“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST OR

THE DOOR TO GOD’S ETERNAL GOODNESS?”

IT WAS AN ANONYMOUS WRITER THAT YEARS AND YEARS AGO WROTE THE FOLLOWING: “SOME DAY THE BELL WILL SOUND, SOME DAY MY HEART WILL BOUND, AS WITH A SHOUT THAT SCHOOL IS OUT AND LESSONS DONE, I HOMEWARD RUN.” WHEN I READ THAT COMMENT, I HAD TO ASK, “HOMEWARD BOUND TO WHERE? TO ‘NO-MAN’S LAND’?” TO SOME FLESHLY DREAM-WORLD, AFTER LIFE IS OVER THAT ONE ENVISIONS FOR HIMSELF, OR TO AN UNCERTAIN DESTINATION, OR THE CERTAIN DESTINATION OF A GRAVE-SIGHT, AND THERE IS NO MORE”?

ANOTHER STATEMENT I READ ONCE SOMEWHERE, WRITING DOWN ONLY THE WORDS, BUT WHAT I READ STIRRED SOMETHING IN MY HEART AND MIND TO TRULY EXAMINE ‘DEATH’S REALITY’! THOSE WORDS? “SOME DIE WITHOUT HAVING REALLY LIVED, WHILE OTHERS CONTINUE TO LIVE, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE DIED.”

GODLESS LIVING,WHETHER THE DECEPTION OF AN ATHEISTIC MIND OR THE DESIRE AND MIND AND HEART OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, AND SELF-GOVERNING,LIKE PSALM 14 THAT DAVID SANG ABOUT: “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘THERE IS NO GOD’. THEY ARE CORRUPT, THEY HAVE DONE ABOMINABLE WORKS, THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, (WHICH I’M SURE IS GOD’S ANOINTING OF DAVID IN EXPOSING THE FUTILITY OF ‘SELF-DETERMINATION’, ASSERTING, “WHO NEEDS GOD?”) CONTINUING DAVID SANG:

THE LORD LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN, TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY THAT DID UNDERSTAND, AND SEEK GOD. (BUT),VERSE 3, “THEY ARE ALL GONE ASIDE, THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER BECOME FILTHY: THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, NO, NOT ONE. VERSE 4, HAVE ALL THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY NO KNOWLEDGE? WHO EAT UP MY PEOPLE AS THEY EAT BREAD, AND CALL NOT UPON THE LORD?”

NOTICE THAT DAVID SANG PUBLICLY, ANOINTED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SAYING, “WORKERS OF INIQUITY WITH NO KNOWLEDGE”? WHAT DOES PAUL DECLARE, ALSO ANOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHEN IN ROMANS 3:23, HE SAID, “FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” SIN, THE SIN-NATURE, SIN, THE DEVILISH DECEIT OF SATAN HIMSELF, SIN, THE BIRTHING IN GODLESS HEARTS OF ALIENATION AND SEPARATION FROM HOLY GOD, SIN, THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, SELF-DETERMINATION “WITHOUT GOD’S INTERFERENCE IN MY SELF-SERVING LIFE”, HUMANITY’S ‘DEATH-NAIL’; AND THOUGH HUMANITY LIVES ON PHYSICALLY ALIVE BUT SPIRITUALLY DEAD, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD”, HE DESIGNED ONE’S DELIVERANCE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS, THE SACRIFICIAL “LAMB OF GOD”!

AND DEATH, SPIRITUAL DEATH,HOW DID PAUL EXPLAIN THIS IN 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21? “FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS US; BECAUSE WE THUS JUDGE, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: AND THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE “SHOULD NOT HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO “HIM” WHICH DIED FOR THEM, AND ROSE AGAIN”.

WHETHER HENCEFORTH KNOW WE NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH: YES, THOUGH WE HAVE KNOWN CHRIST AFTER THE FLESH, YET NOW HENCEFORTH KNOW WE HIM NO MORE. THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION; AND THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW. AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, AND HAS GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION;

TO WIT, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM; AND HAS COMMITTED UNTO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION. NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD DID BESEECH YOU BY US: WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST’S STEAD, BE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD. FOR HE HAS MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN, THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIM.”

ARE YOU AWARE OF THAT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? EXAMINE CAREFULLY 1 JOHN 3:7-10! HOLY GOD’S WORD SAYS, (THOUGH ‘MODERN-DAY’, ‘ILL-INFORMED’ DISCIPLES FOOLISHLY SAY:”WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN?” PHONY-BOLOGNA!), “LITTLE CHILDREN, LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU: HE THAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS CHRIST IS RIGHTEOUS. HE THAT COMMITS (PRESENT TENSE) 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 (PRESENT TENSE GREEK, “COMMITS-AND-KEEPS-ON-COMMITTING SIN” AS A ‘WAY OF LIFE’!”); FOR GOD’S SEED REMAINS IN HIM: AND HE CANNOT SIN, BECAUSE HE/SHE IS BORN OF GOD. IN THIS THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE MANIFEST (UNVEILED), AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL; WHOSOEVER DOES NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD, NEITHER HE THAT LOVES NOT HIS BROTHER.”

“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST AS ONE LIVES IN SELF-SATISFACTION THAT THE SIN-NATURE REMAINS, EVEN AS A BELIEVER,(“ENJOY IT”!), “OR”, AS PAUL EDUCATES US IN 2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-12, “FOR WE WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, HAVE YOU IGNORANT OF OUR TROUBLE WHICH CAME TO US IN ASIA, THAT WE WERE PRESSED OUT OF MEASURE, ABOVE STRENGTH, INSOMUCH THAT WE DESPAIRED EVEN OF LIFE: “BUT” WE HAD ‘THE SENTENCE OF DEATH IN OURSELVES (DAILY)’, THAT WE SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES, BUT IN GOD, WHO RAISES THE DEAD: WHO DELIVERED US FROM SO GREAT A DEATH, AND STILL DELIVERS; IN WHOM WE TRUST THAT HE WILL YET DELIVER US; YOU ALSO HELPING TOGETHER BY PRAYER FOR US, THAT FOR THE GIFT BESTOWED UPON US BY THE MEANS OF MANY PERSONS THANKS MAY BE GIVEN BY MANY ON OUR BEHALF.

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.”

‘DEATH’ IN YOUR PRESENT LIFE NOW AS A BELIEVER? 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 DECLARES, “FOR GOD HAS MADE JESUS TO BE SIN FOR US, CHRIST WHO KNEW NO SIN (IN HIMSELF), THAT WE MIGHT (THROUGH HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION AND REIGNING PRESENCE WITHIN YOU) BE (BEING) MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM!”

