Holy God! Their fleshly pleasures become deadly poison – and they’re so unaware of that dark night of the soul.
I love what Spurgeon wrote in “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Memorial Library, Vol.9,pps.176-177]: “He [God] makes not the child of God to be a serf, a slave, in fear of punishment, but he so changes the nature of men that they turn away with loathing from the things they once delighted in, and can no more indulge in the sins which were once sweet to them, than an angel could wallow in the mire with the swine. Oh! This is a gracious work, and this is a blessed covenant in which it is promised that we shall be taught to know and love and do the right thing with a willing mind.”
Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines ‘darkness’ like this: “Absence of light; a state of being intellectually clouded; great trouble and distress; calamities; perplexities; empire of Satan; land of darkness – the grave.”
In John 3:19 we read: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT, BECAUSE THEIR DEEDS WERE EVIL.” And even though Joel wrote prophetically to alert the people of Israel in his day, the prophetic word has relevance for today just as it did then! Joel 2:1-2 says, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains…”
Later, in Joel 2:25, God spoke about a land or a life that experiences “swarming, crawling, chewing locust.” God said, “So I will restore to you the years the swarming locust has eaten…My great army which I sent among you.” Why? Because His created people chose ‘self’ over God’s saving grace! They chose the fallen spirit over the Holy Spirit! They chose futile flesh over divine will, purpose, and power! They chose fleshly pleasures over the Holy Spirit! AND GOD SENDS THE LOCUST!
DARK DAYS? LET’S LOOK FIRST AT THE ‘LOCUST’ OF PERSONAL DESOLATION. Matthew 23:37-38 tells us, Jesus speaking, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you DESOLATE…”
Men actually, personally, choose to live an uninhabited life without God’s Presence. They choose ruin over His royal throne to bow before. They choose a ravaged, ruined, neglectful life of yieldedness to the Lord who loved them, laid His life down for them, and only desired to bless and fulfill their existence with divine presence! And the result? Micah 6:13-14 says, God speaking, “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied; hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.”
How do you feel when you read a word like Isaiah 1:7 where it says: “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.”
DARK DAYS? SECOND, LET’S CONSIDER JOB 38:2 when God confronted Job and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Hear me! “If man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” then how truly wise are those who “darken counsel by words without knowledge”?
Oh, there are those who seek counsel because they want to hear what they want to hear apart from the Word of God! Proverbs 12:5 clearly says, “…the counsels of the wicked are deceitful…”! But in Jeremiah 7:23-24 we read, God speaking, the Lord of hosts: “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”
You’re either pressing in to the Lord or you’re falling away! You’re either found in the Light or bound in the darkness! You’re either made well in His Light or bound a prisoner in the darkness! You’re either made well in His Light or sickened by the devil’s darkness, being made ready with his demons for an eternal Hell of Light-absence!
THIRD, DARK DAYS? SPIRITUAL SIGHT AND INSIGHT OBLITERATED BY DISTRESSES! I love Psalm 107 because it is so informative and illustrative of a life with God or a life without Him. Psalm 107 challenges us to see life’s “troubles” as a “door-closer” to God or a “door-opener” to Him.
Four times in Psalm 107 the Word tells us: [Verses 6,13,19,and 28], “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.” And some choose, yes, choose to live in their ‘distresses’ without ever crying out to the Lord! But for the true believer, he/she understand “in the world you will have tribulation.” Consider Paul. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, “But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Can you say: “Yes! Amen!!”
FOURTH, DARK DAYS? WHAT ABOUT EXCESSIVE AND BURDENING DISCOURAGEMENT OR DISAPPOINTMENT? As we consider the matter of discouragement or disappointment, is it possible that regardless of circumstances some would be unhappy if God gave them an unlimited inheritance or share of His abundant blessings?
But be assured, in this very historic moment of your life, if you have not yielded in repentance and faith in Christ alone, you have one choice to make of two opportunities: 1) You may find yourself under the dark shadows of judgment, separation from God forever, and a Hell with your “guilty” past or 2) You’ve chosen to walk in the Light of God’s love, grace, and mercy, with an eternal residence in our Lord’s Holy Presence!
The children of Joseph said to Joshua, in Joshua 17:14, that they were those whom “the Lord has blessed us until now”! Walking in our walk with the Lord is not a walk of discouragement but of blessing! Have you forgotten or overlooked Roman 8:16-17? “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Some have come to faith and then experienced the reality of persecution and isolation and are disenfranchised by family and friends, and were never of, yes, it’s pain and suffering at times. In Philippians 1:27-30 Paul wrote the Philippians and us!!, the following: “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not be terrified in any way by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you, it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict you saw in me and now hear in me.”
FIFTH, WHAT ABOUT THE DARK DAYS OF DISILLUSIONMENT OR DISPLEASURE OR DISAPPOINTMENT? My prayer for all of God’s people is for a true spirit of discernment as they engage a world of needy people around them. It’s so true that the God we serve is the One True and Living God who is moved with compassion for the wounded, the grief-stricken, the man or the woman overwhelmed by the awareness of their guilt and separation from God and that their sin nailed Jesus to the Cross!
Psalm 147:3 is so very clear: “He [the Lord God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [or sorrows].”
What a magnificent and beautiful world our God has created – and yet beyond our small little world are universes of omnipotence, galaxies of divine glories, habitations of Holy Presence – yet He has time for the bleeding, wounded heart, the broken marriage, the lost and wandering son or daughter of faith – and especially does the Lord God Almighty sense the suffering, serious wounds of open rebellion, scarred hearts, and captive wills – and “the Great Physician” reaches out to touch those wounded hearts and sin-stricken souls, speaking “Peace” and healing grace and abundant mercy!
There’s an old U.S. African-American spiritual that says: “There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; There’s power enough in heaven, to cure a sin-sick soul…
Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain, But then the Holy Spirit Revives my soul again…
If you cannot sing like angels, If you can’t preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus and say He died for all.”
In Luke 12:8-9 Jesus said: “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”
From “Dark Days”, let’s look joyfully at the “BRIGHT LIGHTS”! In John 3:18-21, 35-36, John said: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Verses 35-36, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.”
It’s so interesting, convicting, and illuminating that James 1:17 tells us that, “Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
God the Father is the Father of lights without a doubt, and Jesus the Son IS the true light of the world. And in John 8:12 Jesus spoke saying: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” He’s not a liar, He’s not a lunatic, He’s not a deceiver, He’s not an evil spirit masquerading as Truth – HE IS THE TRUTH! He is the WAY! He is the Author of RESURRECTION LIFE, POWER, and HOPE!
If you are an unbeliever, a doubter, a denouncer of Christ, if you’re so sure and certain, then stand openly before the Cross of Jesus Christ and tell Him you’re an atheist, an unbeliever, an agnostic, a doubter – and you refuse to bow before God’s sacrificial Lamb who DIED FOR YOU, that you’re willing to live without Him because you choose to not live for Him so you can revel and rebel in your fallen state – and then just go to Hell forever with the devil and his demons and all your atheistic, agnostic, unbelieving ‘sinners’!!
Yes, Jesus IS “THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”! But beyond the reality of His eternal resurrection life, is the story of true believers! In Ephesians 5:8-14 we see unfolding the historical truth of “children of light”! The Word says: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep,, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’”
How did that happen? In 1 Peter 2:9-10 Peter tells us, “But you [in Christ] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
Jesus always had a passion for the true disciples to understand their role of oneness in Him. In John 12:35-36 He said, Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
Did you see it? Repentant, faith believers BECOME “SONS OF LIGHT”!! It was John, later, who wrote 1 John 1:5-7, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that 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. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” GLORY!
Are you familiar with the “New Jerusalem” which I truly believe to be present – not a future possibility, not a geographical location, but “Holy Presence” in and through the Resurrected Christ in a truly born-again believer? Revelation 21:22-27 tells us, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
We’ve seen “the Father of lights, the Savior of Light”, the “sons of light” – let’s look now at His Holy Word, the Bible, God’s revelation or unveiling of Himself and us! Let’s examine Psalm 119!!
Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”
Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
Psalm 119:14 says, “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.”
Psalm 119:18 says, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.”
Psalm 119:24 says, “Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.”
Psalm 119:25 says, “My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.”
Psalm 119:28, “Strengthen me according to Your word.”
Psalm 119:37, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.”
Psalm 119:54, “Your statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage.”
Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”
Psalm 119:72, “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.”
Psalm 119:92, “Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.”
Psalm 119:101, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word.”
Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:111, “Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart.”
Psalm 119:120, “My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.”
Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of Your words give light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Psalm 119:133, “Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.”
Psalm 119:140, “Your word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it.”
What did Jesus say in John 8:31-32? “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So that leads me to:
“The church,” the local “assembly of believers,” “the functioning body of Christ visibly,” is to be a “Bright Light”! In Ephesians 5:22-32 Paul compares the husband and wife relationship as a picture of the church both universal and the local body of believers where one lives out his/her spiritual marriage to Christ! It says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and bones.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
There is no doubt that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the flocks of God. But there are ‘under-shepherds’ assigned by God in caring for the local flocks of His sheep. In Christ, we are ‘gathered sheep’ under the oversight of a Christ-like, caring, under-shepherd who knows how to feed sheep, shear sheep, and guide them by the Word and Spirit to grow and mature and, yes, reproduce themselves to the honor of Christ!
Jesus Himself said in John 6:37-40, giving each repentant follower true hope: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
But I pray you remember that Jesus also said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give My life a ransom for many.”
In the same chapter of John 6, verses 47-58 Jesus also said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven – not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
To be a part of a local church fellowship is both an honor and a calling – representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ looking out for others more than we look out for ourselves! The local assembly is “mutual submission”, yes, in the fear of the Lord, because it is to Him we each are held accountable as to our devotion or lack of it.
After 79 years of my life affiliated with a local church, I can say, even with a few “horror” stories, that I’ve been eternally blessed and seen birthed all around a sense of true brotherhood.
In John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed to Father-God: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Hear Charles Haddon Spurgeon in his “Spurgeon’s Sermons”: [Memorial Library, Vol.18 “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” p.64], “Christians are not a miserable company of restless spirits; they are not a pack of dogs howling at one another, and smarting under the keeper’s leash; but they are a flock feeding in happy communion, while Jesus in their midst finds for them a place where they may rest at noon. He so loves His own, and so reveals Himself to His own, that they are a happy [blessed] people highly favored, and greatly honored. God has blessed them, and they shall be blessed, let the world say what it will concerning them.”
Timothy Dwight and Aaron Williams wrote the old hymn that needs a resurrection! It says: “I love Your kingdom, Lord, The house of Your abode, The Church our blest Redeemer saved With His own precious blood.
I love Your Church, O God! Her walls before You stand, Dear as the apple of Your eye, And graven on Your hand.
For her my tears shall fall; for her my prayers ascend; To her my cares and toils be given, Till toils and cares shall end.
Beyond my highest joy I prize her heavenly ways, Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love and praise.
Sure as Your truth shall last, To Zion shall be given, The brightest glories earth can yield, And highest bliss of heaven.” Amen?
Henry Ward Beecher made the following statement about the church: “The church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.” Why not join the training and equipping as a “soldier” of the Cross?
Do you remember Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane? Matthew 26:39 says: He [Jesus] went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “Oh, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” And He went to the Cross – not sure momentarily it was where He wanted to be but where He needed to be, laying down His life in behalf of us!! Is that your prayer, your decision, your commitment to honor Christ through your “laid-down life”?
CHAPTER NINE
“HOW’S YOUR FAITH?”
It’s, yes, astounding to me that as I read Spurgeon for his pastoral insights and phenomenal handling of God’s Word, I came across statements that birthed a new direction of preparation in preaching or teaching God’s Word. He said, [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.19,p.274], “The flesh sees honey in the drink, but faith at once perceives that there is poison in the cup.”
And there certainly is an eternity’s difference between man’s ‘flesh’ [his old, fallen sin nature] and God’s biblical faith. Spurgeon spoke about ‘flesh’ or ‘This sin is a very pleasurable thing, why should I not enjoy it? Surely I may eat this fruit which looks so charming, and is so much to be desired.” And you realize:
‘Flesh’ is blind to God and His Word. ‘Flesh’ is blind to sin, twisting Truth, distorting human personality and divine potential, grieving and gripping the inner man in Satanic slavery, promoting self-potential apart from divine intent, brutalizing divine purpose and plan, enslaving the ‘flesh’ to a godless life, omitting FAITH as THE DIVINE REMEDY OF AN IMPRISONED SOUL, substituting sin as the open door to true freedom when in reality it leads to chains and bondage and a cell or existence of fleshly limitation. “FLESH’ IS LIFE WITHOUT GOD, THE OLD MAN, THE FALLEN SIN NATURE!
Spurgeon went on to say so profoundly: “Faith spies the snake in the grass, and gives warning of it. Faith remembers death, judgment, the great reward, the just punishment, and that dread word – eternity. Faith sees the end as well as the beginning. Faith, while the feast is going on, reminds the revelers of the reckoning. Faith feels that she cannot buy the transient joys of the earth at the countless cost of an immortal soul. “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Blindness to God and His salvation is hopelessness with faithlessness as the uncertain foundation of one’s existence. Self-trust, self-determination, self-will, and self-rule are the four cornerstones of one’s empty dwellings but faith is the solid and sure foundation.
Without biblical faith, one is void of the understanding of the very heart of God. In Ezekial 18:31-32, God speaks today to you personally: “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die…? For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
That’s the very heart of the Lord God of Eternity – and He knows you, loves you, and wants you to be one with Him! It was John Calvin, in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” who wrote: “Faith is a knowledge of the benevolence of God toward us, and a certain persuasion of His veracity.”
It was Edwin Hubbell Chapin who said: “Skepticism has not founded empires, established principles, or changed the world’s heart. The great doers of history have always been men of faith.” So true!
And when it comes to human existence that is passionate for more, it’s only by faith that human existence is changed by Divine Presence through repentance toward God and FAITH in the finished work of Christ at the Cross! Truth-faith is “looking up to God,” “looking in to one’s heart-need,” and “looking around as to where one is to settle in serving and sharing our Lord and Savior”!
But, of course, multitudes live by ‘superstition’ rather than faith in God’s finished work. Others live by their mental superiority to the less fortunate, because it’s at least to them, ‘education’ that makes a man – not repentance and faith! Others have settled in to proving their own worth and value by what they do – not what has been done at Calvary’s Cross. It was Napoleon Bonaparte who once said: “All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before one single word – faith.” It was Jesus who said in John 20:29, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.”
Faith! What an intriguing, inspiring, entrusting word, that calls by personal examination, inward acknowledgement, and mind and heart full surrender to the God who blesses one with SAVING FAITH! Look at Ephesians 2:8!! “For by grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”
Romans 1:16-17 is so clear! It says: (Paul speaking), “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew fist and also the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just [or justified or ‘just as if I’d never sinned’] shall live by faith.”
We WERE dead in our trespasses and sins, the Gospel is preached, the Spirit convicts and convinces, and by grace through faith, repenting, believing, and trusting, we are born to new life in Christ!
It was J.P. Scholfield who wrote the hymn, “Saved, Saved!” It says: “I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true; I love to tell how He lifted me And what His grace can do for you…
He saves me from every sin and harm, Secures my soul each day; I’m leaning on His mighty arm. I know He’ll guide me all the way…
When poor and needy and all alone, In love He said to me, ‘Come unto Me and I’ll lead you home, To live with Me eternally…
Saved, by His power divine, Saved, to new life sublime! Life now is sweet and my joy is complete, For I’m saved, saved, saved!”
We’re SAVED BY FAITH, but I believe also that there is SECURITY IN FAITH! How could one ever believe that “God saves,” and yet His salvation is ‘insecure’? [Oh, I know there is a possibility of one who “falls away” – what a tragedy, but it has happened and, sadly, will happen! There are those who “take their eyes off the prize” and do “fall away”, a sad, serious, sinful consequence of disobedience or rebellion or defiance! Look at Hebrews 6:4-8, plus Luke 12:41-46!]
It may be Old Testament scripture but it is the Word of God, and the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 26:2-4, said: “Open the gates that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. YOU [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord is everlasting strength.”
In John 17:3 Jesus prayed to Father-God for us! He said: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.93], wrote: “God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There were none of those spots in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours…The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.”
For the true believer there is to be that steadfastness of hope in us that what God has started, He will finish! In Job 13:15 Job told his ‘friends’: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” The process of faith requires the patience of faith, yes, patience with yourself!
Robert Browning, in “The Ring and the Book,” wrote: “There is but one way to browbeat this world, Dumb-founder doubt, and repay scorn in kind – To go on trusting, namely, till faith Move Mountains.” That means “hold on” in the journey of faith; “don’t let go” in the stressful times; “eyes on the goal” as you press in to Jesus!
In Revelation 3:10-13 Jesus speaks to us who are in His ‘church’ today: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
WE’RE SAVED BY FAITH, WE’RE SECURE IN FAITH, BUT ALSO THE JOURNEY OF FAITH IS A TEST OF CHOICE IN BEING EITHER INFLUENCED BY THE WORLD AROUND US OR OVERCOMING, YES, WORLDLY TESTS AND TEMPTATIONS BY EITHER REFUSING TO INDULGE IN THE FLESHLY STANDARDS IN THE WORLD OR TO LIVE SURRENDERED DAILY TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST! AND, I’m sure it’s both!
In 1 John 2:15-17 the beloved John challenges every believer: “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 – the lust of the flesh, 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.”
It’s really interesting that Paul challenges all believers in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to “bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” when sadly, too many professing believers will yield to a world spirit that will dishonor Christ, but the Holy Spirit emphasizes one daily being transformed “by the renewing of the mind.”
There is a vast difference in human existence between those enslaved to their old sin natures or freed by the blood of Christ and birthed into “a new creation” that is, yes, divine in nature! In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul described those in bondage to the “old man”: “And you He made alive, who were dead [spiritually dead to God] in trespasses and sins,
In which you once WALKED ACCORDING TO THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Among whom also WE ALL ONCE CONDUCTED OURSELVES IN THE LUSTS OF OUR FLESH, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
The ‘world spirit’ IS demonically inspired in powerful, tempting, lying, attractive and addictive with deadly alternatives and outcomes, enslaving, binding and bruising, contagious, producing sick spirits in the mind and heart, destroying, poisoning, entrapping, stripping of even common decency, which is what Paul was describing to Titus when in Titus 2:12 he spoke the opposite of worldly teaching that ‘covers’ or ‘denies’ ungodly and worldly lusts, but that true faith, saving faith, transforming faith, teaches us “to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”
Worldly people are aware of ‘spiritual failure’ or ‘spiritual darkness’ or ‘spiritual emptiness’ which drives them to find ‘something’ or ‘someone’ to fill them up with something, but what they seek and find never satisfies because true satisfaction in life only comes by our Lord’s Resurrection Presence!
And guess what? His Holy Word tells us: 1 John 1:7, “If we walk in the light as He [Jesus] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.” GLORY TO GOD!
I love Oswald Chambers’ statement in “My Utmost For His Highest,” when he said: [p.268], “The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me.” And, of course, we know, yes, we were “crucified with Christ,” sin, sin nature, and all contrary to the nature and character of God Himself!!
WE’VE SEEN THE FACT THAT WE’RE SAVED BY FAITH, WE’RE SECURE IN THE FAITH, WE FACE A TEST OF CHOICE IN OUR WALK, BUT ALSO WE ARE INSTRUCTED TO BUILD OURSELVES UP ON “YOUR MOST HOLY FAITH,” WHICH IS JUDE 20-21! It says:
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most Holy Faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life…”
You do understand “new birth” which tells us there are infants in the faith walk, children learning about the faith, teenagers tested about their allegiance to Truth, young adults, maturing adults, senior adults, all growing in grace and gripping the truth practically of a sanctifying faith, understanding maturely they’ve been “set apart” in honoring our Lord and Savior, and growing more in eternal love for their Lord and Savior!
I’m sure that much of our salvation-walk as infants in the faith and energetic children of faith is based upon, mostly, head faith, but as one matures in the faith-walk a person begins to discern ‘heart-faith’, that is, one willing to be led by the Holy Spirit of God and matured by faithfulness in and to God’s Holy Word.
No doubt this is why Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Saving, sanctifying faith is not in what I do, but what has been done through the sacrificial life of Christ and my absolute certainty and acceptance of His finished work on the Cross where he took me to the Cross with Him, and I was there crucified with Christ, and now He lives again and through my available body! It’s not “us” – it’s “Christ in us the hope of glory!”
There is such an illuminating word Jesus spoke in Luke 21:16-19. It says: “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience [steadfastness, disciplined walk] possess your souls.”
Does that relate to believers “putting on the whole armor of God”? Does that mean “seeking,” “searching,” “claiming,” “dressing,” “receiving,” all that our Lord has promised? I love Chambers’ words when he said: “Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love.” WOW! What are you building your life upon?
The journey of faith is a joyous journey, but sometimes there are those who “depart from the faith” – and it’s you and Jesus only! In 2 Timothy 4:16-18 Paul told his spiritual son, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be fully preached through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
In the previous chapter, Eight, you read “Dark Nights – Bright Lights.” Redemptive faith is not a dark night, but the “Bright Light” of Jesus Himself – and His Light never grows dim!
I pray you understand that at times a militaristic call to arms does arise for true believers, but without a doubt, I believe, Paul is talking here about a war against your own flesh, a war against the world spirit of unbelief, and a war against Satanic and demonic activity!
Discern Matthew 24:3-14 as you personally choose to do so, but don’t ignore or try to ‘sugar-coat’ our Lord’s words as He talked about the signs of the times and the end of “Israel’s age”! Jesus said: Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the ends of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you…
For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet…
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another…
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
I hope you understand that what has been spoken by Jesus is to alert ALL of “perilous times.” Our Lord and Savior high-lighted some very vital truths about these particular times called “last days”, which, no doubt, related to the rebellious nation, Israel, called “God’s Chosen People,” but a people who stubbornly rejected “Truth”, living “religiously” but “unsaved” or “born-again”!
Jesus said several things about those end times, and I believe also ultimately every nation’s “end-times”! Jesus said:
- It will be a time of great deception. Verses 4-5. 2) It will be a time of great conflict. Verses 6-7. 3) It will be a time of great suffering. Verses 8-10. 4) It will be a time of open sin. Verses 11-12. 5) It will be a time of great opportunity. Verses 13-14.
Are you prepared? Are you alert? Are you well-trained? Are you equipped? Are you prayed up? And, I would ask, ‘Are you ready to die for your faith?’ In Ephesians 6:16 Paul tells us, “above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”
LASTLY, HAS ‘YOUR’ FAITH LED YOU TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO STAND FAST AND STRONG? In Galatians 5:1 Paul wrote: “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
You do know that if Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed – no more bondage, no more slavery, no more chains, no more fear of an eternal Hell, no more entanglements of poor choices!
