By: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 12-13, 2017

Very interesting Verses in Titus 1:15-16 which says: “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they DENY HIM, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”

Would you be bold enough to say that behavior, aligning with the Holy Word or not, ‘fleshly works’ or Spirit-anointed servants, are easily identifiable by the “fruit” their walk produces? In Matthew 7:15-20 the Lord Jesus said: (Be assured as you read this passage that “false prophets” are representative of “sheep-professing godless lives”!),

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in ‘sheep’s clothing’, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

Oh, and then in Matthew 7:21, the Lord Jesus really exposes the, yes, visible difference between ‘shepherdless sheep’ and the ‘sheep’ birthed by the True Shepherd! Jesus said, “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!”

Godless lives and shepherdless sheep are confronted by their own consciences, the call of God to repentance and faith and they shut their ears, minds, and wills to God’s invitation and sacrificial provision, embracing their own ‘respectable goodness’ without any need of God’s “blood redemption”, and insisting that there is no need of being ‘sorry’ before Holy God, because they’ve done nothing to offend “your merciful God; so leave us unbelievers alone”!

Have you ever heard an ‘unbeliever’ say, “I have no desire for Jesus’ broken bread and poured out wine – my pious superiority and intellectual genius blocks out your Savior’s request of me – you and He don’t know who I am!” If the Lord Jesus says, “Trust in the Lord and His finished work at the Cross and the empty tomb and His present reign at the right hand of God as God sits on His throne,” what does the unbeliever say? “I’m OK – you’re OK; stand up for who you are and for what you do in the best effort of human flesh?”

Godless lives, shepherdless sheep, wandering unbelievers, will and do argue with God and His messengers, because they are bound to self-will, bound to self-pleasure, bound to their own ‘lordship’ with no desire to hear what Holy God DEMANDS! In fact, in 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned;” which reminds us of why early in His ministry the Lord Jesus in John 3:3 said to Nicodemus, “a religious leader of Judaism”, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” followed by Verses 5-6, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water 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.”

Is that the natural man ‘born of human flesh’, inheriting the spirit of the natural man, which is “I do as I please without any consideration of the God who made me, lost me, bought me with a price, but in my best mind I discern there was no reason for Christ Jesus to include me on the Cross because I’m a good man”? Yet the Holy Word declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” which tells me Almighty God wanted men in their free wills choosing, desiring, longing to be the man He desired for His fullness not their fleshly emptiness, His blessing not their sin-nature curse, His gift of everlasting life through the “Good News” of the Everlasting, Unending, Seeking Gospel not their ‘fleshly benefits’ as they saw them for themselves!

Here’s how Peter described “Guarded, Guided, Girded By The True Shepherd”: In 1 Peter 2:4-5 Peter illumines our minds and hearts saying: “Coming to Him (King Jesus) as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

He enlightened us more, and, yes, inspired us when in 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter wrote: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Oh, but then in 1 Peter 2:24-25, the Apostle identifies lives under the administration of the True Shepherd! He said:

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died TO sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Glory! Are YOU freed from the bondage of sin? Have YOU, yes, DIED TO YOUR OLD SIN NATURE? Have you been healed of your ‘sin disease’? Have you truly returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul? Do YOU see yourself as a member of the “holy priesthood”? Have YOU obtained mercy? Are YOU living daily fully aware of your presence in the Holy Place?

In Hebrews 10:19-23 we read: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, LET US DRAW NEAR WITH A TRUE HEART in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

That 19^th Verse ought to be a daily reminder of what Christ Jesus has done for us. And one thing is for sure: Christ Jesus is the Son of God, Emmanuel, or “God with us”, and yet He said, “I didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give My life a ransom for many.” So the true disciple does not live in pride or arrogance about ‘who I am’, in stodginess, about his/her spiritual relationship with Holy God, or in spiritual pettiness about what he/she does “for” Christ, but determined daily to be dead to self, but in my redeemed, blood-washed life in Christ, I choose to “let Jesus BE Jesus in me”, expressing Himself as only He can!

Are YOU guarded, guided, and girded by the True Shepherd? Guarded? In Genesis 24:27 the servant of the Lord said, “As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me…”! As your “guard” the Lord Jesus will never lead you away from the “straight and narrow” way – in fact, in His abiding presence in you He’s promised “never to leave you nor forsake you.”

But also in the community of faith, in the body of Christ, in the assembly of the saints, as fellow soldiers in the army of the Lord, we do have, (Yes!), the responsibility of looking out for one another! In Ezekiel 38:7 the Word tells us: “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; AND BE A GUARD FOR THEM.”

