“IDENTIFYING TRUE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST!”
A few questions to heighten your interest in the subject matter of this message: Have YOU been “turned aside” or are YOU “fixed” body, soul, and Spirit IN our Lord’s ‘unchangeableness’? Have you “drifted” or are YOU “established” or “being established” in Him? Are YOU “still asleep” or “fully awakened” to God’s eternal intent in you and through you with the Resurrection Presence of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Do YOU ‘daily’ reserve your life for your fleshly intents or ‘daily’ take the sentence of death unto yourself that His resurrection Presence may be manifested in your mortal flesh?
Are YOU willing to “be abased” by God Himself or are you ‘self-determined’ to map out your own spiritual significance in our modern world? Do YOU base your spiritual journey on ‘fleshly-grit’ or on “Christ-given amazing grace”? Do you continue, ‘though being a professing believer’, to examine yourself on “an awakening sympathy” for yourself, OR rest in the eternal Truth that your old man was crucified WITH Christ? If ‘dejection’ about one’s spiritual maturity or lack of it prevails or arises, where or upon Whom does one’s allegiance really lie? “Trust Him and His Word or ‘rely’ upon my own abilities or intents”?
It’s really interesting how Paul identified himself and the early true followers of Christ as “fools for Christ’s sake” but “pretenders” are the “puffed up” in full array of “self-best” rather than “dead to self but alive in Christ”! In 1 Corinthians 4:8-17 Paul wrote: “You (Corinthians) are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us – and indeed I could wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you! For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat.
We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I WARN YOU. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.”
How often have YOU wondered or questioned if today the “true gospel of Christ Jesus is preached” or one’s opinion as to “saving grace and mercy and love of God”?
In 1 Corinthians 1:17-31 Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote “foundational Truth” for truly “seeking souls” longing for understanding about reconciliation with Holy God! He said: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For IT IS WRITTEN: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” [Prudent being judicious or wisely cautious, careful concerning one’s present and future, without little, if any, consideration of God’s plan and provision!).
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; BUT we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
But of Him you are IN CHRIST JESUS, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
“True Disciples of Christ Jesus”? Do YOU think it would be necessary to see what the Holy Word has to say about the “foundation” of True Temple Building (which IS YOUR life, His holy Presence in YOU!) to the honor and glory of Christ alone? In Romans 1:1-7 Paul instructs, inspires, and informs all “seekers” about the path and person of truly following Christ Jesus! He said:
“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, [Have you been ‘branded’, ‘marked’, ‘signed on’ to God’s eternal intent and purpose of ‘Christ in you His hope of glory through you’?], CALLED to be an apostle, SEPARATED to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Old Testament!), concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. THROUGH HIM we have received grace and apostleship (or grace and His servant ministry) FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH among all nations for His name, among whom you also ARE THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, CALLED TO BE SAINTS: Grace to you AND peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
What do YOU see in these previous few verses about YOUR identity “in Christ”? 1) Marked or set apart to His honor, glory, and administration only? 2) Called? – in 2 Timothy 1:9-11 Paul enlightens us even more about our “calling”! He said, “…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace WHICH WAS GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST JESUS BEFORE TIME BEGAN, but 3) has now been revealed by the appearing of our SAVIOR Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed (What’s YOUR appointment?) a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”
It’s so, so interesting when one reads Isaiah 42:6-7 with God Himself speaking to humanity, “I, the Lord, have called You (Christ Jesus and His true disciples!) in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to OPEN blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” [That ‘prison house’ is one’s “self-enslavement” under the devil’s domination and even a ‘religion’ apart from Divine Truth!].
Proverbs 1:20-33 tells us about “wisdom” from God Himself, but how some have rejected His earnest entreaties! It says: “Wisdom calls aloud outside; (Question! “Wisdom calling aloud to those outside God’s eternal Kingdom of love, grace, and mercy through His Son and the world’s ONLY Savior”?). She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words:
How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For SCORNERS delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. (That’s like, “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God’”?). Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
Because I HAVE CALLED AND YOU HAVE 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 will 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.”