It was Robert J. McCracken who wrote: “We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.” Oh, that once again true American history be restored to our classrooms!
Again, Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” I’m telling you, “standing fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,” is why John recorded Jesus’ word for us in Revelation 3:10, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
It’s more than enduring and persevering – it’s standing tall before Holy God with a heart of thanksgiving and joy for His gift of FAITH!! “For by grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is THE GIFT OF GOD!” GLORY!!
Ray Palmer and Lowell Mason wrote the Hymn, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee.” It says:
“My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away, O let me from this day Be wholly Thine!…
May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire; As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee Pure, warm, and changeless be, A living fire!…
While life’s dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide; Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow’s tears away, Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside…
When ends life’s transient dream, When death’s cold, sullen stream Shall o’er me roll; Blest Savior, then, in love, Fear and distrust remove, O bear me safe above, A ransomed soul!”
CHAPTER TEN
“VOID OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH”
Reading the Book of Hosea recently, I came across an interesting, sad verse of Holy Scripture. Hosea 8:11-12 addresses ‘Ephraim’ but speaks of the very apostasy of Israel! It says: “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, they have become for him altars for sinning. I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing.”
Are you aware of even America becoming a “strange thing” related to its avoidance of God’s historic, anointed Word? I know that Herrick Johnson wrote the following words many years ago, but it is so up to date with a nation that is being consumed with the spirit of ‘worldliness’: “Buying, possessing, accumulating, this is not worldliness. – But doing this in the love of it, with no love to God paramount – doing it so that thoughts of God and eternity are an intrusion – doing it so that one’s spirit is secularized in doing it – this is worldliness.”
A nation consumed by the spirit of worldliness? Yes, a people living a thankless existence, a people captured in the spirit of ungratefulness, a people that vainly shuts the door to God’s will and purpose for their very existence, a people imprisoned to the world, the flesh, and the devil, a people that “sing” the “songs” of “freedom”, not knowing the chains that bind their hearts and minds to Holy God and pump rebellion and disobedience through mortal ‘flesh’?
Would you dare agree with me that “brain-fed” men and women who major on “closed doors” to God Almighty uphold allegiance to their “common sense” and profess devotion to their “brilliance” as better service to themselves than the “redemptive faith” and shed blood of the Lamb of God for their sins and sin nature?
I pray that you clearly understand that Satan himself had a disrespect of Godly control and was consumed with the desire for ruling control over himself and the world as he saw it under his evil domination! As a result, we know the devil is the birther and author of lives consumed by deadened consciences ‘he promotes’! His ‘kingdom’ is this fallen world plagued by “religious activity void of the Holy Presence of the Resurrected Christ”!
The ‘kingdom of darkness’, authored by the devil himself, is rabid resistance to anything, anyone who has a relationship with Holy God – if you belong to Christ, you have an enemy who promotes spiritual death to Holy God! The devil is not interested in “redemptive reconciliation” with Holy God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus – so he sends out his army of demons and fleshly slaves to turn you away from Christ Jesus!
In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 Paul wrote: “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 I tell you: THERE IS NO LOYALTY TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST APART FROM HIS BLOOD REDEMPTION AT CALVARY’S CROSS!! What did Paul tell us in Galatians 3:26? “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
But, sadly, in John 5:39-47, Jesus exposed ‘religious Jews’ who rejected His blood redemption! Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life…
I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive…
How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and you do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you before the Father; there is one who accuses you – Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My word?”
Follow carefully Hebrews 10:19-23!! “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,…
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” How blessed are these words to spiritually needy hearts!?!
If it’s in a man’s mind and heart to please God, what is the end of that journey of faith? But if it is not in a man’s mind and heart to please God, what doors has he opened to missing out on oneness with Christ Jesus and eternal blessings? Read with me Hebrews 6:1-6!
“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits…
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
There are no doubts in my mind at all about those who’ve been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, because my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, does not “die” again on the cruel Cross, and allow Himself to be put in “open shame” – He is now exalted at the right hand throne of God as King of kings and Lord of lords!
I choose resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope! But to choose to set aside Christ Jesus is to choose a path “Void of Faith”, embracing self-righteousness, self-will, and self-destiny! And the results of that choice?
FIRST, VOID OF FAITH IS THE CHOICE OF THE ABSENCE OF DIVINE LIFE. Are you aware of our Lord’s anointed word through Paul in Galatians 5:24? “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” But ‘void of redemptive faith’, many choose the ‘death-walk’ of the flesh [old sin-nature] over “resurrection life in Christ!” They ‘love’ the flesh with its passions and desires!
Galatians 5:19-21 illumines, I pray, a fallen man’s deathly path! “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Are you at all familiar with one being eternally banished from the presence of Holy God? Do you understand the healthiest physical specimen on the face of the earth without “eternal hope” because he/she lives with the absence of redemptive faith, having the physical desire only to satisfy his/her lusts, with no desire at all to be one with God, know Him, or please Him, but ingrained to honor the very worst of fallen humanity’s grave sin-sickness?
If the Holy Word challenges us with “without faith it is impossible to please God,” [Hebrews 11:6], is it because fallen mankind feels he can decide what God should accept from him, even if it comes from a selfish heart, selfish life, and selfish motive? You do understand that much of ‘religious faith’ that is not ‘redemptive faith’ can capture people to the point they become ‘self-determining’ of what should please God!
And my text here, Galatians 5:24, reveals, yes, the necessity of flesh crucified with its passions and desires if we are to become partakers of His “resurrection life, power, and hope”! I thank God for the precious privilege of witnessing world-wide people who conduct their own funerals of death to the old man, death to the old sin nature, and gladly accepting the eternal truth of them being “crucified with Christ”, and glad of it!
Void of faith is the absence of divine life? In Matthew 16:24-26 Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, or loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
One void in redemptive faith is one in perverted ‘love’ of his sinful self, his shell of fleshly domination, denying the need of divine life, in ‘love’ with self-will, self-pleasure, counterfeiting ‘lust’ as true love, and declaring self-achievements as true offerings to a God he/she has no desire to honor or serve or bless! And what did Jesus say? “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself”?
SECOND, VOID OF FAITH IS THE ABSENCE OF THE FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul shared his prayer for all true believers. He prayed: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus, to the glory and praise of God.”
Oh, in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, I believe Paul, by the Holy Spirit, reveals why many in the lost world without Christ don’t know or understand because many, commissioned by Jesus as “ambassadors”, are not fulfilling their calling as true “witnesses” of the living, redemptive faith! He said: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
In Christ, partakers of the very righteousness of God! Did we just read, “For He [God!] made Him [Jesus Christ!] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”? What did Jesus say in John 15:4? “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
And just how spiritually enriching is Galatians 5:22-25? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Are you a “spiritual fruit-bearer”? In John 15:5 Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.”
THIRD, VOID OF FAITH IS THE ABSENCE OF ETERNAL PURPOSE. As Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church fellowship and us, he so longed for them and for us to be spiritually alerted to eternal purpose. But sadly I’m not sure this awareness is faithfully taught by most of the churches today!
Paul wrote in Philippians 1:19-21, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
A ‘living faith’ IS “the Indwelling Christ” – and the victorious warrior lives by the “life of Another – even by Jesus only!”
In Colossians 1:26-28 Paul highlights God’s “eternal purpose”: “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” What an amazing Word from God to us who repent and trust in Christ’s eternal purpose!
In “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.249], Oswald Chambers wrote: “There is only one relationship that [eternally] matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.” Amen?
FOURTH, VOID OF FAITH IS THE ABSENCE OF BIBLICAL AWARENESS. In Matthew 4:1-4 we read about Jesus in the wilderness, “led by the Spirit …to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew said, “And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
But are you aware that many “professing believers” live on a starvation diet when it comes to the Word of God? In John 6:63 Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Then in Verse 64 Jesus shared, “But there are some of you who do not believe.” And Jesus was talking about those who seldom, if ever, put their feet under the table of the Lord, feeding faithfully, daily, off His life-giving Word!
Is it a stretch for you that “you cannot believe and respond to the Word you do not know”?
Also, after saying in John 6:63-64 that, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life, But there are some of you who do not believe,” in Verses 66-68, we read, “From that time ‘many of His disciples’ went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’ But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’”
‘Void of faith is the absence of biblical awareness?’ Follow with me 1 Corinthians 2:9-12!! But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT!
FIFTH, VOID OF FAITH IS THE ABSENCE OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE. As Jesus continued to minister and equip His circle of disciples, He said to them in Luke 12:31-32, “But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Are you aware of “God’s good pleasure”?
In Hebrews 11:24-27 Moses was a man of God with a consuming passion of being a recipient of God’s heavenly pleasures, not ignoring them, but faithfully appropriating them to the very honor of God! The Word tells us: “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, CHOOSING RATHER TO SUFFER AFFLICTION WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”
Did you notice “the passing pleasures of sin”? That wasn’t Moses’ desire or ambition or purpose! His holy purpose was “the Father’s good pleasure”! What blesses God? What honors the Son? What gives glory to the Holy Spirit? Heavenly pleasure to God, through YOU, is YOU led out of yourself to dying to yourself that the Resurrection Life of Christ be manifested in and through your mortal flesh!
Do you understand abandonment to fleshly pleasure and so “all in” to God’s pleasure becomes your earthly ambition to His glory, honor, and praise? But if you are ‘void of faith’, your earthly existence simply produces headaches and heartaches and certainly gives you no lasting pleasure that brings glory to Him through your earthly walk!
Last, VOID OF FAITH IS THE ABSENCE OF THE PASSION TO KNOW WHAT GOD SAYS. Or, I might explain my intent here in a better way by asking, “Is there a ‘counterfeit’ of outward allegiance apart from the desire to truly be one with God?”
You do understand that it truly is in a man’s mind and heart to decide if he’s even interested in the things of God – he will either open or close that door!
It’s more than mental assent – it’s heart surrender, full surrender, to the honor and glory of God alone! In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940 there is a hymn written by W.S. Weeden and J.W.VanDeVenter entitled “I Surrender All”. It says:’
“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine; Let me feel the Holy Spirit – Truly know that You are mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Your love and power, Let Your blessing fall on me.
I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”
Is that true of you? Have You truly taken hold of Him who is Lord, Savior, Master of all? Have you ventured your all on Him? It was Spurgeon who once said: “I shall not be delivered from the wrath to come, by believing that His atonement is sufficient; but I shall be saved, by making that atonement my trust, my refuge, and my all.”
Tell me about YOUR “Redemptive Faith” – a void, a vacuum, or a Victorius Faith because it is faith in the finished work of Christ alone?!?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“FAITHFULNESS OR DISTRESSING DISGUISES?”
I don’t know how you’ll respond to the title of this message because only you really know the secret chambers of your heart and mind. Why? Appearances can be deceiving; outward ‘show’ can be simply fictitious, uneventful heart-change, or a desire not to be exposed to what one really believes.
It was C.S.Lewis who once wrote: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because of it I see everything else.” But then in a real world of life and death, success or failure, blessing and disappointment, true examples and pretenders, wise or blinded, divine fruit or diseased or dis-eased citizens, people will either “press in to Him” or fall away by their own free will – “nothing to do with Jesus – I have my own religion!”
Don’t you find it interesting, convicting, and challenging, that in Revelation 2:10b, Jesus tells us: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”? Is it possible that some begin the walk of faith, are faithful for a period of time in what they know, and then walk away? “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Are bad turns made away from the highway of holiness that lead to ‘dead-end’ places? Does disappointment in one’s self or others mean, “I choose to be disappointed in Jesus also”? If a ‘Texas dust storm’ can restrict your vision, can a believer’s storm of doubt cast dark shadows on one’s devotion and allegiance and all-out surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords?
Oh, and hear me – can a preacher-pastor’s ‘falling away’ be the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back,’ and you decide, “I want nothing more to do with ‘phony Christianity’?”
In Ezekial 18:23 God spoke: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” And whatever is opposite of the Word and the will of God and His ways is determined wicked and brings a judgment of death – and God says, “turn from YOUR ways and live!” He went on to say in Verses 31-32, “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord. “Therefore turn and live!”
I know, and I assume you also know, that there are “distressing disguises”! It’s so evident by spiritual blindness, unholy hearing, willful rejection, painful indifference, yes, even deeply-wounded scars from spiritual events of the past that one holds on to, residence in a jail of unforgiveness because someone, somehow, somewhere led them down, they believe, to a place, a practice, a persuasion that didn’t line up with the desire for a ‘godly lifestyle’ but an ungodly lifestyle even when the Word declared and still declares ‘separate from sinners.’
I’m really sorry, but I do not see projected in God’s Holy Word ‘comfort’ or ‘comfortable’ or ‘pleasurable for the flesh’ in a world where Holy Truth is seen as needed to be suppressed and certainly worthless in schools, universities, or any governmental institution locally or nationally!
How dangerous is it for men of all standings, places, rankings, abilities or, education or the absence of it, to find themselves in a place they don’t feel comfortable, identifying themselves as men unreservedly sold out to Christ so they ignore the church Jesus loved and gave Himself for, going the way of “silent allegiance” when Jesus instructs us to identify ourselves as His true followers and devoted to build up, strengthen, and, yes, laboring for His church-body’s success?
“Distressing disguises”? Are you ever confronted by those who once have known Truth and then, all of a sudden, because of multitudinous fleshly crises, the door was opened to cast doubt on the Word of God? Sadly, I’ve known men over the years who so devotedly shared God’s Holy Word, but crisis came from business, family, spiritual family, resulting in undefinable criticism, and like a wounded ‘puppy’ they crawl away from upholding Truth!
“Distressing Disguises”? Are you aware of those who have been ingrained with partial truth and they profess “Peace, peace! When there is no peace”? [Jeremiah 6:14]. It’s as if the ‘gospel’ they held onto was ‘peaches and cream’ without Jesus’ word, “In the world you will have tribulation!” I would urge every disciple over the next three to four months to devote himself/herself to the four gospels and determine if Jesus ever talked about a ‘trouble-free walk of discipleship!’
“Distressing disguises”? Do you remember in the Gospel of John Jesus telling the scribes and Pharisees that denying Him was the result that they never knew the One True and Living God? In John 8:13 they told Jesus, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.” In the eighth chapter alone Jesus told the ‘religious crowd’ about 4 times, similar to Verse 21, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
“Distressing disguises”? I hope it doesn’t seriously offend you if I tell you that there are “sticklers” for legalism apart from God’s grace, mercy, and love! On the tablet of stone God carved out and imprinted Ten Commandments that exposed men as true ‘law-breakers’ in need of mercy, grace, and love, but deception blinded men to their true need of God because they graded by the ‘curve’, wanting acceptance by self-effort rather than acceptance through the finished work of Christ at the Cross, with God then writing His love, His law, and His liberty on a redeemed heart! How about your devotion? Is it by law or the very love of Calvary’s Cross and the reality of Jesus’ empty tomb and present residence in Heaven at the throne of God interceding in your behalf?
“Distressing disguises”? Have you not wrapped your mind around the fact that fallen humanity is fully absorbed in the mind-set and heart- absorption of materialism, and the more one has, the nearer he/she is to God? Yet, our Lord and Savior and True Master of all of life has said, Matthew 16:24-26, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life [for himself] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
“Distressing disguises”? You’ll remember as Moses was leading Israel to the Promised Land there came a time when he went up on the mountain for an alone-time with God that became a long time – and his people became anxious.
They went to Aaron and told him, Exodus 32:1, “Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what is become of him.” Verse 4 tells us that he, Aaron, received golden earrings from the people, and fashioned it with a graving tool into a “molten calf”; and the people said, “This be our gods who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” Then the end of Verse 6 tells us, “and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” God then told Moses, “your people, Moses, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.”
Has anything changed? What is it that has become your own ‘distressing disguise’? Reality speaks so loud and clear as when Samuel said in 1 Samuel 10:19, about some in Israel, “And you have this day rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to Him, “No, set a king over us!”
At least David had the sane attitude of brokenness, repentance, and turning from that which scarred him and others so deeply. In Psalm 25:17-22 he prayed: “The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.”
I’m sure you’ll remember Paul challenging the church at Corinth when he said in 2 Corinthians 6:12, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” And he paid a heavy price for standing in truth! He said to the Corinthians and us in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. For when I am weak, then I am strong [in Him].”
Paul further testified in 2 Corinthians 13:4-6, “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.”
In Christ you are made to soar, not to sink; you’re a new creation in Him to live victoriously, not defeated; in Him you overcome the devil himself and his temptations, not swallowed up in a sea of denial of truth or ocean depths of drownings in deceptions opposite of Holy Revelation, Eternal Truth, and His ever-abiding presence in you!
“Distressing disguises”? I picked up again recently Mark Levin’s book entitled “LIBERTY OR TYRANNY,” sub-titled “A Conservative Manifesto.” I read it several years ago, but on the back cover of his book he had a statement of Abraham Lincoln, spoken in 1864. Lincoln said, “We all declare liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny.”
Do you remember the unbelieving Pharoah of Egypt? In Exodus 5:1-2 we read, “Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharoah, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ And Pharoah said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.’”
It’s certainly not always true, but it seems, for some like Pharoah, that ‘wealth’ or ‘riches’ lead an awful lot of people to bow down in idolatry and not live in worship, praise, or thanksgiving, with adoration, exaltation, submission, and loyalty to the God who laid down His Son at the Cross! “That’s not MY calling!” – have you ever heard that? “I serve the Lord who blesses me,” yet the Lord God Almighty, Emmanuel (“God With Us”), Savior and Lord, Master of all of life, said in Deuteronomy 30:14-20, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, THAT YOU MAY DO IT. [“Why, You legalistic God! Who would want to submit to Your Word, Your Will, Your way? Not me!”] See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God WILL BLESS YOU in the land which you go to possess. BUT IF YOUR HEART TURNS AWAY SO THAT YOU DO NOT HEAR [and some choose, ‘I don’t want to hear what God says!’] and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today THAT YOU SHALL SURELY PERISH; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
[And just as a reminder if you have questions about what you just read and its spiritual relevance to New Testament disciples, John 8:56 says, Jesus speaking: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”]
“Distressing disguises”! I pastored a church many years ago in which a very visible leader became involved in an adulterous relationship with another church member. In my office he denied it and assured me it never happened.
A few weeks later I received a late night call to hurry to a particular home where the police had already arrived. The church leader was in the home of his adulteress mate with an irate, almost uncontrollable husband.
The church leader had lied and then resigned his visible office in the church. I advised our church officers or deacons that this situation required church discipline, but they ALL said, “He’s our friend, and it won’t happen. He deserved better than having to care for a sick wife!’ Within a short time, God moved our leadership role as pastor elsewhere!
When open sin is ignored it manifests itself in abundant rebellion to God’s Holy Word – I heard years later that adultery, broken marriages, and a suffering church had about died, until several pastors later God placed His new man in a strong place of leadership – now, the church prospers spiritually.
“Distressing disguises”! I was reading Spurgeon recently. [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.15, pps. 78-79]. He said: “Is it so, that because you are yourself a member of a flourishing church, and because you enjoy all sorts of Christian privileges, you therefore harden your heart concerning dying churches and desponding saints? Do you imagine that the body can be sick, and yet you as a member of it will not suffer? I tell you, if the church of God goes aside it will be to your injury; if the truth of God be not preached you will be a loser; if a Christian life be not vigorous you will be weakened.” (p.80), “If you are not creating a holy warmth, the chill of sin is freezing you.”
‘Ice-berg city’ – the gathering of chilled believers! ‘Ice-berg city’ – the union place of divided allegiances! ‘Ice-berg city’ – the creeping sickness of unconscious allegiance to self-birthing of paralyzed infants who don’t know where they came from or where they are headed. The Lord Jesus said in Revelation 3:11, “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” [It would be worth your effort and time to research about “your crown.”]
“Distressing disguises”! It was so interesting and challenging recently when in Luke 16:1-13 I read about the parable of the unjust steward. Read carefully and consider your walk as a professing disciple of Christ! Jesus also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
So he called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.” [I pray you realize “stewardship” has much more to do in your walk than what you “give” in money!]
Then the steward said within himself, “What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.” So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.
He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Is Jesus teaching us about faithfulness in ‘little things’? Is He teaching us about money and its blessing or curse? Is He informing us about faithfulness in what belongs to another man? But now, let’s transition from “distressing disguises” to “FAITHFULNESS”! We’ve just witnessed Jesus talking about “faithfulness” in three ways. Is there more in His precious and powerful Word we should discern and apply?
It’s not difficult to grasp or understand or comprehend the subject of “faithfulness” – the battle comes when faith and faithfulness must be exercised and YOU must discern for yourself, ‘a walk of fleshly sight and its desires OR a walk of faith and faithfulness to honor the God of the Cross and the empty tomb and His eternal reign!
I do not know or understand how a person reads or hears read Ephesians 2:4-8, 12-13, and determines to walk away from saving grace! It says: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…Verses 12-13, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH AND BY FAITH ALONE! That’s what you just read!
WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH! Examine Romans 3:19-26 very, very carefully: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Do you remember the lame man outside the temple asking alms as Peter and John were about to go in? Follow Acts 3:6-16, 19-20, 23, 26:
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them – walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Soloman’s Porch, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pontius Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Verses 19-20, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before…
Verse 23, And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people…Verse 26, To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
WE ARE TO CONTINUE IN THE FAITH. In Acts 14:21-22 Paul was endeavoring to build a solid foundation in new disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. The Word says: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND, RECEIVE, WALK IN THE WALK OF OUR HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND SPIRIT PURIFICATION BY FAITH. Acts 15:6-9 says: Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” [Don’t ever overlook, minimize, or ignore God saying, “..by faith”!! Which leads us to:
WE ARE TO WALK IN THE PEACEFUL REST OF FAITH LIKE ABRAHAM. In Romans 4:1-8 we read of the faith of faithful Abraham: “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
WE ARE TO BE EMPOWERED BY FAITH – NOT IN THE EARTHLY WISDOM OF MEN. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 instructs us: Paul speaking, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
WE ARE TO BE AT PEACE IN OURSELVES BECAUSE OF OUR FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS. Galatians 2:20 illumines our minds and hearts as Paul tells 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 II live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
WE ARE TO BE DILIGENT TO THE END BECAUSE OF OUR INHERITANCE OF GOD’S PROMISES. In Hebrews 6:11-12 we see our calling as true believers: “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
WE ARE TO BE WELL-TRAINED, PERSONALLY DISCIPLINED, AS A TRUE SOLDIER IN GOD’S ARMY, NOT GIVEN AN ‘AWOL’ SPIRIT, BUT DEVOTED TO HIM AND THE CHURCH JESUS LOVED AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR AND THE WORLD MINISTRY OF EVANGELISM HE INSTILLED! Paul wrote young Timothy as a wise spiritual father, 2 Timothy 2:1-4, “You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Earlier, in 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
You do understand that we serve a God and Lord and Savior who is so ever faithful to us! In Lamentations 3:22-27 Jeremiah shared both a broken heart because of Israel’s sin but also a peaceful heart and soul because he knew the faithfulness of God’s compassion:
“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS!! ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”
And I have no doubts that this is why Isaiah encourages us in Isaiah 25:1 because he knew God’s faithfulness: “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”
Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, His people sprout and bear His fruitfulness! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness to us, our faithfulness to Him is not to be a probability but a sure certainty! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, we don’t enlist for a seat in a church pew but a place in the front-line of a holy war! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, we’re not to be inventers of simply religious activities but fully surrendered lives available to His presence, power, purpose, and promises to be expressed through our available lives!
