BY:J. FARRELL FISHER, RE-PRINTED, MAY 24-25,2019

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT SAYING ONE THING BUT DOING ANOTHER? IS THAT THE DEMONSTRATION OF DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE? IS THAT THE PICTURE VIVIDLY BEING PAINTED ON ONE’S LIFE-CANVAS OF ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN & THE OTHER FOOT TOUCHING THE OUTER LIMITS OF HELL ITSELF,IGNORING WHY I’M HERE ON EARTH FROM GOD’S POINT OF VIEW OR ETERNAL PURPOSE?

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT “YES, SIR”, TO THE GENERAL OR “DO AS I PLEASE” TO THE CORP? IS THAT PUBLIC DEDICATION TO BE HONORABLE & GODLY TO THE VOWS YOU MAKE TO YOUR WIFE TO BE & THEN FEEL YOU’RE AT LIBERTY TO PLAY THE FIELD OF AVAILABLE WOMEN? CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT A VOW OF DEDICATION TO BE HONEST IN YOUR SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY EXAMS BUT YOU DETERMINE FOR YOURSELF THE ‘BEST WAY’ TO CHEAT ON YOUR EXAMS?

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IS THAT A PRESIDENT’S PUBLIC OATH TO DEFEND, UPHOLD HIS NATION’S CONSTITUTION BUT DAILY, VERBALLY, & IN ‘FLESHLY DEEDS’, HE SHREDS EVERY PAGE HE CAN?CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’VE HEARD IT: “YES, I BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS DIVINELY INSPIRED, GOD-BREATHED, THE HOLY WORD, BUT I ALSO BELIEVE MY DEVOTION TO IT IS AN OPTION I HOLD FOR MYSELF!”

CONFLICTNG LOYALTY?HAVE YOU EVER WITNESSED AN ELECTED NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR TALK ABOUT HIS/HER FIRM BELIEF IN LIBERTY & FREEDOM BUT CONTINUALLY VOTES FOR POLICIES THAT ENSLAVE, ENDANGER HIS CONSTITUTUENTS? “OH,YES! ONE MAN-ONE WOMAN FOR LIFE,” BUT THEN VOICES SUPPORT OF MEN WITH MEN & WOMEN WITH WOMEN IN GROSS VIOLATION OF GOD’S WORD – & THE SAD THING IS PUBLIC SUPPORT OF IMMORALITY INCREASES! CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I’M A DEVOTED KIND OF GUY –GOD CAN COUNT ON ME,” BUT STUMBLES, FALLS, REBELS ON THE FIRST LAP WITH NO INTENTION OF GETTING UP, RUNNING GOD’S RACE!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’VE SEEN HIM/HER SO CONSUMED BY WORLDLY AMBITION & ‘FLESH-INDULGENCE’ THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS SQUEEZED OUT BY AN UNDAUNTED INTENT OF “MAKING A NAME FOR MYSELF,” & GLORIFYING THE LORD JESUS TAKES A BACK SEAT! HAVE YOU HEARD IT? “THE HIGH COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS? I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS A FREE RIDE, BUT I’LL CONTINUE DOING WHAT I FEEL AT EASE TO DO,WHATEVER IT IS THAT PLEASES ME!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? MANY PROFESSING DISCIPLES BECOME TOTALLY DISILLUSIONED, DISAPPOINTED, & EVEN DESPAIRING BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THEY WERE CALLED TO GIVE THEIR BEST – THEY DO, THEN GET A FAILING GRADE BECAUSE DISCIPLESHIP HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR BEST BUT CHRIST’S BEST! DENYING ‘SELF’ FOR SOME IS ASKING WAY TOO MUCH!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I WILL UPHOLD MY DEVOTION TO CHRIST & BE A STAUNCH WARRIOR DEFENDING THE FAITH,” BUT AFTER SEVERAL SKIRMISHES, PEER PRESSURE, OR PROCRASTINATION, IT TAKES A DAMAGING TOLL! DO YOU REMEMBER THE SON BORNED BLIND & HEALED BY JESUS? THE PHARISEES CAME TO HIS PARENTS: “WE DON’T KNOW HOW HE WAS HEALED – ASK HIM – HE’S OF AGE TO ANSWER FOR HIMSELF!” AND JOHN 9:22 SAYS, “HIS PARENTS SAID THESE THINGS BECAUSE THEY FEARED THE JEWS…”. THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE PUT OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE! HEAR ME! SYNAGOGUE PRESENCE WITHOUT CHRIST IS A CONTINUING ‘DEATH SENTENCE”! CONFLICTING LOYALTY? YOU’LL REMEMBER WHAT JESUS SAID WHEN YOU HEAR THIS: “WHOSOEVER DOES NOT BEAR HIS CROSS & COME AFTER ME, CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.” THERE ARE THOSE “WHO WANT TO” BUT THE PRICE SEEMS EXTEMELY STEEP! SPURGEON ONCE SAID, “A LIFE IN WHICH WE HAVE SHUNNED THE CROSS OF CHRIST WILL LEAD TO A STATE IN WHICH WE SHALL MISS THE CROWN OF GLORY.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IN RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MAN TO MAN, SOMETIMES COMPROMISE HAS BENEFITS, BUT TO SEEK TO “COMPROMISE” GOD’S REVEALED TRUTH BREEDS DISASTER! TO COMPROMISE OUR LORD’S COMMANDS IS TO ACKNOWLEDGE DISOBEDIENCE & TO STAND UNDER GOD’S JUDGENT! TO COMPROMISE IS TO DECAY OBEDIENCE & TO BRING ON A DETERIORATION OF MORALS. TO COMPROMISE IS TO VACATE PRIVILEGE. TO COMPROMISE IS TO WILLINGLY SLICE OFF THOSE PARTS OF “UNPLEASANT TRUTHS” THAT YOU SENSE “DON’T FIT MY PERSONALITY OR MAKE-UP OF WHOM I KNOW I AM”!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? SPURGEON, IN HIS “SPURGEON’S SERMONS, “ [MEMORIAL LIBRARY, VOL.19,P.359],HAS A MESSAGE ENTITLED “NO COMPROMISE.” HE SAID: “THE NEW PLAN IS TO ASSIMILATE THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD, & SO INCLUDE A LARGER AREA WITHIN ITS BOUNDS. BY SEMI-DRAMATIC PERFORMANCES THEY MAKE HOUSES OF PRAYER TO APPROXIMATE THE THEATRE; THEY TURN THEIR SERVICES INTO MUSICAL DISPLAYS, & THEIR SERMONS INTO POLITICAL HARANGUES OR PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS – IN FACT, THEY EXCHANGE THE TEMPLE FOR THE THEATRE, & TURN THE MINISTERS OF GOD INTO ACTORS, WHOSE BUSINESS IT IS TO AMUSE MEN. IS IT NOT SO, THAT THE LORD’S DAY IS BECOMING MORE & MORE A DAY OF RECREATION OR OF IDLENESS, & THE LORD’S HOUSE EITHER A JOSS-HOUSE FULL OF IDOLS, OR A POLITICAL CLUB, WHERE THERE IS MORE ENTHUSIASM FOR A PARTY THAN ZEAL FOR GOD.” LORD, HELP US!!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CROSSED YOUR PATHS “IN CHURCH” WHO ARE MORE AT EASE WITH CHURCH AS A COMBAT ZONE THAN A CELEBRATION OF JESUS? DIVISIVENESS IS THEIR STRONG “SUIT”, OPPOSITION THEIR TRUE BONNET THEY WEAR REGULARLY, COMMITMENT TO THEIR WAY FIGHTING THE PASTOR & GOD’S TRUE PEOPLE TO DEATH IN ONE BITTER STRUGGLE AFTER ANOTHER! PROVERBS 21:2 SAYS, “ALL A MAN’S WAYS SEEM RIGHT TO HIM, BUT THE LORD WEIGHS THE HEART!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? OH, THEY PLAY THE ‘RELIGIOUS GAME’ AS “ONE COOL DUDE”, CALLOUSED TO THE CORE, WITH WILLINGLY CLOSED EYES TO ANYTHING BUT THEIR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY! PROVERBS 23:7 SAYS, “FOR AS A MAN THINKS IN HIS HEART, SO IS HE…”! YOU’VE WITNESSED IT: INTELLECTUAL ATTAINMENTS IN ONE’S MIND OF THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE, GOD’S HOLY WORD, OFTEN BECOMING NOTHING MORE THAN CRIPPLING BELIEFS FORMED IN A DIVIDED MIND THEY DEEM SPIRITUALLY ACCEPTABLE! “THUS SAYS THE LORD” IS TRANSLATED, “AS I SEE IT…!”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? EFFORT APART FROM TRANSFORMATION BY REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH (FULL SURRENDER) TO THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS CREATES DESPAIR, NOT DELIVERANCE, HEALING, & SALVATION! A CHANGE IN OUTWARD BEHAVIOR IS NOT THE SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART! ROMANS 2:28-29 TELLS US: “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; & CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT & NOT IN THE LETTER; WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN, BUT OF GOD.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? REACHING UP, REACHING HIGH, IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING RAISED FROM THE DEAD BY GOD’S POWER! EXAMINE 1 CORINTHIANS 15:14&17! VERSE 14, “AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RISEN, THEN IS OUR PREACHING VAIN, & YOUR FAITH IS ALSO VAIN.” VERSE 17 SAYS: “AND IF CHRIST BE NOT RAISED, YOUR FAITH IS VAIN, YOU ARE YET IN YOUR SINS.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? SINFUL NATURES ARE NOT CLOAKED WITH RELIGIOUS GARMENTS, RELIGIOUS CONVERSATIONS, OR RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES, BUT “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, INDWELT BY “HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE”, DRESSES US IN ETERNAL RIGHTEOUSNESS!! GALATIANS 2:20 SAYS, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST:NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; & THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “I’M A MAN SO DEVOTED TO THE COSTLY BRICKS & MORTARS, THE LIGHTS & STAINED GLASS, OF OUR BEAUTIFUL CHURCH,” FAILING TO UNDERSTAND HIS BODY IS GOD’S HOLY TEMPLE BECAUSE OF HIS GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE! 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 SAYS, “WHAT, KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH IS IN YOU, WHICH TEMPLE YOU HAVE OF GOD, & YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN?” 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 SAYS, “KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOU (“IN CHRIST!”) ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, & THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU?” SOME SAY, “DISCIPLINE & SELF-DETERMINATION ARE THE MARKS OF AN AWARD-WINNING FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.” NO! THE MARK OF A TRUE DISCIPLE IS ONE “SET APART BY GOD HIMSELF, CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON HIS CROSS, RAISED UP IN JESUS, AS A “NEW CREATION”, WITH ONE’S BODY THE HOLY TEMPLE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED, GLORIFIED, REIGNING PRESENCE!!!

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “FIG LEAVES,” FASHIONABLE SOPHISTICATION, PROPER OUTWARD ATTIRE, EDUCATED COMMON SENSE, ALL BAND-AIDS RATHER THAN HEART TRANSPLANTS, A MANLY TINKERING WITH MY SELF ON MY TERMS ALI’S STYLE: “SUPERMAN DON’T NEED NO SEAT-BELT”! REALLY? LOOK AT MATTHEW 13:15, “FOR THIS PEOPLE’S HEART IS WAXED GROSS, & THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING, & THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED; LEST AT ANY TIME THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, & HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, & UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS, & SHOULD BE CONVERTED, & I SHOULD HEAL THEM.” EYES FOCUSED INWARD ARE ONE’S RELIGIOUS ABILITY KEEPING THE MIND & HEART’S DOOR CLOSED TO GOD’S AMAZING GRACE & LOVE & POWER TO RESURRECT FROM THE DEAD EVERY REPENTANT, TRUSTING SOUL!!