DO YOU REMEMBER THAT “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH”? IN 2 PETER 3:9-11, SAYS, “THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.

BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT; IN THE WHICH THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, THE EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP. SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED, WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN ALL HOLY CONVERSATION AND GODLINESS”

OH! DON’T FORGET 2 PETER 2 VERSES 19 & 22!. “WHILE THEY PROMISE THEM LIBERTY, THEY THEMSELVES ARE THE SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION; FOR OF WHOM A MAN IS OVERCOME, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE. VERSE 22,BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB, ‘THE DOG IS TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN; AND THE SOW THAT WAS WASHED TO HER WALLOWING IN THE MIRE.”

ARE THERE ‘DISCIPLES’ TODAY WHO,AT TIMES, BETRAY THE LORD WITHIN, AND WILLFULLY CHOOSE TO PLAY AGAIN IN THEIR ‘POOLS OF SIN-VOMIT’? THERE ARE SOME WHO ARE TOTALLY UNAWARE OF SPIRITUAL DILIGENCE, AND IN THEIR CHILDISH STATE OF FAITH STILL, AT TIMES, WILL INDULGE IN THE ‘DIRT’ OF GODLESSNESS, YES, DECEIVED BY THE DEMONS, THE WORLD, AND THEIR OLD SIN-NATURE!

DO YOU AS A BELIEVER NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE DIVINE, HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU IS THERE, NOT TO EXTINGUISH YOUR “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST”, BUT TO INTERCEDE IN YOU TO “TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, YOUR OLD LIFE THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE CONTINUALLY MANIFESTED IN YOUR MORTAL FLESH?

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (BY EDITOR, FRANK S. MEAD, PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H. REVELL COM., WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY),ARE WORDS WRITTEN BY EDMUND VANCE COOKE ENTITLED “HOW DID YOU DIE?”, SAYING, “DEATH COMES WITH A CRAWL, OR COMES WITH A POUNCE. AND WHETHER HE’S SLOW OR SPRY, IT ISN’T THE FACT THAT YOU’RE DEAD COUNTS, BUT ONLY, HOW DID YOU DIE?”

“HOW WILL YOU DIE?”UNAWARE OF ETERNAL REALITIES-FLESH OR SPIRIT, HELL OR HEAVEN, SATAN’S WELCOME OR KING JESUS WITH OPEN ARMS?

I MUST SHARE THIS MESSAGE FROM ROMANS 8:1-14!! PAUL SAID: “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, ‘WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH (OR OLD SIN-NATURE!)’, BUT AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT. FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE ‘IN CHRIST JESUS’ HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.

FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER FLESH (CELEBRATING THEIR OLD SIN-NATURES!) DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. FOR TO BE CARNALLY (FLESHLY) MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE. BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD: FOR IT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE. SO THAT THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD.

BUT YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE IT THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. NOW IF ANY MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS. AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF SIN; BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. VERSES 11-15 FOLLOW, HEAR IT!!

BUT IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELLS IN YOU, HE THAT RAISED UP CHRICT FROM THE DEAD SHALL ALSO QUICKEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN YOU. THEREFORE, BRETHREN,WE ARE DEBTORS, NOT TO THE FLESH (OR YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE!), TO LIVE FOR IT.

FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE; BUT IF YOU THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU SHALL LIVE. FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. FOR YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AGAIN TO FEAR; BUT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ‘ABBA,FATHER’.”

I CLOSE WITH HYMN WORDS WRITTEN BY ISAAC WATTS THAT SAYS: “ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED? AND DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE? WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

WAS IT FOR CRIMES THAT I HAD DONE THAT HE GROANED UPON THE TREE? AMAZING PITY! GRACE UNKNOWN! AND LOVE BEYOND DEGREE!

WELL MIGHT THE SUN IN DARKNESS HIDE, AND SHUT HIS GLORIES IN, WHEN CHRIST, THE MIGHTY MAKER DIED FOR MAN THE CREATURE’S SIN.

BUT DROPS OF GRIEF CAN NEVER REPAY THE DEBT OF LOVE I OWE; HERE, LORD, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, IT’S ALL THAT I CAN DO.”

DO YOU ACCEPT, LIVE IN, AND SHARE WITH OTHERS OUR LORD’S VICTORY OVER THEIR SIN AND DEATH IN ORDER TO “SET THE CAPTIVES FREE”? IN ISAIAH 12:2-3 THE PROPHET SAID: “BEHOLD, GOD IS MY SALVATION; I WILL TRUST HIM, AND NOT BE AFRAID; FOR THE LORD JEHOVAH IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG; HE HAS BECOME MY SALVATION. THEREFORE WITH JOY SHALL YOU DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF SALVATION”. HAVE YOU “TRUSTED THE LORD”?

VERSES 4-6 FOLLOW SAYING, “AND IN THAT DAY SHALL YOU SAY, (IS THAT SAYING TO OTHERS AROUND YOU?), PRAISE THE LORD, CALL UPON HIS NAME, DECLARE HIS DOINGS AMONG THE PEOPLE, MAKE MENTION THAT HIS NAME IS EXALTED.SING UNTO THE LORD; FOR HE HAS DONE EXCELLENT THINGS; THIS IS KNOWN IN ALL THE EARTH. CRY OUT AND SHOUT, YOU INHABITANTS OF ZION; FOR GREAT IS THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL THAT IS IN YOUR MIDST.” – CAN YOU SAY,RIGHT NOW: “I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST: FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES.” BUT HOW CAN THEY BELIEVE IF THEY NEVER HEARD, AND IF YOU AS CHRIST’S SERVANT AND ASSIGNED MESSENGER NEVER SHARE THE GOOD NEWS? DO YOU SEE THAT YOU “IN CHRIST” ARE A DEBTOR TO THE LOST WORLD AROUND YOU AND THAT WHAT YOU HOLD AND POSSESS OUT OF GOD’S LOVE, WAS GIVEN FREELY TO YOU TO JOYFULLY SHARE WITH OTHERS? “RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD!BE DONE WITH THE FOOLISH”!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, October 9-10, 2017

In Psalm 19:1 King David sang, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” But is there a “sense of awe” in most men around you about what Almighty God has done and still does in and through His “awesome”, never-ending power, or are most men around you content with themselves in their, yes, pride and arrogance of ‘self-achievement’, many living as if God doesn’t even exist, or if He does, “What does He matter to me”?

The author of Proverbs, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.” Later, in Proverbs 13:18, we read, “Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honored.” There are men, even ‘leaders’ (?) in nations, who see themselves wiser than God Almighty and reject Biblical Truth, and ‘entertain’ denial of God’s fountain of life, and drink from the dirty, clouded waters of fleshly living rather than receiving, yes, His gift of forgiveness, new birth, reconciliation, and a life of ministry in the here and now with eternal intentions through His “Living Water”!

