“STANDING FIRM ON THE WHIMS OF FALLEN MEN OR STANDING FIRM ON THE WORD OF GOD?”
BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 21-22, 2018
IT IS CERTAINLY OBVIOUS! “FALLEN MEN STAND FIRM ON THE WHIMS OF COLLECTIVE FALLEN MEN”, WHILE THE “SET-APART” (OR SAINTS) “STAND FIRM ON THE WORD OF GOD”!!
All around you are multitudes who know, stand in, rely upon the whims and words of fallen men, while also there are “the few who find the Way, the Will, and the Word of God”!
Paul was inspired to write about the “outward Jew” just like “professing disciples” who believe, but know nothing of “Christ in you the hope of glory”! In Romans 2:28-29 he said, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and (true) circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
In Luke 4:18-19 Dr. Luke wrote: “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 preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the (spiritually) blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
“Standing firm on the whims of fallen men” are those Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 6:1 as those who supposedly ‘receive the grace of God in vain’ because they see themselves as committed to both worlds, the world of the true Kingdom of God, AND the world of “old man allegiance”, “the kingdom of darkness”, and, unknowingly, the “kingdom of Satan’s deceit and dominance”!
He said, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He (God the Father) has made Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
How clear was Brother John when in 1 John 3:7-10 he said: “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that DOES righteousness is righteous, even as Christ is righteous. He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin (and keep on sinning!); for Christ’s seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest (revealed, unveiled), AND the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that does not love his brother.” Again, 2 Corinthians 5:21! “For He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus the Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin (that’s Christ Jesus!), that we (through the Cross, through His shed blood, through His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension) might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
If Christ is righteous and lives within you as a repentant believer, are you “trying” to live the righteous life, or allowing Christ in you to be Himself releasing His righteousness through you?
How does that function in true repentant, Christ-centered believers? Again, 2 Corinthians 1:9, “But we had (daily!!!) the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” (WERE “YOU” CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON CALVARY’S CROSS?). In 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul wrote: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.”
Have YOU ever reflected, continually re-calculated, “rested in” the finished work of Christ through His death, burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and Promise to abide in us and through us eternally? We don’t ‘strive’ in the ‘flesh effort’ of the old Adam sin-nature – we “rest” in the Abiding Presence of “Christ in us the hope of glory”! Don’t waste your time “trying” to be Christ-like – let Him be Himself through you, once again to the glory and honor of God alone! In 2 Corinthians 4:4-11 Paul illumined both the ‘crucified life’ and the life-treasure of Jesus’ Resurrected Presence in us! The Word says, “In whom the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live ARE ALWAYS DELIVERED UNTO DEATH FOR JESUS’ SAKE, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
In John 12:23-24 Christ Jesus said: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”
This is why Holy God inspired Paul in writing also in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10, and Verse 12, with amazing results shared in Verses 18-24!! Follow prayerfully, carefully, with the ultimate intention of “resting” in His inspired Word!! Paul wrote: Verses 9-10, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (the physically breathing who’ve learned, trusted, and relied upon Merciful God, yes, who is able to raise the dead, whether physically or spiritually!!!).
Verse 12 then tells us: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.”
Are YOU not aware that, scripturally, God’s grace is abundantly and freely given to the “trust-ers” who “trust” Him alone?
Are YOU not aware that, scripturally, God’s grace abounds, according to 2 Corinthians 3:10-11, “According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid a foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon (or upon the foundation & Temple God Himself builds). For other foundation can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
This is why in Ephesians 2:1-2 Paul declared “And you has God quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience…!!” GOD INTERVENES!! Ephesians 2:4-10 “lights us up in Heaven’s soaring rockets of Truth”, saying:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved); And has raised us up together , and made us sit together in 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 through Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: Not of works, lest any man should boast. FOR we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created (birthed!) in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
YET, the love, mercy, and grace of God, revealed in and through the historic life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Christ, and His Promise to come again, in the hearts of repentant, believing, surrendering individuals, is ‘doubted’, not believed, trusted, or rested in, but individuals who are ‘self-determined’ to BE a ‘false god’ in and of and by themselves! They live ‘bankrupt’ away from the Savior’s resurrected Life, His eternal promises, and His “blessed assurance” through repentance toward God and ‘faith’ in His “finished work”!’ And that’s all because “God who is rich in mercy”, comes, knocks on the doors or hearts of men, but many refuse to ‘open the heart’s door willfully’ to receive the Savior and Lord!
Are you at all familiar with Joshua’s words in Joshua 24:14-15? “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: ( Let me pause hear, and ask, “Do you really believe in modern churches today that ‘professing people’ “fear God” AND “serve Him in sincerity and truth”?), and put away the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”
In 1 John 5:21, the beloved John wrote: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (OR “so be it!!). Yet, in Romans 1, Paul KNEW he had to confront, challenge, yes, come against false pretenders! (But aren’t you so glad that in our modern churches today we don’t have to be concerned about “religious pretenders”?).