I LOVE WHAT JOHN ELDRIDGE SAID IN HIS BOOK, “WAKING THE DEAD,” (P.161) – SO ON TARGET! “RELIGION & ITS DEFENDERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE MOST INSIDIOUS ENEMY OF THE TRUE FAITH PRECISLY BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GLARING OPPONENTS; THEY ARE “IMPOSTERS”! ‘INSIDIDIOUS’? NOAH WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY DEFINES “INSIDIOUS” AS: “LYING IN WAIT; WATCHING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENSNARE OR ENTRAP; DECEITFUL, TREACHEROUS…”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IT’S NOT ‘FATE’, BUT FAITH, FELLOWSHIP, FOLLOWSHIP, FREEDOM…& A FIGHT, THE “GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH”! PERSONAL FATE IS OUT TO STEAL GOD’S GLORY! ANARCHY BECOMES A SUBSTITUTION FOR THE BLOOD ATONEMENT OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS! IT WAS T.S.ELIOT WHO SORROWFULLY LAMENTED: “ENDLESS INVENTION, ENDLESS EXPERIMENT, BRINGS KNOWLEDGE OF MOTION, BUT NOT OF STILLNESS; KNOWLEDGE OF SPEECH, BUT NOT OF SILENCE; KNOWLEDGE OF WORDS, & IGNORANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD. WHERE IS THE “LIFE” WE HAVE LOST IN LIVING, (TRYING OUR RELIGIOUS BEST), WHERE IS THE WISDOM WE HAVE LOST IN KNOWLEDGE?” (ELIOT’S WORDS ARE OUT OF HIS WRITING ENTITLED “CHORUSES FROM THE ROCK.”). CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “TEMPTATION IS NOT A TRAP – IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY OF DISCERNING WHAT I REALLY WANT OR NOT.” OH, REALLY?

JAMES 1:13-15 SAYS, “LET NO MAN SAY WHEN HE IS TEMPTED, ‘I AM TEMPTED OF GOD’; FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED WITH EVIL, NEITHER TEMPTS HE ANY MAN: BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, & ENTICED. THEN WHEN LUST HAS CONCEIVED IT BRINGS FORTH SIN, & SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGS FORTH DEATH.” CONFLICTING LOYALTY? “PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE! THIS ‘JOB’ IS SO DEMANDING – I’M GOING TO HAVE TO ‘CUT CORNERS’ SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW, EVEN IF IT’S WRONG!” HUDSON TAYLOR HAD DIFFICULT TRIALS HE HAD TO FACE UP TO-SO HE WROTE OF THAT HARD MOMENT, “IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GREAT THE PRESSURE IS. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS “WHERE THE PRESSURE LIES – WHETHER IT COMES BETWEEN YOU & GOD OR WHETHER IT PRESSES YOU NEARER HIS HEART.” NEVER LET PRESSURE TO CAUSE YOU TO PASS BY JESUS HIMSELF “TRYING YOUR BEST”!

CONFLICING LOYALTY? THAT’S WHEN COURAGE IS CALLED FOR BUT ONE ALLOWS COWARDICE TO CALL THE SHOTS! NO DOUBT THIS IS WHY THE FAMOUS ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN WROTE IN “EAST & WEST”, [NEW YORK, HARPER & ROW, 1980,P.45], “MUST ONE POINT OUT THAT FROM ANCIENT TIMES A DECLINE IN COURAGE HAS BEEN CONSIDERED THE BEGINNING OF THE END.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IT WAS MARTIN LUTHER WHO SAID: “THE ULTIMATE PROOF OF THE SINNER IS THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW HIS OWN SIN.” LISTEN CAREFULLY TO JERRY FALWELL’S “25 OF THE GREATEST SERMONS EVER PREACHED,” [GRAND RAPIDS:BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1983,P.18], A QUOTE OF GEORGE WHITFIELD FROM HIS FAMOUS MESSAGE, “THE METHOD OF GRACE,” BASED ON JEREMIAH 6:14! WHITFIELD SAID: “AS GOD CAN SEND A NATION OR A PEOPLE NO GREATER BLESSING THAN TO GIVE THEM FAITHFUL, SINCERE, & UPRIGHT MINISTERS, SO THE GREATEST CURSE THAT GOD CAN POSSIBLY SEND UPON A PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD IS TO GIVE THEM OVER TO BLIND, UNREGENERATE, CARNAL, LUKEWARM, & UNSKILLED GUIDES. AND YET, IN ALL AGES, WE FIND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN MANY WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING…THAT PROPHESIED SMOOTHER THINGS THAN GOD DID ALLOW.”

CONFLICTING LOYALTY? IN NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI’S “THE PRINCE,” [NEW YORK; BANTAM,1966,P.63], HE WROTE: “MEN ARE SO SIMPLE & SO MUCH INCLINED TO OBEY IMMEDIATE NEEDS THAT A DECEIVER WILL NEVER LACK VICTIMS FOR HIS DECEPTIONS.” WOW!! I ALSO READ DR. JAMES KENNEDY’S & JERRY NEWCOMBE’S BOOK, “CROSS PURPOSES,” [MULTONOMAL PUBL.,2007, PPS.25-26], “WHEN I WAS IN SEMINARY, I WENT TO A JAIL TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THOSE WHO WERE LOCKED UP INSIDE. I HAD NEVER BEEN TO A PLACE LIKE THAT TO PREACH, & I MUST SAY I WAS A LITTLE UNNERVED BY IT. I WAS SENT INTO A BIG ROOM WHERE I WAS SEPARATED BY BARS FROM PROBABLY A DOZEN PRISONERS. AS THEY WERE MILLING AROUND, I STARTED TO TALK TO THEM. I PROBABLY HADN’T GOTTEN TWO MINUTES INTO MY TALK WHEN ONE OF THE LARGEST INMATES SUDDENLY CAME AT THE BARS (WHICH I WAS HAPPY WERE THERE AT THAT POINT) & SAID TO ME, “MISTER, YOU JUST GO TELL THAT GOD OF YOURS ALL I WANT FROM HIM IS WHAT I DESERVE!”…”SIR”, I REPLIED, “IF YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED FROM GOD, THE FLOOR WOULD OPEN UPRIGHT WHERE YOU STAND & DROP YOU STRAIGHT INTO HELL, FOR THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT YOU DESERVE. I DON’T SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU’RE BEHIND THESE BARS WHILE I’M OUTSIDE THEM, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE ALL DESERVE. IF WE GOT OUR JUST DESSERTS, WE WOULD EACH & EVERY ONE BE CONDEMNED – BECAUSE YOU SEE, WE’RE ACTUALLY ALREADY CONDEMNED. CHRIST SAID OF THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE, “YOU ARE CONDEMNED ALREADY”, [JOHN 3:18].

BUT, LET ME “SHIFT GEARS”! I PRAY “CONFLICTING LOYALTY” NEVER BECOMES THE PATTERN IN YOUR LIFE BUT THAT “BY FAITH & TRUST” YOU APPROPRIATE OUR LORD’S “ALL-CONSUMING LOVE”!! THE SCRIPTURE I FEEL SO LED BY OUR LORD TO SHARE WITH YOU IN THIS MOMENT IS ROMANS 8:35-39! PAUL WROTE: “WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? SHALL TRIBULATION, OR DISTRESS, OR PERSECUTION, OR FAMINE, OR NAKEDNESS, OR PERIL, OR SWORD? AS IT IS WRITTEN: ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER.’ “YET IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US.” FOR I AM PERSUADED THAT NEITHER DEATH NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS NOR PRINCIPALITIES NOR POWERS, NOR ANY OTHER CREATED THING, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” I DON’T KNOW HOW ONE CAN LISTEN TO THAT PASSAGE & IGNORE IT, BUT THE ONE THING I’M SURE OF IS THE FACT THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO ‘SEPARATE’ US FROM CHRIST JESUS! “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” IS AN OFFENSE TO SATAN & THE POWERS OF DARKNESS; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” IS A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THOSE WHO WOULD BE RECONCILED TO GOD ON THEIR OWN TERMS; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” BECOMES CONTEMPTIBLE TO SOME BECAUSE THEY DON’T RECEIVE GOD IN CHRIST WHO FIRST LOVED US; “THE LOVE OF CHRIST” SEPARATES SOME BECAUSE RELATIONSHIP TO HOLY GOD ,TO THEM, IS MERITED, EARNED, REWARDED BY WHAT “WE DO” – NOT WHAT “CHRIST HAS DONE, HAD TO DO,ONCE FOR ALL AT THE CROSS!!” THE “LOVE OF CHRIST”, FOR SOME, INFURIATES THEM, BECAUSE THEY SAY, “MY BEHAVIOR SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY GOD REWARDING ME BECAUSE OF MY UNDAUNTED RADIANCE IN A “JOB WELL DONE” – I SHINE BRIGHTER THAN EVEN JESUS WHO WAS CALLED “THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”, WHEN ‘MY’ BEST-EFFORT’ FAR EXCEEDED HIS CROSS!”

IT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD: “LOVE FOR GOD IS NOT MANUFACTURED IN A FALLEN MAN’S HEART OR MIND!” IT’S WHY JOHN WROTE IN 1 JOHN 4:19, “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.” THERE HAS NEVER BEEN MAN, WOMAN, BOY, OR GIRL, INCLINED TO LOVE GOD & BE HIS FOLLOWER & DEVOTED SERVANT. THE DARKNESS OF ONE’S BEING HAS NEVER PRODUCED ‘NEW LIFE’ BUT ONLY HIS AMAZING LOVE TRANSFORMS OUR DARKNESS INTO HIS LIFE & LIGHT & LIBERTY & LOVE! IT IS SO VERY CLEAR THROUGHOUT ALL THE WORD OF GOD THAT ANY MAN WHO DOES NOT PASSIONATELY LOVE GOD HAS NEVER ‘TRULY’ KNOWN HIM NOR BEEN ‘BIRTHED’ INTO THE FAMILY OF FAITH RELATIONSHIP! BUT, IF WE HAVE BEEN ‘BIRTHED’ INTO A FAMILY OF FAITH RELATIONSHIP, DOES THAT MEAN OUR ‘LIFE-STYLE’ IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF OTHERS? IN 1 JOHN 4:10-11 WE READ, HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD,BUT THAT HE LOVED US, &,SENT HIS SON TO BE THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS. BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”

SPURGEON WAS A VERY BOLD, BRILLIANT PREACHER & STUDENT OF GOD’S WORD. IN HIS NINTH VOLUME OF “SPURGEON’S SERMONS”, (PPS.307-308), HE WROTE: “NOW NO MAN IS A CHRISTIAN WHO DOES NOT LOVE CHRISTIANS. HE,WHO,BEING IN THE CHURCH,IS YET NOT OF IT HEART & SOUL, IS BUT AN INTRUDER IN THE FAMILY. BUT SINCE LOVE TO OUR BRETHREN SPRINGS OUT OF LOVE TO OUR ONE COMMON FATHER, IT IS PLAIN THAT WE MUST HAVE LOVE TO THAT FATHER, OR ELSE WE SHALL FAIL IN ONE OF THE INDISPENSIBLE MARKS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD: ‘WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN;” BUT WE CANNOT LOVE THE BRETHREN UNLESS WE LOVE THE FATHER; THEREFORE, LACKING LOVE TO GOD, WE LACK LOVE TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS AN ESSENTIAL MARK OF GRACE.”