In Proverbs 16:18 we read: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Oh, and then receive Proverbs 19:3! It says, “The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the Lord.” Foolish men! Fretting Hearts! Fleshly spirits! And unbelieving men think they’ve arrived without any need of God?

There’s such an emotional, elevating, energizing word in Joshua 1 with the Lord speaking to Joshua telling him, Joshua 1:2-9, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them – the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 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. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Do you think Joshua 1:2-9 relates to the ‘spirit’ of Ephesians 2:8-10? Paul’s writing says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” AMEN?

“NO PRIDE BUT AWE”? Some say, “Well, whether Joshua or Paul, we’re just ordinary, sin-controlled individuals, strongly influenced by the world around us, at times even enjoying the ‘fruits’ of our self-centered natures! How then can we be ‘religious’ without the best-efforts our flesh nature can get under control?” And, I say, to even try to control what you are without Christ will not make the difference even if you determine to try! Christ Jesus crucified what we all were without Him, in bondage to the sin-nature, strongly influenced by an unbelieving world around us, and, yes, even deceived by Satan himself!

In Romans 6:5-7 the Holy Word is eternally true and clear and relevant as you read about “No Pride But Awe”! It says: “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 no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” WERE YOU CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, or is your religious persuasion to be one who enjoys a little bit of both lives – the old and the new, not freed from sin but able to enjoy it temporarily, the best of the ‘kingdom of the world and its darkness’, AND, the best of the ‘kingdom of Christ as I sense a religious urge’?

Look at Romans 6:1-4 Paul wrote: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism (of the Cross! Not water-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.”

And if that “newness of life” is not Christ’s resurrected presence but your best effort, you’ve bought into a great religious lie that destroys understanding in many about the need to be reconciled to God through Christ! It may be a ‘strange crowd’ to the world around you, but those who deny ‘fleshly pride’ and live IN AWE of God’s love, grace, and mercy don’t live any longer under sin and Satan’s dominion over them but live under, through, and by the marvelous grace and mercy of their loving Lord and Savior!

In John 10:7-11, and Verse 14, the Lord Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep….Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

Have YOU ‘entered’ the Kingdom of God under the sponsorship of Christ alone? Have YOU “rested” IN Christ’s finished work at the Cross AND at the door of the ‘empty tomb’? Have YOU received God’s gift also of the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, mature you from a babe in Christ to a mature son or daughter of the faith? Are YOU led by the Spirit to be Christ’s “witness” to the lost and needy mankind around you day by day in the positive witness of His love and mercy for those you care about? Has the Holy Spirit illumined your mind and heart day by day to, yes, “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”?

Are there true evidences unveiling true disciples of Christ? Oh, I certainly think so! And it goes beyond one’s ‘church membership’! Receive the word of Brother John who wrote in 1 John 3:4-9, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. (That’s ‘present tense, continuous action’!). Whoever sins (present tense continuous action) has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. He who sins (and keeps on sinning!) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever HAS BEEN BORN OF GOD DOES NOT SIN (and keep on sinning!), for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” Praise the Lord!

But, be assured, the call of Christ to avoid sin, AND ‘sin not’, does not mean we will not be tempted by Satan and his evil armies to turn one away from following Christ! In Hebrews 4:14-16 the author of Hebrews wrote: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us THEREFORE come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Very interesting word in 2 Corinthians 6:12 when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, some there compromising the Truth and willfully sinning, “You are not restricted by us (the apostles), but you are restricted by your own affections”, which means some ‘professing Christians’ there in Corinth find it so easy to ‘profess faith’ in Christ as they willfully yielded to the sin nature of their old man! (Of course, we don’t have to be concerned about that today! Right?) Times never change, neither the paths some “professing Christians” choose to walk in or, yes, the paths some ‘pastors’ tell them that their sin is OK since they were baptized and joined the church. Really? (Afraid so!). “No Pride But Awe?”

Is it humanly possible, void of the Holy Spirit’s presence to “guide us into all truth,” that some supposedly ‘in the faith’ today, living in fleshly, spiritual pride in themselves, choose to deny the Holy Word about what Jesus declared about ‘sin’ and what He declared about “true holiness”? In Hebrews 9:12 we read: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but WITH HIS OWN BLOOD He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION.” Notice also Verse 14! “…how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” That, my friend, IS awe!

HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION was that so you could continue ‘bowing to your sin nature’ as you professed faith in Christ, OR was it commitment to His Word, “Go and sin no more?” Hebrews 3:1-6 instructs true believers saying: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, WHOSE HOUSE WE ARE IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

“The rejoicing of hope firm to the end?” In Colossians 1 Paul heightened the awareness of the “true saints” of their spiritual inheritance “in Christ”, saying in Verse 27-28, “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.”

Oh, and in Colossians 2:6-10, Paul, again, was so inspired to see every true believer understanding what it means to be “one with Christ”! He said: “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. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For IN HIM dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.” “NO PRIDE BUT AWE?”

Don’t you find it mind-boggling that Jesus Himself said in John 5:30, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, BECAUSE I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” Does Jesus then say, “So send I YOU”? And whose will do you seek? Your will or the will of your Savior and Lord? “No Pride But AWE?”

Are YOU “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”? Have you been made complete, because of your repentance toward God and faith only In Christ’s finished work through His shed blood at Calvary’s Cross? Are YOU the receiver of the gift of eternal life in Christ? Are you complete in Him lacking nothing? Are you more than conqueror in Christ? Have you passed from spiritual death into the free gift of everlasting life? Is YOUR ‘Christian faith’ YOUR paths of spiritual achievements or “Christ in you the hope of glory”?

Christians are not ‘burden bearers’ like Christ Jesus, but they know before Whom to bow in intercession for others, encouraging Christ to intercede for their friends as He did for them! Christians are not those ‘assuming’ to be something they are not, but are men and women who know, yield to, and surrender to the only “Lord and Savior and Redeemer of the Blood Atonement”!

Christians ARE NOT individuals who live with past-determined creeds by ‘self-introspective scholars’ (?), but men and women who live by the “resurrection Presence, Promises, and Power of the Indwelling Christ”! It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his writing, “Aids to Reflection: Aphorisms”, who wrote: “He who loves Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.” Coleridge also wrote: “Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence.”

Henry Blackaby, in “The Power of the Call,” (p.229), wrote: “The credentials of a spiritual leader (or true disciple) is the presence of God, AT ALL POINTS AUTHENTICATING HIS SERVANT (CHRIST JESUS who said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give My life a ransom for many.”).” Don’t you find it so amazing?