Paul continued! Romans 1:15-23, “So, as much as in me is, I AM READY to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION to everyone that believes (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to!!!); to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith (from a “seed-faith”, to a “plant walk”, to a “fruit-bearing” demonstration of the Resurrected Christ in you and through you!!!!. “as it is written, The just shall live by faith).( But YOU don’t think that includes obedience to the Revealed Word of the Savior and Lord? You just might deny your “church membership” and get saved by grace through faith!)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, WHO HOLD THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; (Better examine whether You’re a ‘pretender’ or an ‘obedient son or daughter’ TO, IN, BY, HIS INDWELLING LIFE!!); because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has shown it (revealed it) unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE;
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into images made like corruptible mankind…!” “WHEREFORE”!! Verse 24, God gave them up…”! Verse 25, “..who changed the Truth of God for the lie” – “you can sin and not die!!” Verse 26, …God gave them up…” Verse 28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind…!”
“Reprobate minds?” Spiritually unwise? Fools who change the Truth of God for the ‘lie’? Satisfied with a darkened, foolish heart? Committed to uncleanness in the lusts of their own hearts? Exchanging the truth of the Lord for the “lie”: the lie? “You can sin and not die?” DO YOU KNOW THE DANGER OF BEING GIVEN UP BY GOD BECAUSE YOU ENJOY AND ARE COMMITTED TO THE UNCLEANNESS OF THE LUSTS OF YOUR HEART, GIVEN UP BY GOD TO YOUR VILE AFFECTIONS, GIVEN UP BY GOD BECAUSE YOUR REPROBATE MIND OFFERS YOU FALSE SECURITY, GIVEN UP BECAUSE YOU SEE A REPROBATE MIND MORE REWARDING ‘FLESHLY’ THAN A LIFE IN THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, SO YOU WILLFULLY SHUT HIM OUT, CONTENT WITH YOUR REPROBATE MIND?”
NO DOUBT this is why, in Romans 2:13, Paul wrote: (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Justified? “Just AS IF I’D NEVER SINNED”!! Do YOU grasp that according to Romans 3:24 the repentant ‘trust-er’ in Christ is :justified freely BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”?
Are YOU a “standing firm-man” on your ‘false innocence” before Holy God, or ready to the man who turns from “godless living” TO the redeemed life, purchased by the Lord’s shed blood, and power of Resurrection Life, Resurrection Presence, AND Resurrection power? HEAR CHRIST JESUS?
“ GOD’S WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”
“COME TO ME, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST!!” Are YOU “thirsty” for “living water, eternal hope, with everlasting promises”?
“COME TO JESUS, AND YOU CAN “REST”, BE “RESTORED TO GOD’S ETERNAL INTENT”, “REFRESHED AND RENEWED IN HIS DIVINE COMMISSION”, “REST SECURE IN AND THROUGH HIS NEVER-CHANGING ETERNAL PROMISES”!!
“BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED THROUGH FAITH?” Have you obliterated Romans 6:7-18 from your ‘professing life’ and ‘your faithful church attendance’? “For he that is dead (Were You ‘crucified with Christ’?) IS FREED FROM SIN. Now if we be ‘dead with Christ’, we believe (trust) that we also live with (or in) His Resurrected Life, His Resurrection Promises, and His Resurrection Power! KNOWING that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died to sin once’ but in that He lives, He lives unto God.
LIKEWISE (DAILY) that YOU also yourselves ARE counted as dead indeed to sin, BUT ALIVE UNTO GOD through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. LET NOT sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts of a “redeemed heart, mind and body”! (Where does that come from? Satan who WILL continue to deceive you as a believer , if YOU allow him to do that!!). Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness UNTO SIN, but YIELD yourselves (daily) UNTO GOD, as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. FOR SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU.” Oh, really? BUT YOU LIKE WALKING BOTH SIDES OF THE ONE WAY STREET? YOU EXCUSE, RATIONALIZE, DENY FLESHLY TRUTH IN YOU AS YOU “CHOOSE” TO INDULGE YOUR OLD SIN NATURE?
EXAMINE VERSES 15-18!! What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? GOD FORBID! Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, OR of obedience unto righteousness.
But God be thanked, that YOU were the servants of sin, but YOU have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.”
Are YOU ready for a powerful Word in Titus 2:11-12? “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in our present world.” But YOU think that God’s grace allows and releases us to walk both sides of the street, even though one street is away from God and only one street unto God? HOW STUPID ARE COMPROMISING ‘BELIEVERS’ (?) WHO CHOOSE TO WALK IN WHAT THEY THINK IS AN ACCEPTABLE ‘TROT’, GOOD AND EVIL! Yet, many ‘professing believers’ ‘think’ “Holy good accepts us, even if we ‘compromise’ His Truth, and also choose to live with WHAT HE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!!!
Look at Romans 6:6-7, if you haven’t reflected upon it lately. It says: “KNOWING THIS, that our old man is CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Tell me about ‘your spiritual walk with Christ’ – free from the law of sin and death OR COMFORTABLE WITH YOUR COMPROMISE, “doing your best” to satisfy what was crucified, or determined to “take the sentence of death daily to your sin nature that “the Resurrection Life of Christ” IS AND CONTINUES TO BE “MANIFESTED IN YOUR MORTAL FLESH”?