THERE ARE TWO VERSES IN JOHN 1 THAT WE NEED TO PUT TOGETHER!! JOHN 1:14 SAYS, “AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH & LIVED AMONG US, & WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY, THE GLORY OF A FATHER’S ONLY SON, FULL OF GRACE & TRUTH.” THEN LOOK AT VERSE 18! “NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN GOD. IT IS GOD THE ONLY SON, WHO IS CLOSE TO THE FATHER’S HEART, WHO HAS MADE HIM KNOWN.” DO YOU SEE IT? THE WORD [IMMANUEL, ‘GOD IN FLESH’] BECAME FLESH! AND THE GOD WE’D NEVER KNOWN BECAME CLEARLY VISIBLE! ALL OF A SUDDEN, FLASHING BEFORE US LIKE 10,000 RAYS OF THE SUN IS JESUS: “GOD IS LIGHT!” GOD IS LOVE! GOD IS LIBERTY! GOD LIFTS US OUT OF DESPAIR TO HIS THRONE OF GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE!

DIDN’T PAUL TELL US THROUGH HIS COLOSSIANS LETTER: “HE [JESUS] IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.” [COLOSSIANS 1:15], & THEN IN COLOSSIANS 1:22 HE SAID, “FOR IN HIM ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD WAS PLEASED TO DWELL.” I WROTE: “WONDROUS LOVE SO FULL OF LIFE, WONDROUS LOVE SUBSIDING STRIFE, WONDROUS LOVE TO US IS GIVEN WONDROUS LOVE TRANSPORTS TO HEAVEN. WONDROUS LOVE, JESUS CAME, TO SHOW GOD, JESUS, THE SPIRIT IS THE SAME. WONDROUS LOVE TO SET US FREE, NO LONGER A CAPTIVE OF SATAN TO BE. WONDROUS LOVE, GOD’S SON WAS GROANING, BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FROM SIN ATONING .”

PAUL SAID IN ROMANS 5:8, “BUT GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST “DIED FOR US”.” WHAT AN AWESOME REVELATION! THE WORD ‘DEMONSTRATES’ IS FROM A GREEK WORD MEANING “TO COMMAND, ESTABLISH, STAND NEAR, CONSISTS” – OR “HOLDS TOGETHER”! IN EPHESIANS 4 PAUL HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT “THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST,” VERSE 12, & THEN HE SAID IN VERSE 15, “BUT SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, MAY GROW UP IN ALL THINGS INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD –CHRIST- VERSE 16, FROM WHOM THE WHOLE BODY, JOINED & KNIT TOGETHER BY WHAT EVERY JOINT SUPPLIES, ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTIVE WORKING BY WHICH EVERY PART DOES ITS SHARE, CAUSES GROWTH OF THE BODY FOR THE EDIFYING OF ITSELF IN LOVE.”

HOW DO WE RATIONALLY, FAITHFULLY, PRACTICALLY, PUT ALL THIS TOGETHER TO HONOR GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO US? 1) “REST IN” THE FACT THAT GOD HIMSELF “PROVED, COMMENDED, DEMONSTRATED” HIS LOVE TOWARD ALL MEN!” WHAT DOES JOHN 3:16 TELL US? “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM(TRUSTS IN, RELIES UPON, ADHERES TO) SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAS EVERLASTING LIFE.”

2) GOD KNEW, UNDERSTOOD, GRASPED THE SORROWFUL TRUTH THAT MEN’S SIN BROUGHT SEPARATION FROM HIM! I DON’T KNOW WHO WROTE IT, BUT THEY SURE UNDERSTOOD SIN’S CONSEQUENCE –“SIN IS MAN’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD!” IT WAS JOHN BUNYAN IN “THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS” WHO WROTE: “ONE LEAK WILL SINK A SHIP; & ONE SIN WILL DESTROY A SINNER,” AND GOD’S INTENT IS TO RESURRECT A ‘SINKING SHIP’, TO RESURRECT SPIRITUALLY DEAD, DESTROYED SINNERS WHO HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM HIS ETERNAL LOVE!

3) GOD SOVEREIGNLY DETERMINED ONLY A SINLESS SACRIFICE WAS SUFFICIENT, SUPREMELY EFFECTIVE, TO SAVE SINFUL MAN FROM HIS SIN & RECONCILE HIM TO HOLY GOD! ROMANS 6:23 SAYS, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” PAUL HAD TOLD THE CHURCH AT ROME, & US, ROMANS 5:21, “SO THAT AS SIN REIGNED IN DEATH, EVEN SO GRACE MIGHT REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS TO ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.”

OH, THEN PAUL REALLY DISSPELLED THE PHONINESS OF SOME MODERN-DAY TEACHINGS THAT CHRISTIANS CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL THEY GET TO HEAVEN? YES! ROMANS 6:1-3 & VERSE 10 TELLS US: “WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN, THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND? GOD FORBID! HOW SHALL WE, THAT ARE DEAD IN SIN,LIVE ANY LONGER THEREIN? KNOW YOU NOT, THAT SO MANY AS WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST JESUS WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? VERSE 10 THEN SAYS, FOR IN THAT HE DIED, HE DIED UNTO SIN ONCE; BUT THAT HE LIVES, HE LIVES UNTO GOD.” CHAMBERS THEN COMMENTED:

“THE SALVATION OF GOD DOES NOT STAND ON HUMAN LOGIC, IT STANDS ON THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF JESUS. WE CAN BE BORN AGAIN BECAUSE OF THE ATONEMENT OF OUR LORD. SINFUL MEN & SINFUL WOMEN CAN BE CHANGED INTO ‘NEW CREATIONS’, NOT BY THEIR REPENTANCE OR BELIEF, BUT BY THE MARVELOUS WORK OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS WHICH IS PRIOR TO ALL EXPERIENCE. THE IMPREGNABLE SAFETY OF JUSTIFICATION & SANCTIFICATION IS GOD HIMSELF! WE HAVE NOT TO WORK OUT THESE THINGS FOR OURSELVES; THEY HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BY THE ATONEMENT. THE SUPERNATURAL BECOMES NATURAL BY THE MIRACLE OF GOD; THERE IS THE REALIZATION OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST HAS ALREADY DONE – “IT IS FINISHED!”

GOD’S HEAVENLY LOVE MADE PRACTICAL FOR US? 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21, “FOR HE [GOD] MADE HIM [JESUS] WHO KNEW NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST!”

4) AMAZING LOVE? IF YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAD EVER LIVED –PAST,PRESENT,OR FUTURE- ON THE CROSS,JESUS WOULD HAVE DIED THERE “JUST FOR YOU”!! “GOD COMMENDED HIS LOVE FOR US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.” CAN “YOU” SAY, “CHRIST DIED FOR ME?” I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU RESPOND TO THAT, BUT IN JOB 42:5-6 WE READ: “I HAVE HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR: BUT NOW MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOU. WHEREFORE I ABHOR MYSELF, & REPENT IN DUST & ASHES.” TO SEE JESUS DYING ON THE CROSS FOR YOU, IS TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU WITHOUT HIM,YET HE LOVES YOU ANYWAY – AND PROVES HIS LOVE!

DR.JAMES KENNEDY, IN HIS BOOK “THE PRESENCE OF A HIDDEN GOD”,[P.141],WROTE: “JUST IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT GOD WERE “NOT” LOVE. SUPPOSE, INSTEAD, THAT GOD WERE A COSMIC OGRE, PLAYING WITH PEOPLE LIKE GRASSHOPPERS IN A BOTTLE –SUPPOSE GOD WERE A DEMON, FILLED WITH MALEVOLENT HATRED, OR SUPPOSE GOD WERE AN IMPERSONAL FORCE, LIKE FATE OR SOME MACHINE THAT HAD NO FEELING, NO SYMPATHY WHATSOEVER TOWARD MANKIND.”

BUT THAT’S NOT OUR GOD OF CALVARY’S CROSS! OH, THERE ARE THOSE WHO TRULY WISH GOD WERE DEAD, BUT EVEN TO THEM THE CROSS & EMPTY TOMB STILL STAND AS EXPRESSIONS OF ETERNAL LOVE FOR ETERNAL FOOLS! “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘THERE IS NO GOD’!” BUT, HISTORY STANDS: OUR GOD IS THE GOD WHO WILL NOT DIE – WE SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR!!

YOU NEED TO KNOW IT IF YOU’VE NEVER HEARD IT: “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US!” AN OLD HYMN SAYS IT LIKE THIS: “SEE FROM HIS HEAD, HIS HANDS, HIS FEET, SORROW & LOVE FLOW MINGLING DOWN; DID E’ER SUCH LOVE & SORROW MEET, OR THORNS COMPOSE SO RICH A CROWN?” DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND? IT’S ONLY IN SEEING JESUS SUFFER, BLEED, & DIE FOR OUR SINS THAT ONE TRULY DISCERNS, DISCOVERS, & DEPENDS ON THE LOVE OF GOD? HERE’S HOW SPURGEON PUT IT LONG AGO: [SPURGEON’S SERMONS, VOL.9,P.311], “AGAIN, OUR LOVE TO GOD DOES NOT SPRING FROM THE SELF-DETERMINING POWER OF THE WILL. I GREATLY QUESTION WHERE ANY THING DOES IN THE WORLD, GOOD OR BAD. THERE ARE SOME WHO SET UP THE WILL AS A KIND OF DEITY, – IT DOES AS IT WILLS WITH EARTH & HEAVEN; BUT IN TRUTH THE WILL IS NOT A MASTER BUT A SERVANT. TO THE SINNER HIS WILL IS A SLAVE; & IN THE SAINT, ALTHOUGH THE WILL IS SET FREE, IT IS STILL BLESSEDLY UNDER BONDS TO GOD. MEN DO NOT WILL A THING BECAUSE THEY WILL IT, BUT BECAUSE THEIR AFFECTIONS, THEIR PASSIONS, OR THEIR JUDGEMENTS INFLUENCE THEIR WILLS IN THAT DIRECTION. NO MAN CAN STAND UP & SAY, “I,UNBIASEZED & UNAIDED, WILL TO LOVE GOD & I WILL NOT LOVE SATAN.” SUCH PROUD, SELF-ASSURING LANGUAGE WOULD PROVE HIM A LIAR; THE MAN WOULD BE CLEARLY A WORSHIPPER OF HIMSELF. A MAN CAN ONLY LOVE GOD WHEN HE HAS PERCEIVED SOME REASONS FOR SO DOING; & THE FIRST ARGUMENT FOR LOVING GOD, WHICH INFLUENCES THE INTELLECT SO AS TO TURN THE AFFECTIONS, IS THE REASON MENTIONED IN THE TEXT, “WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.” HEAR ME!