It was the old “The Defender” who had this quote: “Faith is dead to doubt, dumb to discouragement, blind to impossibilities.” How true!
Off-key lives are invaded by the “Master-Tuner” and discords vanish and perfect harmonies erupt! When repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross finds a permanent home, empty barrels become the overflowing presence of His never-ending LIFE!!
Faithfulness is not a philosophy but Divine Presence, holy certainty, continual blessing, and a sacred marriage of eternal bliss!
Faithfulness is the Shining Sonlight of the resident Christ within, the evidence of God’s Holy Presence, and the certainty of the Holy Spirit’s fulfilling ministry in sons and daughters of faith.
It was B.B. McKinney who wrote the old hymn, “Have Faith In God.” “Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely, He sees and knows all the way you have trod; Never alone are the least of His children; Have faith in God, Have faith in God.
Have faith in God when your prayers are unanswered, Your earnest plea He will never forget; Wait on the Lord, trust His Word and be patient; Have faith in God, He’ll answer yet.
Have faith in God in your pain and your sorrow, His heart is touched with your grief and despair; Cast all your cares and your burdens upon Him, and leave them there, oh, leave them there.
Have faith in God though all else fail about you; Have faith in God, He provides for His own; He cannot fail though all kingdoms perish, He rules, He reigns upon His throne.” AMEN?
CHAPTER TWELVE
“FAITH AND ITS FRUITFULNESS”
Faith? Mental assent but no moral change? Best effort or dead to self, alive in Christ? Fleshly efforts or Master-Full Presence? Self-discipline or divine provision? Carnal creativity filling one full of fleshly pride or spiritual awareness of God’s Holy Presence honoring Himself through you? Faith? Pats on the back for one’s fleshly ambition and determination without God’s help or the “pity-me-awareness” that “I didn’t think I needed God’s help, but I do”?
Do you remember John the Baptist’s statement or declaration in John 3:30? “He must increase, but I must decrease”? I was reading this Scripture in Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.60], and inspired for this chapter when he said, “Over and over again, we become ‘amateur providences’, we come in and prevent God; and say – “This and that must not be.” Instead of proving friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say – “That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him.”
But it’s not only ‘lost visions’ and ‘stolen affections’ – it relates heavily to fleshly indulgences, inordinate affections, inspired ‘self-awareness’, and a scripture-less absence of divine, eternal intent and purpose as a vessel through which Christ is Himself!
True biblical faith is not faith in ourselves or a mindful determination of our personal ‘qualities’ that can help the cause of Christ in our world today – it’s the “crucified life” made available to His “Resurrection Presence” in us and through us!
So much of ‘religious activity’ today relates to promotion of self or the dedication of the ‘old man’ with all of his natural abilities, personal instincts, human strengths and resources, that many ‘offer’ to God, when in Romans 6:13 Paul wrote wisely: “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
How futile for fallen men to consecrate their fallen sin natures to God’s glory! I hate to tell you, but God is not interested in you presenting your “old man” on an altar of dedication – 1 Peter 1:18 speaks of “your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers” when God tells us of the “precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” given to resurrect us all from the dead and bringing us into true “Faith and Its Fruitfulness”, not in aimless conduct but atoned creations!
But there is no fruitfulness apart from redemptive faith! In Romans 6:15-22 Paul instructs us all in “Faith and Its Fruitfulness”: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness…
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, “you have YOUR FRUIT” to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
Did you catch it? In the “old man” walk, “what fruit did you have in the things of which you are now ashamed”? But, if Christ IS your gift of eternal life, tell me about your becoming “God’s slave” and now your “fruit to holiness”!! The “old man” walk is “bad, unacceptable, and imperfect” while the true walk of faith is “transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The lack of redemptive faith in one’s life is the evidence of ‘self-assertion,’ the evidence of unwillingness to be ‘ruled over’ by Holy God, the evidence of selfish ideals, strong self-wills, fleshly idols, sinful entrapments, even contentment in falling short of the glory of God!
But early in this chapter I pray, yes, you’re convicted that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” And I assure you that “Faith and Its Fruitfulness” is a vital part of understanding God’s “Master-Full” purpose in the salvation event that begins your journey into “the glory of God”, granting you, like Paul, “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”!
In Romans 8:27-30 we read: “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit of God is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose…
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined [predetermined] to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” [Can you say, “Glory”?] Do you know what Hebrews 2:10 says? “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, ‘IN BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY’, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Are YOU really aware of God the Father’s purpose in “bringing many sons to glory”? It was Peter who wrote in 2 Peter 1:2-4, “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.”
Would you dare highlight what Peter tells us about “WHAT GOD HIMSELF HAS DONE IN OUR BEHALF”? Multiplied grace and peace, granted us the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, divine power granted us all things relating to life and godliness, expanded to us the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, He personally called us to Himself, He gave us great and precious promises, He opened the door that we might be partakers of, yes, the divine nature, and granted us the way of escape from corruption and lust that is poisoning the world! “Amazing Grace”!!
Thank God for men like Paul who interceded for both the Ephesians and us today when he wrote in Ephesians 1:15-21, “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus [where is YOUR “faith” placed?] and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
“Faith in the Lord Jesus”? But you do realize that many faithless, unbelieving, self-centered individuals, reject ‘biblical faith’ and pour themselves into cynicism, a radical faith in themselves without God, and void of any answers for their guilt, their emptiness, their skepticism, their soul-darkness, their constant, off-key discords, trying to live their best on their philosophical probabilities, their false pride, and even their vain, irrational belief in “life’s success” without God!
This is why in Romans 1:16-17 Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew and also for the Greek. For in it [in what?] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.” And that’s “FAITH in the finished work of Christ at the Cross of Calvary and nothing else!”
You are aware of many people who deny saving grace and redemptive faith and are out to prove by ‘self-effort’ they can ‘redeem’ themselves from their fallen sin natures, which is so utterly ridiculous! I high-lighted in the previous chapter Romans 3:19-26, which I urge you to read again right now before continuing, but beyond that passage, wrestle with Romans 3:28,31-32,and Romans 4:1-8!
Paul emphasized “faith accounted to him for righteousness.” Faith in what or who? In Romans 6:4-11 we read, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life…
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, KNOWING THIS, that our old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin….
For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him…
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. LIKEWISE YOU ALSO, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” DO YOU THINK THIS MIGHT BE WHY PAUL SAID: “I DIE DAILY” – or “I take the sentence of death unto myself that the resurrection life of Christ might be manifested in my mortal flesh!”?
“FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS’ DEATH AND RESURRECTION”! That, my friends, is “the finished work”! It’s more than rational what Jesus did in obedience to the Father – it is historically, eternally revelational and divinely regenerative, making all things new! This, no doubt, is why Merv Rosell once said: “Faith is saying “Amen” to God!”
Faith IS heaven opened daily to see and know and converse with and surrender to God the Father seated on the Throne of Glory, Christ Jesus seated beside Him, and the Holy Spirit enveloping the Godhead in His Crown and Cloud of Glory, and those of redemptive faith singing our hymns of praise and adoration – and that’s already begun even before we get there!
Faith is God’s gift of eternal light that never dims, but even when times and spaces experience darkness , His gift of faith never is overwhelmed or overshadowed by that darkness because His gift of light and faith extends our vision and understanding even beyond what we can see with the naked eye!
Faithlessness is ‘out of harmony’ lives producing ‘off-key’ results, but redemptive faith is experiencing daily God’s “Hallelujah Chorus”! Faithlessness IS the very absence of God in one’s life continually producing for eternity’s sake the spirit of hopelessness, but ‘in Christ’ one lays hold of the hope that never dies!
It was Robert Cecil who once said: “Faith makes all evil good to us, and all good better; unbelief makes all evil good, and all evil worse. Faith laughs at the shaking of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf, unbelief starves the soul; faith finds food in famine, and a table in the wilderness. In the greatest danger, faith says, ‘I have a great God.’ When outward strength is broken, faith rests on the promises. In the midst of sorrow, faith draws the sting out of every trouble, and takes out the bitterness from every affliction.”
I find it so strange and bewildering that faithless men have no understanding or comprehension of God so loving the world at large, and that lost man in particular, to the point that He desperately wants him and will not be satisfied or blessed without him – so He demonstrates the depth of His love for that, yes, one lost sinner, by sacrificing His Son on the Cross! He, the God of Calvary’s loving sacrifice, is passionate for fallen mankind to be “partakers of His divine nature”!
The salvation work of faith is not a matter of personal ‘reformation’ or the best effort of personal ‘refinement’ or even personal ‘restructuring’ of one’s priorities, but understanding and resting in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross in our behalf! In Acts 2:36-39 we read, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’…
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and [because you have repented] let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
And I guarantee you, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and faith in Christ alone!”
That’s repentance and faith and obedience publicly exercised! And one becomes the literal vessel of God’s Holy, Resurrected, Indwelling Presence!
Now, as a result of true redemptive “faith”, one begins the redemptive walk and journey in “fruitfulness”! In fact, in Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus instructs us in how we discern “false prophets”! He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS…
Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit…
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
Are you aware that in the walk of biblical faith that there must be also the walk of discerning men producing “bad fruit” and men producing “good fruit”? Didn’t Jesus Himself say, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them,” evil men or godly men! ? !
Thank God, our Lord and Savior, by His Holy Presence in the lives of truly repentant and born again men, produces “fruit” to honor and bless the Living God and Father of us all! Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
Understanding God’s creation, we know from Adam’s story in the birth of humanity that Almighty God revealed to him a choice between “the tree of life” which is very God of very God, or the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” It was Watchman Nee who wrote in his “The Normal Christian Life,” [pps.80-81], “He [God] planted two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…These two trees, then, typify two deep principles; they represent two planes[plains actually] of life, the divine and the human. The ‘tree of life’ is God Himself for God is life. He is the highest form of life, and He is also the source and goal of life…If Adam should take the tree of life, he would partake of the life of God. Thus he would become a ‘son’ of God, in the sense of having in him a life that derived from God. There you would have God’s life in union with man; a race of men having the life on God in them and ‘living in constant dependence upon God for that life.’ But if instead Adam should turn the other way, and take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then he would develop his own manhood along natural lines apart from God.”
And the result of ‘life’ apart from God? That’s fallen countenances, fallen-away minds and hearts, failed inheritances, spiritually dead bodies wandering in life apart from eternal purpose, fallen away sickness of sin and its consequences,, fallen away from heaven on earth, Truth fallen away, “crowns” fallen away, fallen away from divine Presence and divine blessing, fallen from holiness and sinking in to the depths of sin and death, fallen into a deep sleep, and fallen away from grace, mercy, and love!
Oh, but look at the Eternally blessed Word of God in John 1:12-13! “But as many as received Him [Christ Jesus], to them He [God] gave the right to become children of God to those who believe [trust in, rely upon, adhere to] in His name; who were born, not of blood, not of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The question of eternal significance for you? “Have you truly “been born again, the second time, born from above, born of God”?
You’ll remember that in Matthew 7:17-20 Christ Jesus told us: “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
It was John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who said in Matthew 3:8, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…”, indicating “good fruit” that comes out of the overflow of a "new,” “born-again,” “repentant,” “reconciled to God individual”!
Holy God does not send out His “messengers”, His “ambassadors”, with a message of ‘reformation’ or re-construction or re-adjustments, but a message of the second birth; “Tell them, ‘You must be born again!’”
When you study intently Jesus’ words about new disciples and their ministries, you learn about ‘soil preparation, seed planting, and, yes, harvest of the fruit that comes out of good trees,’ and in the spiritual realm, that’s lost life soil preparation, that’s planting the ‘seed’ of the Word of God, and seeing birthed through your witness redeemed lives! And Jesus tells us “the fields are already white, ready for harvest”! Are YOU harvesting?
Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” But that wise ministry of winning souls to Christ is not by the best of human effort but availability to the Holy Spirit! Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
One of those “redemptive evidences” of true faith is found in John 7:38-39 when Jesus said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.184], “Think of the healing and far-flung rivers nursing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up marvelous truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is an indication of the wider power of the river He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessing for others.”
I don’t know how you’ll respond to it, but I want you to consider very seriously the words of Proverbs 12:14a and Verse 17-20! “A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth…” Verses 17-20, “He who speaks truth declared righteousness, but a false witness, deceit. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy.”
“A redemptive evidence”? In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul tells us: “But the fruit of the Spirit [compare that with the fruit of the flesh!] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Thank God! Jesus was exalted to the right hand of Father-God, and the Holy Spirit was sent to crown Jesus in us as King of kings and Lord of lords, and to be God’s provision in us and through us to honor Christ Jesus in our daily walks and eternal ministries! Thank God! The Holy Spirit is God’s gracious gift to every redeemed believer!
Richard A. Kelly wrote the hymn, “Holy Spirit, Lead Us,” in the early 1940’s (I think!). It says: “O Holy Spirit, lead us, we pray, We need Your guidance all through the day; If You but teach us to know Your ways, We follow gladly and sing Your praise.
We need Your power along life’s way, Come, gracious Spirit, abide today; Endue with love, You Mighty One, Oh, help us now to say, “Your will be done.”
Comfort our hearts, hear, us, we pray, Give us Your strength from day to day; If we but follow, make You our Guide, Your peace will be ours, and joy abide.”
Receive Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit in John 16:12-14! “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you.” Amen?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“FAITH AND ITS FIGHT”
James, the brother of Jesus, asked an interesting, intriguing question in James 4:1 when he said, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?” And it’s really amazing what he had to say when in James 1:2-3 he wrote: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials [troubles, testing, turmoils etc.], knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
Joy when you’re going through “a state of great commotion, confusion, or disturbance; tumult; agitation; disquietness; [even] turbulence, disorder, uproar?” [That’s the Random House Collegiate Dictionary!].
And that can relate to “Faith and Its Fight”? What did John say in Revelation 1:9-10? “I, John, both your brother [in the faith!], and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience [or steadfastness] of Jesus Christ, was on the island of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet…” These are amazing words of revelation because the Beloved John had been imprisoned for proclaiming the faith!
Have you ever considered through ‘history’ that the blowing of the trumpet was the announcement of entering the battle? And, sadly, far too many “professing Christians” don’t even know of the warfare that concerns “Faith and the Fight”! To come to the Lord Jesus Christ in humble faith and surrender is to report for “warfare duty” in and for the Faith! One does not usually expect that the acceptance of the grace of God is a release to lifetime spiritual warfare – but it’s the open door in a “warfare” that can be physical or spiritual or mental or moral!
How do you respond or react to Paul’s words in Romans 5:10? “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.” Your coming to Christ in true redemptive faith and repentance is the offering of your life as a living sacrifice, ready for the battles that surrender to Jesus brings on.
And as a “soldier of the Cross,” what about the daily discipline of preparation to fight the good fight of faith? There ARE great enemies to one’s very life of faith in Christ! In Luke 21:19 Jesus very clearly said: “By your patience [steadfastness] possess your souls.” Would you think Jesus was telling disciples, “Prepare your souls for the warfare of the faith?”
Spiritual warfare is a daily experience of every true believer that relates to the world, the flesh, and the devil! Our fellowship-church this past Sunday sang a song about, “Every high thing must come down, every stronghold shall be broken!” Every habitual sin will be uprooted out of your life, if YOU belong to Jesus! There will be a shattering of fleshly pride and flesh-pumping promotion! God intends every ‘house-desolating’ to come to an end, home deception rooted out, and family desecration healed!
There is even a major war in the business-world area; I don’t believe you’d be shocked by ‘commercial corruption’ or ‘banking frauds’ or even ‘medical malpractice’ by deceitful doctors! How evil can even some governmental leaders become as they deceitfully use ‘public funds’ to enrich themselves or betray their oaths of office or dishonor Holy God before the public they are supposed to be ‘serving’? I’m sure this general warfare in life, in relationships, in families, in governments, was a part of what Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 1 and the end of Verse 4 when he spoke of “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”!
Didn’t Peter also expose the danger of false prophets in 2 Peter 2 with their “destructive heresies”, and in Verses 1 and 2 enlightening us about them: “even ‘denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.’”
Peter spoke later in 2 Peter 2:13b-15a saying, “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray…loving the wages of unrighteousness.” Does that sound familiar, or ring a bell, or sound an alarm or a ‘wake-up call’? But it’s not only that men have “forsaken the right way and gone astray,” or men “carousing in their own deceptions,” or men “having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin,” or men who “love the wages of unrighteousness” – in Acts 17:22, Paul said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious,” but they didn’t know the King of kings and the Lord of lords! And Paul preached to them “Christ Jesus” because “in Him we live and move and have our being”!
He then said, Acts 17:30, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent!” Why? Because, “He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
LET’S EXAMINE FIRST THE REALITY OF GOD JUDGING THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BY THE MAN WHOM HE HAS ORDAINED! In Psalm 9 there are several verses I want to use in laying the foundation of God’s “judgment” – and here, it is the judgment of the “world”! Psalm 9:7-8 King David wrote: “But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.”
In Psalm 9:15-17 the inspired Word of God is so clear! It says: “The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. [Meditation]. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Oh, and then in Verse 20, David wrote: “Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” So true of men – but God IS Holy God, and Holy God judges “the world.”
Thank God for the prophetic Word of God that can be, has been, and will be for those nations and individuals who “have ears to hear”! Isaiah 13:11-13 no doubt was a direct Word to “faithless” Israel, but it certainly extends to all nations and all peoples! God said, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.”
God told Jeremiah to “prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: [Jeremiah 25:30-33}, “The Lord will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will come to the ends of the earth – for the Lord has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord. Thus says the Lord: “Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth. And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.”
I have no doubts that God intended through His ‘world creation’ including man was to be a place of true spiritual life, not a place of the reality of spiritual death in the lives of fallen humanity! I’m convinced His intent in and through the world was for it to be truly a house of praise, but it became for mankind a place of death, a prison for the rebellious, and a hospital for the spiritually sick and the mentally insane who chose the powers of darkness over God’s Kingdom of Light!
It was 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.” And, no doubt, this is why the beloved John, in 1 John 2:17, wrote: “The world passes away, and the lust thereof.”
Wasn’t it Tennyson who spoke about “this gross, hard-seeming world [being] our misshaping vision of the Powers behind the world, that make our griefs our gains”? And, without a doubt, is it not fallen mankind that so disquiets, disturbs, even disrobes, or tries to, God’s glorious Creation, making it an abode of snared lives rather than the people of love, grace, and mercy?
There is an interesting passage in Luke 18:31 when the Word says, “Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, [and He unveiled all that was to happen to Him and even to His disciples!]…with Verse 34 saying, “But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.”
And, sadly, many, many believers have never come to an understanding of “laid-down-lives” to make eternal difference in a dark, lost, unbelieving world, and that as Jesus chose the Cross for Himself, so do true believers in laying down their lives in witness to the world!
In 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.”
In Christ, YOU are ushering in to a darkened world the very “Light of the world” whose name is Jesus Christ! You “have this treasure” in an earthen vessel so that through you men witness “the excellence of the power of God,” and what has made the difference in your life can make the eternal difference in their earthly existence also! Witnesses to the world!
“Faith and its fight?” SECOND, LET’S EXAMINE THE REALITY OF AN ENEMY OF CHRIST AND OURSELVES CALLED THE “FLESH”, YOUR OLD SIN NATURE, FALLEN ADAM, THE OLD MAN. If Jesus says, and He does, “That which is born of flesh is flesh,” has that unveiling of man’s fallen sin nature changed? “Flesh IS flesh” – and if there is a change it is because of one’s birth in the Spirit!
In fact, in John 3:3 Jesus told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” adding in Verse 5, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [water of the Word implanted] and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” What an awesome revelation!
In Peter’s epistle, 1 Peter 1:22-23, Peter enlightens us, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, [purified by the blood of the Lamb!], having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..”, then saying in Verse 25, “But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Paul wrote a very vital word for us in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
“Sanctify” is a word meaning “set apart for the glory of God”, with Paul adding by the Holy Spirit, “and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word”! That ‘word’ is the God-inspired, God-breathed word!
The “flesh,” your own old sin nature, your ‘fallen self’ away from God, your “old man,” is the ancient heredity of sin and the sin nature of all mankind from Adam UNTIL the last born man on earth! I love what Oswald Chambers wrote: “My Utmost For His Highest,”[p.208], “The revelation of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took upon Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took upon Himself the heredity of sin which no man can touch. God made His own Son to be sin that He might make the sinner a saint. All through the Bible it is revealed that Our Lord bore the sin of the world by “identification”, not by “sympathy”. He deliberately took upon His own shoulders, and bore in His own Person, the whole massed sin of the human race – “He [God] has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,” and by so doing He put the whole human race on the basis of Redemption. Jesus Christ rehabilitated the human race. He put it back to where God designed it to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what Our Lord has done on the Cross.”
In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” And that’s because of our Adamic, fallen, sinful, away-from-God choice! Fallen mankind finds ‘temporary’ pleasure in rebellion to Holy God! Natural mankind reflects the nature, character, instincts, obstinacy, fleshly pride, willful rebellion against God and His Holy Word, declaring independence from God, disobedient, disconnected from holy guidance and amazing grace, determined to deify the soul and live separated from Holy God!
Oh, but then because of God’s eternal love for all mankind, Isaiah 7:14 reveals, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” And that birth was with eternal purpose because through Christ the ‘rotten flesh of sinful man’, by God’s grace and mercy, can be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, with the door being opened in every repentant heart, where Paul tells us in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” And as Christ is being ‘formed in me’, God begins the work of sovereign grace to “work through me in exalting and glorifying Christ on earth as He is glorified in Heaven!”
And because our faith and hope is in and through Christ Jesus, in Galatians 5:24, Paul challenges every born-again believer, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” We love Him because He first loved us – and in this ‘love relationship’, who loves in rebellion, disobedience, and disfigurement of the One who loves you more than you love yourself? Look at the Cross!
THIRD, CONSIDER CAREFULLY YOUR “MAJORITY” ENEMY CALLED SATAN OR THE DEVIL! In 1 Peter 5:8-9 we find highly important and valuable words about Satan we all must receive! Peter said: “Be sober [‘serious-minded’], be vigilant [‘on guard!]; because your adversary [your enemy] the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
How important is a disciple’s understanding of his spiritual warfare with Satan? It is so interesting to read a very short verse in Ephesians 4:27 when Paul said: “nor give place to the devil.”