Were YOU ‘baptized into Christ Jesus’, burying the old sin nature, or determined to entertain both ‘flesh’ and Spirit, ‘self-will’ or Eternal Intent, even celebrating both ‘world ambitions’ AND God’s revealed will in and through Christ alone? There IS a world, flesh or old sin nature, even Satanic influence, OR “made free FROM SIN” to be “the slave of God’s mercy, grace, and internal intent” to, yes, honor Himself through a willing, obedient, transformed son or daughter!!!
And “free gifts” given by God were never intended to be locked away in a deceived heart and mind, but to be unashamedly shared with needy unbelievers that surround you! “Rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things; Give heart and mind and soul and strength To serve the King of kings.
Rise up, O men of God! His Kingdom tarries long; Bring in the day of brotherhood And end the night of wrong.
Rise up, O men of God! The Church for YOU still waits, Her strength unequal to her task; Rise up, and make her great!
Lift high the Cross of Christ! Tread where His feet have trod; As brothers of the Son of man, Rise up, O men of God!”
It was P.P.Bliss who wrote the old hymn, “Once For all”, saying gloriously: :Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus has bled, and there is remission; Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, Grace has redeemed us once for all.
Now we are free – there’s no condemnation, Jesus provides a perfect salvation; “Come unto Me,” O hear His sweet call, Come, and He saves us once for all.
“Children of God”, O glorious calling, Surely His grace will keep us from falling; Passing from death to life at His call, Blessed salvation once for all.
Once for all, O sinner, receive it, Once for all, O brother believe it; Cling to the Cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”
But YOU have a ‘better determination’ for what YOU believe to be a blessed life? Without Christ your determination is fruitless, void of the provision through Jesus, God’s Son, and the only Savior!!”
IF you’ve been freed from sin and its penalty through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, how could you ever consider that it’s “OK to occasionally ‘fall away’? That is ‘fleshly stupidity’ with eternal results that ultimately destroy your supposed ‘faith walk’!
In 2 Timothy 3:12-15 Paul wrote: “Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men AND seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. BUT continue in the things which you have learned (if you have!) and have been assured of, knowing of Whom you have learned them….Verse 17, That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works!” OR, are you just satisfied to play ‘religious games’ untouched by the Blood of the Lamb of God?
I tell you: “It’s time! Yes, right now! To choose you this day whom you will serve!” Do you remember the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with all the children of Israel? In Deuteronomy 29 you’re going to find the ‘old covenant’ that, yes, unveils the “New Covenant” because, didn’t Jesus say, “Why do you Call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, but you do not do what I say?” Deuteronomy 29:14-20 says: GOD HIMSELF SPEAKING!!
“Neither with you only (Israel) do I make this covenant and this OATH; But with Him that stands here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day; (For you know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which you passed by; and you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which is among them;) (us in the modern-day America totally unconcerned about our ‘idols’, our ‘compromising’ numbers, our ‘unashamed’ sinners with ‘religious cloaks’ and ‘insincere’ worship as they transgress and deny the Living Truth!!). Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, (or communities of unnumbered churches!) whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall or wormwood;
And it come to pass, when one hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my own heart, to add drunkenness to thirst; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”
Yet how many do you know who refuse to acknowledge the eternal truth that Heaven has an “entrance”, but we’ve just read, “IT ALSO HAS AN EXIT” for those who choose ‘religious compromise’ over His ‘revelation enterprise’ of uncompromising allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords?
I close this message with Christ Jesus’ words in Luke 6:45-49!! “A good man out of the good treasure of his (new) heart brings forth that which is good (or godly); and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil; for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
And why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say/ Whosoever comes to me, and hears My sayings, and does them, I will show you to whom he is like; He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and Laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon the Rock.
But he that hears, and does not what the Designer says, is like a man that without a ‘foundation’ built a house upon the earth; against which the streams, (the storms, the sickened enemies called demons), beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Tell me about YOUR ‘life” – is it a ‘foundation-absent house’ or the “sure foundation of the creative, compassionate, caring Temple of God in His never-faltering Eternal Kingdom? Is it the goriness of fleshly living at its best that misses salvation in Christ or is it the “glory-living” of the Abiding, resurrected, reigning Christ in you filled with the fruit of His Spirit?
In the old American Hymnal, published in 1933, by Robert Coleman and the Broadman Press in Nashville, Tennessee, are the words of John Newton that says and sings, “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fears.
It makes the wounded spirit healed and whole, And calms the troubled breast; it’s manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary, rest.
Dear Name! the Rock n which I build, My shield and hiding place; My never-failing treasure, Filled with boundless stores of grace!
Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King, My Lord, My Life, My way, My End, Accept the praise I bring.”
DO YOU, DAY BY DAY, CONTINUE YOUR UNCEASING PRAISE OF KING JESUS?