GOD HIMSELF ESTABLISHED FOREVER HIS LOVE FOR “YOU” AS JESUS SUFFERED, BLED, & DIED ON THE CROSS! GOD DEMONSTRATED! GOD PROVED HIS LOVE FOR YOU AT CALVARY! NOW, HOW IS THAT AWESOME UNDERSTANDING MAINTAINED PRODUCTIVELY & EFFICIENTLY DAY BY DAY? LOOK AT ROMANS 5:5! “AND HOPE MAKES NOT ASHAMED; BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH IS GIVEN TO US.”

HISTORY! HISTORIC PRESENCE & POWER! ROMANS 5:6 SAYS, “FOR WHEN WE WERE YET WITHOUT STRENGTH, IN DUE TIME CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY.” WE WERE “ENEMIES” BUT RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, ROMANS 5:10, “FOR IF, WHEN WE WERE ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD BY THE DEATH OF HIS SON, MUCH MORE THEN, BEING RECONCILED, WE SHALL BE (BEING) SAVED BY HIS LIFE.”

HISTORY? JOHN PIPER, IN HIS BOOK “THE PLEASURES OF GOD”, [P.165], WROTE: “JESUS WANTS US TO SEE THAT HIS WILLINGNESS TO LOSE HIS LIFE IS BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR THE GLORY OF THE FATHER.” HE THEN QUOTED JOHN 17:4, “I HAVE GLORIFIED YOU ON THE EARTH; I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK WHICH YOU GAVE ME TO DO.” THEN PIPER SAID: “ALL OF JESUS’ WORK WAS DESIGNED TO HONOR THE WORTH OF HIS FATHER’S GLORY. EVERYTHING JESUS SUFFERED, HE SUFFERED FOR THE SAKE OF GOD’S GLORY. THEREFORE, ALL HIS PAIN & SHAME & HUMILIATION & DISHONOR SERVED TO MAGNIFY THE FATHER’S GLORY, BECAUSE THEY SHOWED HOW INFINITELY VALUABLE GOD’S GLORY IS, THAT SUCH A LOSS SHOULD BE SUFFERED TO DEMONSTRATE ITS WORTH.”

AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR LIFE, YOUR WALK, YOUR CALLING, YOUR PURPOSE? IS IT TO HONOR THE WORTH OF THE FATHER’S GLORY? HOW DID PAUL PUT IT? 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31, “WHEREFORE THEREFORE YOU EAT OR DRINK, OR WHATSOEVER YOU DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD.” IN HIS WRITING “MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST”, (P.238),OSWALD CHAMBERS WROTE: “THE TENDENCY IS TO LOOK FOR THE MARVELOUS IN OUR EXPERIENCE; WE MISTAKE THE SENSE OF THE HEROES FOR BEING HEROES. IT IS ONE THING TO GO THROUGH A CRISIS GRANDLY, BUT ANOTHER THING TO GO THROUGH EVERY DAY GLORIFYING GOD WHEN THERE IS NO WITNESS, NO LIMELIGHT, NO ONE PAYING THE REMOTEST ATTENTION TO US. IF WE DO NOT WANT MEDIAVAL HALOES, WE WANT SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE PEOPLE SAY, ‘WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN OF PRAYER HE IS! WHAT A PIOUS DEVOTED WOMAN SHE IS!’ IF THEN YOU ARE RIGHTLY DEVOTED TO THE LORD JESUS, YOU HAVE REACHED THE SUBLIME HEIGHT WHERE NO ONE EVER THINKS OF NOTICING YOU, ALL THAT IS NOTICED IS THAT THE POWER OF GOD COMES THROUGH YOU ALL THE TIME.”

CHARLES WESLEY WROTE THE FOLLOWING HYMN: “O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES.” IT SAYS: “O FOR A 1000 TONGUES TO SING MY GREAT REDEEMER’S PRAISE, THE GLORIES OF MY GOD & KING, THE TRIUMPHS OF HIS GRACE. MY GRACIOUS MASTER & MY GOD, ASSIST ME TO PROCLAIM, TO SPREAD THROUGH ALL THE EARTH ABROAD, THE HONORS OF YOUR NAME.

JESUS! THE NAME THAT CHARMS OUR FEARS, THAT BIDS OUR SORROWS CEASE; IT’S MUSIC IN THE SINNER’S EARS, IT’S LIFE, & HEALTH, & PEACE.

HE BREAKS THE POWER OF CANCELED SIN, HE SETS THE PRISONERS FREE; HIS BLOOD CAN MAKE THE FOULEST CLEAN; HIS BLOOD AVAILED FOR ME.”

IN REVELATION 1:4-5 JOHN WROTE: “GRACE TO YOU & PEACE F ROM HIM WHO IS & WHO WAS & WHO IS TO COME, & FROM THE SEVEN SPIRITS WHO ARE BEFORE HIS THRONE, & FROM JESUS CHRIST, THE FAITHFUL WITNESS, THE FIRTSTBORN FROM THE DEAD, & THE RULER OVER THE KINGS OF THE EARTH. TO HIM WHO LOVED US & WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD…” AMEN?

I don’t know how you’ll respond to the title of this chapter because only you really know the secret chambers of your heart and mind. Why? Appearances can be deceiving; outward ‘show’ can be simply fictitious, uneventful heart-change, or a desire not to be exposed for what one really believes.

It was C.S. Lewis who once wrote: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because of it I see everything else.”

But then in a real world of life and death, success or failure, blessing and disappointment, true examples and pretenders, wise or blinded, divine fruit or diseased or dis-eased citizens, people will either “press in to Him” or fall away by their own free will.

Don’t you find it interesting, convicting, and challenging, that in Revelation 2:10b, Jesus tells us: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”? Is it possible that some begin the walk of faith, are faithful for a period of time in what they know, and then walk away? “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Are bad turns made away from the highway of holiness that lead to ‘dead-end’ places? Does disappointment in one’s self or others mean, “I choose to be disappointed in Jesus also”? If a ‘Texas dust storm’ can restrict your vision, can a believer’s storm of doubt cast dark shadows on one’s devotion and allegiance and all-out surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Oh, and hear me – can a preacher-pastor’s ‘falling away’ be the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back,’ and you decide, “I want nothing more to do with ‘phony Christianity’?

In Ezekial 18:23 God spoke: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” And whatever is opposite of the Word and the will of God and His ways is determined wicked and brings a judgment of death – and God says, “turn from YOUR ways and live!” He went on to say in verses 31-32, “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord. “Therefore turn and live!”

I know, and I assume you also know, that there are “distressing disguises”! It’s so evident by spiritual blindness, unholy hearing, willful rejection, painful indifference, yes, even deeply-wounded scars from spiritual events of the past that one holds on to, residence in a jail of unforgiveness because someone, somehow, somewhere led them down, they believe, to a place, a practice, a persuasion that didn’t line up with the desire for a ‘godly lifestyle’ but an ungodly lifestyle even when the Word declared and still declares ‘separate from sinners.’

I’m really sorry, but I do not see projected in God’s Holy Word ‘comfort’ or ‘comfortable’ or ‘pleasurable for the flesh’ in a world where Holy Truth is seen as needed to be suppressed and certainly worthless in schools, universities, or any governmental institution locally or nationally!

How dangerous is it for men of all standings, places, ranks, abilities or inabilities, education or the absence of it, to find themselves in a place they don’t feel comfortable, identifying themselves as men unreservedly sold out to Christ so they ignore the church Jesus loved and gave Himself for, going the way of “silent allegiance” when Jesus instructs us to identify ourselves as His true followers and devoted to build up, strengthen, and, yes, laboring for His church-body’s success?!? “Distressing disguises”? Are you ever confronted by those who once have known Truth and then, all of a sudden, because of multitudinous fleshly crises, the door was opened to cast doubt on the Word of God? Sadly, I’ve known men over the years who so devotedly shared God’s Holy Word, but crisis came from business, family, spiritual family, resulting in undefinable criticism, and like a wounded ‘puppy’ they crawl away from upholding Truth!

“Distressing disguises”? Are you aware of those who have been ingrained with partial truth and they profess “Peace, peace! When there is no peace”? [Jeremiah 6:14]. It’s as if the ‘gospel’ they held onto was ‘peaches and cream’ without Jesus’ word, “In the world you will have tribulation!” I would urge every disciple over the next three to four months to devote himself/herself to the four gospels and determine if Jesus ever talked about a ‘trouble-free walk of discipleship!’

“Distressing disguises”? Do you remember in the Gospel of John Jesus telling the scribes and Pharisees that denying Him was the result that they never knew the One True and Living God? In John 8:13 they told Jesus, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.” In the eighth chapter alone Jesus told the ‘religious crowd’ about 4 times, similar to verse 21, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

“Distressing disguises”? I hope it doesn’t seriously offend you if I tell you that there are “sticklers” for legalism apart from God’s grace, mercy, and love! On the tablet of stone God carved out and imprinted Ten Commandments that exposed men as true ‘law-breakers’ in need of mercy, grace, and love, but deception blinded men to their true need of God because they graded by the ‘curve’, wanting acceptance by self-effort rather than acceptance through the finished work of Christ at the Cross, with God then writing His love, His law, and His liberty on a redeemed heart! How about your devotion? Is it by law or the very love of Calvary’s Cross and the reality of Jesus’ empty tomb and His present residence in Heaven at the throne of God interceding in your behalf?

“Distressing disguises”? Have you not wrapped your mind around the fact that fallen humanity is fully absorbed in the mind-set and heart-absorption of materialism, and the more one has, the nearer he/she is to God? Yet, our Lord and Savior and True Master of all of life has said, Matthew 16:24-26, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life [for himself] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

“Distressing disguises”? You’ll remember as Moses was leading Israel to the Promised Land there came a time when he went up on the mountain for an alone-time with God that became a long time – and his people became anxious.

They went to Aaron and told him, Exodus 32:1, “Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what is become of him.” Verse 4 tells us he, Aaron, received golden earrings from the people, and fashioned it with a graving tool into “a molten calf”; and the people said, “This be our gods who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” Then the end of verse 6 then tells us, “and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” God then told Moses, “your people, Moses, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.”

Has anything changed? What is it that has become your own ‘distressing disguise’? But reality also speaks so loud and clear as when Samuel said in I Samuel 10:19, about some in Israel, “And you have this day rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’”

At least David had the sane attitude of brokenness, repentance, and turning from that which scarred him and others so deeply. In Psalm 25:17-22 he prayed: “The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.”

I’m sure you’ll remember Paul challenging the church at Corinth when he said in 2 Corinthians 6:12, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” And he paid a heavy price for standing in truth! He said to the Corinthians and us in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. For when I am weak, then I am strong [in Him].”

Paul further testified in 2 Corinthians 13:4-6, “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.”

In Christ you are made to soar, not to sink; you’re a new creation in Him to live victoriously, not defeated; in Him you overcome the devil himself and his temptations, not swallowed up in a sea of denial of truth or ocean depths of drownings in deceptions opposite of Holy Revelation, Eternal Truth, and His ever-abiding presence in you!

“Distressing disguises”? I picked up again recently Mark Levin’s book entitled “LIBERTY OR TYRANNY,” sub-titled “A Conservative Manifesto.” I read it several years ago, but on the back cover of his book he had a statement of Abraham Lincoln, spoken in 1864. Lincoln said, “We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny.”