Are you aware that ‘unbelievers’ are described in the Word as ‘enemies’ of God? In Romans 5:10 we read, “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.” Glory!
But apart from Christ? “Enemies of God”! Apart from Christ? “Death through sin”! Apart from Christ? “Bound in the chains of slavery to sin”? OR, as Paul said in Romans 6:5-11, “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 Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should be NO LONGER 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.” Glory!
I love how Oswald Chambers put it in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.223), “It is my obedience that puts me right with God, my consecration. NEVER!! I am put right with God because prior to all, ( and I say, yes, prior even to world creation), Christ died…Lamb slain BEFORE the foundation of the world”, in God’s heart and mind!). When I turn to God and by belief (trust in, rely upon, adhere to) accept what God reveals I can accept, instantly the stupendous Atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God; AND by the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, not because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings it with a breaking, all-over light, and I know, though I do not know how, that I am saved.”
Apart from Christ? Alienated, separated, other worldly, rather than submission to God’s will and Kingdom allegiance! Apart from Christ? Astutely minded but brainless and heartless to the good, acceptable and perfect will of God! Apart from Christ? “Allegiance to my concept of fleshly independence, emancipated from loyalty to your Christ! Why should I even think about loyalty to your Christ?” Apart from Christ? Like a statement made on national TV recently, “The cop who breaks the law doesn’t deserve to wear the shield,” and when did THAT change? When ‘law-breakers’ in the heart refused submission, repentance, and true faith to the eternal ‘Law-Giver’, Holy God, they have NO appreciation or desire to ‘know’ Christ, and certainly not to be one with Him!
Apart from Christ? It’s ‘self-gratification,’ ‘self-emphasis,’ ‘self-indulgence’, or ‘self-denial debunked,’ ‘self-choice promoted’, with no concern if it pleases self, without even a thought if it ‘honors’ or shames the Lord Himself! Apart from Christ? No concern about ‘the strong ‘husk’ of individual independence from God’, but only, “what pleases ME, my thoughts, my fleshly indulgences, my emancipated personality with ‘sinners’ of a like-mind and self-indulgent body”!
Apart from Christ? Though the Holy Word says, (Ephesians 5:25-27), that “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,” but YOU say, “Who needs the church if I profess Christ?”
In Hebrews 10:24-25 the author, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, wrote: “And let us CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER in order to stir up love and good works, NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING OF OURSELVES TOGETHER, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” You ‘draw nigh to God’, but have no desire to be drawn in as a part of His earthly ‘Body’ called the church of Jesus Christ? Are YOU unaware of His great love of the “local assembly” of His born-again children of faith and His desire to minister to you and through you by your devotion to “the church Jesus loved and gave Himself for”? Oswald Chambers wrote: (“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.263), “The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us – ‘I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine’. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.”
I haven’t prepared or preached the following thought, but I believe it has to be expressed: “Bestowed Grace – Blessed Victory”! In 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 Paul tells us: “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. BUT by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Glory!
Do YOU consider “the Christ in you” to be ‘incompetent’ to be Himself in you and through you? OR, do you major on ‘your redeemed, but imperfect spiritual inclinations’, voiding out “Christ in you the hope of glory”? How many have you witnessed who ‘professed’ faith in Christ but continued walking in the darkness of the ‘unredeemed’? John said in 1 John 1:7, “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 God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.” His grace is not ‘in vain’, but MY grit blinds me to the blessing of “the blood of Jesus cleansing me from all sin;” which is why some don’t want to know the whole of Biblical Truth in Christ, because they desire to be forgiven as they willfully continue ‘to sin’!
