“PARTIAL OBEDIENCE – PERMANENT SEPARATION?”
By J.Farrell Fisher, August 10-12, 2017
It was John Greenleaf Whittier who wrote: “In simple trust like theirs who heard beside the Syrian sea the gracious calling of the Lord, Let us, like them, without a word Rise up and follow Him.” Have YOU risen up out of spiritual death to follow Christ, being willing and obedient to whatever the Lord and Savior tells you to do? In Luke 6:46 the Lord Jesus spoke to a large gathering who had been following Him, saying to them, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?”
In Luke 6:47-49 we read Christ Jesus’s further unveiling of false and true disciples! He said: “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. 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.”
How would you define the distinguishing trait of true ‘religious’ faith? “ Well, in Jesus I’m set free from the penalty of my sin – and, thank God, He continues to forgive me as I continue to sin.” Really? And one feels that way when Jesus clearly said to His new disciples, “Go, and sin no more”?
It was Henri Frederic Amiel who wrote: “The distinguishing mark of religion is not so much liberty as obedience, and its value is measured by the sacrifices which it can extract from the individual.” Is ‘a sacrifice’ “the taking of the sentence of death daily to my old man so that day by day I might walk in victory over the old sin nature that was crucified with Christ?”
What did the beloved John write in 1 John 3:9? “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” That will go over well for those who believe Christians can’t stop sinning until they get to heaven in the “sweet by and by”, RIGHT? WRONG!
Here’s how Oswald Chambers addressed it in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” “Do I seek to stop sinning or have I stopped sinning? To be born of God means that I have the supernatural power of God to stop sinning. In the Bible it is never – Should a Christian sin? The Bible puts it emphatically – “A Christian must not sin.” The effective working of the new birth life in us is that we do not commit sin, not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have stopped sinning. I John 3:9 does not mean that we “cannot” sin; it means that is we obey the life of God in us, we “need not” sin.”
Without a doubt, if one is interested in determining “Kingdom of God rule”, the evidence is one of a “new birth” relationship to Holy God, a “new gift of Holy Spirit presence within”, and, yes, willing to walk in the Biblical revelation that one, through the blood and Indwelling Life of Christ, takes the sentence of death to himself/herself daily that the Resurrection Life may be manifested in mortal flesh – and His Eternal Life is void of the sin nature or the desire to sin! Does Christ Jesus LIVE within YOU as His earthly “Temple Presence” where “sin” has been washed away through His shed blood and you’ve chosen to, yes, die daily to your old sin nature?
In Psalm 16:7-9 David wrote: “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord ALWAYS before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And, to me, I don’t see the ‘dying’ as ultimate physical death, but that daily sentencing of the death of the old sin-nature that Christ’s Resurrection Presence have ‘holy ground in and through me washed in the blood of the Lamb,’ unveiling His awesome victory at the Cross over sin and Satan!
And, certainly, this without a doubt is why Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing (trusting, adhering to, relying upon), that you MAY ABOUND IN HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.” And when it comes to “joy and peace” in the life of true believers, notice what the Lord Jesus said in John 15:10-11! Jesus said:
“IF you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (HOW MANY “JOYFUL CHRISTIANS” DO YOU REALLY KNOW TODAY?). Are YOU abounding in hope over your sin and sin-nature?
Is it possible that in modern-day churches that there are those who teach “Great blessings in Christ” but oppose loving obedience to Him as unattainable and unnecessary, describing it as “salvation by works”, when obedience is a reality of having been saved, not to be saved or born again? There IS a ‘closed door to God’s abiding presence’ if one determines for himself, “Obedience to God’s every command is not expected but is simply uninformed stupidity!” And a lot of folks stand on that foundation-less frame of reference to “knowing God”!
What was Paul speaking about when in 2 Corinthians 6:12 he wrote: “O Corinthians! You are not restricted by us (the apostles), but you are restricted by your own affections,” stating further in Verses 14-16, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (the ‘wicked’ or ‘ungodly’)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.”
As “the temple of the living God” are we thus declared free from sin’s penalty if we willfully choose to “sin as I please because Jesus understands my nature?”, even though He crucified sin and its nature in Himself on the Cross? What did Samuel tell us in 1 Samuel 15:22-23? “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For REBELLION is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” I know Samuel was speaking to Saul, but I also know the Word declares repentant believers “kings and priests”.
Therefore, take notice, “kings and priests”! Willful sin and disobedience will be faced with two doors! One, being true repentance and a forsaking of sin with a wide-opened door into His Abiding Presence, or Two, willful sin and disobedience without repentance facing God’s “door-closing” to you into His Presence and a cancelation of your Royal Ambassadorship! And that’s serious!
Consider! Is “fleshly ambition” idolatry if one omits Holy God’s eternal intention for that life? It was Thomas Southerne in his writing “The Loyal Brother” who said: “Ambition is our idol on whose wings Great minds are carried only to extremes; to be sublimely great, or to be nothing.” But ‘ambition’ is not evil when one desires to be fully available in honoring one’s Lord and Savior in his/her chosen occupation or lifestyle or relationships! ‘Greatness’ without God ends empty – ambition without God breeds sublime ‘nothingness’!
In Luke 12:41-46 is a sharp, awakening, convicting story Jesus interpreted for Peter AND US about “faithful servants” or “Unfaithful servants! Get ready! Get geared up! Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, do you speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” And the Lord said: Verses 42-46, “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.”
Does what I’ve just read from the lips of Jesus ring the bell of remembrance with Jeremiah 34:17-20? 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 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 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 beasts of the earth.”
Does that sound serious to you about those who do not walk in submission and obedience to every Word of the Lord’s declaration to His followers who are called to be servants to their Master, Lord, and Savior? Is “partial obedience” to King Jesus a satisfying response for you OR are you permanently committed to a permanent separation from the world, the flesh, and to Satan, and a “Lord, what would You have me to do?” He tells you in His Word – AND YOU DO IT WITHOUT HESITATION!
Isaiah 1:9-20 is one of the most helpful, hopeful, holy Word of Scripture anywhere, anytime, for anyone hungry for more than his/her flesh has been able to produce, even at their “flesh-inspired, gut-level best”! It says: “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah; [That’s the high priests of Israel’s ‘religious faith’, the kings and priests, and regular attenders in the sanctuary!]; To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though 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.”
Are you fully aware of the amazing grace of our Lord when one truly repents, takes the sentence of death to his old sin nature daily, receives the anointing and abiding of the Holy Spirit, and, yes, feeds on the bread, milk, and meat of the Word daily, willfully following Christ Jesus in “offering Himself without spot to God”, then seeing God “cleansing your conscience from dead works to serve the living God”? Are you ‘dying daily’ to the old sin-natured man, yes, “permanent separation” from what you once were TO TODAY HONORING CHRIST JESUS IN THE “NEW MAN” WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, ANOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED AS HIS ROYAL AMBASSADORS IN OUR NEEDY WORLD?
“Partial obedience” can result in permanent separation from God, but I pray you clearly understand that after one’s disaster of “Partial Obedience”, and because he/she receives the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that the ‘forgiven sinner’ can turn to permanent separation from ‘partial obedience’ to a fully surrendered, Christ-honoring life!!