Do you remember the unbelieving Pharoah of Egypt? In Exodus 5:1-2 we read, “Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharoah, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ And Pharoah said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.’”

It’s certainly not always true, but it seems, for some like Pharoah, that ‘wealth’ or ‘riches’ lead an awful lot of people to bow down in idolatry and not live in worship, praise, or thanksgiving, with adoration and submission and loyalty to the God who laid down His Son at the Cross! “That’s not MY calling!” – have you ever heard that? “I serve the Lord who blesses me,” yet the Lord God Almighty, Emmanuel (“God With Us”), Savior and Lord, Master of all of life said: Deuteronomy 30:14-20, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, THAT YOU MAY DO IT. [“Why, YOU legalistic God! Who would want to submit to Your Word, Your will, Your way? Not me!”] See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God WILL BLESS YOU in the land which you go to possess. BUT IF YOUR HEART TURNS AWAY SO THAT YOU DO NOT HEAR [and some choose, ‘I don’t want to hear what God says!’] and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today THAT YOU SHALL SURELY PERISH; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

[And just as a reminder if you have questions about what you just read and its spiritual relevance to New Testament disciples, John 8:56 says, Jesus speaking: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”]

“Distressing disguises”! I pastored a church many years ago in which a very visible leader became involved in an adulterous relationship with another church member. In my office he denied it and assured me it never happened.

A few weeks later I received a late night call to hurry to a particular home where the police had already arrived. The church leader was in the home of his adulteress mate with an irate, almost uncontrollable husband.

The church leader had lied and then resigned his visible office in the church. I advised our church officers or deacons that this situation required church discipline, but they all said, “He’s our friend, and it won’t happen. He deserved better than having to care for a sick wife!” Within a short time, God moved our leadership role as pastor elsewhere!

When open sin is ignored it manifests itself in abundant rebellion to God’s Holy Word – I heard years later that adultery, broken marriages, and a suffering church had about died, until several pastors later God placed His man in a strong place of leadership – now, the church prospers spiritually.

“Distressing disguises”! Consider it, examine it, reflect upon it – what’s the result of half-hearted allegiance to a local body of believers, yes, the local body Jesus suffered, bled, and died for? What’s the result of the negligence of whole-heartedness; what’s the result of divided allegiance; what’s the outcome of ‘profession’ apart from possession of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ; what’s the ‘fruit’ of a ‘couldn’t-care-less’ attitude concerning a needy fellowship of believers?

Is it really possible that believers feel no sympathy for, devotion to, or commitment of their lives to a needy church fellowship or even comfort and healing grace to despondent saints, a battered pastor, or, yes, immature church members? But they find ‘their’ place where the crowd gathers, where the smiles abound, but in far too many living a “laid-down life” is omitted! It’s even happening today that ‘forsaking of the assembling of yourselves together’ is like an old ‘wives’ tale’ – “we don’t need the church assembling”!

I was reading Spurgeon recently. [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.15, pps. 78-79]. He said: “Is it so, that because you are yourself a member of a flourishing church, and because you enjoy all sorts of Christian privileges, you therefore harden your heart concerning dying churches and desponding saints? Do you imagine that the body can be sick, and yet you as a member of it will not suffer? I tell you, if the church of God goes aside it will be to your injury;’ if the truth of God be not preached you will be a loser; if Christian life be not vigorous you will be weakened.”…(p.80), “If you are not creating a holy warmth, the chill of sin is freezing you.”

‘Ice-berg city’ – the gathering of chilled believers! ‘Ice-berg city’ – the union place of divided allegiances! ‘Ice-berg city’ – the creeping sickness of unconscious allegiance to self-birthing of paralyzed infants who don’t know where they came from or where they are headed. The Lord Jesus said in Revelation 3:11, “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” [It would be worth your effort and time to research about “your crown.”]

“Distressing disguises”! It was so interesting and challenging recently when in Luke 16:1-13 I read about the parable of the unjust steward. Read carefully and consider your walk as a professing disciple of Christ! Jesus also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

So he called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.” [I pray you realize “stewardship” has much more to do in your walk than what you “give” in money!]

Then the steward said within himself, “What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.” So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Is Jesus teaching us about faithfulness in ‘little things’? Is He teaching us about money and its blessing or curse? Is He informing us about faithfulness in what belongs to another man? But now, let’s transition from “distressing disguises” to “FAITHFULNESS”! We’ve just witnessed Jesus talking about “faithfulness” in three ways. Is there more in His precious and powerful Word we should discern and apply?

It’s not difficult to grasp or understand or comprehend the subject of “faithfulness” – the battle comes when faith and faithfulness must be exercised and YOU must discern for yourself, ‘a walk of fleshly sight and its desires OR a walk of faith and faithfulness to honor the God of the Cross and the empty tomb!

I do not know or understand how a person reads or hears read Ephesians 2:4-8, 12-13, and determines to walk away from saving grace! It says: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…Verses 12-13, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH AND BY FAITH ALONE! That’s what you just read!

WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH! Examine Romans 3:19-26 very, very carefully: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Do you remember the lame man outside the temple asking alms as Peter and John were about to go in? Follow Acts 3:6-16, 19-20, 23, 26: Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them – walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pontius Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.

But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.

Verses 19-20, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before..

Verse 23, And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people… Verse 26, To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

WE ARE TO CONTINUE IN THE FAITH. In Acts 14:21-22 Paul was endeavoring to build a solid foundation in new disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. It says: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND, RECEIVE, WALK IN THE WALK OF OUR HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND SPIRIT PURIFICATION BY FAITH. Acts 15:6-9 says: Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”

WE ARE TO WALK IN THE PEACEFUL REST OF FAITH LIKE ABRAHAM. In Romans 4:1-8 we read of the faith of faithful Abraham: “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

WE ARE TO BE EMPOWERED BY FAITH – NOT IN THE EARTHLY WISDOM OF MEN. I Corinthians 2:4-5 instructs us: Paul speaking, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

WE ARE TO BE AT PEACE IN OURSELVES BECAUSE OF OUR FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS. Galatians 2:20 illumines our minds and hearts as Paul tells us: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

WE ARE TO BE DILIGENT TO THE END BECAUSE OF OUR INHERITANCE OF GOD”S PROMISES. In Hebrews 6:11-12 we see our calling as true believers: “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

WE ARE TO BE WELL-TRAINED, PERSONALLY DISCIPLINED, AS A TRUE SOLDIER IN GOD’S ARMY, NOT GIVEN AN ‘AWOL’ SPIRIT, BUT DEVOTED TO HIM AND THE CHURCH JESUS LOVED AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR. Paul wrote young Timothy as a wise spiritual father, 2 Timothy 2:1-4, “You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Earlier, in I Timothy 6:12, he told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

You do understand that we serve a God and Savior who is so ever faithful to us! In Lamentations 3:22-27 Jeremiah shared both a broken heart because of Israel’s sin but also a peaceful heart and soul because He knew the faithfulness of God’s compassion:

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS!! ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”

And I have no doubts that this is why Isaiah encourages us in Isaiah 25:1 because he knew God’s faithfulness: “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”

Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, His people sprout and bear His fruitfulness! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness to us, our faithfulness to Him is not to be a probability but a sure certainty! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, we don’t enlist for a seat in a church pew but a place in the front-line of a holy war! Because of our Lord’s faithfulness, we’re not to be inventers of simply religious activities but fully surrendered lives available to His presence, power, and promises to be expressed through our available lives!

It was the old “The Defender” who had this quote: “Faith is dead to doubt, dumb to discouragement, blind to impossibilities.” How true!

Off-key lives are invaded by the “Master-Tuner” and discords vanish and perfect harmonies erupt! When repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross finds a permanent home, empty barrels become the overflowing presence of His never-ending LIFE!!

Faithfulness is not a philosophy but Divine Presence, holy certainty, continual blessing, and a sacred marriage of eternal bliss!

Faithfulness is the Shining Sonlight of the resident Christ within, the evidence of God’s Holy Presence, and the certainty of the Holy Spirit’s fulfilling ministry in sons and daughters of faith.

It was B.B. McKinney who wrote the old hymn, “Have Faith In God.” “Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely, He sees and knows all the way you have trod; Never alone are the least of His children; Have faith in God, have faith in God.

Have faith in God when your prayers are unanswered, Your earnest plea He will never forget; Wait on the Lord, trust His Word and be patient; Have faith in God, He’ll answer yet.

Have faith in God in your pain and your sorrow, His heart is touched with your grief and despair; Cast all your cares and your burdens upon Him, and leave them there, oh, leave them there.

Have faith in God though all else fail about you; Have faith in God, He provides for His own; He cannot fail though all kingdoms perish, He rules, He reigns upon His throne.” AMEN?

UNLIMITED SURRENDER?”

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, Oct. 9-11, 2017

It’s without hesitation that I sense and say that our ‘modern-day’ religious philosophies have very little, if any, to do with Biblical Revelation! In fact many deny the validity of the Holy Word of God birthed in the minds and hearts of men and women, convicted by the Holy Spirit, converted by the inspired Word, and anointed as His messengers of Divine Truth!

In the inspired word of Hebrews 11:1-3 we read: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

Verse 6 of Hebrews 11 then tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Are YOU a diligent seeker?). Not only Abel and Enoch, but we read of Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, with Hebrews 11:13 telling us: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

Tell me about “what YOU are assured of,” tell me, have YOU embraced Christ or is your belief in Him one of ‘measured devotion’, AND have YOU “confessed” that you also are now a stranger and pilgrim on the earth, because your ‘faith’ is not measured but IS “unlimited full surrender” to the King of kings and Lord of lords? And that does declare you “a stranger and pilgrim on the earth”!

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said about the “truly blessed disciples”, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In Christ we’re not called to be “children in understanding” but from birth on BY THE SPIRIT, we are to be disciples of Christ who understand and commit to and follow Him in “Unlimited Surrender”!

In the ‘flesh’ there is a ‘maimed existence’ void of God’s presence, but in the “Spirit” we are birthed into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ! That’s “new creations”, “new men and new women”, truly living under, in, and by, to us, the “new Spirit” who “guides us into all truth”!

Are you a possessor of ‘measured devotion’ or do you live in and by the power of unlimited surrender? Follow carefully Psalm 33:1-11 and verses 13-14 and verses 18-22!

Psalm 33:1-11 says: “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! (Righteous because of what you do or what Christ did on the Cross?). For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the Lord with the harp; make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.

For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the people of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”

Verses 13-14 tells us: “The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth;

Verses 18-22 then says: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.”

“Unlimited surrender” actually, effectively, and ultimately continues to, day by day, bless beyond measure because true disciples have birthed within them by the Holy Spirit an unflinching loyalty to the Word of God in Christ, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest”! And didn’t the psalmist say, “Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You”? Where and in whom does your hope lie, if you have any hope?

But, for some, there IS the reality of “measured devotion”! Yes, there are limited limits of one’s ‘discipleship-loyalty’ because, for them, “Jesus asks too much”, which He never did – He just took your old life and old sin nature to the Cross and, yes, it WAS “crucified with Christ”, and seeking to resurrect what He carried to the Cross unveils one’s faith in himself and a lack of trust in what Christ did to give one new life, new hope, and a new eternal destiny!