It was Jude, in Jude 9, who wrote “to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ,” saying, “Yet Michael the archangel, IN CONTENDING WITH THE DEVIL, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” That sounds to me like, “when Satan comes against you, tune in Jesus only!”
Paul wrote to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 3:6-7, about ‘bishop’ qualifications, saying, “not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
That tells me your “majority enemy” is out to entice you, entrap you, oppress you, deceive you, condemn you, possess you even with demon powers and forces, sow wild seeds in your life, grievously vex and torment you, even blind you to the reality of God’s great love for you demonstrated in Christ’s Cross! It was John Dryden, in his “Absalom and Achitophel, [Pt.1,l.79], who wrote: “When to sin our biased nature leans, The careful devil is still at hand with means.”
How vitally important is the Word of God concerning our understanding of the devil as our enemy, yet most of the world, even the unsaved, are fully aware of his destructive work all around! Even highly trained and mentally educated will admit to his existence because they see the evidence all around them!
Do you find it amazing that Christ Jesus, in confronting the “religious Jews”, said of them, John 8:43-45, “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 you the truth, you do not believe Me.” With whom do YOU stand? With Satan or the Savior? I’ve never known a more accursed individual than that man who has voluntarily given his soul to the devil and the demon powers! He has no comprehension of the devil’s desire to control him, consume him, and destroy him! Even sadder when the major majorities of cities, states, or nations, are people who deny God His rightful place but will embrace and esteem Satan as he hand-heart-and-mind “cuffs” them as he imprints his ‘profanities’ upon them! Aren’t you aware of how easily he distracts men from the love of God as they embrace the lusts of Satan? Satan has no logic – he just majors on lust! This may be why in “Hamlet” William Shakespeare wrote: “and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape,” because he understands men major on “eye-sight” rather than true heart-motivation! He even mentioned another time about those who “sugar over the devil himself”!
And I hate to tell you, but Satan is “a cradle-rocker” and a youth contaminator, and an adult assassin, who is out to destroy, to denigrate, to infiltrate body, soul, and spirit; he assaults, he attacks, he aspirates any heart or mind turning toward “evidences of redemptive faith” or allegiance to Holy God in Christ! Oh, but he delights in “false religions” void of the love of God and Calvary’s Cross!
But John 12:31-33 tells us: Jesus speaking, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” And the Cross hasn’t defeated your enemy, Satan?
That’s the New King James Version with Satan called “the ruler of this world.” In other places he’s called ‘the prince of this world,’ but whatever you want to call him, “the devil IS the devil” and rules over “a hell of a place and people”! And isn’t it true that “their foolish hearts were darkened”, and if so, is it not the devil himself that ushered in “darkness”?
And, thank God, Colossians 1:13-14 tells us: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
You are aware of imitation, counterfeit, rotten ‘fruit’ that the devil strongly favors: fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, idolatry, deceitful lusts, blindness of the heart, greediness, bitterness, wrath, anger, evil speaking, hatred or malice, unforgiveness, unbelief, lies, hypocrisy, disobedience – just a few characteristics to describe the evil nature and character of the devil who is out to enslave you to his domination!
In 2 Timothy 2:24-26 Paul has explained to Timothy how humble and patient true servants of Christ are to be with those captured by Satan! He said: And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
That, my friends, is an awesome statement unbelievers must be made aware of! Some do not even know that without Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior they are slaves to Satan and his horrific kingdom of darkness! Spiritual enslavement to the devil is a very dark place and position to live in! If you didn’t know it, a strong self-assertive will is nothing more than one who walks around in the devil’s prison-garb! Satan so blinds his ‘sin-slaves’ that they seldom ‘break away or break out’ of their grasp of understanding of “falling short of the glory of God”!
But what did Christ Jesus do in His coming? John 1:14 says, “And the Word [Christ Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” And what happens when we turn from Satan and to Christ Jesus? John 1:16 says, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”
We ALL have a choice: remain a ‘son’ of Satan or “child of God”! John 1:12-13 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in [trust in, rely upon, adhere to] His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
It was Hattie E. Buell and Rev. John B. Summer who wrote the old hymn, “A Child of the King.” It says:
“My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands! Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, His coffers are full, He has riches untold…
My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men, Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them; But now He is pleading our pardon on high, That we may be His when He comes by and by…
I once was an outcast stranger on earth, A sinner by choice, And an alien by birth; But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down, An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown…
A tent or a cottage, why should I care? They’re building a palace for me over there; Though exiled from home, yet, still I may sing: All glory to God, I’m a child of the King…
I’m a child of the King, A child of the King; With Jesus my Savior I’m a child of the King.” AMEN?
I close this chapter with 1 Timothy 6:11-16! “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”
Will you be exalted at the Throne of God with Christ because you fought the good fight of Faith?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“FAITH AND ITS OVERCOMING POWER”
1 John 5:4-5 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
How easy is it at times for one to be ‘overcome’ rather than being an ‘overcomer’ by the gift of redemptive faith and its overcoming power? I’m sure you’re familiar with the passage of Scripture in Luke 8:22-25! It says, Now it happened, on a certain day, that He [Jesus] got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out.
But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
Most of unredeemed mankind today lives in an unconscious state of awareness of God’s presence in or around them when the storms of life arise, and they live in fear and trembling rather than in faith and its overcoming power! You are aware that there are those who look down on those who possess “faith in God”, perceiving it to be a sign of fleshly weakness rather than the blessing of faith in His overcoming power.
For example, are you aware that when the Word of God in Genesis 5:24 says “Enoch walked with God”, many will frown upon it as an insult to a man’s self-worth and self-strength?
The beloved John heard about things Jesus had been doing, and He sent two of His disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus, in Matthew 11:25, said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Verse 26, Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Your sight.” It’s never easy for “the wise and prudent”, as they see themselves smarter than God Himself, but humble “babes” are reachable and teachable by the Master-Teacher!
And what about what Malachi wrote in Malachi 2 describing Israel like a husband “dealing treacherously with the wife of his youth,” saying Verse 16, “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously,” with God Himself, followed by Verse 17, “You have wearied the Lord with your words…”?
No doubt that Jesus was talking to ‘the multitude’ in Israel, ‘religiously active’ but far from understanding Redemptive Faith, when He said in Matthew 17:17, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you [or put up with you].” In “Idylls of the King: Merlin and Vivien,” Tennyson wrote, “Faith and unfaith can ne’er be equal powers; Unfaith in aught [or nothing] is want of faith in all,” which for many means ‘no faith in God at all’!
I mentioned Enoch early in this chapter, but I want you to grasp also what was said about Enoch in Hebrews 11:5-6 – “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
But “self-faith” is not a rewarder but a thief that robs, based on ‘high’ self-esteem, ‘high’ personal importance, and a ‘low view’ of anyone who looks outside himself to the loving God!
At the same time, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, Paul brings awareness to the table when “apostasy” surfaces! He said: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” If there is a battle against one’s devotion to Christ, what are the Spirit and the Word telling us as to how we overcome? 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 says, “ – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…” So why “self-faith” when one can be, has been, and forever will be choosing the sentence of death to the “old man” daily that the Resurrection Life of Christ Jesus may be manifested in our mortal body with the gift of everlasting life? Paul said elsewhere, “I die daily”! Do you? And that for the purpose of giving Christ His rightful place in us as King of kings and Lord of lords!
“Faith and its overcoming power”? Born of flesh is the “birth of spiritual death,” but born of the Spirit is the “birth of eternal life”! “Master, we’re perishing in the stormy sea of life,” and Jesus still says, “Where is your faith”?
And where is YOUR faith when you find yourself being assaulted by Satan and the demon powers of Hell itself? Let’s look at Jesus’ response when He was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.” It’s found in Luke 4:1-13. Verse 2b tells us, “And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” [That was a “fast”.]. And in that forty day period He was continually tempted.
Let’s examine the three primary areas that the devil will “tempt” YOU as he did Jesus!
- There is the temptation of the “lust of the flesh”! Matthew 4:3, And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread,” with Jesus responding to the devil in Verse 4, But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
- There is the temptation of the “lust of the eyes”! Matthew 4:5-8, Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
- There is the temptation of the “boastful pride of life.” Matthew 4:9-12, Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Then Verse 14 says, Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Let me give you a biblical word of encouragement in overcoming ‘temptation’ as your enemy comes against you! This is “Faith and its overcoming power” as it relates to a true believer! 1 Corinthians 10:13! “No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
But beyond the devil’s temptations to lead you astray, are you aware of, yes, the horrific struggle that goes on as one is maturing in his faith, and battling between the ‘flesh’ and the Spirit, or the ‘old man’ trying to resurrect and be released in the “new man”?
In Galatians 5:24 Paul instructs us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” We saw earlier in one of the previous chapters Paul affirming his death to himself daily and standing victorious in Christ’s Resurrection Life. In 1 Corinthians 15:31 he said, “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I DIE DAILY!”
If YOU belong to Christ, you understand spiritual warfare, whether you and the devil, you and the world spirit, but just as real, your battle with the old sin nature that is out to be resurrected through you! Jesus said to ALL, Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
The awesome warfare of the “new man” fighting the “old man” is not just a warfare of heaven against hell, but in reality at times the “born again” man has to face the “good, better, and best” in himself, shutting out Christ in him and through him, and in a spirit of unawareness, self-promoting the natural man and closing the door of heavenly presence in the supernatural!!
Oswald Chambers said in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.257], “If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will mock at the life of the Son of God in us and produce a continual swither [swither meaning perplexity, confusion]. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves, physically, morally, or mentally. “I wasn’t disciplined when I was a child.” You must discipline yourself now. If you do not, you will ruin the whole of your personal life for God.”
“Where is your faith” as you fight the good fight of faith, “new man” versus “old man”? But also are you alerted to the very depravity and doom of “false teachers,” “phony preachers,” and “counterfeit disciples” or “shell churches” without “ANY Holy Presence”?
There are no doubts concerning faithful, God-honoring, holy men who were moved to teach and preach, moved by the Holy Spirit! But 2 Peter 2:1-20 majors on ‘darkened doctrines’, disobedient, foreign to God teachers, religious teachers with depraved minds and diseased hearts,, men blinded by the powers of darkness, diseased in their teachings, bound by the devil himself as his slave of corruption and indecency, even poisoning the minds of some believers!
Oh, and 2 Peter 2:21 says, “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” And that SURELY ought to “scare the Hell out of some people”!
“Faith and its overcoming power?” The church of our Lord and Savior had made inroads into Rome. Before Paul went there to die, he had written the epistle to the newly formed church or body of believers there. In Romans 12:9-21 the apostle shared a vital word to the believers there about brotherly love, merciful living, and the demonstration of overcoming evil with good. Follow his word:
Verses 9-21, “Let love be without hypocrisy [or “play-acting,” “stage performance or imitation”], Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality…
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion…
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will replay,’ says the Lord…
Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Oh, how different is the ‘fallen family of humanity’ from the “Holy Family of God”! And when God says to all, “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” what is YOUR response? Far too many shy away from “Faith and its overcoming power” and succumb to faithlessness and its destructive influences! But, “this is the day the Lord has made”, and He’d be overjoyed to see you surrendering yourself to His sovereignty and His salvation blessing through His Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
In Revelation 2:7 John wrote: I believe Jesus speaking: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Amen?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“HIDDEN SINS – FAITH’S EXPOSURE”
Are you truly aware of how evil “hidden sins” really are? How do you feel when a “pretender” is exposed? A “pretender” is one who makes false confessions because he/she is so expert about lying and deceiving those around him/her! And there are “professional braggers” who are highly efficient in spiritual cosmetics that cover over “the real person”, at least for awhile. Can you comprehend a man so full of himself that he can’t begin to consider his need of God’s sovereign grace and mercy, and had rather ‘lie’ about how ‘spiritual’ he is when, really, he possesses a bankrupt spirit of faith?
Fullness of self is one’s prideful way of neglecting his/her need of saving grace! A comical, out-going extrovert is often the “crown prince” of self-deception! A man who is a “master” of self-control is often living on the faulty foundation of self-pride, self-awareness, and self-hate, without a clue of his/her need of saving grace.
Have you ever witnessed that man, that woman, who appear to place themselves humbly on an altar of sacrifice for others’ needs when it surfaces they were simply magnifying ‘self-love’ and hopefully drawing attention to themselves? How inconsistent do you find the ‘service’ of men who robbed God of His intent of “laid-down lives” caring for others more than caring for themselves, but selfishness overrules their ‘self-sacrifice’ and they go around patting themselves on their backs!
It was William Ewart Gladstone who once said, “Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.” And if you didn’t know or understand: Selfishness is the curse of ‘self-centeredness’ dominated by the very fallen nature of sin instituted by devilish, demonic activity and control – and the more ‘respectable’, the greater bondage, and the higher – the prison walls!
2 Thessalonians 2 is Paul teaching Timothy, and us, about a “Day” of apostasy and a great falling away! Verses 3-12 enlighten us as to the dangers those “falling away” from Christ will face:
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God…
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved…
And for this reason God will send them strong delusions, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
What fallen man, what unbeliever, what rebellious sinner, do you know that doesn’t “take pleasure in unrighteousness”? What man, captured in all unrighteous deception, do you know who has no desire to hear from you sharing with him biblical truth? And certainly, they have no desire to hear Jesus Himself say to them as He did to “the scribes and Pharisees,” Matthew 23:33, “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
“Serpents, brood of vipers”? And who is that? That’s those who have no interest at all in the death of Jesus on Calvary’s Cross – their interest, their consuming motivation, their ‘self-professed motivation’ is nothing more than their fleshly desire to please, enjoy, celebrate, and live by their sinful natures, their worldly pleasures, their ‘ecstasy indifference’ to the will, the Word, and the pleasure of God in all His heavenly desires for them!
There is such a powerful, convicting, encouraging word that God gives us through King David in Psalm 19:7-14! Rest in it! The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether….
More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? CLEANSE ME FROM SECRET FAULTS…
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
“Hidden sins – Faith’s exposure”! Do you think David had a clear understanding of what it meant to him, and us, about “Cleanse me from secret faults”? You’ll remember that in Genesis 6:5 “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” and God was so sorrowful over His creation of man that He was ready to destroy them, but the end of Verse 7 tells us, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and the earth inhabitants were spared.
Enter Abram! And in Genesis 15 we find a covenant relationship between Abram and Holy God with Verse 6 telling us, “And he [Abram[ believed in the Lord, and He, ‘God Almighty’, accounted [or credited] to Abram’s account God’s righteousness!,” and through human history, though the “many” hide their sin and ‘pretend’ everything is ‘OK’ as they intentionally break God’s Law, a ‘remnant’ of humanity become living witnesses of the redemptive faith God has given us, while a fallen world goes on in its “hidden sins” but with more and more open rebellion and an unashamed spirit of their Godlessness!
In Jeremiah 32:19 the prophet addresses the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, saying: “You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.”
It was the great English preacher of the past in England, Charles Spurgeon, who once said: “The sins that we see and confess are but like the farmer’s samples which he brings to market, when he has left his granary full at home.”
Are you aware that multitudes who live in “open sin” and rebellion to God’s Holy Word, seldom admit what they do is sin and defiance of God, but there are those who know it’s sin, and being ashamed, will cover it over, even denying their fallen state before Holy God! It might be good for you to be asking yourself and others why it is they like things to take place in “the dark of night” or why it is their wicked choices are “in secret”!
Sadly, most enslaved to their sin nature, and ashamed of it, need to be challenged again by what we just read from the prophet Jeremiah three paragraphs ago, who said in Jeremiah 32:19, “You [God] are great in counsel and mighty in work, FOR YOUR EYES ARE OPEN TO ALL THE WAYS OF THE SONS OF MEN, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” [Do you know the biblical difference between “good fruit” and “rotten fruit”?] And there is nothing “secret” to the eyes of Holy God!
Do you remember Sarai’s servant named Hagar who bore Abram a son? In Genesis 16:13 we read: “Then she [Hagar] called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’”
There is no “hiding” from God, yet in this day and time of modern history, far too many are unashamed of their sinful ways and could care less if God sees or doesn’t see what they “enjoy” temporarily – and it is temporary enjoyment with His guarantee of eternal punishment if there is no repentance and turning from their SIN to the Savior and Lord of a blessed life!
What are we learning concerning “Hidden Sins – Faith’s Exposure”? It’s for sure, we are fully aware that nothing is hidden from Holy God! We are fully aware that before man came into existence God knew of the necessity of “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world!” We are fully aware that God the Father was out to birth a new “family of faith” through His blood redemption at Calvary’s Cross!
In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Paul declared under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” Does that mean that now since Jesus paid the price for man’s forgiveness that ALL MEN ARE NOW SAVED?
Of course not, which is why Paul added, in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, “Now then, we [of repentance and true faith] are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf [His earthly representatives, ambassadors], be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Do you understand? You are either “the righteousness of God in Christ” or you choose to be the unrighteousness of the devil in your sinful self, though Christ Jesus paid your debt 2000 years ago!
“Hidden sins – Faith’s exposure”? Do you grasp the difference between “pretense” and “Holy Presence”? What about a “contradiction” and true conversion? Are there men who are perverters of truth rather than being men fully persuaded Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and they’re willing to die for Him and His unveiling of Eternal Truth?
“Hidden sins – Faith’s exposure”? If the God of Creation made us to honor and reflect Himself, how is it men so carelessly, recklessly, and proudly, walk this earth God made, as devils in multitudinous disguises, in rebellion, in disobedience, parading as ‘perfect sons’, when in reality, under their cloaks and masks, are marred men who are out to satisfy only their sinful lusts, their self-centered pride, and their strong attachment to the spirit of a fallen world – of Heaven’s God they have no interest!
But when “Faith” exposes not only their sinfulness, and then opens the door to heavenly living on earth through Christ Jesus, yes, if necessary, they are willing to walk with Him alone, even if no one else follows Him!
As Paul wrote Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:16-18, we find encouraging words! “At my first defense no one stood with me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
But, of course, many churches teach that if Jesus delivers us from every evil work and preserves us for His heavenly kingdom, that’s a future prospect not a present reality! And they ignore Jesus teaching His disciples to pray, as He said in Matthew 6:9-10, In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN…”, and Jesus ended “The Lord’s Prayer” in Verse 13b, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. [Or “So be it, Lord!”].
“Faith’s Exposure” is leading people out of darkness into His marvelous Light, out of separation from God to Oneness in Him, out of unbelief in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior to exalting Him in their hearts, minds, and homes, as our deliverance from bondage to freedom in Him with our chains broken, and then blessed and endued with power from on high, and that’s in “the here and now”, not when we get to heaven someday!
“Faith’s Exposure” was certainly intended for Jews first because the “Promised Messiah” was to come through them, but most Jews rejected Christ Jesus then and most Jews reject Him now because they loved or love their religious activities more than desired “saving grace and saving faith” – they desired only religious observances more than “new life in Christ” through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross!
Follow Acts 10:34-45 carefully!! Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Christ Jesus – He is Lord of all – that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree…
Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to those who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. While Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
God the Father “anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power”, but not His disciples? And, yes, God DOES anoint every disciple, then and now, with the Holy Spirit and with power! Being one with Christ is to be endued with power from on high!
And that ‘anointing’ God releases in you enabling you to proclaim a mighty witness of the Lord Jesus! Isn’t that Acts 1:8?
That ‘anointing’ is also God releasing His power in you to live a holy life! In Romans 8:11-14 we read, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you…
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Plus, the ‘anointing’ of the Holy Spirit upon and in you is God’s power unveiling in you to see and witness God manifesting Himself in mighty deeds and wonders! In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 we read, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one as He wills.”
As I come to a close in this particular chapter on “Hidden Sins – Faith’s Exposure”, I must examine the danger of “faith-people” who choose recklessness in their walks as “professors of faith” and, yes, allow sin to begin dominating them rather than honoring the Indwelling Christ! [I know this irritates those who deny one can ever lose his/her salvation, but…].
Come, first, to Joshua 24:19-20, where Joshua said: “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will NOT FORGIVE your transgressions nor your sins. IF YOU FORSAKE THE LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
Oh, then Jesus comes along to shatter ‘safety and security’ in those who believe it isn’t possible in the New Covenant for Jesus to do His disciples harm and consume them! “Faith’s Exposure”? What does Luke 12:45-46 tell us, Jesus Himself speaking? “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS.” [Check Jeremiah 34:18-20!].
It sounds to me like every disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ should avoid “Hidden Sins” since “Faith’s Exposure” includes ‘believers’ compromising their professed faith in Christ Jesus!
I must have you to also look carefully at 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 where Paul alerted us, saying: “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us HOW YOU OUGHT TO WALK AND TO PLEASE GOD; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus…
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”
If the will of God is “your sanctification,” how is it there are those in Christ who choose to exercise themselves at times in unholy fashion choosing immoral styles of life to satisfy their old sin natures? Sanctification IS unveiling Christ in and through us – immoral choices is resurrecting that which “died with Christ” on the Cross with, yes, the “penalty” – “the wages of sin is death”! When did that change?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“FAITH AND ITS STRONG FOUNDATION”
How do you look upon a ‘home-builder’ that you see beginning construction on the plans of an expensive home but you notice he doesn’t build a strong foundation first upon which to construct the home of someone’s dreams? Would you dare to construct, whether office building or home, without a strong foundation? Faith without a strong foundation is a mind and a life void of intelligent, biblical understanding, without an ounce of spiritual awareness of a relationship to Holy God.
Do you remember our Lord and Savior weeping over Jerusalem? In Luke 19:41-44 we read, Now as He [Jesus Christ, the Promised Messiah] drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes…
For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
What if there is a leveling of a life because that life never considered the vital importance of its “proper foundation”? It didn’t even consider the weakness of life without the foundation of God Himself! In Luke 6:46-49 Christ Jesus instructs us as to the results of ‘no foundation’ or “the foundation of a house built on the Rock!” It says:
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation of the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock…
But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
But you know as well as I do that Jesus was challenging us about “Faith and Its Strong Foundation”! A man without true faith and a Word-based foundation is a man who will know one day and forever regret his faithlessness that unveils for him only unfathomable sadness, a perturbed, troubled mind, and a morbid awareness of what he avoided in his self-centered life!
Faith is not weakness but eternally divine strength and confidence and assurance of one, yes, being “more than conqueror in and through Christ Jesus”! Faith is not an unsure foundation but full awareness of His ability, His promise, His assurance, His provision of His overcoming Life that never fades away or dies! If YOU fade in His faith, it’s your fleshly choice, not His divine promise or provision, because our Lord and Savior has revealed to us, RECEIVE JESUS’WORD!!, John 11:40, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
As you are studying with me about “Faith and Its Strong Foundation”, it’s my prayer that you are not a ‘modern-day’ unbeliever who has no desire to know what Jesus says, but that YOU are so convicted and so concerned about the right foundation for your life as you prepare for eternity! And without a doubt, you’ll not avoid ‘the sanctuary of your soul’ and its eternal dwelling!