Doesn’t the Holy Word declare, Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”? And that, “here and now”, upon one’s repentance before Holy God and faith in Christ and His “It is finished” on the Cross? God wants you understanding that true salvation is His gift, not a position you earn in His Kingdom! And that precious journey of redemptive faith is not one’s reflection of how good he/she “thinks” he/she behaved in God’s Kingdom – reflect even for a brief moment upon 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Paul said, “For He (God) made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
“Identifying True Disciples of Christ”? By His grace, mercy, and love, repentant and faith-filled, grace-abounding sinners made saints by Him, strike a “new chord” of heavenly music and praise and adoration, and the Resurrected, Reigning Christ declares them His “Holy Temple”, and again He shines , illuminating the world around you by His presence IN YOU! HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD! Why would one profess faith in Him but still ‘enjoy’ the darkness?
Reflect upon Ephesians 1: 3-14!! Our “new”, “eternal”, “family of God identity” BEGINS HERE! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places IN CHRIST, just as He (God) chose us in Him (Christ Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having PREDESTINED US to adoption as sons BY JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He (God the Father) made us accepted in the Beloved (Christ Jesus the Son).
IN HIM (in Christ Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (not your ‘grit’!) which He (God the Father) made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, HAVING MADE KNOWN TO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, (reconciling sinners & declaring them saints, sons, servants of God!), according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.
In Him also WE HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE, being predestined according to the purpose of Him (ALMIGHTY GOD) who works all things according to the counsel of His will, THAT WE WHO FIRSTED TRUSTED IN CHRIST SHOULD BE TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY. (Is THAT how YOU see yourself in your walk with Christ?).
In Him you also TRUSTED, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed (trusted in, relied upon, adhered to!), you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Reflect upon Titus 3:4-7! MARK IT IN YOUR BIBLE – AND REJOICE EVERMORE! It says: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, THROUGH the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” [But YOU see it differently? YOU’RE CONVINCED GOD SHOULD APPRECIATE YOUR BEST EFFORTS?] Give me a break from intellectual and fleshly pride – Yes, God, humble the proud and shatter the shell of mental and maligned understanding and mind-set, darkened hearts, and captured wills!
What did Jesus say in Matthew 9:12-14? “Those who are ‘well’ have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (‘sin-sick’?). But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous (‘self-righteous’?) but sinners to repentance.”
Are you ‘a goat’ or a ‘lost sheep’ in need of the “Seeking Shepherd”? Are you a ‘secure family-member in the household of unbelief’ OR a ‘lost soul’ , sought, found, and liberated by the One True Shepherd of men’s souls? Are YOU aware that Christ Jesus came to “bring division” not unity in fleshly intents? In Matthew 10:34-39 the Savior said:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I HAVE COME TO ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
What is it YOU hold onto in the place of His love, grace, and mercy extended to you as if YOU were the only man or woman to ever live – what He did for all on the Cross, He did for you intentionally! 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore, if ANYONE is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
“New creation”! It was John Newton who once said: “There is a signature of wisdom and power impressed on the works of God, which evidently distinguishes them from the feeble imitations of men.” “New birth”! “Newness of life and newness of spirit”! “New name”! “New song” in a redeemed, re-born, resurrected Life in Christ”! “New creation”! “New wine” in “new bottles”! “New man”! “New testament”! “New garment – His robe of righteousness”! “New spirit”! “New heart”! “New Day”!
Do you understand, comprehend, and yield to the Master, the Savior, the Lord, the Author of the eternal epistle of “New Creations”? In Romans 6:4 Paul wrote: “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”!
Dare you to say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…”? How about saying daily with thanksgiving and great joy: “I have repented ! I have returned to Holy God! I have been born again, born of Truth and Born of the Spirit! My “new day” has dawned – I AM One With and In Christ!” “His grace was not in vain toward me!” Glory!!!
Oh, but then what did Jesus say in Matthew 12:33b? “For a tree is known by its fruit”! For you? Fruit of the flesh or fruit of the Spirit?