A “zero” becomes a cup of LIFE overflowing with the presence of God! A “zero” becomes a VESSEL in which Holy God pours in blessing after blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive full understanding of all His blessings in and through His Son’s presence in YOU! A “zero” overcome by his emptiness becomes a container full of the joy of the Lord which is his strength. A “zero” void of the love of God becomes the vacuum in which the deep fullness of God’s love flows without measure. A “zero” drunk with the wines excessive in self-importance all of a sudden becomes “filled with the Holy Spirit of God and His fruit. A “zero” empty of faith all of a sudden comes to a “perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

John 1:16 tells us, “and of Christ’s fullness have we all received, and grace for grace.” Question in closing! “Do YOU live in, by, and for the God-anointed SURE AND ALL-SUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION PRESENCE IN YOU?”

CLOTHED IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST?”

July 25-26, 2017

Do you believe, at least, that Pharoah, leader of Egypt in the time of Moses, was a ‘religious man’? I have no doubts! BUT, when Moses and Aaron went in to Pharoah, with a “Thus says the Lord,” in Exodus 5:1, Pharoah responded, in Verse 2, “Who is the Lord, that I should let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” Pharoah’s “sweet waters” of unbelief became “bitter waters” opening up the floodgates of divine judgment and washing Pharoah’s life of unbelief, rejection, and fleshly independence away!

In James 1:26 the brother of Jesus wrote: “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, this one’s religion is useless.” Without a doubt, there are large numbers of men and women who live religiously with the robes of ‘best efforts’ yet know nothing about “clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus”, basically ‘serving’ a useless, ‘best effort faith’ of fallen men!

Is there a biblical truth about “clothed in the robes of true salvation” or are there those who ‘imitate’, choose ‘religious garments’ (?), while “clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus” is to them unknown grounds they don’t prefer to walk on, “Just give us our religious robes, and we’re happy!” But is there such a thing as “clothed with desperation” rather than “clothed in deliverance”? The “strange apparels” of religious pretense do not transform sinful hearts and minds into the residences of Christ Jesus!

In Psalm 109 David talked about his “accusers” who were clothed in shame and opposed him in false judgments and accusations. [Is fallen mankind the same regardless of location or historic time periods? I certainly think so!]. What happened to King David does happen today, yes, even when there are those who wear the “religious robes” of ‘best efforts’ while they seek to assassinate true disciples of Christ Jesus! Psalm 109:17-20 tells us David spoke these words concerning ‘religiously-robed, best effort folks’ he considered false testifiers of religious devotion: “As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it enter his body like water, and like oil in his bones. Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, and for a belt with which he girds himself continually. Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers, and to those who speak evil against my person.”

Holy God, yes, sovereignly provides for His faithful followers His divine covering and unending watchcare, but to the ‘religiously robed, best-effort’ folks, Holy God allows their own cursings, their own adversarial leanings to God’s truth, to become the power and influence as their ‘reward’ – they end up rewarded with their own bitterness, their own indictment of the faithful, exercising for themselves the button releasing God’s judgment! They ‘presume’ in their hearts and minds to know more than God about spiritual matters.

And, Holy God WILL reserve punishment for the day of judgment as the “self-robed crowd” lives on thinking they’ve overcome ‘warped beliefs’ to live religiously independent of eternal truth! In 2 Peter 2:1-11 Peter wrote: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, 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. By covetousness they will EXPLOIT YOU with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) – then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH IN THE LUST OF UNCLEANNESS AND DESPISE AUTHORITY. They are PRESUMPTUOUS, SELF-WILLED. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation before the Lord.”

The thing I want you so aware of is that what we’ve just read is about ‘people’ assuming leadership roles in local churches when their intent is to promote ‘fallen flesh’, not honor King Jesus! They USE ‘great swelling words of emptiness,’ they ‘allure people in the church’ through the lusts of the flesh, they’ll despise faithful preachers who faithfully preach the truth, they’ll walk excusing their worldly ways as they ‘walk according to their sin natures in the lust of uncleanness’, easily recognizable because they “despise authority.”

Their outward character is “show-off-ish”, solidly presumptuous, strongly self-willed, spiritually brute-beasts, and more likely than not strongly opposing what they can’t explain biblically, because they are in the perishing process of their own corruption, their own unrighteousness, and covered inwardly with spots and blemishes they can’t explain, eyes full of adultery, wills unceasingly yielded to the sin nature, covetous, accursed, loving their sinful ways!

Are you aware of empty hearts, empty minds, empty words, as they seek to lure the ‘border-line’ disciple into their world of error? Are you truly aware of those around you, yes, in some church fellowships, who are living in ‘error’, slaves of corruption, in bondage but they don’t even know it, though they are just like ‘sick dogs’ who go back to feast on their vomit? It’s a shame that many in the church are unaware of the “perdition of ungodly men” who too often, in some churches, promote what Satan stands for and approves of!

The beloved John was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write his gospel and his letters, and in 1 John 3:7 he wrote: “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, JUST AS JESUS IS RIGHTEOUS.” If so, in Christ are you walking “righteously” before the Lord? And, in your world of daily living are you releasing the Indwelling Christ or the “best religious devotion a man can muster up”?

“Religious robes of best efforts”? Have you any awareness and awakenings of the “do-gooders”, the “try-your-best-crowd”, the “strong debaters of self-justification in their ‘spiritual assemblies’(?)”, the “church attender who thrives on “self-justification” as he/she tries his/her best”, or the “religious elite”, like in Jesus’day when He confronted the religious ‘elite’ of Pharisaism or Judaism, experts at strict observance of temple practices, never understanding Christ’s desire to BE the Holy Presence within their personal temples, when in John 8 upon their response that they were Abraham’s children, Jesus said, in Verses 39-47, “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 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 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.”

“Religious robes of best efforts” OR “Clothed in the righteousness of Christ”? In 2 Peter 1:1-4 Peter wrote: “To those who have obtained LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH with us BY the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue (manmade glory, manmade 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.”

Walking in God’s presence one becomes a “partaker of His divine nature”! Walking in God’s presence in Christ one escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust! Walking in God’s presence in and through the Indwelling Christ who is our ‘hope of glory’, we ARE BEING TRANSFORMED BY THE HOLY WORD AND HOLY SPIRIT, as the Word and the Spirit always has and always will honor Christ Jesus, the Sovereignly-appointed Savior and Lord of Holy God’s eternal Kingdom!