In Hebrews 12:25-28 is a powerful word for the awakening of your soul before God if it’s necessary! It says: “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more ‘shall we not escape’ if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Is it YOU that Holy God will consume with fire?
So, I would challenge you initially in this chapter that “THE ABSENCE OF THE WORD OF GOD IN ONE’S LIFE THROUGH INDIFFERENCE OR AN UNIMPORTANT ATTITUDE” is of major concern. You’ll remember, I pray, what Jesus said to Satan when led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:4.
The first temptation was, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And even as Jesus was training young disciples in the faith-walk, in John 6:63, He said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Before our Lord’s ascension to heaven, in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus told His disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” [Or “So be it!]
Peter was a strong disciple as he matured in the Faith, guided by the Holy Spirit! In 1 Peter 1:22-25 he wrote: “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Is an absence of the Word of God in one’s life an open door to spiritual malnutrition? How does one ‘obey’ what he/she does not know? No Word – no life; no Word – no growth; no Word – no spirit of discernment; no Word – no strong spiritual health; no Word – no unfolding of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ; no Word – no calling or obedience in ministry and service; no Word – no grasping of “the Master-plan” in building a life and witness!
“Babes in Christ” are like observing that infant even learning to stand or how to take a step – and usually that’s with many falls. Babes in Christ usually have no understanding of ‘spiritual currency values’ and will waste rather than treasure what is of vital importance! Babes in Christ, maturing in their journeys, will often speak without even understanding what they’ve said or heard.
“THE ABSENCE OF THE WORD OF GOD IN ONE’S LIFE ALSO INVALIDATES ONE’S PROFESSION BECAUSE OBEDIENCE TO GOD”S WORD IS EVIDENCE OF THE HEART-SURRENDER TO THE WILL, THE WORD, AND THE WAYS OF GOD!!”
In Luke 6:46 the Lord Jesus asks, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?” The evidence of true faith? “Yes, Lord whatever You say, I receive and I will do. My faith will not be a philosophical indulgence or hidden vices that I hold on to – my mind, my heart, my will is more than a ‘profession’ of some religious beliefs – it’s the eternal POSSESSION of ‘Christ in me’ being released through me as I obey Your inspired revelation of divine purpose, plan, and power!”
Holy God, King Jesus, and the Eternal Spirit, have not called us to live on mental and even spiritual fiction, but divine revelation! Again, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and do not do the things that I say?”
It was George Macdonald in his “Marquis of Lossie”, [ch.72], who wrote: “I find the doing of the will of God, leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.” Michael Eyquem de Montaigne once said: “The first law that ever God gave to man was a law of obedience; it was a commandment pure and simple, wherein man had nothing to inquire after or to dispute, for as much as to obey is the proper office of a rational soul acknowledging a heavenly superior and benefactor. From obedience and submission spring all other virtues, as all sin does from self-opinion and self-will.”
Just how convicting and how powerful and how instructive do you find 1 Corinthians 3:9-17?!? It says: “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire…
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
SO…!!! Does this involve the “Master-plan” discovery, study, preparation, and execution, or is true discipleship just “wing it” the “best” you know how? Is Christ Jesus YOUR Lord and Savior and “boss” of your life, your walk, your testimony, your job description? And if He is, is obedience to Him the evidence of your laying down your life daily to submit to His every command?
If YOU are building or constructing your life to “house” the King of kings and the Lord of lords, how thorough and complete is your understanding of “crucified with Christ” so that the resurrection life of Christ is manifested in your mortal flesh? Spurgeon once preached, “If truth will carry you no further than despair, better that you stop in despair than gain a hope by a lie.”
Also, I want you to carefully sense through God’s Word “THE WISDOM OF A WISE MASTER-HOME BUILDER AND THE FOOLISHNESS OF AN UNWISE BUILDER!” “FOOLISH LIFE-BUILDING”? An unwise life-builder? Through Isaiah, in Isaiah 45:6-7, God spoke: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’” Oh, and then in Verse 24, for those who are unwise ‘life-builders’, God speaks: “To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him.”
It’s never changed: Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” And whether it’s the “fool” or an unbeliever who rejects saving grace, mercy, and love, all who fail to “look unto God Himself, and be saved”, have based their ‘decisions’ on human merit, basing even their appeal to God, if they ever had one, on fleshly worthiness rather than Godly conviction because ‘respectable goodness’ is what they see all men possessing, but not “sin natures” requiring repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross!
“Foolish Life-Building”? That’s “enemies” of Holy God! Romans 5:10 declares, “For if when we were enemies…,” and how frustrating is that to a “foolish life-builder” who wants to serve God, if he ever does, on his own terms – and to declare him an enemy of God when he doesn’t even know or understand that it was HIS sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross, is ‘spiritual madness’, so he/she determines no relationship to “those brain-dead Christians”!
“Foolish Life-Building”? “Blood covenant relationship” with God absolutely builds resentment in multitudes who want a relationship with God on their terms! It’s why Oswald Chambers wrote: “Man has to go out of himself in his covenant with God as God goes out of Himself in His covenant with man. It is a question of faith in God – the rarest thing; we have faith only in our feelings. I do not believe God unless He will give me something in my hand whereby I know I have it, then I say – “Now I believe.” There is no faith there. “LOOK UNTO ME [God says], and be saved.”
Are you not aware of those who are willing to build a relationship with God on their terms but will frown on and fight against “His blood shed for me? I don’t think so – ‘godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation…?’ I don’t need to repent! If God wants me, let Him accept my effort, my worldly sorrow if He thinks I’ve done something wrong! But I don’t bend and I don’t bow and I’ll not be broken by your God humiliating people, or trying to, but your God doesn’t trouble me, impress me, or shock me into bowing down before Him, He ought to bow before me!”
“Foolish Life-Building”? Are you aware of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:25? “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
How familiar are you in this modern-day of television advertisements and what they put their emphasis on? Is it ‘common sense’ or “Holy scents and sense” that should direct, motivate, and inspire our lives? What motivates you and those around you? Earthly, fleshly satisfactions or Eternal, Faith-filled blessings? Foolish Life-Building blinds one to God’s heavenly intention and enslaves an unrepentant man to devilish and demonic bondages – and most of our world doesn’t even know there’s a difference because they are ‘foreigners’ to Faith, and satisfied in their ‘slavery’!
But Let’s Shift To “The Wisdom of a WISE MASTER HOME-BUILDER”! Luke 6:46-48 is so strongly evident as to spiritual, eternal, God-authored wisdom and understanding related to “Life-Building”! It says: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.”
Do you remember Paul telling the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3:19), “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”? And that includes the religious world of Judaism that ignored the prophecies of the “Coming Messiah” through them, even being that instrument of unbelief, denial, and crucifixion of the King of kings and Lord of lords! It’s why Jesus said in Luke 16:8, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.”
You’ll remember Ezekiel 13:2 where God said, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and [Don’t miss this!!] say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’” And the ‘foolish’ prophets of Israel “follow their own spirits and have seen nothing”! God said a few verses later, “they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace.”
Ezekiel 13:22 God spoke then to Israel and speaks NOW to America, “Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life” – all of this because “they envision futility and practice divination”! [Was Jerusalem destroyed? Did God tell them the Old Covenant is gone and only the New, Blood Covenant in Christ remains?] Do YOU know that “GOD IS THE LORD”, and the God of saving grace through Christ alone?
Foolish men build foolishly – wise men build wisely! Foolish men craft lives to satisfy the old sin nature – wise men receive the gift of resurrection life, mercy, and eternal hope through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord’s “finished work”! Foolish men ‘bank’ on human wisdom as the ‘flesh-market’ crashes – wise men entrust themselves to God’s grace with eternal ‘interest’ and ‘profits’ forever multiplying! Foolish men base their lives now, future, and forever on what they “possess” – wise men rest in God’s declarations of who they are ‘in Christ’- His eternal identification of true identity!
It was Martin Luther who once said: “Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they to God’s Word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health; or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding, skill, wisdom! Yet men toil for them day and night, and take no rest. Therefore God commonly gives riches to foolish people to whom he gives nothing else.”
What is it for you – riches of this world or the true riches of His eternal kingdom? Is it “treasures upon earth” that you are passionate for as moths and rust corrupt, and thieves steal, or truly “heavenly riches”? How easy is it for a worldly man to crave, to labor incessantly, to be absolutely crippled by the ‘desire’ to be rich, but sadly bankrupt in the desire to not only know God, but bankrupt in the passion, desire, and will to love, serve, bless, honor Him in who one is and fully aware of Who one serves? Fleshly men, intent on earthly wealth, are encumbered so strongly by earthly riches, that they are empty of eternal desire to know and serve God alone!
Trouble arises when a man makes earthly riches the driving force of his life and is void of desire to be rich in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ! God help us that we see in our nation, not an attitude that overvalues riches and wealth, but truly values submission to Christ the greatest of eternal wealth and the greatest of the riches of the rich!
The prophet Jeremiah heard Holy God speak: Jeremiah 9:23-24, Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
In Revelation 21:5 we read, Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And then He said to John [to us!], “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”
What did the Beloved John write? Examine 1 John 5: 4-5! “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes [relies upon, trusts in, adheres to] that Jesus is the Son of God.”
God says what? “Behold, I make all things new!” “New creations”? “New birth”? “New songs of praise and adoration?” “A new spirit?” “the blood of a new covenant?” “New man?” “A new nature?” “New calling?” “New Highway?” “New Testimony?” “New guidance – “The Lord led me!” “New power?” “New goals, purposes, and ambitions?” “New life-manifestations?” “New anointings, aims, and ambitions?” “New eyes that see as God sees?” “New confidence, trust, and surrender to God Almighty?” “New visions?” “New desires?” “A new heart?”
Though we were weakness incarnate, weakness manifested, old, self-centered, dominated by darkness, in Christ Jesus we’re made strong, old man crucified, new man birthed by His grace and mercy, from ‘self’ redeemed and new life through His regenerating power, though ‘darkness’, now made “Light”, though flesh-dominated through the Spirit made spiritually strong because as He is so are we in this world!
We were ‘flesh’, but now ‘in Christ’ we are in-filled with the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit! It was Watchman Nee who once wrote: “Living in the Spirit means that I trust the Holy Spirit to do in me what I cannot do myself.” Then he said, “not trying but trusting, not struggling but resting in Him!”
In Exodus 14:13-14 Moses said to his people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish FOR YOU today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
You saw in an earlier chapter that Jesus, led by the Spirit, went into the wilderness for a purpose – to be tempted, tested by the devil. And Satan came against Jesus in three distinct ways which were meant to bring Jesus to trust in Himself rather than God’s Word, trust in Himself rather than God’s angels, and trust in Himself rather than God’s Presence! And if Christ looked out, around, and up for God’s overseeing of His earthly walk, we should “Suck it up” without “looking up”?
1 John 5:11-12 tells us: “And this is the testimony: that God has [already, in Christ!] given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” I tell you, ‘Living on the growing edge of eternal life is living in total trust, dependence, and faith in Christ, who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think’!! Yes! We do not “suck it up” – we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!
I have no doubts that this also is why Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 4:11! “For we who live [in the Faith of Christ Jesus] are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…Verse 12, So death is working in us…” for the manifestation of His Life through us by the fruit of His Holy Spirit! “In Christ” we are not called to ‘best efforts’, natural strengths, or soul-dynamics – Jesus crucified all that with us crucified with Him on the Cross, your worst, your best, your in-between – ‘wake up’! Your ‘flesh profits nothing’, but “Christ in YOU is the hope of glory!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“HALTING OPINIONS OR HOLY FAITH?”
1 Kings 18 is an awesome, convicting, convincing, converting passage of Scripture as one sees a prophet of God, Elijah, astounding vast numbers of Israel as he stood against 450 priests of a false god, just as ‘true prophets’ of God today stand against another ‘religious crowd’ in bondage to false teachings of false religions that some call ‘the elite of the Christian community’!
I’ve often wondered how God looks upon circumstances today like Elijah faced in his day, and is there a legitimate comparison between one true prophet of God and religious men today, about 450 in number against a ‘lone voice’? Two to 800? Three to 1600? Four to 2000? And you do understand: Mt. Carmel is visited by one true prophet, with 450 prophets also there to preach and defend their deceit, with Ahab calling for “all the children of Israel” also to assemble.
Most of the children of Israel were unsure where their devotion should lie – Holy God or Jezebel’s god, as the legitimate ‘fear of God’ in a lot of Israel was still in many minds, but Jezebel was demanding allegiance to Baal! A spiritual war has been going on for some time – and Elijah comes forward to challenge those WHO ARE “halting between two opinions”. True men of faith were not there!
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah takes a stand: “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word,” and I say to you, “Silence is not golden – it’s treason!”
It’s so interesting that even in the New Testament we find false allegiances! In Acts 13:4-12 we read about Barnabas and Saul “separated …for the work to which I have called them.” It says:
“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant….
Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulose, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God…
But Elymas the sorcerer, (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?…
And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”
Remember, the ‘gathered crowd’ before Elijah was men, women, of ‘different opinions’, not the Solid Rock souls centered in redemptive faith!
Earlier, in Acts 8, before his conversion, Saul (to become Paul) had consented to Stephen’s stoning, even leading a great persecution of the church at Jerusalem. And though he “made havoc of the church” there, a major awakening was happening, with Acts 8:8 telling us, “And there was great joy in that city,” (Samaria)!
But beginning in Acts 8:9 we read about a ‘certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”…
And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized…
Then Simon himself also believed [mental consent apart from heart conversion?]; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done…
[It’s interesting as we come to Verse 14 and following that my new Holman Bible, NKJV edition, highlights the next section as “The Sorcerer’s Sin”!] Now when the apostles who were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit…
For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying: “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”…
But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
Elijah was confronted by a ‘gathered crowd’ of people with ‘different opinions’, but no understanding of true “Redemptive Faith”! Where do we find ourselves today in the “gathered crowds” of settled opinions as they seek to build “their understanding” of ‘kingdom living’ but, sadly, apart from the “King of kings and Lord of lords”?
FIRST, GATHERED CROWDS TODAY HAVE DETERMINED FOR THEMSELVES WHAT GOD OR GODS THEY SHOULD SERVE AND WHAT SHOULD BE THE END RESULT OF DEVOTION TO THE GOD THEY CHOOSE TO SERVE.
In Matthew 6:24 the “King of kings and Lord of lords” clearly said: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” And I’m convinced Jesus understood the vast difference between true devotion to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and fleshly devotion and loyalty to the “false gods” of devilish activities in their “trumped-up faiths and demands”, like Jezebel and her bondage to Baal!
In Romans 3:23-24 Paul revealed by the Holy Spirit, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
A lost world “falls short of the glory of God;” world religions fall short of the glory of God; alienated, separated from God individuals, because of their sin natures, fall short of the glory of God; and, sad to say, there are many preachers today who have no clue of saving grace, and certainly operate in darkness rather than the glorious clouds of divine, heavenly glory!
Did you quickly pass over Paul speaking about “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…,” (Romans 3:24)? There is ONLY ONE “BLOOD REDEMPTION” that ushers in the glory of Almighty, Holy, Merciful God, and that is the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ! When men sin, they forfeit, cancel, close the door of their hearts and lives to God’s eternal glory, remaining empty vessels, striving by the best of fleshly efforts, to bring them up to a point where God recognizes their fleshly, religious best, and He receives them because they show good effort – trying rather than trusting, believing but not re-born, religious but not redeemed, believers but not “blood-bought” sons and daughters of saving faith!
Receive Romans 8:12-17!! “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For is you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God…
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Gathered crowds determining today what god or gods they should serve and what should be the end result of devotion to the God they choose to serve? 2 Peter 1:2-4 tells us, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, [or to you, like Jezebel, does ‘Baal’ sound better?], 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.”
“Blood Redemption through Christ Jesus ushers in God’s glory?” In Exodus 33:14-23, we read about Moses’ encounter with Holy God! “And God said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”…
So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” And Moses said, “Please, show Me Your glory.” Then God said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” [Old Testament limitation!] As great as Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Isaiah, or any other prophet were, they lived in “shadows” of glory, but then Jesus came!
And our Lord and Savior taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN”
If Christ Jesus reigns today, and He does, thank Him that He ushered in God’s kingdom in heaven to its residency in the hearts and lives of His people! Jesus IS King of His Kingdom, and it is not future, it is present tense in the here and now. And the question is, “Are YOU extending His Kingdom Reign, expressing His Kingdom spirit, and constantly being energized through His Kingdom power?”
SECOND, GATHERED CROWDS TODAY HAVE IGNORED CHRIST JESUS AND HIS “GIFTS” OF THE SPIRIT AND FUNCTION BY THE BEST EFFORTS OF FALLEN, SINFUL, GODLESS ‘FLESH’! Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” So mankind faces a choice: A haughty spirit or The Holy Spirit?
What’s our theme in this book? “Evidences of Redemptive Faith”! And I don’t know of a better, more revealing evidence than the Very Presence of the Holy Spirit! But “gathered crowds” today, certainly captured by “the spirit of fallen flesh”, had rather ‘minister’ their lost-ness under the domination and manipulation of the devil who rules the kingdom of darkness and promotes loyalty to one’s sin-nature!
“Baal worship”, “haughty spirits,” “rebellion against God,” “motivation in and by one’s old sin-nature,” “unbelief in redemptive faith,” “guided by the ‘curse’ of Satanic lies,” “self-nature the principle of one’s falling away,” “bondage under the powers of darkness,” “captured consciences,” “attaining rather than atoned,” “self-justification,” “devilish and demonic deception”, “self-defense before the throne of God on judgment day self-assured He will be proud of our efforts at self-righteousness,” “confidence in self-determination to prove God wrong if there is a god,” “good conduct in my fleshly best – that ought to convince God,” “I refuse to budge away from my demonstration of prideful living,” “clean behavior is good grounds for divine acceptance – if not, it’s God that has the problem,” “trying is as perfecting as trusting,” “reaching from within a heart and mind of self-determination is as relevant as ‘resting’ in Another’s finished work!”
No, a thousand times no! “In Christ” we are not that ‘gathered crowd’ operating out of their ‘fleshly best’ – “In Christ” we are those “convicted by the Holy Spirit,” birthed to “new life In The Spirit,” set aside and dedicated and in-filled in our hearts with God’s love to be shed abroad through us by the anointing and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), “sealed by the Holy Spirit,” “received of Father-God His promise of our gift of the Holy Spirit,” Jesus said, John 16:12-14, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
I love the dynamic word of God in Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Thank God for the Holy Spirit of God who makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, but you’re unsure you’ll have God’s help in a disciple’s journey of faith?
The journey of a disciple certainly faces the battleground between ‘flesh’ and the Spirit! In Romans 8:12-14 Paul said: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but IF BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The daily discipline of “living by the Spirit” is a discipline, sadly, many disciples have not learned about or been trained and equipped in – “Spirit-filled” is another gift of our loving Heavenly Father that many know nothing about “receive the Holy Spirit”!
Over my 79 years of life I’ve learned a powerful lesson: “Lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” I believe God’s Holy Spirit is our “Guide” in the spiritual world of discipleship! God redeems us as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit; God resides within us through Holy Spirit presence; God releases us to be His witnesses of the “Good News” of man’s redemption! In Acts 1:8, before His Ascension, Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Are you aware of Paul’s powerful word in Romans 8:16-17? “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH HIM, that we may also be glorified together.” What an awesome revelation, and even understanding, why many have little compulsion to be a ‘witness’ because fleshly opposition can even at times be vicious! I know this particular ‘word’ will not sit well with some ‘believers’, but here it is: “True faith is obedient faith, and obedience IS true faith!” Are you our Lord’s witness?
THIRD, GATHERED CROWDS OFTEN ARE THOSE ‘PROFESSING BELIEVERS AND FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST JESUS’ WHO “RISE UP” AND THEN FALL AWAY! Come with me to Luke 12:42-46, a passage of Scripture that ought to “scare the hell out of any professing believer” who “wanders away”! It says: And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. BUT IF that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” It’s really interesting that these same words are found in Jeremiah 34:17-20 as God reminded “falling away Jews” of what happened to them in their non-exercising-way-of-faith-and-obedience!
God said through Jeremiah: Therefore thus says the Lord: “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord – to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it – the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf – I will give them into the hands of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the birds of the earth.”
How is YOUR “blood covenant obedience in Christ”? In “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers, he wrote the following: [p.8], “If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it – “You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be paid.”
In Jeremiah, did God say, “You have not obeyed Me,” and a heavy price was paid for Israel’s disobedience? Chambers went on to say: “Beware of the inclination to dictate to God as to what you will allow to happen if you obey Him.” [You are aware: many “Christians” will say to you, “Obedience IS an option in the age of grace,” when true grace says, “Why do YOU call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” Enough said, again and again and again!!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“TRUE FAITH – BY LEGALISM OR LOVE?”
In Galatians 5:1-7 Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, clearly reveals one of spiritual life’s greatest battles between ‘Truth’ and ‘fleshly performances’! He said: “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
It’s so amazing to me that the people God entrusted the birth of His Son to became the very ones to nail Him to Calvary’s tree! In John 5:36-40 Jesus spoke so powerfully exposing devotion to legalism over the fruit of faith and obedience. He said:
“But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish – the very works that I do – bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You [in your legalistic frame of mind of loyalty to God’s law] have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
Could this be why Peter said in 1 Peter 4:17-19, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those WHO DO NOT OBEY THE GOSPEL OF GOD? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”
“Straight-laced legalists” are powerful enemies of the Godhead, because their ‘faith’ is in themselves, and their ‘works’ crucify the Lamb of God! The love equation is totally lost in “self-performance”! Spiritual legalists are not interested in ‘professors of faith’ having to die to themselves – what for? Their lives, guided by human effort, they believe to be the greatest gifts God ever received from earthly mankind!
They sure had a problem with Paul, and still do, when he said in 2 Corinthians 1:9-12, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death [that’s spiritual death!], and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons for the gift granted to us through many.”
“Trust in himself?” How foreign is that with the unveiling of liberty, freedom, and empowerment in Christ alone? No! Paul trusted in Christ alone, which is why he said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “…I die daily”!! And what did Paul say in Galatians 5:1? “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage.”
Are YOU aware your old life was crucified with Christ? Are YOU daily, as a true disciple of Christ, accounting on the ledger sheet of your life, that, yes, you died with Him on the Cross, and have been raised by Him into “new life”, AND are you available every day to Him as you present your body as a living sacrifice, that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in your mortal flesh?
Romans 1:16-17 is so strongly enlightening and powerful and redemptive! Paul said: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
In my New King James version, Deuteronomy 32 is entitled “The Song of Moses,” and beginning in Verse 15 Moses sings a sad commentary on Israel’s rejection of Holy God: Deuteronomy 32:15-20, “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, you grew thick; you are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation [Christ Jesus, their Promised Messiah!]…
They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear…
Of the Rock who begot you [Christ Jesus their Promised Messiah], you are unmindful [of Him], and have forgotten the God who fathered you. And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, because of the provocations of His sons and daughters….