In Philippians 3:10-14 Paul wrote: “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Hear me! There IS a maturing process in one’s relationship to Christ! “Babies” in Christ sometimes ‘mess up’, ‘children in the faith’ also will ‘mess up’, ‘youngsters in the faith’ will ‘mess up’, and, dare I say it? Even Mature followers of Christ will, at times, yes, tragically ‘mess up’! But in 1 Corinthians 1:9 we read of God’s faithfulness! Paul wrote: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 Paul added: “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 have 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.”

“Measured devotion” is revealed in “professing folks” who are, yes, always looking inward to themselves as an explanation of whether or not they are ‘maturing’. Yet Paul said: “I take the sentence of death daily to the ‘old man’ that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in my mortal flesh!” So, in 1 Corinthians 2:9-12, Paul illumines true spiritual witness and spiritual understanding, saying, But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us THROUGH His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things THAT HAVE BEEN FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD.” Glory! In fact, that’s a “GLORY! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFTS!” And, did Paul say, “freely given to us by God”? Yes, he did!

But, “measured devotion” in place of or a substitute for “unlimited surrender”? In 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 the Apostle Paul writes a “game winning, historic, world series competition ‘heart-run’ between flesh and Spirit”, between the natural at its best and the spiritual rallying in “unlimited surrender”, and ‘religious do-gooders’ against the “new-born” sons and daughters of Christ’s eternal family! He said:

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent,” (Holy God defines fallen, self-inspired men as “those who are perishing” from those “who are being saved” because those who ‘are being saved’ rest in God’s wisdom and God’s redemptive power, not in their fleshly intellect!). Paul continued, Verses 20-25,

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

In which community have YOU chosen to live? The community of unbelievers, the community of “measured devotion” which is the one with self-limitations, OR the community, the family of God, the Bride of Christ who live in “unlimited surrender” to His sovereign rule? There’s an amazing word in 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:1 – don’t miss this!! It says:

“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you NOT TO RECEIVE THE GRACE OF GOD IN VAIN. [Are there those who do?]. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. (Question! WHAT REALLY HAS YOUR HEART AND MIND?). Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them (the world, flesh, and Satan-devotees!) and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” “Measured devotion” OR “Unlimited Surrender”? Have YOU received “the grace of God in vain”? Measured devotion is ‘the treasure of self-effort at its best, leading to nothing’, but unlimited surrender is the eternal riches of being dead to the old man and living day by day in the fullness, the blessing, the ‘finished work’ of the Resurrected Christ!

In Jeremiah 1:8, as God called Jeremiah to ministry and service, He said to him and to every true child of faith in Christ, “…I am with you to deliver you!” Do YOU give the Lord Jesus His rightful place “in you” as your Lord and Savior, as the Master of your life, as, yes, Sovereign Administrator of your every- day step? Is Jesus King of your heart and mind? Is Christ Jesus “in you” as your Deliverer from your old sin-nature, your bondage to ‘devilish’ activity, and your fleshly allegiance to the world-influence around you that desires to maintain your allegiance to a “less than God devotion” but satisfying ‘personal desires’ without God interfering? Godless living is maniacal, manipulated by Satan, and spiritual insaneness! “God, move on the spiritual brainlessness by the Holy Spirit!”

J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 1-2, 2019

QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF MANKIND? THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF ‘QUANTITATIVE’ IN THE RANDOM HOUSE COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY OF 1975 BY RANDOM HOUSE INC. SAYS OF THAT BIG WORD, “THAT IS OR MAY BE ESTIMATED BY QUANTITY”; & WHEN IT COMES TO “QUANTITAVIVE CHOICES OF ‘FALLEN’ MANKIND”, ALIENATED & SEPARATED FROM GOD BY THE WILLFUL CHOICE OF THE MIND & HEART, ALL MANKIND WAS BIRTHED WITH THE CHOICE OF ‘SELF-WILL’ OR “DIVINE WILL”, & FROM ADAM & EVE ONWARD THROUGH ALL HUMAN HISTORY THE CHOICE HAS BEEN ‘SELF-WILL’, ‘SELF-RULE’, ‘SELF-MASTERY’, ‘SELF-INDULGENCE’,& ‘SELF-PLEASURE’, “AS I OR WE DETERMINE FOR OURSELVES”!

HOLY GOD WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MANUFACTURING “ROBOTS” WHO, WITHOUT CHOICE, WOULD AUTOMATICALLY DO WHAT HE DESIRED; SO “FREE WILL” CAME INTO PLAY, & WE ALL KNOW ADAM & EVE’S CHOICE & YOUR CHOICE & MINE! DO YOU REMEMBER JOSHUA 24:14-16 WHEN JOSHUA SAID TO THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, “NOW THEREFORE FEAR THE LORD, & SERVE HIM IN SINCERITY & IN TRUTH: & 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 & MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD”?

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY GOD BLESSED TO ENLIGHTEN THE “CHOSEN PEOPLE” BECAUSE, ALREADY, IN HUMAN HISTORY THE “GREAT FALLING AWAY” FROM GOD CONTINUED! IN DEUTERONOMY 10:8 WE READ, “AT THAT TIME THE LORD SEPARATED THE TRIBE OF LEVI, TO BEAR THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, TO STAND BEFORE THE LORD TO MINISTER UNTO HIM, & TO BLESS HIS NAME, UNTO THIS DAY.” THEN IN VERSES 12-13 WE READ, “AND NOW, ISRAEL, WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU, BUT TO FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD, TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS, & TO LOVE HIM, & TO SERVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART & WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, TO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, & HIS STATUTES, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY FOR YOUR GOOD?” (BUT THAT’S OPTIONAL?).

TO AMERICANS TODAY, I ASK YOU, “WHAT DOES THE LORD GOD REQUIRE OF YOU?”, AND A LOST, PERISHING, DYING HUMANITY, LIVING FAITHLESS KEEPS DIGGING A DEEPER HOLE TO BE BURIED IN! BUT COMPASSIONATE GOD DIDN’T CHANGE THEN & DOESN’T CHANGE NOW! IN DEUTERONOMY 11:26-28 WE READ, “BEHOLD, I SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY A BLESSING & A CURSE; A BLESSING, IF YOU OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY: AND A CURSE, IF YOU WILL NOT OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, BUT TURN ASIDE OUT OF THE WAY WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY, TO GO AFTER OTHER GODS, WHICH YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN.”

HOW SERIOUS-MINDED ARE YOU WHEN YOU HEAR HOLY GOD SPEAK ABOUT “TURNING ASIDE, OUT OF THE WAY, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY, TO GO AFTER OTHER ‘gods’, WHICH YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN”? IN THE END OF ISAIAH 45:20 THE PROPHET EXPOSED THOSE “WHO PRAY UNTO A ‘god’ THAT CANNOT SAVE”! THEN, OF COURSE, THERE ARE THOSE WHO NEVER PRAY BECAUSE THEY DON’T NEED “FALSE GODS” & THEY SURE DON’T DESIRE TO TRUST THE GOD WHO MADE THEM, LOST THEM, BOUGHT THEM WITH THE PRICE OF HIS OWN SON’S BLOOD, BUT THEY REFUSE HIS MERCY, HIS GRACE, & HIS LOVE – “WE’RE OK WITHOUT YOU, BIG GOD!”

JOB HAD ‘FRIENDS’ WHO MADE ‘LIGHT’ ABOUT SERIOUS-MINDED FRIENDS LIKE HIM, YES, DEVOTED TO HOLY GOD. IN JOB 13:1-11 JOB RESPONDED REPROVING “HIS FRIENDS”, SAYING, “LO, MY EYE HAS SEEN ALL THIS (FABRICATION OF FAITH!), MY EAR HAS HEARD & UNDERSTOOD IT. WHAT YOU KNOW, THE ‘SAME’ DO I KNOW ALSO; I AM NOT INFERIOR UNTO YOU. SURELY I WOULD SPEAK TO THE ALMIGHTY, & I DESIRE TO REASON WITH GOD. “BUT”, YOU (IN THE FLESH) ARE FORGERS OF LIES (PRETENDERS), YOU ARE ALL PHYSICIANS (OR DOCTORS) OF NO VALUE (HAVING NO PRECRIPTION FOR YOUR RELIGIOUS PRETENSE!). O THAT YOU WOULD ALTOGETHER HOLD YOUR PEACE! & IT SHOULD BE YOUR WISDOM. (BUT SADLY MANY ‘WORLDLY-MINDED’ ARE MORE IN TUNE TO THE FALLEN SIN-NATURE THAN SAVING GRACE, BUT DESIRING BOTH, THEY STILL “SING PRAISES TO GOD AS, YES, AT THE SAME TIME THEY SHAME THE SACRED NAME OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!!). JOB CONTINUED:

VERSES 6-11, HEAR NOW MY REASONING, & HEARKEN TO THE PLEADING OF MY LIPS. WILL YOU SPEAK WICKEDLY FOR GOD? & TALK DECEITFULLY FOR HIM? WILL YOU ACCEPT HIS PERSON? WILL YOU CONTEND FOR GOD? IS IT GOOD THAT HE SHOULD SEARCH YOU OUT? OR AS ONE MAN MOCKS ANOTHER, DO YOU SO MOCK GOD? IS IT GOOD THAT HE SHOULD SEARCH YOU OUT? OR AS ONE MAN MOCKS ANOTHER, DO YOU SO MOCK HIM? HE WILL SURELY REPROVE YOU, IF YOU DO SECRETLY ACCEPT PERSONS. SHALL NOT HIS EXCELLENCY MAKE YOU AFRAID? & HIS DREAD FALL UPON YOU?

QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF MANKIND? ARE THEY STILL ALIVE ON GOD’S ‘PLANET-EARTH’? PAUL LEFT TITUS IN CRETE TO CONTINUE THE MINISTRY OF FAITH & IN TITUS 1: 9-16 HE CHALLENGED THE LORD’S AMBASSADOR OF THE TRUE FAITH, SAYING, “HOLDING FAST THE FAITHFUL WORD AS (A BISHOP) HAS BEEN TAUGHT, THAT HE MAY BE ABLE BY SOUND DOCTRINE TO EXHORT & TO CONVINCE THE GAINSAYERS (A DISPUTER OF BIBLICAL TRUTH WHO WOULD CONTRADICT THE HOLY WORD!) FOR THERE ARE MANY UNRULY & VAIN TALKERS & DECEIVERS, SPECIALLY THEY OF THE CIRCUMCISION (LEGALISTIC ‘JEWS’): WHOSE MOUTHS MUST BE STOPPED, WHO SUBVERT WHOLE HOUSES, TEACHING THINGS WHICH THEY OUGHT NOT, FOR FILTHY LUCRE’S SAKE.

ONE OF THEMSELVES, EVEN A PROPHET OF THEIR OWN, SAID, THE CRETIANS ARE ALWAYS LIARS, EVIL BEASTS, SLOW BELLIES. THIS WITNESS IS TRUE. WHEREFORE REBUKE THEM SHARPLY, THAT THEY MAY BE SOUND IN THE FAITH; NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES, & COMMANDMENTS OF MEN, THAT TURN FROM THE TRUTH. UNTO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE; BUT UNTO THEM THAT ARE DEFILED & UNBELIEVING IS NOTHING PURE; BUT EVEN THEIR MIND & CONSCIENCE IS DEFILED. THEY PROFESS TO KNOW GOD; BUT IN WORKS (WALKS) THEY DENY HIM, BEING ABOMINABLE, & DISOBEDIENT, & UNTO EVERY GOOD WORK REPROBATE.” WOW!!