There have been times when I served as a pastor of local churches before my “missions ministry” overseas that I had to confront men, women, teenagers in churches I pastored to warn them of dangerous steps I saw them making that didn’t not line up with the Resurrected Christ they professed to be loyal to! It could cost you ‘friendships’ whether they were truly in the faith or not!

Guarding goes hand to hand with “guiding”! In Psalm 78:70-72 we read: “He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that had young He brought him, TO SHEPHERD JACON HIS PEOPLE, AND ISRAEL HIS INHERITANCE. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”

No doubt there are times when God’s people have been a disappointment to Him, but He has no desire to cast any away, and in Psalm 106:44, even when God’s wrath had been kindled against His own people, the Word tells us: “Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry.”

Hebrews 5:7-11 tells us about Jesus’ suffering yet guided to the Cross by our caring Father-God! The Word says: “…who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all WHO OBEY HIM, called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”

Jesus was “guided to the Cross” by Father-God – and there’s not one true child of faith who will be guided in any other way! Didn’t Jesus say, “Take up your cross and follow Me?” When did that change? Yes, YOU are “guided to take up the cross to your old life that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in your mortal flesh.” ARE YOU WILLFULLY, PURPOSEFULLY, DAILY TAKING THE SENTENCE OF DEATH UNTO YOUR OLD SELF SO CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOU?

“Guarded”? Are YOU? “GUIDED” by the Word and Spirit? Are YOU? If so, there is the grace of God’s GIRDING YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAITH, YOUR WALK, YOUR MINISTRY AND CALLING! I’m sure that there are many “professing” believers who, when they read Psalm 18:39, are shocked, and I pray alerted to all God desires to do in them, for them, through them, because of their maturing, growing faith in Him! The Word says, “For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” (Who rises up against you? Consider the world, your old sin nature, and Satan and his armies of ‘demon distracters’!).

And ALL of the “guarding”, the “guiding”, and the “girding” is because the psalmist went on to say in Psalm 18:46-50, “The Lord LIVES! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God who avenges me, and subdues the peoples under me; He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name. Great deliverance He gives to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and His descendants forevermore.”

In John 8:34-36 the beloved disciple wrote, Jesus speaking, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son (Son of God, the Promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel or “God with us”, Savior and Reigning Lord) makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Free from the law of sin and death, free from the bondage and slavery of godless men, nations, rulers of the flesh-nature, free from the chains of spiritual slavery that binds people, free from the deceptions of an unbelieving world, free from the masters of governmental rebellion against God nationally, statewide, or locally, free from the ‘masters’ in the world of fleshly deceptions, free from Satan’s lie that one can sin and not die, free from the deception of a good ‘in the flesh’ bloodline without a need of blood redemption, free from the curse of separation from Holy God!

And when we’re blood-bought as a result of Christ’s Cross-payment in our behalf as He suffered and bled and died in our place, and we repent and put our faith in what He did in our place, there is, by the Spirit, our birthing into the new, eternal Life in Christ! Our God, the giver of eternal gifts, yes, GIVES US the good and perfect gift from God, His Son and our Savior and Lord, and blesses us, and keeps on blessing us!

But one more great blessing from God through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior: He “Guarded” us, He “Guided” us, He “Girded” us, HE “Graced” us! And that amazing grace IS His gift of mercy! I remind you of Hebrews 2:9-10! It says: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, HIS OWN SPECIAL PEOPLE, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy BUT NOW HAVE OBTAINED MERCY.” But YOU have a ‘better way to live your life’ than be the vessel, the temple, the building housing Jesus’ Holy Presence?

From the old “American Hymnal” published in 1933 by The Broadman Press of Nashville, Tennessee, there’s a hymn entitled: “Hark, Ten Thousand Harps” that says:

“Hark, ten thousand harps and voices Sound the note of praise above! Jesus reigns, and Heaven rejoices, Jesus reigns, the God of love; See, He sits on yonder throne; Jesus rules the world alone, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!

Jesus, hail! Whose glory brightens All above, and gives it worth; Lord of life, Your smile enlightens, Cheers and charms Your saints on earth; When we think of love like Yours, Lord, we own Your love divine. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!

Savior, hasten Your appearing; Bring, O bring the glorious day, When the awful summons hearing, Heaven and earth shall pass away; Then with golden harps we’ll sing, “Glory, Glory to our King!” Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen!”

Are YOU in the “Amen” corner of praise, thanksgiving, and surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Have you prepared YOUR heart for eternity around His Sovereign Throne, ruling, still, in love, mercy, and grace? This just may be why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD.” Now, say “Amen” to God’s glory because, Yes, YOU are committed to honor Him as you yield to His Sovereign Reign through you!