And He [God Almighty that Israel rejected!] said: “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children IN WHOM IS NO FAITH.”
They rejected the True Lamb of God; they rejected the very prophecy of the Coming Messiah; they rejected ‘a royal priesthood’; they wanted no part of the “King of kings and the Lord of lords”! I want you to follow with me Hebrews 10:1-4 initially,
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they [Israel] offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered?…
For the worshippers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin.”
Then the author of Hebrews, from Verses 7-10, tells us, Christ speaking: Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – TO DO YOUR WILL, O God.’ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
“True Faith – By Legalism Or Love”? And, I pray, you’ve already seen that it is of true biblical faith because of the “love of God”, not legally bound in an attempt to fulfill God’s law – the law was given to expose man’s inability to keep it, revealing the need of salvation through Christ with God’s law then written on the hearts of “new-born men”!!
True Faith? IT IS GOD’S GIFT OF DIVINE ABILITY THROUGH FAITH TO HONOR HIM, EXALT HIM, SHARE HIM, BLESS HIM, BELIEVE HIM, TRUST HIM, UNDERSTAND HIS COMING, AND WHY WE REST IN HIM! And I pray you see and sense and surrender to Him as you truly fathom in fullness what the “Living Faith” is all about!
God’s gift of faith is the sovereign gift of understanding of why Christ came, who He truly is, what He lovingly sacrificed on the Cross, enlightening the heart and mind of man to Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope in and through the Resurrected Christ Jesus!
God’s gift of faith is His unveiling of Himself on the throne of glory! Though He sits, He is not silent, nor is He separated from His Creation and you and me – He sent Jesus because “God so loved the world,” God so loved you and me as if we were the only ones to ever live, but He knew we had to be reconciled, and only God can bring divine reconciliation with lost sinners!
Trusting “in Him” is not enjoying a piece of heavenly cake as some would have you to think – “repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross” is a painful process because a man convicted and convinced by the Holy Spirit sees his “model life crucified,” his respectable status among worldly men shattered, the ‘re-birthing’ process never easy when “true confessions” are required, nothing hidden, especially since God knows it all about your “fallen-away-position”!
But “True Faith” your gift from God? Through all the painful exposure, the spiritual birthing process, the godly sorrow…do you remember 2 Corinthians 7:10? “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
“True Faith”? It is a mind-blowing, heart-explosion, spirit-eruption of the greatness of the God who has called us to Himself! I don’t even know how men ignore the Holy Word of God, BUT, “In the beginning God…” is enough for me to want to know Him as the God of Creation. But what about knowing the God of conviction who draws men to Himself? And, the Cross of Christ doesn’t faze you as you consider the eternal reality of Holy God?
“True Faith”? “God loves ME! He proved His love for me in while I was still the sinner He sent Christ to redeem me from my sins!” And true faith? It is “rest,” it is “trust,” it is the willing acceptance of my old life without God “crucified with Christ,” and “new life” graciously given to me as I repent and rest in the Resurrected Christ!
“True Faith”? IT IS GOD’S SOVEREIGN DETERMINATION OF THE WAY OF RECONCILIATION BECAUSE FLESHLY ATTEMPTS WERE PUT TO DEATH AT THE CROSS! Broken laws, broken lives! Rebelliously leaning, a reach-up impossible! Saved by positive mind-sets, “phony bologna”! Meritorious intent, not by seasoned law-breakers! Past defects, present bankruptcy! Good works, gross results!
No! “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God!” Salvation blessing is by the heart of God alone – and He desired our reconciliation! How would one even begin to consider possibilities when Sovereign God determined, “by the blood of the Lamb”? That’s pure, heavenly, kind, gracious, and merciful because it is the overflow of God’s Holy Love!
We don’t boast – we “rest” in God’s blessing! We don’t attempt to attain – we “rest” in His Atonement! We don’t brag that we can do better – broken by Spirit-conviction, we confess to Holy God!
We don’t stand before the throne of Holy God to assure Him that we are able – No! We stand, having repented of our sin, to thank Him and thank Him and thank Him and thank Him for His amazing love and grace and mercy in allowing His Son, our Savior, to take our place on the cruel Cross!
“True Faith”? IT IS DESIGNED BY GOD, UPON MAN”S REPENTANCE AND RECONCILIATION, TO EQUIP US IN HEAVEN’S BLESSING OF ETERNAL LOVE! Again, look at Galatians 5:6 where Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
True faith isn’t dead effort – it’s heavenly wisdom, divine presence, eternal Spirit, and, yes, Holy Presence with the fruit of the Spirit blooming every day as one rests in Him!
True faith is divine ‘creation’ evidenced again of Holy God’s awesome blessings! In Galatians 5:22-25 we learn about the Holy Spirit’s presence and production in and through us: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
“God so loved the world…?” “God so loved the world that He gave…?” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…?” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life…?” Do YOU see it? True Faith is God’s gracious gift of the blessing of eternal love poured out in repentant hearts by the Holy Spirit to touch our world with God’s amazing love! Jesus even told us to “Love your enemies!” Which leads us to…..
“True Faith”? PRAISE GOD! IT IS DIVINE TRANSFORMATION FROM LIVES OF ASTOUNDING SELFISHNESS AND SOULISHNESS TO “NEW CREATIONS” IN CHRIST! In Ezekiel 18:4 God said through the prophet, “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.”
The brother of Jesus, James, tells us in James 1:21-27, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, [‘meekness’? Basically, a teachable spirit able to receive divine truth and apply it!], which is able to save your souls…
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was…
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty [the laying down of life in the Cross & receiving resurrection life, which is freedom and true liberty!] and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does…
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
Do you see abandonment of the ‘old man,’ and acceptance of the ‘new man’ through Christ? 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 we , in a spirit of rejoicing and thanksgiving, read: “Therefore, if anyone is “in Christ,” he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation…
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus the Son] who knew no sin to BE SIN FOR US, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Oh, what an “exchanged life”! “In Christ” – free from the law of sin and death! “In Christ” – reconciled to Holy God! “In Christ” – freed from the sadness of fleshly selfishness and blessed with the joy of the Lord! “In Christ” – freed from the bondage of weak and beggarly elements that enslave, and filled with the release of all of Heaven’s blessings and rewards and provision!
Just a few thoughts erupting in me as I consider our divine transformation in and through Christ Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coming, in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit to dwell with in us:
“Gone are the days of dismal darkness, birthed in me as a slave to ‘lost-ness’; Born in sin with no hope within, born as an alien and a stranger to promise, born without God in the world of the ‘flesh’, born by nature as a child of wrath, born to walk on the devil’s path…
Then Christ Jesus came, O bless His holy name; His coming so beyond a ‘door to Heaven’, Jesus came to bless us with new leaven. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us, washed us and cleansed us, and planted us in “new sod”, that wherever we walked, we walked united with Holy God!…
The wondrous blessing, thank God for sins forgiven, But praise to Jesus for our eternal gift, Gathered to God by His gracious lift, raised by His power from a saddening rift; Love overcame one having to remain the same, so separated and alienated from Holy God, But Jesus came, shed His blood in Heaven’s “new flood”, bought sons and daughters of repentance and faith, opening for us Heaven’s eternal Gate!”
“True Faith”? IT IS THE DIVINELY DESIGNED ATTITUDE OF HEART AND MIND BY WHICH A LOST AND DYING WORLD WITNESSES THE LIFE-CHANGING “LET” THAT LIFTS ONE IN THE VERY BREATH OF GOD!
In Romans 3:4 Paul said, “Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” And God IS TRUTH! “LET” True God speak His truth through you, which calls for “let-ting” God declare His Sovereign Word through you by His anointing!
2 Timothy 2:19 speaks loudly: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’” “LET?” Well, what about departing from iniquity?
Are you at all familiar with Isaiah 55:6-7? “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” “Let”? Open the door, man in need! “Let”? Surrender, guilty sinner!” “Let”? Yield to His Lordship, rebellious one – He died for you that you might be free from bondage!
“Let”? Oswald Chambers wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest”, p.252], “When once you are rooted in Reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith; but nothing can ever upset God or the almighty Reality of Redemption; base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God.” Wow! What a powerful Truth!!
“Let?” In Psalm 68:1-3 is David’s song of appeal to God, which can be yours right now if YOU claim it for yourself and your family! “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. BUT let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.”
David mentioned God’s enemies, those who hate Him, the wicked, but when “God arises” and steps forth, the wicked perish at the presence of God! Is His presence in you? “LET Him loose!” Has Almighty God chosen you as His vessel of “Let-ting Him loose around you?”
It’s not always true but children can be, at times, strong demonstrators of the very spirit of “Let God be God in me!” At the same time there can be disastrous demonstrations of selfishness, rebellion, disobedience, even ‘horror’ stories of all-out opposition to Holy God in children. There is in the birthed human souls a spirit of “let me! let me!” That’s tyranny in, yes, childish “tanks”! And the spiritual warfare with eternal results is on!
Do you remember Jesus saying after He went into the synagogue in his ‘hometown’ of Nazareth on the Sabbath, as He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, He found the place where it was written: [Luke 4:18-19],
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
After reading this glorious prophetic passage of One to come, Christ Jesus said in Verse 21, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” – and that got Jesus “thrust out of the city!” Later, the day came when the majority of Israel, including chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, and the general public, said: “LET Him be crucified!” And Jesus was nailed to the Cross because of your sin and mine!
Isn’t there a chorus being sung at times by the church that says: “He loved us, O how He loved us, O how He loved you and me”? It was James Rowe and Howard E. Smith who wrote the old hymn entitled “Love Lifted Me”. It says:
“I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more; But the Master of the sea Heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.
All my heart to Him I give, Ever to Him I’ll cling, In His blessed presence live, Ever His praises sing. Love so mighty and so true Merits my soul’s best songs; Faithful, loving service, too, To Him belongs.
Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves; He will lift you by His love Out of the angry waves. He’s the Master of the sea, Billows His will obey; He your Savior wants to be – Be saved today.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help, Love lifted me!”
Lifted or drowning in the sea of your sin? Sorry if you’ve been ‘blinded’ to the love of God for you through the Cross of Christ – but there is no other way of reconciliation to Holy God – only through the blood of the Cross where the Lamb of God shed His blood for your forgiveness, and through the Master’s true Redemption are you reconciled to God! So, “Let God!!” For you: death or life?
2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“A DESPISING OF FAITH OR THE GOODNESS OF TRUE FAITH?”
Romans 2:1-4 is an illuminating of one’s despising of faith when Paul wrote: “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
It was earlier, in Romans 1:20, that Holy God used Paul to expose ‘unbelief’ as an excuse for one’s sin, disobedience, and rebellion to Holy God! He said: “For since the creation of the world His 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.”
Oh, but then in Verse 21 Paul stated why their guilt was and is today so real: “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.”
And as you continued in Romans 1, did you notice three times that the Word says in chapter one, Verse 24 first, “God gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie [“you can sin and not die!”], Verse 26 second, “God gave them up to vile passions, Verse 28 third time, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…”
Now, I want you to come back with me to Romans 2 and follow what the impact is of “Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance,” reading so carefully Romans 2:5-11! “But in accordance with your hardness and impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works for what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
Did you notice as you read Paul’s writings his ‘personal’ indictments – not names but natures, not ineffectual rantings but sensitive revelations, not surface language that touches no one but powerful expressions of convicting truths that “hit home”, and one wonders, “What’s next as the preacher nails me?” Some will be so shaky that they wonder if there’s any possibility they’ll be able to escape God’s judgment!
Have you ever sensed “mass madness” as you publicly preached, maybe in an open-air evangelistic crusade as Billy Graham did superbly, and ‘murder’ becomes your possible demise at the hands of angry, rebellious, sin-managed men, which the Word of God so easily inflames defiance of Eternal Truth? I traveled over India for 25 years, preaching and teaching, and as a result was threatened many times with, “Come back here tomorrow night doing what you’ve been doing up until now, and we will kill you!” One time my Tamil translator called my hotel the next day saying, “Papa Farrell, what are we going to do?” And I assured him that we were going back to preach again in the same place! We did – and the two enemy leaders of a group of twelve received Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives! They had come with their machetes and clubs and left with a new “Master” and an eternal purpose of serving the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
Several truths we must wrap our minds and hearts around as we look at Romans 2:4 specifically! FIRST, THERE IS NO ESCAPING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, WHETHER PERSONALLY IN THE WORLD HERE AND NOW, OR AT THE THRONE OF HIS ETERNAL JUDGMENT SEAT IN THE FUTURE!
Christ Jesus tells us in John 3:18-20, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; [belief being more than intellectual assent into His existence, but believing, resting in, adhering to, surrendering to His Lordship, and yielding to His control], but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
Understand! It’s ‘fallen men’ who “loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil,” and Paul amplified our understanding when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He [God] made Him [Christ Jesus] who KNEW NO SIN to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And in YOUR UNBELIEF you reject God’s love, grace, and mercy, without facing God’s “wrath” and God’s “judgment”?
Your sin and mine nailed Christ Jesus to the Cross; Oswald Chambers once said very truthfully: “Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin.” And Christ Jesus who KNEW NO SIN took our sin natures unto Himself and faced the eternal judgment of Holy God in our place, He cleared the sin-debt by His precious blood, pleasing Holy God as repentant hearts and their faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross turned from God’s judgment to His grace and mercy.
IF “it pleased God….to reveal His Son in me,” what is that all about? In Hebrews 9:26b-28 we read, “…but now, once at the end of the ages, He [Jesus] has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation,” pointing you to “but after this the judgment”!
At the judgment seat of Almighty God – before death or after death? To the true repentant believer? 2 Corinthians 4:11 says, “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” But without Christ Jesus? Manifestation of the Satanic spirit!
SECOND, A DESPISING OF TRUE FAITH AND GOD’S GOODNESS? ISN’T THAT BECAUSE FALLEN MEN CHOOSE THE HARDNESS OF HEARTS AND THE IMPENITENCE OF MIND, SOUL, AND FLESHLY, REBELLIOUS SPIRITS, INSTEAD OF THE LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY OF GOD? Are you aware of how obstinate many people become when “God” enters a conversation?
It was Thomas a Kempis who once wrote: “Were the works of God readily understandable by human reason, they would be neither wonderful nor unspeakable.” But we need to understand and grasp the eternal reality that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction,” [Proverbs 1:7], because “fools” despise “Redemptive Faith” and God’s treasured goodness!
A despising of true faith and God’s goodness? Have you ever been around those so expressive of their resentment of those who’ve chosen to stand on the foundation of redemptive faith? There are those constantly expressing what Oswald Chambers called “the despicable meanness of the miserable faith we have”, when Chambers went on to say, Christ Jesus is made unto us [of faith] “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” But there are haters of Biblical Truth because they are haters of God Himself!
In Isaiah 5:20-21 the prophet delivers words of “Woe”! He said, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” You are aware of those who live with a “mixture” of good and evil, and pat themselves on the back for being so benevolent with their understanding of their fallen natures! No! That’s not ‘understanding’ but the evidence of spiritual blindness! And there are many people who have decided “to do evil that good may come of it”!
It was Augustus Williams and Julius Charles Hare, in “Guesses at Truth,” [p.444] who wrote: “He who does evil that good may come, pays a toll to the devil to let him in heaven,” but the devil has no keys at all that will open the door of heaven for a ‘sinner’ to enter since he himself is eternally locked out, desiring to void the true Heaven and give you a free pass to his hellish dwelling!
I know nothing of Walt Whitman’s faith or lack of redemptive faith, but in a writing entitled “Roaming in Thought,” he wrote: “Roaming in thought over the Universe, I saw the little that is Good steadily hastening toward immortality and the vast all that is called Evil I saw hastening to merge itself and become lost and dead.”
A despising of true, redemptive faith and God’s goodness? It is a mental frame of mind, a darkened heart, and a deceived individual blinded in the reality of mental slavery to the knowledge of a fallen world, and an individual who substitutes moral mediocrity for the blessing of God’s presence Himself and His life-giving Word that never fails but only fills full!
But ‘blackened hearts’ and enslaved minds and wills to the devil himself and strongly controlled by a fallen world in rebellion to Holy God, have a hard time in surrendering to divine truth. Charles Spurgeon once preached in England, “We can learn nothing of the gospel except by feeling its truths. There are some sciences that may be learned by the head, but the science of Christ crucified can only be learned by the heart.”
A despising of true, redemptive faith and God’s goodness? ‘Enslaved hearts’? Didn’t we see earlier, Luke 4:18, Jesus identifying Himself as the One “proclaiming liberty to the captives”? Do you remember Paul reminding the Galatians, in Galatians 4:3, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world,”?
Elements of the world? In 1 John 2:15-18 the beloved John wrote: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world [in rebellion against God!], the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, 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.”
I thank God for redemptive faith that conquers even the very ‘fear of death’ – I remember a friend many, many years ago, now at peace with the Lord, but then had a crippling fear of dying. But there is a “God-remedy” and His name is Christ Jesus! My friend, now, confidently has no fear of dying! Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
A despising of true redemptive faith and God’s goodness? Do you ever sense the despising of true faith and God’s goodness in its ‘zenith’ of hypocrisy? In Matthew 23:27 Jesus delivered a major blow to that spirit when He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Verse 28, Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Another few words I wrote as I was studying for this chapter: “Worldly men may cry Saved! Saved! at every turn, but unaware they’re candidates to burn; strong imitations as they play the ‘religious’ name, but in their hearts they and the devil play the same game!…
Pious ‘pretense’ makes no sense as pious pigs attempt to imitate sheep, never knowing what they face in eternity’s deeps; down, down, down they plunge into the pit of desperation, As God assigns men their eternal place of separation…
Rejecting true faith and settling in sin, men begin to consider “what might have been,” but rebellion is dark and its consequences the same, as one rejects Christ and bows before his own name! Beams in the sinner’s eyes is not a good disguise, though God is not impressed by one’s outward part, as God is intent on exposing the sinner’s heart.
Even devils quote Scripture when they want to deceive, and evil souls will foolishly receive a word to pump ‘flesh’ and imitate heaven’s ‘rest’, as day by day they attempt to ‘do their best.’ But ‘best’ is not better when God makes Atonement, holy desiring to wash away men’s guilt by the blood of the Lamb, with a new monogram: Son of God, daughter of faith, fully surrendered, and entering His gate!”
Let’s shift gears now from “reverse” away from God to the forward march of the true faith of God’s eternal “goodness”! In Psalm 25:4, above this verse, I had written: “Open the Way in which I should be walking!” Psalm 25:4-5 says, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day,” followed by Verse 6 which says, “Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old.”
We’ve seen earlier in this chapter how some despise true redemptive faith and God’s goodness with the root cause being bound by one’s old sin nature and they ‘wall’ themselves away from God’s Presence and eternal provisions. Then, by God’s grace and mercy, they discover the entrenchments walling them away from God can be filled with His eternal love and blessed with His forgiveness, Presence, and eternal purpose!
And we learn quickly the “soldier of the Cross” must wage warfare with the old sin nature that tries to raise its ugly head and the forces of the powers of darkness! This is why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, 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.”
But fighting this spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is not in independence from God, but total dependence upon “the God who is able!” Are you aware that Jesus Himself said, John 5:18-20, Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Christ Jesus, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”
And we “marvel” at the works of God Almighty; we marvel at the works of Christ Jesus the Son; and you should marvel at the works Jesus desires to do through YOU!
I firmly believe Almighty God is on ‘tiptoes’ at times, looking down on you and me, to see if we, like Paul said, “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” he gives us convicting insight! [p.186]. He said, “It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity, but are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has not been spiritualized by determined discipline…We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ’s view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind.”
Has there been in you a rejection of true redemptive faith and the goodness of God in your walk of faith? Christ’s earthly walk was the walk of demonstration of what true redemptive faith is all about and demonstrating the awesomeness of the goodness of Holy God! Let me remind you of what Paul wrote in Romans 2:4! “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
The goodness of God? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes [trusts, relies upon, adheres to] in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Characteristics are more than one’s mental description of God – they are WHO GOD IS! “GOD IS LOVE!”
And I believe I understand a fallen world more each day as I learn of the depth, height, length of God’s love for us, and understand: Without God’s love, the fallen world we live in becomes more empty and more void and distant from the God of eternal love!
Martin Luther once preached, “Love is an image of God, and not a lifeless image, but the living essence of the divine nature which beams full of all goodness.” Would you ever try to say that you are a servant of God yet have no love for the least of those around you, or profess love for Him without one thought of how YOU can touch an unbelieving world around you? The goodness of God!
My “New King James Holman Bible” edition titles Psalm 23 as “The Lord the Shepherd of His People,” and I love it! Follow with an open heart the goodness of Holy God!
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake….
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over…
Surely “goodness and mercy” shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
I have no hesitation in saying to you that God’s pure love in the redeemed heart and life of a repentant man/woman is the actual crowning grace of Holy Presence! It’s His “goodness” poured out through human vessels willing to be daily on His altar of sacrifice and service, even a martyring like a beheading if it honors Him through our personal death!
Yea, there is a sustaining quality of the presence of God’s love in us that no action or attitude against us can ever quench. It was Thomas Traherne, in his “Centuries of Meditations” who wrote: “You are as prone to love as the sun is to shine; it being the most delightful and natural employment of the Soul of Man; without which you are dark and miserable. For certainly he that delights not in [God’s] Love makes vain the universe, and is of necessity to himself the greatest burden.”
I tell you: IT IS BURDENSOME TO BE WITHOUT THE LOVE OF GOD! It is cruel and enslaving to live apart from the goodness and love of Holy God! Didn’t Paul tell us in Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,”? It was Samuel Johnson who once wrote: “The two great movers of the human mind are the desire of good, and the fear of evil,” but what about what moves the “new born mind” of the redeemed? It is not only the mind of a smart man, but a mind made over by the mind of God Himself! Do you comprehend the lost-ness, the sinful nature of fallen man, the warped will of self and ‘flesh’, the brain-deadness of one who calls evil good and good evil, and omits from his life the Eternal Word of the God of Redeeming Goodness?
I was reading again recently Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Aurora Leigh”, [Bk.1V, l.499], related to the subject of goodness. She wrote:
“Good critics who have stamped out poet’s hope, Good statesmen who pulled ruin on the state, Good patriots who for a theory risked a cause,…
Good kings who disemboweled for a tax, Good popes who brought all good to jeopardy, Good Christians who sat still in easy chairs, And damned the world for standing up – Now may the good God pardon all good men!”
Sorry! But “good men” apart from true repentance and redeeming faith will bust Hell wide open! But “good men” redeemed by the blood of the Lamb can glorify God on earth as He is in Heaven! Good and Godly and governed men, indwelt by Christ, can, will, and do, turn their worlds upside down and inside out to the Glory of God!