BUT RATHER THAN THE “QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF FALLEN MANKIND”, WHAT ABOUT EXAMINING “THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN?” WHAT DID JOSHUA SAY? “AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!” AND “YOU” HAVE A CHOICE! I PRAY IT’S FULL REPENTANCE BEFORE HOLY GOD & TRUE FAITH & FULL SURRENDER TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST JESUS!!

IN 1 KINGS 18:21 WE READ, “AND ELIJAH CAME UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, & SAID, HOW LONG HALT YOU BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM; BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM. & THE PEOPLE ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD.”

RATHER THAN HOUSES OF NATURAL ‘BEASTLINESS’, HOW ABOUT HEARTS & HOMES OF DIVINE PRESENCE, DIVINE POWER, & DIVINE PRIVILEGE, EMPOWERING MAN & WIFE & PARENTS & CHILDREN HONORING THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS? ‘HOUSES’ “CHOOSE” AS WELL AS “HOMES”, BUT ‘FLESHLY’ BEST HAS NEVER HONORED HOLY GOD! IN ECCLESIASTES 11:5-8, POSSIBLY AUTHORED BY SOLOMAN, WE READ: “AS YOU KNOW NOT WHAT IS THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT,NOR HOW THE BONES DO GROW IN THE WOMB OF HER THAT IS WITH CHILD:EVEN SO YOU KNOW NOT THE WORKS OF GOD WHO MAKES ALL.

IN THE MORNING SOW YOUR SEED, & IN THE EVENING WITHHOLD NOT YOUR HAND: FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHETHER SHALL PROSPER, EITHER THIS OR THAT, OR WHETHER THEY BOTH SHALL BE ALIKE GOOD. TRULY THE LIGHT IS SWEET, & A PLEASANT THING IT IS FOR THE EYES TO BEHOLD THE SUN; BUT IF A MAN LIVE MANY YEARS, & REJOICE IN THEM ALL; YET LET HIM REMEMBER THE DAYS OF DARKNESS; FOR THEY SHALL BE MANY. ALL THAT COMES IS VANITY.” FLESHLY BEST IS VANITY & DARKNESS! HOMES OF DIVINE PRESENCE ARE VICTORY IN JESUS, FULL OF HIS ETERNAL LIGHT!!

ALSO, RATHER THAN HOLLOW HEARTS, WHAT ABOUT VIBRANT HEARTS WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING CHRIST? IN COLOSSIANS 1:27 WE READ PAUL SAYING, “TO WHOM GOD WOULD MAKE KNOWN WHAT IS THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY AMONG THE GENTILES, WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.” ALSO, EXAMINE FOR YOURSELF 1 JOHN 3:16-24!!! “HEREBY PERCEIVE WE THE LOVE OF GOD, BECAUSE, HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US; & WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE BRETHREN. (AND THAT’S “SAVED BRETHREN OR LOST BRETHREN”!)

BUT WHOSO HAS THIS WORLD’S GOOD, & SEES HIS BROTHER HAS NEED, & SHUTS UP HIS BOWELS OF COMPASSION FROM HIM, HOW DOES THE LOVE OF GOD DWELL IN HIM? MY LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE; BUT IN DEED & IN TRUTH. & HEREBY WE KNOW THAT WE ARE OF THE TRUTH, & SHALL ASSURE OUR HEARTS BEFORE GOD. FOR IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US, GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART, & KNOWS ALL THINGS.

BELOVED, IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US NOT, THEN WE HAVE CONFIDENCE TOWARD GOD. & WHATSOEVER WE ASK, WE RECEIVE OF HIM, BECAUSE WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, & DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN GOD’S SIGHT. & THIS IS THE COMMANDMENT, THAT WE SHOULD BELIEVE (TRUST IN,RELY UPON,ADHERE TO)ON THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, & LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS HE GAVE US COMMANDMENT. & HE THAT KEEPS HIS COMMANDMENTS DWELLETH IN HIM, & GOD IN HIM. & HEREBY WE KNOW THAT HE ABIDES IN US BY THE SPIRIT WHICH THE FATHER HAS GIVEN TO US.”

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO ALSO KNOWS ‘WARPED SPIRITS’ WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, & THAT THROUGH REPENTANCE & TRUE FAITH, THE “BORN-AGAIN HEART & LIFE” THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS IT TO BE HIS EARTHLY TEMPLE, TABERNACLE, WHERE HE LIVES IN RESIDENT-LIVING & PROVIDES OVERCOMING POWER FOR THE “TEMPLE” THAT FACES UNCEASING CHALLENGES FROM ‘THE POWERS OF DARKNESS’! THERE CAN BE, IS, & MUST BE “YIELDEDNESS” TO THE WILLFUL SPIRIT OF HOLY INTENT!

OH, THEN CONSIDER: “BUSINESSES ONLY FOR PROFIT” OR “LIFE-BUSINESS FOR THE PRAISE OF THE LORD”? EXAMINE THOROUGHLY YOUR OWN HEART & MIND BEFORE HOLY GOD AS YOU LISTEN TO, RESPOND TO, & REST IN COLOSSIANS 1:16-29!! PAUL WROTE: “FOR BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, THAT ARE IN HEAVEN, & THAT ARE IN EARTH, VISIBLE & INVISIBLE, WHETHER THEY BE THRONES, OR DOMINIONS, OR PRINCIPALITIES, OR POWERS:ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM, & FOR HIM. AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, & BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.

AND HE (CHRIST JESUS!) IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH:WHO IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD; THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PREEMINENCE. FOR IT PLEASED THE FATHER THAT IN HIM SHOULD ALL FULLNESS DWELL; & HAVING MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, BY HIM TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF; BY HIM, I SAY, WHETHER THEY BE THINGS IN EARTH, OR THINGS IN HEAVEN. & YOU, THAT WERE SOMETIME ALIENATED & ENEMIES IN YOUR MIND BY WICKED WORKS, YET NOW HAS HE RECONCILED IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH, TO PRESENT YOU HOLY & UNBLAMEABLE & UNREPROVEABLE IN HIS SIGHT: IF YOU CONTINUE IN THE FAITH GROUNDED, & SETTLED, & BE NOT MOVED AWAY FROM THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, WHICH YOU HAVE HEARD, & WHICH WAS PREACHED TO EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS UNDER HEAVEN; WHEREOF I PAUL AM MADE A MINISTER;

WHO NOW REJOICE IN MY SUFFERINGS FOR YOU, & FILL UP THAT WHICH IS BEHIND OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST IN MY FLESH FOR HIS BODY’S SAKE, WHICH IS THE CHURCH: WHEREOF I AM MADE A MINISTER, ACCORDING TO THE DISPENSATION OF GOD (GOD’S ‘STEWARDSHIP’!) WHICH IS GIVEN TO ME FOR YOU, TO FULFILL THE WORD OF GOD; EVEN THE MYSTERY WHICH HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM AGES & FROM GENERATIONS, BUT NOW IS MADE MANIFEST TO HIS SAINTS: TO WHOM GOD WOULD MAKE KNOWN WHAT IS THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY AMONG THE GENTILES: WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY: WHOM WE PREACH, WARNING EVERY MAN, & TEACHING EVERY MAN IN ALL WISDOM; THAT WE MAY PRESENT EVERY MAN PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS; WHEREUNTO I ALSO LABOR, STRIVING ACCORDING TO HIS WORKING, WHICH WORKS IN ME MIGHTILY.”

“THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN”? I WANT TO SHARE HERE WORDS FROM ERIC METAXAS IN HIS BOOK “7 MEN & THE SECRETS OF THEIR GREATNESS.” HE WROTE IN THE INTRODUCTION,(PP.19-20) THE FOLLOWING: “BUT BECAUSE MEN HAVE SOMETIMES USED THEIR STRENGTH SELFISHLY, THERE HAS BEEN A BACKLASH AGAINST THE WHOLE IDEA OF MASCULINE STRENGTH. IT HAS BEEN SEEN – & PORTRAYED – AS SOMETHING NEGATIVE. IF YOU BUY INTO THAT IDEA, THEN YOU REALIZE THE ONLY WAY TO DEAL WITH IT IS TO WORK AGAINST IT, TO TRY TO WEAKEN MEN, BECAUSE WHATEVER STRENGTH THEY HAVE WILL BE USED TO HARM OTHERS. THIS LEADS TO THE EMASCULATED IDEA OF MEN. STRENGTH IS DENIGRATED BECAUSE IT CAN BE USED FOR ILL. SO WE LIVE IN A CULTURE WHERE STRENGTH IS FEARED & WHERE THERE IS A SENSE THAT – TO PROTECT THE WEAK – STRENGTH ITSELF MUST BE WEAKENED. WHEN THIS HAPPENS, THE HEROIC & TRUE NATURE OF STRENGTH IS MUCH FORGOTTEN. IT LEADS TO A WORLD OF MEN WHO AREN’T REALLY MEN. INSTEAD THEY ARE JUST TWO KINDS OF BOYS: BOASTING, LOUD-MOUTHED BULLIES OR SOFT, EMASCULATED PSEUDO-MEN. WOMEN FEEL THAT THEY MUST BE “EMPOWERED” & MUST NEVER RELY ON MEN FOR STRENGTH. IT’S A LOT LIKE A SOCIALISTIC IDEA, WHERE “POWER” & “STRENGTH” ARE REDISTRIBUTED – TAKEN AWAY FROM MEN & GIVEN TO WOMEN, TO EVEN THINGS OUT. OF COURSE IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. EVERYONE LOSES.

THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR WHO DOES ALL HE CAN TO PROTECT OTHERS, THE GENTLEMAN WHO LAYS DOWN HIS CLOAK OR OPENS A DOOR FOR A LADY – THESE ARE CHRISTIAN IDEALS OF MANLINESS. JESUS SAID THAT HE WHO WOULD LEAD MUST BE THE SERVANT OF ALL. IT’S THE BIBLICAL IDEA OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP. THE TRUE LEADER GIVES HIMSELF TO THE PEOPLE HE LEADS. THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP. JESUS WASHED THE FEET OF THE DISCIPLES. JESUS DIED FOR THOSE HE LOVES. THAT IS GOD’S IDEA OF STRENGTH & LEADERSHIP & BLESSING. IT’S SOMETHING TO BE USED IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS. SO GOD’S IDEA OF MASCULINE STRENGTH GIVES US THE IDEA OF A CHIVALROUS GENTLEMAN TOWARD WOMEN, NOT A BULLY OR SOMEONE WHO SEES NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIMSELF & THEM.” SO TRUE!

“THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN?” WHAT ABOUT 1 SAMUEL 3:10? “AND THE LORD CAME, & STOOD, & CALLED AS AT OTHER TIMES, ‘SAMUEL, SAMUEL’. THEN SAMUEL ANSWERED, “SPEAK, LORD; FOR YOUR SERVANT HEARS.” BUT DOES GOD COME, DOES HE STILL KNOCK, DOES HE STILL CALL AS HE HAS FOR SO MANY MULTITUDES & YET WHEN THE “WISDOM OF GOD CALLS, THERE ARE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ANSWER OR RESPOND TO HIS PASSIONATE INVITATION! IN PROVERBS 1:22-33 WE READ, “HOW LONG, YOU SIMPLE ONES, WILL YOU LOVE SIMPLICITY? & THE SCORNERS DELIGHT IN THEIR SCORNINGS, & FOOLS HATE KNOWLEDGE?