But are you aware or alerted to the sad fact that one, religiously, can live with inclinations without ever appropriating the promises of God through Christ? Are you aware there can be ‘religious thoughts’ without Spirit-transformation? Has it dawned on you yet that there can be argumentation with God without acceptance by God? Are you aware of “professional theories” without accepting His perfecting Truth? How many have you witnessed in your own spiritual journey who walk with you having a ‘spiritual thirst’ but no desire for the “Living Water”? I heard Senator John McCain speaking after his surgery encouraging U.S. senators to leave “Tribal politics and get back to the U.S. Constitution”, and I said to myself, “When will ‘professional religionists’ get back to Christ, the only hope of the manifestation of the glory of God in our needy world?”

Is this why Peter continued his anointed word in 2 Peter, saying in 2 Peter 3:17-18, “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, BEWARE lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, BEING LED AWAY WITH THE ERROR OF THE WICKED; but grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

In Matthew 13 Christ Jesus had spoken to “great multitudes who were gathered to Him”, explaining “The Parable of the Sower”, and in Verse 10 the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” Verses 11-16 tells us Christ Jesus’ explanation of speaking with parables! Jesus said: “Because it has BEEN GIVEN TO YOU (TRUE DISCIPLES!) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (the crowd out and up for its own religious leanings!) it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have an abundance; (Does your heart overflow with joy for what has so far been revealed, but you long for, hold onto, and press in for more and more unveiling of eternal Truths?); but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.(Are there those who ‘limit’ what they want to know about God’s plan and purpose for their lives, yes, limitations as to how far they are willing to go with Him?).

Therefore, Jesus says, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: (BECAUSE they possess no desire for LIVING TRUTH because of eyes willfully closed and cold, dull hearts to “Amazing Grace” since “grit” fits them better than Christ Jesus and His grace!),

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, SO THAT I (The Living, Merciful God) should heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes (repentant, broken, needy disciples!) for THEY SEE, and your ears FOR THEY HEAR; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Are YOU a ‘hearer who hears but does not obey’ or a hearer who says: “Yes, Lord, what would YOU have me to do?” Are you living as a “professing disciple” who “does the ‘best’ I can”, blocking God’s flow of the River of Life in Christ, or a repentant, trusting, surrendered, yielded life to Christ alone, His Resurrection Life, His Resurrection Hope, and His Resurrection Power? “Christ alone, my hope of glory”!! The path of radical change is the life that rests in the radical life of Christ who embraced the Cross as God’s will for His life! Have you truly chosen “this day” WHOM you will serve?

“I NEVER KNEW YOU!”

SIGNED: “GOD”

In reading the Psalms recently, I read a Scripture that heightened the ‘holy fear of God’ in my heart. It was Psalm 31:1 when David wrote: “In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me NEVER be put to shame or (have my hope in You) disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness!”

In Verse 4 David prayed: “Draw me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me; for You are my strength and my stronghold.”

If David found himself in “the net”, a “net that they have laid secretly for me,” with certainty it was his fleshly enemies, though religious, who wanted to bring the king down!

Are you aware that there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring King Jesus down even today? And there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring you down even this very moment!

Sadly, there are false accusers who desire to bring down anything or anyone whose attitude and aim of life is to give glory to God as they ‘walk out the Faith’ in the midst of a troubled, disturbed, and disbelieving world, yes, even a religious world that consents to anything opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Remember, it was “the scribes and Pharisees” and even religious priests of Jesus’ day who nailed Him to the Cross – and even today there are religious people in church somewhere every Sunday, used by Satan, to falsely accuse you, seeking to defame you, discourage you, discolor the whiteness of your reputation as a true follower of Christ and servant of God, never understanding that their false accusations, mouthed by their own bitterness and anger, exposes to whom they belong – and the defamers aren’t someone owned by Christ Jesus!

Are you aware of the reality of abuse that “the humble and oppressed” face in their journeys? And are you aware that the “wicked condemn, spurn, renounce and divorce themselves” from God Himself? If they accuse God, you then are not a target of His enemies? Please hear me! YOU are a target of Hell itself and Hell’s manifestations through lives NOT FILLED with the Spirit, nature, and character of Christ!

Pumped up, arrogant flesh, is an academy award winner right out of Hell itself, manifested in bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, manifested by false accusations, making ‘darkness’ out of light, feeding others (uneatable pies) out of the rotten fruit of a pumped-up self- importance, and in their hearts and minds their seeds of wickedness sprout in anger, bitterness, and resentment, with festering sores which wilts any true spiritual wisdom and reflection of the character of Christ who even on the Cross said, “Father, forgive them.”

When Christ Jesus went to the Cross, He took us all with Him, putting to death the “old man”, the “man of sin,” the “man of a vile nature and character,” the “man of bitterness and resentments and unforgiveness”, yes, crucified with Christ. But if that’s true, and it definitely is, how does a ‘professing believer’ still act like the devil himself?

If a man chooses unforgiveness, what does he receive? If a man chooses bitterness, what is his fruit? If a man is dominated by anger and resentment, what will he receive from God as he stands before the Throne in his moment, day, and time there?

I want you to read carefully James 3:6-16 before we continue on! This is vital, yes, relating to your eternal existence! And I’m using here, and elsewhere in this message, the Amplified Bible!

“And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth – the cycle of man’s nature – being ignited itself by hell [Gehenna].

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature).

But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is (an undisciplined, irreconcilable) restless evil, full of death-bringing poison.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!

Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.

Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.

Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the (unobtrusive) humility [which is the proper attire] of true wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.

This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demonical),

For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition) there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.”

And unless one receives the Truth, acknowledges his selfish guilt and envy, responds repentantly before Holy God of his rivalry spirit and selfish ambition, defies the Truth and is false TO the Truth and won’t repent, then he is bound by an earthly, fleshly, demonic spirit, and while calling out to Jesus will bust Hell’s doors wide open, enslaved to those devilish demons and the spirits of men overcome by anger, hatred, and fleshly bitterness, not even knowing the fruit of the Spirit they profess to possess!

The Amplified Bible, in Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord; be assured – I pledge it – he will not go unpunished.”

GOD SAYS: “I never knew you!” Let’s examine choices men make that shuts God out and away from them:

FIRST, ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FALSE GODS MEN CREATE TO BOW BEFORE PROFESSING ALLEGIANCE TO THEM BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE RELIGIOUS ON THEIR OWN TERMS!

In Amos 8:13-14 we read: [“The Message” Bible by Eugene H. Patterson, Nav Press, Colorado Springs, co. 80935], “On Judgment Day, lovely young girls will faint of WORD-THIRST, robust young men will faint of GOD-THIRST,

Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center, saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’ and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-Sheba bless you!’ Their lives will fall to pieces, they’ll never put it together again.”