Daniel Webster once wrote: “Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this life – it points to another world. Political or professional reputation cannot last forever, but a conscience void of offense before God and man is an inheritance for eternity.”
William Williams and Thomas Hastings wrote the old Hymn, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” It says: “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim thro’ this barren land; I am weak, but You are mighty, Hold me with Your powerful hand; Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more…
Open now the crystal fountain From whence the healing waters flow; Let the fiery, cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey thro’; Strong Deliverer, Be forever my Strength and Shield.” AMEN?
CHAPTER TWENTY
“FAITHLESS INDIFFERENCE OR REDEMPTIVE FAITH’S CELEBRATION?”
In Numbers 23:21 God put a word on Balaam’s mouth, “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them.”
It’s an amazing passage of Scripture when one learns “it’s God’s desire to be with him,” and “the shout of a King is among them.” Is King Jesus with and in you, and does King Jesus shout, rejoice, celebrate His presence in you, around you, above you?
Moses had died, and God spoke to Joshua about leading the children of Israel with confidence and assurance when He said in Joshua 1: 5, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” Think of it! Yes, God with YOU by faith!
Do you remember or are you acquainted with God testing Abraham in Genesis 22? God said, Verse 2, “Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” They traveled together, Abraham taking the wood for the burnt offering, laying it on Isaac’s back. Isaac said to his father, Abraham, “My father!…Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
“My son, God will provide.” As they arrive where God told them to go, Isaac said to his father, ‘Dad, we have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham responded in Verse 8, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Abraham built the offering altar, placed wood where it should be, bound Isaac to the altar, and then Abraham “stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. The Angel of the Lord (the Messenger! I believe it was Jesus!) called to Abraham and then said, Verse 12, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
The location was given a new name: “The-Lord-Will-Provide,” and then the Angel said, Verse 16, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. Verse 18, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Do you realize the insanity of modern-day men who definitely hear God’s call, but turn a deaf ear and walk away? And walking away from God’s witness to any man is utter spiritual disobedience, but Abraham heard the voice, responded in utter surrender and obedience, willing to put his only son on the altar, and I believe then celebrate because he believed, if God had him sacrifice his only son, God could, would, and did raise him from the dead! I tell you, Isaac was dead in the mind of his father as he placed him on the altar, and he gained a greater vision of God, no doubt even seeing Christ Jesus in all his experiences!
And do you remember that Christ Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he was glad”? It’s God’s remnant in Abraham’s day, the remnant in King David’s day, the remnant in Isaiah’s day, the remnant in Esther’s day, the remnant in Paul, John, and Peter’s day, and, yes, there is the remnant in our day! How do we know? As with Jacob, “The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of the King is among them!” Christ Jesus is the Angel who is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
PLEASE CONSIDER THAT GOD HIMSELF HAS PROMISED US, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.” That’s Hebrews 13:5! Its author, responding to God’s promise, then said, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Does that mean we will never face opposition or be consciously attacked by the very demons of Hell or accused, abused, attacked by fallen men of an unbelieving world? In 2 Timothy 3:10-15 we read Paul’s enlightenment and encouragement of Timothy. He said: “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra – what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
But even with Redemptive Faith’s Celebration there is a world of “faithless indifference”! Some are even vocally indignant, willing to “curse God and die”! In Romans 2:8 Paul mentioned those “who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness…”.
“Faithless Indifference” is one of the side effects of the “disease of sin and death” that every man comes into God’s world with – oh, God gave Adam and Eve the right to decide, and they instituted “unrighteousness and unbelief” because they accepted Satan’s lie, “You can sin and not die”! And, sadly, in this dark day of modern-day America, we see for many, indifference to freedom and liberty in Christ, satisfied to live with the devil’s chains and bondage! That “disease” has symptoms, like ‘ungodliness’ and worldly lusts, and it grows and spreads and kills and destroys!
“Faithless indifference” can be a spreading contamination because of the “deception” of being guided by world opinions rather than Holy Revelation in and through God’s awesome Word and will.
Oh, and then, how do you define “Evil men and imposters” who grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived? They have NO discernment! Have you sensed danger for friends, family, or foes, and rather than them gaining insight by a spiritual awakening, they allow a ‘passing impulse’ and go on spiritually disintegrating?
In John 2:23-25 the Lord Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover. Follow what He witnessed! “Now when He [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” And He KNOWS what is in me, and He knows what is in you!
There is great insight from Oswald Chambers as we examine our dark world and ache for its coming to “the Light”. He said: [“My Utmost For His Highest”. P.154], “There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.”
“Faithless indifference”? Has it come to be because some allow fleshly “doubts and fears” to dominate their daily existence? In James 1:2-4 the brother of Jesus wrote: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ‘ask in faith’, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not THAT MAN suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a ‘double-minded man, unstable in all his ways’.”
“Faithless indifference”? Is there such a thing as ‘human ingenuity’ that takes the place in a lot of hearts over “spiritual surrender, trust, and salvation” through Christ alone? Is it that men become blinded to spiritual realities because “the cares of this world” take precedence and allegiance over reliance and trust in the eternal provisions and blessings of God Himself?
Are you aware of the consequences of faithless indifference? We saw earlier that “pride goes before a fall,” but do YOU even sense that self-conceit is probably the strongest and greatest curse that captures men’s minds, wills, and emotions? Do you sense in yourself at times or in others the reality of unrestrained passions and desires? And that is so injurious to fallen mankind, but they refuse to confront themselves and seek God alone!
Are there undesirable results of a Godless, faithless existence? No doubt it is a “lawless life” that has eternal penalties. “The wages of sin is death”, but that doesn’t trouble you? “Separated from God” is not a consideration for you? “Flesh,” the old sin nature, is pleasurable, even when the Holy Word declares the enjoyment is “the passing pleasures of sin,” [Hebrews 11:25]?
Charles Caleb Colton, in his day, made a wise, convicting statement when he said: “After hypocrites, the greatest dupes the devil has are those who exhaust an anxious existence in the disappointments and vexations of business, and live miserable and meanly only to die magnificently and rich. – They serve the devil without receiving his wages, and for the empty foolery of dying rich, pay down their health, happiness, and integrity,” and you can’t help but wonder about their wives, their children, or their friends!
Have you ever heard a friend or a neighbor or a professor or teacher say to you, “My greatest desire or ambition is to have, to have more, and to work harder and harder to accumulate a small fortune,” without understanding, that may ‘gain you the whole world’, but at the cost of “losing your soul”!
I must tell you, if you don’t already know, that living for this world without allegiance to Holy God, breeds in the human heart and mind what the author of Proverbs called “deceit” – Proverbs 12:20-23, “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace [with God] have joy. No grave trouble will overtake the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.” And to say “faithless indifference” about the need of “reconciled to God” is justifiable is to identify one’s self as an enslaved, blinded, servant of Satan!
Paul’s anointed word in Romans 7:11 tells us: “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” Deceit is such a poison to men! In 2 Timothy 3:13 we read, “But evil men and “imposters” will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
If you faithfully read and accept the Word of God, not as fiction but fact, I’m sure you’re familiar with Luke 8 and the parable of the sower, (Verses 5-8). From Verse 9-10 we read: Then the disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this mean?” And Jesus said to them, “To you [true disciples] it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” The parable was given to those who have chosen and continue to choose the pathway of “faithless indifference” to Loving God, His Holy Word, His loving Son, and His Holy Spirit.
In John 12:39-41 we read, “Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ‘He [God] has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.”
Paul had been a Jewish rabbi, even participating in putting Christians to death, but Christ Jesus met him on the Damascus Road and he came to Christ in faith and obedience. In 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 we learn of that gracious and merciful journey Paul had:
“Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech – unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away [passing away of the Old Testament Covenant because the New Blood Covenant instituted by Christ was now present!]. But their minds were blinded {Israel}. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil was taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, [born-again, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb believers], with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, ARE BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Do you see, sense, and surrender to the “new-born life in Christ” and become a part of “REDEMPTIVE FAITH’S CELEBRATION”? Do you truly stand in awe with your unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord? Are you truly aware of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:8? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”! Purity in the heart of a true believer is “washed in the blood of the Lamb,” “declared to be sons and daughters of God by grace…for obedience to the faith…among whom you [who are in Christ] also are the called of Jesus Christ,” “new creations,” “possessors of new, eternal, God-ordained purpose,” “singers of new songs,” “new names,” recipients of the “new and living way,” “new-born” as babes in Christ on the journey of faith and obedience, and you KNOW because you “desire the milk of God’s Word that you may grow thereby,” and YOU KNOW what it is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and to glorify Christ through you as He is glorified in Heaven!
For me, there is such an exhilarating word of God in Revelation 4:1! “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
Around the throne are those in worship, praise, and adoration, saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Oh, and before the chapter ends, the Word tells us, they cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For YOU created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
It’s by the eternal will and His awesome power that the world and all its universes exist! It’s by the eternal will and His awesome power His Son, Christ Jesus, came, born of the virgin Mary! It’s by the awesome love of God, by His amazing grace, and His appointed Way, you and I are reconciled to Holy God through the Cross of Christ! And by His Sovereign assignments, having birthed us to new life in Christ, we’re appointed ambassadors of Christ with eternal representation of Holy God in our world that surrounds us!
But the blessed realization of “Redemptive Faith’s Celebration”? Discipleship is the walk of faith in oneness with Christ Jesus! 1 John 1:7 tells us: “But if we walk in the light as HE is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking in the light with Light’s Creator and Sustainer! Walking in the Light of His magnificent Presence! Walking in the Light revealing to others the True Light of their eternal Day! Walking in the Light of His commands! Walking in the Light blessed with the fruit of His Spirit! Walking in the Light as a soldier of the Cross, yes, and if necessary, laying down our lives even in death to honor Him!
To walk with Christ, as one, in “Redemptive Faith’s Celebration”, we walk worthy of Him in bearing His name and His mission. To walk with Christ, is to walk in the “ought-ness” of pleasing and honoring Him. To walk with Christ, is to walk revealing His name. To walk with Christ, is to walk as ‘children of light,’ not darkness. To walk with Christ, is to walk in the divine, agape love, as Christ loved us. To walk with Christ, is to walk in a worthy manner of Him, of our vocation and ministry of Christ, and to walk in a worthy manner lovingly unveiling His desire to see the whole world redeemed by His blood!
In Isaiah 49:7-13 is a prophetic word from God-appointed Israel who was ‘falling away’ and the people of the “new covenant” in Christ Jesus: Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, to the Servant of rulers [that’s the Messiah, Christ Jesus!]; Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, because of the Lord WHO IS FAITHFUL, the Holy One of Israel; AND HE HAS CHOSEN “YOU”…
Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves,’ [Or “come to the Light”!!]…
“They shall feed along the roads [of life’s journeys], and their pastures shall be [even] on all desolate heights. [“I, God, will be there!]. They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of [living] water He will guide them…
I will make each of My mountains a road, and My highways shall be elevated. [Do you walk with Him in His chosen “high places for you”?]. Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim [Aswan,Egypt].”
Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.”
Chosen of God, but you have nothing to “celebrate” about? Fed by God, but YOU have no spiritual food to eat? Thirsty, but you know nothing about “the springs of Living Water”? Appointed and anointed, but you know nothing about God’s eternal destiny, purpose, and plan for your life?
Do you know what Almighty God said about you in Isaiah 49:16? “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands!” OH, and then in Isaiah 49:26, God said, “I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Glory! Yes, Glory to Almighty God, because He authored “Redemptive Faith’s Celebration”, and Your and I were eternally appointed and anointed to be a part through our lives honoring Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“A FLESHLY TENT OR FAITH’S MOUNTAIN-MANSION?”
Paul, no doubt, in 2 Corinthians 5, used language referring to our eternal home though we are presently in an earthly body; but, at the same time, I see Paul also describing those who choose “flesh” over the Spirit, now-ness over the eternal, my building, my earthly house governed by ‘me’ over God’s gift of “Heaven coming down and glory filling my soul”, self-effort in establishing “my fleshly tent” or God promising YOU being the very habitation of God, yes, His earthly Holy Temple and dwelling-place: “Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”!!
What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5? “For we know that if our earthly house, [or body], this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked…
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
And did you receive or just ‘fly by’ Paul telling us about “mortality being swallowed up by life,” which IS Resurrection life, Resurrection Power, Resurrection Hope, which IS the very oneness with and in Christ Jesus our Lord? In Verses 17-21 of 2 Corinthians 5 Paul added, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new…
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation…
NOW THEN, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Without Christ living in us as Lord, Savior, Master of our lives, all mankind are nothing more than ‘fleshly tents’ when God’s desire is that we ALL through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work on Calvary’s Cross are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, regenerated by God, filled with the Holy Spirit, given new names, new purposes, new identities, and being constructed by God Himself, we’re “Holy Temples”, “Faith’s Mountain-Mansions,” yes, residences of the living God! [2 Corinthians 6:16!].
“Fleshly tents”? I’m not sure if it’s true in every corner of the world, but in the U.S.A tents are temporary dwelling places, understanding your fleshly body is not that in which God desires to dwell! He loves YOU more than you love yourself, and His desire for you is a transformation of your life into a spiritual body, the eternal home of Holy God, the Resurrected Christ, and the powerful Holy Spirit!
It’s really amazing to me that there was a time in King David’s life that he had no understanding of the blessing of God in and through him as God’s dwelling! In Psalm 84:1-2 David wrote: “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,” adding in Verse 10, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
And, of course, you know, or should know that Israel built an awesome tabernacle or temple that God never intended, because it was God’s desire that every repentant heart become His holy residence! Acts 7:47 says, “But Solomon built Him a house,” then telling us in Verse 48, “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands…”! If God is IN a church building, it’s because His people of faith are there! 2 Corinthians 6:16b, “For YOU are the temple of the living God.”
But it is not “fleshly tents” that are the dwelling place of God! Clearly, it is “born-again believers”, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, God’s “new creations,” men and women, and, yes, boys and girls, whose lives have been fully surrendered to Christ’s Lordship, with the Word telling us, “Your [redeemed] body has become the temple of the Holy Spirit, the residence of Christ, and the very throne of the God who rules!”
Receive Oswald Chambers’ words out of his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.233]: “When we preach the historic facts of the life and death of Our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacramental, [meaning: ‘powerfully binding’], God uses them on the ground of His Redemption to create in those who listen that which is not created otherwise. If we preach the effects of Redemption in human life instead of the revelation regarding Jesus, the result in those who listen is not new birth, but refined spiritual culture, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in another domain. We have to see that we are in such living sympathy with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in souls the things which He alone can do.”
It’s so very clear what the Word of God declares, which is more than likely why a world of lost sinners ignore the Word – they have no desire to be confronted and challenged by the Holy Word! For instance, in Galatians 5:24 (NKJ VERSION), Paul wrote: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Earlier, in Ephesians 2:11-13, Paul talked about Peter in his early spiritually immaturity, eating with Gentiles, but if Jewish leaders showed up, Peter withdrew and separated himself, “fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”
Beginning in Ephesians 2:14-16, we see what so gripped Paul’s heart, even about “fleshly” compromise in immature, young disciples, not fully equipped as yet as examples of the indwelling Christ. He said: “But when I saw that they were not straight-forward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law “no flesh” shall be justified.”
It is not, never has been, never will be, allegiance to religious dogmas that brings salvation and reconciliation to Holy God, but by the “blood Atonement” of Christ Jesus through His sacrifice on the Cross! And again, Galatians 5:24, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Do you think it might be why Paul talked about “taking the sentence of death daily that the resurrection life of Christ might be manifested through mortal flesh?”
This is what our Lord and Savior taught His disciples, in Matthew 16:24-26, when He said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life (for himself) will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
A doctrine of fleshly living apart from redemptive faith? “Self-indulgence is the sacred right of every man!” That’s not God’s truth but a fallen man’s opinion! What did Christ Jesus say in Luke 14:26-27, and Verse 33?
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. [That’s “hate” by comparison to Christ’s love for us!] And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…Verse 33, So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” [And ‘forsaking’ is also by comparison – what you have does not enslave you as a prisoner in bondage!]. That’s costly commitment to Christ that I’m not sure if a lot of “believers” truly understand!
“Fleshly tents”? It was Paul, former Jewish rabbi named Saul of Tarsus, who wrote in Romans 7:21-25 about how one can claim allegiance to striving to do “right” but experiencing the true bondage of doing “wrong”:
“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.[Doing ‘good’ saves you, redeems you, re-births you?]. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, [without Christ!], with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Did you see it? “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into the law of sin which is [was] in my members.” Earlier, in Romans 2:5-6, Paul said, “But in accordance with your hardness and impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’. Then Verse 8,… to those who are ‘self-seeking’ and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…”.
Dare I tell you what ‘evil’ really is? It’s the absence of God from one’s life; it’s substituting ‘flesh’ for the Spirit; it’s the philosophical mind substituted for the very mind of Christ; it’s worldly allegiance to a flag but void of heart allegiance to Father-God through Christ; it’s devotion to sin-nature captivity rather than the freedom Christ brings; it’s the amplification and devotion to “me” and no devotion to the King of kings and Lord of lords; it’s imitation rather than the imparted life of Christ through repentance and redemptive faith; it’s selective allegiance apart from “crucified with Christ”; it’s human pride in surrender and personal imprisonment to the deification of the “old sin-natured man”, yes, in allegiance to the devil himself!
“Fleshly tents”? Godless men overflowing with devotion to self-interests, self-pride, self-indulgence, worshipping the works of their own hearts and minds, and building godless lives in abandonment of Holy Faith, erecting in personal glory that which soon will fall, fail, and go crumbling into Hell!
It’s one “keeping himself fit” for a lost and dying world with no allegiance to the One who made him, lost him, and then bought him by the blood of the Lamb at Calvary! His/her devotion is to “death”, not the eternal resurrection life of Christ; their devotion, apart from the Savior and Lord, is allegiance to an unholy dream and ambition that has no hope of eternal blessing; their ‘religion’ is “self-manipulation” with determination to be Hell’s top award-winner!
“Fleshly tents”? It was Augustine who once prayed: “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Self-vindication is the “fleshly tent” of a life that sees no evil living in man-made swamps that smell! Are you aware that masses in our world today have no conviction about living in the “darkness of unbelief” about God’s love, grace, and mercy?
Have you come across the passage of Scripture in Luke 19:42 when Jesus drew near Jerusalem and wept over it? Of course, today He doesn’t weep over cities because they ALL are so faithful to Him! Right? WRONG!! Jesus said then and now to the cities that reject Him,
“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” And a verse later He speaks of the enemy coming and building a wall around them and an embankment, surrounding them and closing in on every side!
Are you alert to the “strange gods” that surround men today? Are “whited sepulchers” recognizable to you by what Jesus tells you? And personally, YOU – tell me about your prayer life because YOU have such great need of Him, or, is prayerlessness evidence of a “sham” faith? “Come to Me,” but you seldom do, because your ‘flesh’ determines, “You have no need of Him!”
“Fleshly tents”? They want no part of ‘suffering,’ or ‘faith tested,’ or ‘fiery trials,’ or ‘isolated by the world around you’ because of your faith-stand, because of your devotion to the Word of God without which a true disciple cannot live, because of a heart-felt desire and motivation to please and honor God in all things, and because you understand, true disciples ARE “living sacrifices”!
‘Fallen flesh’ really has NO spiritual thirsts for the truths of God; ‘fallen flesh’ has an idol it bows to, usually being one’s own self-image and devotion to satisfy its lusts; ‘fallen flesh’ is the vehicle they travel in, getting nowhere, but greater bondage to the devil and further away from God; ‘fallen flesh’ is a stubborn disease of spiritual death that will not die; ‘fallen flesh’ is more than personal prejudice – it is the demonic presence of spiritual darkness that refuses the very Light of one’s day!
Oh, but praise God! There is a way of escape from “fleshly tents” and ascending to the heights of “Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”! What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 5:1? “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
In Hebrews 6:17-20 the “wisdom-author” wrote: “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to ‘the heirs of promise’ the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us… This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Let me give you a glimpse of “Faith’s Mountain-Mansion” and the hope we have as an anchor to our souls! 2 Peter 1:10-11 says, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call 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.”
Have you made your calling and election sure? Is YOUR anchor of hope submerged in the “waters of His Word,” anchored deep in the bedrock of His awesome promises, and tied strongly in the ship of your redemptive faith?
Sure? But didn’t the Hebrews passage also say “sure” and “steadfast”? In Colossians 2:5-7, Paul wrote: “For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order “and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ”. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
Now, as we look at “Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”, let’s give ourselves serious consideration of what is vital for us in spiritual celebration of divine Truth! HOW COULD WE EVER CONSIDER a future home beyond this physical world we’re in if we never consider Christ saying, “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”? That’s born the second time of the Spirit. That’s redeemed by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit, and recognized by Father-God as, “Yes, he/she is my son, my daughter, my child!”
What did Jesus say in John 3:3? To Nicodemus he said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“New birth” by repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross as He shed His own innocent blood that your sins could be washed away, the gift of faith given, new life abounding, oneness with Christ assured, yielded to His calling and ministry through me, hungry for His Word, hungry for the fullness of His Holy Spirit, hungry for His purpose fulfilled through me as I present my life daily to Him on the altar as a living sacrifice to the glory, honor, and praise of Father-God!
But having been born again, the journey of faith had and has the certainty of a physical death for almost all true believers from the beginning of time to the present – the physical death of man is a certainty as long as our Lord extends our earthly journeys a few years, a hundred years, a thousand years, or ten thousand years – no man knows! The emphasis in this chapter is “the choice of life in Christ over the corruption of life in the “flesh”, or old Adam, or living in the temporary nature of sinful pleasure, WITHOUT GOD THE FATHER loving us, caring for us, providing for us as only He can do with divine blessings after divine blessings after divine blessings rather than spiritual corruption, spiritual sickness, and spiritual death!
No doubt Paul emphasized the reality of a believer’s physical death without one fear, one anxious moment, one “Oh, No”, because he understood translation, he understood “absent from the body – present with the Lord”! I believe if Paul had the muscular body like a “Mr. America”, there would be no pride in that but boastfulness in his “rest” in Christ, with no fear of the physical body seeking to exist because of his enemies! More important to him was preparation to meet Christ in “the heavenly home” as Christ is there preparing for Paul’s eternal home-coming!
At the same time there are many true disciples whose physical bodies are weak, at times physically ill, at times troubled by life’s stresses; at times there are true believers who live with on again, off again struggles; at times some believers’ lives are like the little children blowing bubbles, with the blown bubbles feeling so weak, so small, so susceptible to heavy, stormy “winds”, and they’re here, then gone!
Tell me, if you have the time, do you know about the spiritual stresses of a “laid-down life” to the glory of God, bruised, buffeted, battered by fleshly unbelievers or demoniacally inspired enemies of God, out to shame you, out to harass you, out to trouble you, discourage you, harm you, antagonize your devotion to your Lord and Savior! It does happen, but I believe I’m reminded of the Word in Proverbs 3:25-26, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.”