TURN YOU AT MY REPROOF, BEHOLD, I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UNTO YOU, I WILL MAKE KNOWN MY WORDS UNTO YOU. BECAUSE I HAVE CALLED, & YOU REFUSED; I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HAND, & NO MAN REGARDED. BUT YOU HAVE SET AT NOUGHT ALL MY COUNSEL, & WOULD NONE OF MY REPROOF; I ALSO WILL LAUGH AT YOUR CALAMITY; I WILL MOCK WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES; WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES AS DESOLATION, & YOUR DESTRUCTION COMES AS A WHIRLWIND; WHEN DISTRESS & ANGUISH COMES UPON YOU.

THEN SHALL THEY CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER; THEY SHALL SEEK ME EARLY, BUT THEY SHALL NOT FIND ME: FOR THAT THEY HATED KNOWLEDGE, & DID NOT CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD; THEY WOULD NONE OF MY COUNSEL; THEY DESPISED ALL MY REPROOF. THEREFORE SHALL THEY EAT THE FRUIT OF THEIR OWN WAY, & BE FILLED WITH THEIR OWN DEVICES. FOR THE TURNING AWAY OF THE SIMPLE SHALL SLAY THEM, & THE PROSPERITY OF FOOLS SHALL DESTROY THEM. BUT WHOSO HEARKENS UNTO ME SHALL DWELL SAFELY, & SHALL BE QUIET FROM FEAR OF EVIL.” THE ETERNAL,QUALITATIVE CHOICE FOR MAN?” FANNY CROSBY & W.H.DOANE, IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”,(PUBLISHED IN 1933, BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.) WROTE A HYMN ENTITLED “SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS”. IT SAYS: “SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS, SAFE ON HIS GENTLE BREAST, THERE BY HIS LOVE O’ER-SHADED, SWEETLY MY SOUL SHALL REST. HARK! IT’S THE VOICE OF ANGELS, BORNE IN A SONG TO ME, OVER THE FIELDS OF GLORY, OVER THE JASPER SEA.

SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS, SAFE FROM CORRODING CARE, SAFE FROM THE WORLD’S TEMPTATIONS, SIN CANNOT HARM ME THERE. FREE FROM THE BLIGHT OF SORROW, FREE FROM MY DOUBTS & FEARS; ONLY A FEW MORE TRIALS, ONLY A FEW MORE TEARS!

JESUS, MY HEART’S DEAR REFUGE, JESUS HAS DIED FOR ME; FIRM ON THE ROCK OF AGES, EVER MY TRUST SHALL BE. HERE LET ME WAIT WITH PATIENE, WAIT TIL’ THE NIGHT IS O’ER; WAIT TILL I SEE THE MORNING BRREAK ON THE GOLDEN SHORE…..SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS,SAFE ON HIS GENTLE BREAST, THERE BY HIS LOVE O’ER-SHADED,SWEETLY MY SOUL SHALL REST. AMEN?” ARE YOU AT REST?

OR VICTORY THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD?

By J.Farrell Fisher

September 30, 2014

Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword..”

Have you ever considered that you as a believer are to be guided by God’s Holy Word? Being united WITH Christ in your heart, soul, and mind, is it in the fabric of your redemptive faith to “be being saved” by your devotion to His Holy Word? Is it possible that in your “wedding vows” with Christ you omitted “devoted to His Word and His will”?

Is it in you as it was with David as he wrote in Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day,” but you know nothing of the daily discipline of His Word to be personally taught day by day by the King of kings and Lord of lords?

“Your will be done” but you never daily yield yourselves to discover His will, His ways, His directive word, but you settle in, “I’m saved; that’s all I need to know?” I believe that I read in Psalm 25:12, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He chooses.” And God’s choice? Matthew 4:4 But He [Jesus] answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

I would challenge you as you’re reading this to evaluate your “saving experience” in Christ if you are void of His Word! So-called “religious experiences” that never leads one to His “revelation” and a hunger to know His will and Word absolutely frightens me! If one has been “born again,” I believe one of the evidences is “that we might KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God,” [I Corinthians 2:12].

To his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I look upon God’s revelation of divine truth in both the Old and New Testaments as magnificent promises for maturing men and women, boys and girls, who have come to Him in true repentance and faith.

It was Peter who told us in 2 Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that THROUGH THESE you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Tell me about your reception daily through God’s Holy Word of His “exceedingly great and precious promises,” of your daily discovery and acquired knowledge of “the things freely given to us of God,” yes, and your appropriation of His truths that show you the “escaping [of] the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Do you remember Abraham’s servant, sent by Abraham to find a bride for his son Isaac? In Genesis 24:48 the servant speaks: “And I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me IN THE WAY OF TRUTH to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.” Thank God for His servants who are “led in the way of truth!”

In Mark 4 Jesus had been explaining His parables to the new disciples. Verses 33-34 tell us, “And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” The very desire of Jesus for you right now is that you listen to Jesus and let Him “explain all things in the Word to you” by the Holy Spirit who “guides us into all truth.” In John 16:13-14 our Lord told His disciples, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit is Heaven’s personal “Tutor” in the Holy Word of God!!

But haven’t you heard it? “I don’t need a personal “Tutor” to teach me the Bible! I don’t accept the Bible as the authoritative Word of God – I’m smart enough in myself to sense there is no divine truth as there is no ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ – find a brain-dead ‘christian’ and you’ll probably fool them!” And if you haven’t learned it yet in your classrooms or from many university professors who are smarter than God Himself, they believe, by human interaction you will learn that the most harmful ‘curse’ in life’s spiritual realm is personal pride and intellectual superiority, yes, even superior to Jesus Himself who IS “God in Flesh”!

Have you ever examined thoroughly Jesus’ passionate prayer in John 17 for you and for all mankind as He described “grace” as that which reveals Him and then He unveils “eternal life” by His “grace”! John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You [God Himself], the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom You sent.” Oh, and then in Verse 17 Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Sanctify? “Set them apart,” “save them, redeem them, declare them ‘holy’ by Your Word”!! As Josh MacDowell used to say of Jesus: “Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

But “void of the Word of God” men will, at least some, profess a mental knowledge of Him but never experience “victory in Him through His eternal Word”! Oswald Chambers wrote in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.4], “Natural devotion may be all very well to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His fascination, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will always deny Jesus somewhere or other.” What did the Lord Jesus tell us in John 3:3-7?

Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”…

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [that’s the “water” of the Word!], and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” All believers, true believers, born again believers, will face worldly and satanic opposition to their true faith, but Paul tells all believers in Ephesians 6:10-19…

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;…

Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which IS THE WORD OF GOD; praying always with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints -…

And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…”

Natural mankind poses fierce opposition to Jesus because they in their natural minds are “void of the word of God” and have no heavenly understanding. Even the early disciples like Philip had a hard time understanding who Jesus was and what He was about. Look at John 14:7-11!! “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”…

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works…

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Natural mankind is void, opposed, and ‘willfully’ resists Biblical Truth that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Natural mankind is highly opposed to Biblical Truth that says “obedience to Jesus is required: as evidence of a born-again life”, even when Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” In fact, in Luke 6:46 Jesus said: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Obedience is not an option in the age of grace but is the evidence grace is at work in you finishing its work in you!

We do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that not all of Israel was “lost” because of rejection of the coming of the Promised Messiah – there was a ‘remnant’! But Romans 10:21 says, But to Israel he says, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” And even as “Jews” there are those who lived in the “natural”, yes, fully opposed to “saved by grace”! Natural mankind are those who are “a disobedient and contrary people” who have no desire to live by the Life of Another, even by Emmanuel, “God in flesh”!!

Natural mankind does not “know” Father-God or the Son of God or the Holy Spirit! We ALL came into this world through “fallen Adam”, yes, “hiding from God, without hope in ourselves, or hope in each other” – we needed a miracle of God! In John 17:25-26 Jesus prayed, “O righteous Father! THE WORLD HAS NOT KNOWN YOU, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Yes, Jesus prayed for YOU and ME that God’s love would capture our minds and hearts and wills, drawing us out of the land of darkness of unbelief to the “Promised Land” of heavenly living on earth through His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

“Void of the Word of God”? I pray you have not set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews! In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read, “God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

But those who are “void of the Word of God,” “void of Christ Himself”, willfully shut the door to His saving grace and mercy and have no seat in the heavenly places! Read carefully Ephesians 2:4-7! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS, that in the ages to come “He Might Show” the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

“Void of the Word of God”? That’s those blinded by the world, the flesh, and the devil! It’s why in Galatians 6:7-8 Paul tells us all: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh [that’s his old sin nature, old man, First Adam] will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit [of God] will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

“Void of the Word of God”? Are you aware of the “stumblers”? Peter told us in I Peter 2:8, “…they stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” God Himself read their hearts and appointed them to their just reward, yes, because of a mental, willful, head and heart rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I think it vitally important to have you read I Corinthians 1:18-31!! Receive it for yourself: “For the message [or word] of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…

For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer [debater] of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?…

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;…

But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh [First Adam, old sin nature], should glory in His presence…

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” Foolishness of men ‘void of the Word’ OR Victory through the Word because we “glory” only in the finished work of Christ “At The Cross” living a celebratory life because of His Resurrection from the dead?

How about for you an eternal shift by the grace of God to “Victory Through His Word”? In I John 5:4-5 John tells us: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. [Our trust in Christ, our relying upon Christ, our total dependence upon Christ, through His shed blood, His death, His Resurrection, His ascension, and His soon coming to celebrate with Him eternally!!] Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

I’m forever sorry and broken that ‘religious’ people will never see Jesus in heaven but only at the Judgment Seat as He tells them, “Depart from Me, you who work iniquity!!”

But “born of God”? Are you familiar with Galatians 1:15-16? “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…” What an awesome revelation!

Do you remember what Jesus said in John 5:38-40? “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

There are those who will “read” the Word without “resting” in its Author. There are professors of allegiance to the ‘paper’ of the Book but fail to possess its Author and His Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope! There are ‘historical verifiers’ without “blood-bought, redeemed hearts”! And certainly there are devoted legalists without the Person and heavenly love of the Lord.

The Holy Word tells us: 2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus…

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Have you been “made wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus alone”? What did Paul tell us in Romans 5:10? “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [“being”] saved by His life.” Have you forgotten “justified by His blood”?

The author of the Hebrews letter put it like this in Hebrews 9:11-14, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation…

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. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,…

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?”

If your life is not a testimony of continuous rejoicing in God for His forgiveness and, yes, forgetfulness of your old sin nature and your pattern and participation in fleshly sins, I believe I would seriously examine what I “thought” was my salvation and what God Himself “says” it is!

Hebrews 10:12-14 tells us, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool…

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Your sin became His “pain,’ your pain became His suffering, His suffering became your freedom, and your freedom became the theme of your praise to your true Savior and Lord! So you take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of your Lord and Savior may be manifested in and through you for an unbelieving world to see and seek!

Have you forgotten, overlooked, or never seen Paul’s word to us in Galatians 5:24? “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” so…Verse 25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Is it your daily ambition to honor Christ in your earthly walk?

I close this teaching with Oswald Chambers’ words: “Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.256].

AMEN?