Idol worshippers! Allegiance to man-made idols, whether religious, fleshly, sinful, or demonic. Literal idols that men bow before all over the world and never hear a word, never sense a touch, never receive an anointing, never entertain angels but have the full support of demonic powers.

In Acts 19: 23-28 we hear from the “loud mouths and lost minds” of those getting rich off making idols! Listen to their explanation:

But as time went on there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way [of the Lord Jesus].

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of (the goddess) Artemis (not Diana), brought no small income to his craftsmen.

These he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, Men, you are acquainted with the facts and understand that [Are YOU ready?] from this business we derive our wealth and livelihood.

Now you notice and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over [the province of] Asia this Paul has persuaded and induced people to believe his teaching and has alienated a considerable company of them, saying that gods that are made with human hands are not really gods at all.

Now there is danger not merely that this trade of ours may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemas may come into disrepute and count for nothing, and that her glorious magnificence may be degraded and fall into contempt, she whom all Asia and the wide world worship.

As they listened to this they were filled with rage, and they continued to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Oh, but hear me: Idolatry is more than the worship of man-made, devil-inspired stones to worship before and bow down to! In 1 Corinthians 10:14 Paul pled with the Corinthian church and our church-world today, saying, [Amplified]

“Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun – keep away from, avoid by flight if need be – any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything more than God).”

Did you hear that with your spiritual eyes and ears? “Keep away from – avoid – any sort of idolatry”! In “The Art of Worldly Wisdom, XXVI”, Baltasar Gracian Y Morales wrote: “All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.”

Oh, but then you read 1 Samuel 15:23 and the Word tells us: [Amplified Bible]“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”

It was Martin Luther in “Table Talk” who said: “We easily fall into idolatry, for we are inclined thereunto by nature, and coming to us by inheritance, it seems pleasant.”

The Amplified Bible in Colossians 3:5-6 translates Paul’s words as follows: “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members – those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin; sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, FOR THAT IS IDOLATRY [the deifying of self and other things instead of God…]

It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will) the sons of disobedience.”

Did you receive that ? A son, a daughter of disobedience is the same as an idol! An idolater is one obstinately opposed to the divine will (the sons of disobedience)!

And Paul gives us all a warning in 2 Corinthians 6:16 when he said: “What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them [that’s the church!] and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Paul was concerned about God’s people choosing to worship idols? Is it any different today than it was in Paul’s day?

SECOND, HOW GUILTY DO YOU BELIEVE GOVERNMENTS ARE WHEN MEN SUBVERT THE RULE OF GOD IN GOVERNMENT AND ENTHRONE THEMSELVES, YES, TO RUTHLESSLY AND SELFISHLY AND DECEPTIVELY RULE OVER THE PEOPLE?

Psalm 67 is one of the most informative passages about God’s rule in government you’ll not find in most national governments’ constitutions. It says: [Amplified Bible]

“God be merciful and gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us and among us, SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]! That Your way may be known upon earth, Your saving power [Your deliverances and Your salvation], among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples fairly, and guide, lead or drive the nations upon earth. SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. The earth has yielded its harvest [in evidence of God’s approval]; God, even our own God will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall reverently fear Him.”

And, if you happened not to hear it in your heart or overlooked or just didn’t understand it, let me highlight it for you! Judgment comes upon the nations! People who are truly praising the Lord are turning away from their idols! Holy God WILL guide, lead, or drive the nations upon the earth!

Question: Are there godless governments in churches or are some churches infiltrated by godless people intent on shaping ‘our church’ to ‘our way of thinking’?

1 Peter 4:17-18 tells us, “For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and the wicked?”

Proverbs 11:30-31 is both encouraging and frightening! It says: “The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives for God [as a fisher of men] – he gathers and receives them for eternity. Behold, the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be recompensed on earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner! [And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and wicked?”]

Have you followed through with studying 2 Peter? If you did, you had ‘Hell’ scared right out of you if you lingered because Peter was inspired by Holy God to write 2 Peter 2:1-10! It says,

“But []in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines – destructive heresies – even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed. And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with (cunning) false arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.

For God [even] spared not angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom. And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world on ungodly [people].

And He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes []and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly. [Genesis 19:24].

And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless. [Genesis 19:16,29]. For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard on [their] unlawful and wicked deeds.

NOW if [all these things be true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom; And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion, and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous and daring – self-willed and self-loving [creatures]! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling.”

But can I tell you? There’s coming a day when the ungodly will want to shake themselves out of this world that belongs to Holy God, unaware they’ve shaken themselves into Hell itself!

THIRD, AND LAST, ARE YOU AWARE OF WHERE ‘FLESHLY’ PRETENSE LEADS THE ACTUAL ‘SELF-PROMOTERS’? ARE YOU READY TO BE CONFRONTED BY HOLY TRUTH? In Matthew 7:15-29 we read, [bear with me!], 14 Verses!

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. [Have you ever encountered them?].

You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit – worthy of admiration; but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad and worthless fruit.

A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit; nor can a bad diseased tree bear excellent fruit – worthy of admiration. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore you will fully know them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to Me [that’s Jesus!], Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many mighty works in Your name?

And then I will say to them openly (publicly) I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands [Psalm 6:8]. So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them – obeying them – will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock;

And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand; And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great and complete was the fall of it.

When Jesus had finished these sayings [the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching. For He was teaching as [One] who had [and was] authority, and not as did the scribes.”

I’ve pastored in Florida, Alabama, Arizona, and Texas. And that was over a period of about 50 years. So the true story I’m about to share, you’ll not know where this story occurred, true, sad, and so convicting.

A man I know had a personal friend who was running for public office – and for certain this man was sure, confident, and at peace in giving his close friend full support.

But the man had a neighbor a few blocks away who had decided to run for the same office, and so he went to the neighbor, asking for his support.

The central man of the story told the neighbor, “I wish I could, but one of my long-time best friends is running, and I’ve committed my support to him.” The neighbor was incensed and marked the central man voting for his friend as the neighbor’s number one enemy. He became so embittered, and from that day forward lived with a grudge, a resentment, a tactic of nothing good to say about the man who voted for his friend rather than this neighbor.

Dare I tell you the embittered neighbor is an active church-goer? He professes Christ Jesus but lives in a state of unforgiveness and bitterness!

What did Jesus say in Matthew 7:23? “Ant then I will say to them openly (publicly) I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands.”

Receive our Lord’s words in Mark 11:25-26! “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, FORGIVE HIM AND LET IT DROP – leave it, let it go – in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop.” But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

I was 37-38 years of age, I believe, when I knew I had serious business to take care of if I wanted God’s blessing on my life, my wife, my children. I was the product of a broken home. At three years of age my parents divorced, and I was taken by my mother to the home of her parents who cared for me for about 9-10 years. Then my mother remarried, and I was taken to live with her and her new husband.