Though you may face troubling perils, our Lord and Savior gives us the peace that passes all understanding. Opposition to your witness may arise, even from “religious, modern-day Pharisees and scribes” who in their hearts are enemies of God, though professing their pride in their spiritual elite-ness!
The sin-infested, spiritually sick, blinded young man who killed with gunfire the pastor in Charleston, South Carolina, and seven or eight other church family in a prayer meeting back in the early spring of 2015, was disastrous, but not victorious, because true “born-again believers”, though the body doesn’t function, are “sealed” by the blood the Lamb, and NEVER DIE though the tent may fall down! I love Spurgeon’s comment about death: “Death, as it pulls away our sackcloth canopy, will reveal to our wondering eyes the palace of the King wherein we shall dwell forever, and, therefore, what cause have we to be alarmed at it?” [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol. 14, p.148].
“Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”? In Matthew 19:29, receive Christ Jesus’ awesome word of promise! “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, ‘for My name’s sake,’ shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.”
The testimony of Paul the Apostle is so strongly earth-moving and self-shattering when one truly hears it! You are Now! In Acts 20: 22-24 we are so awed by his words of testimony: “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
“Faith’s Mountain-Mansion” inspires a testimony of great blessing to one’s self and to others, but be assured the glorious journey will often be thrust into some, if not many, diabolical situations! I’m not sure of the exact time period, but I would say about 30-35 years ago. I was pastoring, and toward the end of pastoring a particular church in a southern state, a diabolical situation began to break out, and tales were spread that were so false and foreign to me and to my wife, Sue. “The pastor is having an affair!” That was the falsehood being spread – untrue, because if true, I would have been dead! I may have mentioned earlier in this book or another I’ve written, when someone asked Sue if we had ever considered divorcing one another; she replied, “Divorce is a word never to be uttered in our home from us or our four children, but “murder”? Now that would be my choice!” I’m alive at 79 years of age, married to the same Sue since June 10, 1956!
It was so interesting that my daughter, Susan, was a PE teacher and coach in a local high school. [We had several hundred people who left our church and went to the local “First Church”.] A young man, co-teacher with Susan at her high school came to her one day, asking Susan, “How is your Dad and Mother?” and Susan responded, “They’re doing great,” which was so very true! The young co-teacher responded, “Susan you need to know that I was a part of the First Church my first years of life, schools, following my parents every Sunday. I learned something heart-breaking over the years: ‘If there was a pastor weak in the Word, ‘First Church’ loved him, but every pastor strong in the Word, they’d crucify him, lie about him, label him unworthy to be their pastor, isolate him, until he left the church. Your parents are truly blessed! And when I was on my own, I walked away from “First Church” never to enter its doors again. Let your parents know how blessed they are to be out of the lion’s den!”
Be assured! “Chains and tribulations await you as a disciple of Christ Jesus!” It was David, King David, who wrote “a declaration of faith” in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Verse 5 then says, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” Oh, and then Verse 10 says, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.”
And God the Father did just that! My father and mother divorced when I was three years of age. I was taken to my mother’s parents to live as she went to another city to work. My Dad remained in his hometown. I seldom saw either one of them for about ten years, my Dad only when I went, by bus, to his city and his parents. He was never in my home before or after I married Sue. My mother remarried when I was about twelve, and then I went to live with her and her husband, Frank.
I love Proverbs 11:8 which clearly states, “The righteous is delivered from trouble.” Triumphant over trouble is one of redemptive faith’s greatest truths! In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 Paul tells us, from His Holy Spirit anointing, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”
I pray you grasp the significance of the Cross of Christ, not only His victory over our sin and death, but over the devil and his demon powers AND his “angels of deceit, darkness, and death,” even evil men and women so far away from Loving God! Colossians 2:15 tells us, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
Fanny J. Crosby wrote the old hymn, “Redeemed.” The second verse of that strong “faith-song” says: “Redeemed and so happy in Jesus, No language my rapture can tell; I know that the light of His presence With me does continually dwell…Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed, redeemed, His child, and forever I am.”
IF “the righteous is delivered from trouble,” [by God Himself], why then, more often than not, are believers living in doubt or fear? In Psalm 106:44 & 47 the psalmist wrote: Verse 44, “Nevertheless He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry,” and Verse 47, they cry: “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles [strangers to faith and hope in Him!], to give thanks to Your holy name, to TRIUMPH in Your praise.”
It was Oswald Chambers who wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.109], “We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.”
Do you remember Jesus shortly before His crucifixion? “Father-God, if it’s possible let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will but Your will be done.” He went to the Cross, He suffered, bled, and died; He was placed in a borrowed tomb; three days later He arose from the grave! Triumphantly trusting even through troubling times or events!
“Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”? What about the life that you now live, having professed your faith in Christ Jesus? There are several verses I want you to see in Romans 6.
First, Romans 6:5-6, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Second, and last, Romans 6:10-11, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Is Jesus YOUR Lord and Savior and the Master-Ruler of your life? Are you still “living” in a “fleshly tent”, subject to your ‘old-man inclinations’, Or have you died to that and ascended to “Faith’s Mountain-Mansion”?
AGAIN!! “Heaven came down, and glory filled my soul!!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“REDEMPTIVE FAITH’S FINAL DESTINATION”
To you, how vital and important are the words of Christ Jesus? Are His words true or untrue, right or wrong, of the very Spirit of God or the best and worst of a man’s fleshly nature? As you’re reading this chapter, as you’re examining your own mind and heart, as you’re weighing truth or fiction, I pray the passion of your soul is to know the difference between deception and divine revelation!
In Psalm 9:7-10 David sang: “But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”
You’ve heard it I’m sure: “That’s Old Testament scripture that relates to the Jewish nation – New Testament truth has voided God ‘preparing His throne for judgment.’” Really?
In 1 Peter 4:1-5 Peter tells us, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God…
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you…
They will give an account to Him WHO IS READY TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD.” But also examine 1 Peter 4:17-18 where Peter said also very clearly, very distinctly: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’” God’s Throne has been prepared for JUDGMENT!!
As I was reading 2 Corinthians 10 recently, I was spiritually awakened in “shock and awe” as I read Verses 4-5: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [or ‘fleshly’] 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.”
You’ll find Psalm 46:10 an interesting Verse when God says: “Be still, and know that I am God.” In contemplation, in reflection, in evaluation, in reconciliation, there is a time to ‘be still, and watch God work,” but in spiritual warfare and eternal destiny, you better appropriate the weapons of your warfare that God provides the child of redemptive faith, and “fight the good fight of faith!”
In Revelation 12:7-11 God informs us of the war in Heaven before our world was birthed and built and blessed by Almighty God. There was ‘rebellion’ on Satan’s part. The Holy Word tells us: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…And then in Verse 11 God’s inspired word tells us, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their own testimony.” It hasn’t changed because in Christ “we are more than conquerors,” we are victorious soldiers of the Cross through Christ’s eternal victory over Satan!
Satan has a residence – it’s formerly known address? “Hell” itself is his dwelling forever! It was Alighieri Dante, in his “Inferno”, who wrote: “Here sighs, pliants, [or bending and yielding], and voices of the deepest woe resounded through the starless sky. Strange languages, horrid cries, accents of grief and wrath, voices deep and hoarse, with hands clenched in despair, made a commotion which whirled forever through that air of everlasting gloom, even as sand when whirlwinds sweep the ground.”
And though many carelessly deny Satan’s existence, his “presence” is witnessed in “that air of everlasting gloom”! His ‘home’ or horrid place of residence? It’s ‘Hell,’ the place of absence and unbelief in Redemptive Faith, the location of “lost-ness” and denial of grace, mercy, and love, where ‘gloating’ in self-ability becomes eternally destructive in the death that will not die, “for the wages of sin IS death,” which the devil bathes in every moment of every day!
In 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 we find an alarming word that ought to “scare the Hell out of unbelievers”, but many just shake it off, denying their sin, guilt, and Satan! But hear God’s Word! “And then the lawless one will be revealed, [the unbeliever, the prisoner of Satan], whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason GOD WILL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION, THAT THEY SHOULD BELIEVE THE LIE, [Which is, “You can sin and not die,” the very Lie of Satan to Eve and Adam!], that they all may be condemned who did not believe the TRUTH but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Just how explanatory do you find that truth?
In Matthew 5:22 Jesus spoke of “the danger of hell fire”! Do you remember Christ Jesus condemning the scribes and Pharisees, leaders of Judaism in His day, in Matthew 23:31-33? He said, “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
“Hell?” It’s the gathering place of the fallen man of good intentions, the gathering place of lust-filled and cheap imitations, the self-constructed ‘temple’ of ‘fleshly indulgences’ from which men try to explain that they didn’t want to be there, but they could do no other thing but sin recklessly!
“Hell?” Christ Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, “…for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”
“Hell?” Pains and chains imprisoning unbelievers in a death that will not die! It is a “fool’s” residence that has no light, no love, no liberty, and no chance of liberation! Hell is worldly pleasures that means wild decay and distress untouched by eternal grace and mercy! Hell is unbelief that blinds, and is ‘torture’ intended by Satan and never ending, day and night in the dungeons of darkness! Oh, and there reside blinded teachers teaching the devil’s ways without any spiritual sight or spiritual insight, with a constant burbling of drowning sounds that will not drown, except for the song and sounds of misery!
“Hell?” It’s a ‘prison’ with walls of a dungeon and ‘darkness’ as the residence of the devil himself with any ‘light’ being the eternal “fright-light” of demonic torture! It’s pictures on the walls of one’s prison-cell? Fleshly pictures of ‘love’ for the devil and all his demonic, demonized, destructive ravaging of ‘flesh’ that will not die!
“Hell?” Oh, so easy to descend! No way of escape, a constant abode of the Devil and Hell’s eternal rape and plunder! Zones of deep sadness and regret with no hope of any peace, shady light from Hell’s flames that never die out but reveal constantly sights of shame, sadness, suffering, spiritual sicknesses with no cure!
“Hell?” Joseph Beaumont once wrote: “Tell me not of the fire and the worm, and the blackness and darkness of hell. To my terrified conscience there is hell enough in this representation of it, that it is the common sewer of all that is abominable and abandoned and reckless as to principle, and depraved as to morals, the one common eddy where all things are polluted and wretched and filthy are gathered together.” I’d say here – “Enough of Hell! Tell me about Heaven!”
“Heaven?” In Matthew 8:11, Jesus tells us, “And I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Wow! The blessings and privileges of knowing that “in Christ” you have a seat in Eternal Heaven even sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
It is “a place”, not a premise; it is “a location”, not an ‘imaginative dream’; it is “a heavenly promise”, not an “off-the-wall pipe-dream”! It is God’s after-life home forever for every true redeemed son and daughter; it is His “resting place” for the sons and daughters of faith who laid down their lives, having been ‘crucified with Christ’, and raised up in Resurrection power to serve their Lord and Master forever! In fact, Isaiah 28:5 speaks with a holy promise, “In that day the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people (true born-again believers!), with Isaiah 28:12 also revealing, To whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and yet only the remnant of Israel heard God’s promise! Do YOU hear Him today, looking forward to your eternal “home” in Heaven?
“Heaven?” Thank God for “eternal fellowship” beyond the here and now but forever with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; “eternal fellowship” with all the saints of all the ages, “eternal fellowship” with the angels who watched over us and cared for us, even when we didn’t even know they were around; and can you begin to fathom Heaven’s “redeemed choir” with their “Hallelujah” symphony of praise and adoration and blessing of God?
I cannot imagine a Heaven apart from fellowship with the Godhead, fellowship with family and friends, fellowship with the true Body of Christ, fellowship with the martyrs, the bruised, the broken, the battered, who were so blessed, fellowship with the stalwart servants of the ages who so exalted Him in their walks of faith, ministry, and service unto the Savior!
“Heaven?” I pray you didn’t miss our Lord’s intentional purpose in Matthew 8:11! Christ Jesus said: “And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” How does even a “professing believer” think he/she can live without true fellowship in the here and now with the Word telling us, “forsaking not the assembling of yourselves ‘together’ as the manner of some is,” because the assembly around YOU is in need of you and the gifts He has given you for “body life” and “body ministry”!?!
“Heaven?” In Revelation 7:9-10 we read: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Oh, but that is not all! Revelation 7:13-17 we read: Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
“Heaven?” Its residents? It’s the imperfect declared perfect by their faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross; it’s the spiritually blind made to see by the ‘touch of the Master’s hands”; it’s the deaf who couldn’t hear a word of God but Christ Jesus majors on new hearing; it’s the enslaved to sin who have their chains broken by the Blood of the Lamb and they celebrate Salvation’s freedom; black, white, red, or yellow – applied grace, mercy, and the love of God, opened by God Himself are the “impartial gates of eternal life”; worthy enemies of God have met Him in resistance only to be broken, born-again, and blessed with presence in His eternal home; sad sinners broken by the devil are made to smile by God’s healing grace, and lifted from bondage to His eternal place; sorrow over sin and separation from Holy God, brokenness over personal shame, and rejoicing over the word “forgiven”, opens Heaven’s gates!
“Heaven?” The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The author of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:34, “…knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.”
Samuel Rutherford wrote: “The hope of heaven under troubles is like wind and sails to the soul.” And often ‘troubles’, ‘trials’, and ‘tribulations’, are the stepping stones to Holy Presence! But in that walk of redemptive faith, often experiencing the sadness of the soul, that walk abounds in a spirit of rejoicing, even celebration, and the singing of praises to God, because you know you “never walk alone”! Though our steps of redemptive faith are often steps that would bankrupt others spiritually without Christ, to the born-again citizen with “dual citizenship”, earth and heaven, we fight the good fight of life bank-rolled with “the treasury of everlasting joy,” [Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II].
“Heaven?” I may ‘limp’ in my earthly journey, but I guarantee you, when the door of Heaven is opened for me after my physical death, I’ll leap into His arms! At the same time, even in the earthly pilgrimage of a true disciple, birthed into the family of God, do you not ever taste Heaven’s divine pleasures and eternal joys? Are YOU “registered in heaven”? That’s Hebrews 12:23!
Oh, but hear me! What good is “Heaven” for you ‘then’ if Jesus Christ is not your “All in all” NOW? “Profession without His possession”? “Belief” in certain of His truths but void of His Holy Presence as “Christ in you the hope of glory”? “Belief”, but absent of Heavenly behavior?
Christ’s Holy Presence in you is evidence of His heavenly fruit through you! It was Leslie D. Weatherhead in, “This Is The Victory,” [Abingdon Press] who wrote, “The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is unbelief.” And tragically many “professing Christians” [?] know nothing of “the joy of their salvation”!
“Heaven?” Have you ever heard “arrogant” preachers, some church folk, even highly successful businessmen or some athletes, “pumping their ‘flesh’”, promoting their ‘spirituality’, talking about their ‘Successes’, their achievements, their prosperity, knowing nothing about “forsaking all and following Christ”? They just may be “shocked” at what door is opened to them upon their deaths!
And many look to wealthy men across the world, whether those men are Christian or not, and see men who are without any consideration that heavenly wealth, Heaven’s treasures, more than likely are totally opposite or void of any heavenly meaning for them related to Eternity’s sake, or even value their wealth as a tool of God Himself to extend His Kingdom and express His love!
It was Thomas Dreier who once said: “All progress is made by men of faith who believe in what is right and, what is more important, actually do what is right in their own private affairs. You cannot add to the peace and good will of the world if you fail to create an atmosphere of harmony and love right where you live and work.”
“Heaven?” Redemptive Faith’s Final Destination? Can you imagine a man who thinks, believes, rests in, follows, or promotes the fleshly ideal that ‘heaven is a reward for those who do well on earth’? IT IS NOT ACHIEVEMENT THAT OPENS HEAVEN’S DOOR FOR ANY MAN – IT’S ONLY THE BLOOD ATONEMENT OF CHRIST JESUS THAT ALLOWS ANY MAN TO ENTER! It is not ‘merit’ but mercy; it is not self-determination, but dependence upon Sovereign God’s provision; it is not ‘trying’ but trusting in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross!
“Heaven or Hell”? Eternally real is both, one for blessing and the other the curse, one eternally joyful and the other forever sad and tormented, one the Living Water of the Eternal Word and the other the dry, dusty, dirty, Water-less desert, without any hope of eternal satisfaction or even provision to quench one’s eternal thirst!
And I remind you of what the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, had to say in John 3:19! “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
My “NKJ” version entitles Psalm 37 as “The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked”, followed by Verses 1-9 which says: “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb…
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass…
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass…
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret – it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.”
Grant Colfax Tullar, with Mrs. Frank A. Breck, wrote the hymn entitled “Face to Face.” It says: “Face to face with Christ my Saviour, Face to face – what will it be – When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me?
Only faintly now I see Him, With the darkling veil between; But a blessed day is coming, When His glory shall be seen.
What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain; When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain.
Face to face! O blissful moment! Face to face – to see and know; Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so.”
In your mind and your heart, do YOU know how much Christ Jesus loves YOU?
“Evidences of Redemptive Faith”? Washed heart, new mind, divine consciousness, peace passing all understanding, a love of God’s Word and devotion to it, abiding awareness of divine presence, the very fruit of the Holy Spirit, obedience to the Lord’s calling and mission, the able-ness of God in overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil, a full assurance of understanding, of the hope until the end, and the full assurance of redemptive faith, an awareness of beautiful feet busy about sharing the faith that saves, the soakings of the showers of blessing from heaven, the whitening of the Lamb’s blood that washes our hearts, “changes” in the twinkling of an eye, a spiritual “soldier” who knows how to fight the good fight of faith, God’s gift of the very crown of righteousness, deliverance – the demons had to leave, satisfied desires by the Desire of Heaven implanted within us, visible edification of Christ’s indwelling, the full assurance of faith and faithfulness, glory, glory, and more glory, genuine faith more precious than gold, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit as God’s gift, healing hands and helps, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away, joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, kept by the power, authority, and love of God, kingdom life, kingdom blessing, kingdom presence, kingdom keys, holy love, holy visions, holy victories, great mercies, rich mercies, faithful mercies, the oil of gladness, abundant redemption, faithful and full reconciliation, a renewed, steadfast spirit within, a crown of righteousness, a crown of glory, a crown of eternal richness , the Lord’s song, the Lord’s strength, the Lord’s authority, the Lord’s support, the True Light, the True Bread, the True Freedom, the True Love that never changes or dies!
But you believe your ‘savior,’ your ‘sponsor’, your ‘supporter’ has better, stronger, more satisfying and rewarding ‘helps’, when he’s a helpless, hopeless, hard, hellish representative? “Give me a break!!”
[The “Conclusion” follows on next page!]
CONCLUSION
“YOUR ENDING?” A toss-up or avoidance of any consideration of your ‘after-life’ or triumphant Truth that sees you through to everlasting Victory In Jesus?
For you, what will it be? Government over God, even self-government over His Sovereign Rule, rebellion over Revelation, or the “Curses” over His Blessings?
Do you sincerely believe ‘self-will’ tops Divine Will? Is it ‘Me’ over the Master, fleshly thoughts over Spiritual Truth, or spiritual death over Eternal Life?
For you, is it the prostitution of peace and life over the Presence of the Prince of Peace and Author of Eternal Living? Are you one who is so willingly defiant or are you the “Wonderful-ly Dependent” one accepting His Resurrection Life?
Are you ‘man-minded’ or Godly ministered to? Is it, for you, fallen ‘flesh’ or Victorious Faith, Sin-paralysis or the Savior’s Perfecting Gifts?
Do you follow the philosophical words of men or the Word of Truth of the Author and Finisher of Eternal Faith? Is it man-made successes you follow without honoring God or God-ordained and implemented victories that honor our Lord alone? Are you a spiritual gorilla of the devil’s army or a true soldier of Christ Jesus’ Heavenly Service of mercy, grace, and love?
Are you a part of the unbelievers who have made a mindless, heartless, sick choice of faithless living or a part of the family of believers who have truly repented of faithless living, of believers, true believers, who repent of their sinful natures before Holy God and rest in the finished work of Christ at the Cross, knowing and believing and trusting in the Holy Spirit’s ministry of eternal reconciliation to Holy God?
But, have you heard it? “Jesus was only a man”, when in reality He was and is Emmanuel, “God with us,” with the question every man will answer, “Is HE YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD AND REDEEMER?”
Is it man’s licentiousness or God’s Word that one is devoted to? Is it a government’s laws that should guide us or God’s true liberty that frees us? Is it even the religions of fallen men’s creation that calls one to observe and obey their rules or the Revelation and unveiling of God’s Eternal Truth and His Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Is it man’s educational systems alone apart from divine conversion or God’s birthing of spiritual life, spiritual equipping, and spiritual training, that honors Him through their available lives to His glory? Is it man’s fleshly, selfish, sinful choices, or the Providence, Provision, Person, and Purpose of Almighty God?
Is it the ‘whims’ of fallen mankind or the eternal Wisdom of Almighty God? Is it what pleases, satisfies, proves what a sinful manhood is capable of or a redeemed life, ‘born again’, to share His Eternal Life, His Powerful Presence, and His Abiding Hope?
Is it self-indulgence to the extreme in satisfying one’s old sin-nature that has separated one from Holy God or the divine conviction of the Holy Spirit that turns one away from sin to a life of oneness with Christ Jesus who paid the price at Calvary to free us, forgive us, and fulfill us with His abiding presence in us?
“Everybody does it” is no comfort in the hour of holy judgment as one stands before Holy God at His throne of judgment, while the Holy Spirit strived to convict and convert one to profess “faith” in Eternal Life through the finished work of Christ Jesus at the Cross, illuminating us that we were crucified with Him, and raised up in His Eternal Life and His Eternal Resurrection Power to be His “new creations”!
“Fleshly successes” are not sufficient when it comes to reconciliation to Holy God – only the shed blood of Christ alone washes men from the guilt of self-love, self-indulgence, and self-rule and ruin – it’s only the Lamb’s blood that washes darkness from the ruined hearts of fallen men, giving them hearts washed as white as snow through Jesus’ blood sacrifice!
For you, has it been ‘self-promoted success’ in the place of Christ Jesus’ willing sacrifice, your ‘self-determination’ in the place of Jesus’ Selfless-Demonstration of true holy love, your ‘self-evaluation’ of what you determined should appease God in your rebellion, resistance, and disregard of the love of Calvary’s Cross?
You’ve heard it: “A man’s productivity should be enough to satisfy God’s displeasure; a man’s ‘performance’ should guarantee God’s standing ovation; a man’s achievements should show the Blood Atonement was unnecessary.”
Really? YOU really believe that? Man’s best in place of the blessing of God’s love, grace, and mercy? And you have no fear of Holy God?
In Luke 12:4-5 Christ Jesus said: “And I say to you, ‘My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; and I say to you, fear Him!” Amen?