There’s a very interesting verse of Scripture in 1 John 4:16 that, for me, heightens “remembrance”, which I believe should be a part of every man’s reflection upon his/her spiritual pilgrimage, or lack of it, because of the grace and mercy and love of God for ALL mankind –“God so loved the world!” It says: [The New Open Bible Edition, by Thomas Nelson Inc., 1990], “And we have known and believed [or trusted in, relied upon, adhered to, and, yes, reflect upon faithfully!] the love of God for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, AND GOD IN him!”

And I can only ask in beginning this teaching: “In your own life and spiritual pilgrimage, tell me about your journey to the Mountain of Remembrance and your reflection upon your journey as YOU “remember” what Holy God has done in and through others and in your own personal pilgrimage as Holy God unveils Himself in and through Christ as God’s ‘only Door” to reconciliation, restoration, re-birth into His ETERNAL INTENT for you and me before even the foundation of the heavens and the earth?”

AND, I SAY THIS EARLY IN THIS TEACHING, BECAUSE, SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME, THERE ARE THOSE WHO PROMOTE, ‘FORGET GOD AND THE SAVIOR’! In 3 John 9-11 we read: “I wrote to the church, but DIOTREPHES, WHO LOVES TO HAVE THE PREEMINENCE AMONG THEM, DOES NOT RECEIVE US. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren (the truly ‘born-again believers’) and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good (spiritually) is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.”

False messengers harp on one’s mind: “Forget God! Forget the PHONY BOOK CALLED THE BIBLE! FORGET WHAT ‘SPIRITUALLY-POVERTY-STRICKEN-PREACHERS AND BIBLE TEACHERS TELL YOU (!),” while faithful messengers remind and challenge you: “REMEMBER GOD’S WORD AND ETERNAL REVELATION – AND REMIND YOURSELF FAITHFULLY WHAT HE ASKS OF YOU,” because “Man does not live by (physical) bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!”

It’s evil to forget – it’s good and godly to “remember”! It’s evil to cast doubt on the Word of God – it’s good and holy to partake daily of the Word’s eternal nutrition! It’s evil to promote “my opinion” or assert “This is what I think” – it’s good and godly to “rest in God’s revealed revelation or His Holy Word”! It’s powerless and ‘self-destructive’ to settle into “This is what I think”, rather than, “THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS SAID!”

Don’t you rejoice when you read about Jeremiah saying in Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you,” and that’s “drawn you to Myself”?! ?

Two psalms I want to share with you as we journey: First, Psalm 20! It’s entitled in the NKJV “The Assurance of God’s Saving Work”, which I entitled “The Song of Confidence and Assurance”! It says: “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; ( and I pray, “Lord, forgive those who stand to preach and teach that to follow Christ is to be free from tribulation or trouble or heartaches or pain!”). May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; (And it is a day of trouble when the “Dream-Buster, the Devil” shows up at your door to defuse the explosive and energetic power of a dream, vision, or eternal reality from God of, yes, the Resurrection Life in you as he did with Jesus, thinking His death on the Cross was its ending, when we know Jesus had just begun His redemptive work! Resurrection was to come!). David went on:

May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion; May He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose.

We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord SAVES HIS ANOINTED; He will answer him from heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright. Save, Lord! May the King [King Jesus for you and me today!) answer us when we call.”[But you’re unsure, unbelieving, or even doubtful of the Name, King Jesus?].

But before we turn to the second Psalm, I think it’s very important for me to share 1 Peter 1 in its entirety!! It says: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocie, Asia, and Bithynia [that’s “scattered former Jews who’ve received “The Truth in Christ!”], elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. [Revelation 1:1-3!]. [AND, is the last time the last days of Judaism and Jerusalem when the city was destroyed in 70AD?].

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, (the righteous remnant), searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which have NOW been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things which angels desire to look into.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober [or ‘serious-minded’], and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy for I am holy.”

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.’”

And, I would say, if we have a redemptive remembrance of salvation in and through Christ alone, we have joined with Heaven’s Family in continual “remembrance of what God has done in us and for us through the finished work of Christ alone”!

Second Psalm? Psalm 21! It’s titled “Joy in the Salvation of the Lord”! It says: “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! [Just an insert here: Revelation 1:5-6! “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. [Amen, or “so be it!”].

You (God) have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life from You and You gave it to him – {AMEN?!?} – length of days forever and ever.

His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You have placed upon him.{“As Jesus is so are we in this world!”}. For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence (“Christ in YOU the hope of glory!”).

For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. [And as a result of that denial of and hatred for the sovereignty of God and His great mercy toward them?].

You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men.

For they intended evil against You; they devised a plot which they are not able to perform. Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces. Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power!”