In all my years of life my father was never in my home with me, Sue, and his grandkids. One time, my senior year in high school, playing against Knoxville Central High School in Knoxville, I tackled their single-wing tailback, 230 pounds he weighed, hitting him at his knee level, knocked unconscious in the early second quarter, transferred to the Catholic Hospital in Knoxville, parents and family unsure that I might live through the night.

When I awoke at 4:30 in the morning, all of my family was standing at the door of my hospital room, including my Dad and his second wife. I lived – and I played the next Friday night against Notre Dame High of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Beyond that, if I desired to see my Dad, which I did, I would ride a bus from Cleveland, Tennessee, to his office in Athens, Tennessee, where I was born. He never ever came to my home. At the 37-38 years stage of life, wanting God’s full and fresh blessing, God said, “Go, and forgive your mother and father now!” Which I did! And as a result, received “the peace of God that passes all understanding.”

It’s time – forgive, free yourself, and walk in His fullness and eternal blessing! Examine Ephesians 1:7-12, [NKJV Edition, Holman Bible Edition], “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, 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 who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”

Question! Are YOU living to the praise of His glory and honor? Do YOU walk in forgiveness to those who wounded YOU? Is your song “Mercy and Grace” or is it the song of unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, even with flashes of hatred? In 2 Corinthians 7:10 we read, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

In your journey through life, what is truly your spiritual desire? A disease or the fruit of the blessing of the Indwelling Christ who forgives by His shed blood? A man who walks in the spirit of unforgiveness WILL NOT KNOW our Lord’s blessing apart from exchanging their bitterness for His forgiveness, even seeking sincere relationships not closed doors, because we were reconciled to Christ through His Cross, and true reconciliation is not only with Christ but a true relationship with those who ‘hurt, offended, or slighted us’!

If you’ve “entered the Kingdom of God”, why not act like it? 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Have YOU entered the Kingdom of God? Are you living and demonstrating and validating the Truth of His Indwelling Life?

It was Gladden and Smith who wrote the old Hymn, “O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee.” It says: “O Master, let me walk with Thee, In lowly paths of service free; Tell me Your secret, help me bear The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Help me the slow of heart to move By some clear, winning word of love; Teach me the wayward feet to stay, And guide them in the homeward way.

Teach me Your patience! Still with You In closer, dearer company, In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs over wrong. In hope that sends a shining ray Far down the future’s broadening way, In peace that only You can give, With You, O Master, let me live.” Does He “know YOU” or not?

CHAPTER TWO

VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED

Are you aware of a ‘religious faith’ birthed in one’s mind on the basis of one’s distinct, self-actualizing moral efforts, or the ‘True Faith’ birthed, built, based and blessed on God’s initiative, inspiration, and divine insight?

Is there a religious spirit apart from the Holy Spirit that invents requirements apart from God’s revelation, unveiling, promise, and verification of divine life only through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have you ever witnessed a mass religiosity so opposite to ‘repentance toward God and true faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross’? “Vital Awareness Unveiled”?

Religious convictions or Divine Truth? Devotion to a church’s constitution or devotion to Christ’s Resurrected, Reigning Indwelling Life? Devotion to what an ‘intellectual’ professor says or devotion to who Christ Jesus is? Devotion to a world’s united, unbiblical teachings that there is more than one way to God, including every religion manufactured by men’s deceived hearts, or holy revelation of the vital awareness unveiled of God’s only “one way”? Is it man’s ‘religious foundation’ offered by ‘the best’ in intellectual superiority or God’s best and blessed in the awesome Truth of who Christ Jesus is and what He did on Calvary’s Cross over 2000 years ago, and, in fact, birthed in the heart of Holy God before our world was ever created?!?

Is vital awareness unveiled by the ‘Apostates’ Creed’ or the “Apostles’ Revelation” unveiled by the sold-out disciples who all died for the Eternal Truth? [And maybe even a bigger question today: “Are you a true disciple ready to die for the only Way of true salvation – the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and soon-coming of Christ Jesus?”] Is it vital unawareness unveiled by social experiments rather than the true declaration of the Holy Word concerning Christ, or the vital awareness unveiled by the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross?

An ‘Apostates’ Creed’ is all in for self-awareness, self-individuality, self-honoring, while the “Apostles’ Creed” is the affirming, relying upon, declaration, and submission to Christ’s Lordship and His “victory” in and through His sacrificial death on the Cross, releasing men from the penalty of their sin and their surrender to His “Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope”!

In fact, in Matthew 16:24-26, Jesus declared, “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, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” That’s the true words of the Lord Jesus!

Do you realize that one substituting his individuality in seeking to be reconciled to Holy God is “banking” on God believing our self-efforts are eternally rewarding, and God should be thankful to have us on His side? But, God says, Matthew 16:24, “If ANYONE desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

I was awe-struck when I read Dietrich Bonhoffer’s statement: [Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxes, p.138], “The church has only one altar, the altar of the Almighty…before which all creatures must kneel. Whoever seeks something other than this must keep away; he cannot join us in the house of God…The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other will than the will of God, however well-intentioned.”

What was true in the very day of Christ Jesus is true even today! In John 6:66-68 we read, 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 eternal life.” And there are those who “do go away”, captured in mind and spirit, because, for them, “the way of the Cross” does not lead home to safety, convenience, or acceptance by a sadly, Godless world, enslaving themselves to their religious bondage so opposite to the true freedom in Christ Jesus!

The sad truth of a ‘fallen world’, so expressive of ‘fallen man’, alienated and separated from Holy God, is that “the blood of Jesus Christ” shed on the Cross was totally unnecessary because their ‘sin’ and ‘sin nature’ was not that serious that a wise, understanding, sympathetic God, should, would, could, and did shed the literal blood of His own ‘assumed’ Son. The lost, alienated, unbelieving world says, “The ‘fleshly god’ of one’s own natural life is enough to deliver himself, even if one hears of a “greater salvation”, because there is nothing better in man than his own self-deification, self-strength, and self-ability to overcome any minor or major spiritual short-coming – who needs Jesus?” You’ve heard it!

But a greater, sadder truth? Just like the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day who rejected Him and crucified Him, those in this modern day who do the same thing, Jesus says, John 7:33-34, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” Are you a believer or an unbeliever, a receiver or a rejecter, an independent, foolish man or truly a wise man of redemptive, life-changing faith?

“Vital Awareness Unveiled?” Hear the words of Jesus Christ in John 14:6! “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

FIRST, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS CHRIST JESUS, THE ONLY WAY FALLEN MEN ARE RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD! What did Jesus Himself say? “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And, if Christ Jesus declares, “I AM THE WAY,” then what is taking place in the minds and hearts of unbelievers? It’s total, complete, destructive deception, breeding ‘death’ for one’s eternal reward!

In Psalm 36:1-4, David wrote about the wickedness of a sinful man! “An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE HIS EYES. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself IN A WAY THAT IS NOT GOOD; he does not abhor evil.”

And that takes place, without shame, before the Lord’s mercy, in spite of God’s faithfulness in working out his redemption, and his bed, at nighttime, is where he thinks out his wickedness, and ends up doing what? “He sets himself in a way that is not good!” No doubt this is why the author of Proverbs was inspired to write in Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, BUT he who heeds counsel is wise.” And those who are spiritually unwise, in Proverbs 13:15, God declares, “the way of the unfaithful is hard.” Just a chapter later, in Proverbs 14:12, Yes, Holy God declares through His servant, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Oh, but then in Psalms 18:28-30 King David was so inspired to write, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord will enlighten [illumine] my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Isn’t there an old hymn that says, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way?” In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes TO the Father except through Me.” Wasn’t it Josh MacDowell who once said “Jesus? Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

Aren’t you awed by God’s holy choices to serve Him in proclaiming Christ? Are you aware that Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of Christ Jesus, persecuting Him, imprisoning Him, and ready to slaughter Him, but Holy God had a different plan that even included God washing Saul of Tarsus in the blood of the Lamb and raised Paul the Apostle up to be one of His greatest witnesses!

In 1 Corinthians 15:9-20, [patience, please! Eleven verses! But eternal truth!], Paul wrote, “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. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Let me highlight an extremely valuable word for you in the tenth verse! “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…!” That’s “bestowed grace – blessed victory!” Jesus raised you and me up out of spiritual death, instilled His Resurrection Life, planted our feet on the “Solid Rock,” and showed us “His Way”!

Do you remember the man meeting Rebekah as she drew water in Genesis 24:27, saying to her, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me…!” And “Christ Jesus, the only way fallen mankind is reconciled to Holy God? Yes! Ten thousand times, Yes! Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY!”

Are you aware of what King David said in Psalm 18:32? “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.” Follow in the Word! Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life!”

You are aware of a man’s choice of the ‘highway’ on which he chooses to walk. In Isaiah 35:8 we read, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness,” with Verse 9 saying, “…the redeemed shall walk there,” as they ‘return to God,’ ‘coming with singing,’ and overflowing with “everlasting joy and gladness on their heads”!

Isaiah 59:8 speaks of “the way of peace” that most Israelites did not know, sadly! Are you aware of “the way to Zion”? Jeremiah 50:5, the Word of the Lord! It relates to the nation of Israel that lost its ‘way’ to God! But the holy prophet challenged them [and, yes, even the ‘church’ in America today!], “They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Sadly, only a remnant then and a remnant now seeks the way of Zion, which is, by the way, the Way of His abiding presence!

I know it may not sit well with ‘broad-minded’ preachers, but according to Jesus Himself, He said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Are you aware of ‘the way of God in truth’? [Matthew 22:16]. Do you know “the way of escape”? [1 Corinthians 10:13]. How many do you know and relate to who walk “the more excellent way”? [1 Corinthians 10:31]. What about “the new and living way”? [Hebrews 10:20]. Oh, I tell you, “All the WAY our Lord desires to lead us!”

SECOND, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS ETERNAL TRUTH THAT IS ONLY, YES, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF “CHRIST IN YOU” – ALL ELSE? HUMAN DECEPTION! What was it Paul said in Galatians 4:19? “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”

Do you receive what Paul wrote in Colossians 1:26 about “the mystery” that “has been revealed to His saints”? Then, Verses 27-28, reveals to us the absolute essential of “Vital Awareness Unveiled”! “To them God willed to make known 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.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory”? Vital awareness unveiled – in YOU? Aren’t you absolutely raised with joy and thanksgiving when you read 2 Corinthians 5:21? “For He [God Almighty, Lord over all!] made Him [Christ Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become [through Jesus only!] the righteousness of God in Him.”

I’m also awed when I read Hebrews 10:14 where Holy God inspired the author to share these words: “For by one offering He [God] has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” And the word ‘sanctified’ means “set apart”, yes, for His glory and honor and praise alone! By the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross, and that alone, one is reconciled to Holy God, indwelt with King Jesus, infilled with the Holy Spirit, and declared God’s finished work in us through His Son and our Savior and Lord!

We have nothing in and of ourselves to boast, but we can boast on the Christ in us who has set us apart unto Himself, and we glory in the Lord Jesus Christ! No ‘flesh’ glories in Christ’s resurrected presence, but the true born-again disciple of Christ glories in His Indwelling Presence! 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 tells us, “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.’” Are YOU glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ in your day by day journey?

THIRD, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS, NOT DEATH AND ITS WORTHLESS FRUIT, BUT ABUNDANT, EVERLASTING, ETERNAL LIFE, AND ITS ETERNAL, FRESH, NEVER-WILTING FRUIT OF CHRIST AND HIS SPIRIT! Did Jesus tell us in Matthew 12:33 that “a tree is known by its fruit”- understanding that there is no fruit of the flesh that honors Holy God, but only the fruit of the Spirit of God!

How familiar are you with Galatians 5:22-25? It says: “But the fruit [the fruit of God’s 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.”

The best of human flesh, regardless of its realms of performance, cannot, will not honor Holy God! The best efforts of human flesh never attain to even a small glimpse of the nature and character of Christ! God didn’t call us out for grand performances to look like Jesus, but He called us out to “rest” in Him! In Philippians 2:12-13 we read, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

And your ‘working out’ your own salvation, and that with fear and trembling’? It is turning to Holy God – it is not you ‘perfecting your ways’ – they were crucified with Christ when He died on the Cross two thousand years ago – God’s interest in you is your availability to Him and all He can do through you!

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 Paul testified for our understanding: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 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.”

It was Oswald Chambers who wrote the following in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” He said: [p.252], “When once you are rooted in Reality [that’s Divine Reality, Divine Presence in you!], 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. When once you get into contact, personal contact, with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God puts His disapproval on human experience when we begin to adhere to the conception that sanctification is merely an experience, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified. I have deliberately to give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.”

J.W. Van DeVenter and W.S. Weeden wrote the old hymn, “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 Yours; Let me feels the Holy Spirit, – Truly know that You are mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to You; Fill me with Your love and power, Let Your blessing fall on me.”

Can YOU surrender ALL to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, owned by His purchase of YOU through His shed blood? He’s calling YOU right now!