How awesome do YOU find these two psalms of David, songs of “remembrance”? But their intent, from me in this teaching, is to touch the deepest cords of your heart and mind in true reflection and evaluation if YOU are as deeply moved, convicted, and TURNED truly to full surrender and awesome “remembrances yourself of what Holy God and the Holy Spirit have brought to full fruition in you concerning Christ Jesus as Savior, Lord, Master of your life, living within you, extending His love, expressing the fullness of His Life within you, and proving His power still reigns today – THROUGH YOU?” Follow, as we examine Jesus’ relationship with His early disciples and His intent through them AND US!

FIRST, “REMEMBER” THE CALL AND COMMAND TO REPENT! In Mark 6:7 Christ Jesus called the twelve “to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits,” and then in Verses 10-12, Jesus told them and us, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” So they went out and preached that people should repent.”

You’ll remember in Acts 2 that Peter obeyed and went out preaching, saying in Verse 36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” and the Word says that those who heard were cut to the heart, saying to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Verse 37, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

In Verses 38-39 of Acts 2 Peter said to them, “Repent, ( which means ‘confess’ and turn away from the old sin nature!) and let every one of you ( as a testimony) be baptized in the name (and honor of Christ alone) for (or because of His remission, forgiveness, cleansing of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. FOR THE PROMISE is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

As Paul the Apostle was writing to one of the churches He saw God raise up through Christ, he wrote in Ephesians 5:8-10, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”

“The Changed Life” book by Henry Drummond, published sometime between 1889 to 1893, is a powerful little quick-read! He began it with a statement by Aldous(?) Huxley that says: “I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a sort of clock and wound up every morning, I think I should instantly close the offer.”

Oh, but then Drummond made mention of the only Holy Redemptive Truth when he quoted Paul’s words in Romans 8:29, “For whom He (God) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren,” with my adding Verse 30! “Moreover whom He (God) predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Glory!

And repentant sinners become justified, sanctified, glorified “saints”, set apart to His honor and glory alone! But later, Drummond, (p.50), declared with biblically authority, “Today men are properly told to confess their sins and to ask forgiveness. But evangelists and pastors are forgetting to tell sinners to repent. Consequently this misinformed age imagines that it can continue in its old ways of life while adding Jesus as a personal Hell insurance for the world to come. Treasures on earth “and” treasures in Heaven. Who could turn down that bargain! Pleasures of sin “and” joys of eternity. That is a good deal! Sinners are not being saddened, as was the young ruler, to learn that they must turn from sin to have eternal life. Yet it is the “sine qua non” of the Gospel promises. Scripture always joins repentance AND remission of sins,” then affirming Truth from Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes his sins (AND SIN-NATURE!) shall have mercy.”

FIRST, THERE MUST BE AN AWARENESS OF, SORROW FOR THE REALITY THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS AND SIN-NATURES, AND WAS RESURRECTED THAT WE WHO REPENT MAY THEN “LIVE FOR, IN, AND THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION LIFE AND THAT ALONE”! Not religion, but a relationship; not a ‘trying, but a trusting’; not improved attempts at godliness by self-effort, but repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ through the Cross and Empty Tomb!

Isn’t this why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:9-11, “Yes, we had the sentence of death IN OURSELVES, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises from the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.” [Dare I say that I believe it was more than their financial support of Paul’s ministry, but the “gift” of willingness to share the Gospel with the lost and needy everywhere they went or where they knew Paul went to minister?].

But the still rampant, resistant, rebellious response to God’s call? Doesn’t Proverbs’ “wise man of wisdom” tell us, even in our modern-day world of much ‘intellectual and fleshly denial’, Proverbs 1: 24-33, the following? “Because I called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; BUT whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

Are we hearing and “remembering” God’s call to repent or does ‘the spirit of wandering away from His Word, His will, and His way’ have a ‘strangle-hold on our minds, wills, and emotions’ to the point God has to say to the spiritually deaf, blind, and ‘heartless’ toward God Himself, as Jeremiah described them in Jeremiah 14:10, hearing God Himself say: Thus says the Lord to this people: “Thus they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. THEREFORE the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins.” “Holy God, come today to modern-day America and ‘call out’ sinners to repent!”

In Proverbs 28:13 we read: “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses AND forsakes them will have mercy.”

SECOND, “REMEMBER” THE CALL TO MEDITATE, PONDER, AND TO FEED ON THE WORD OF GOD! In Psalm 63:1-5, as David was wandering in the wilderness, assaulted, and having to run from ungodly men, he SANG: “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.” I would urge you to personally and seriously examine Psalm 119! But let me whet your appetite related to true discipleship and the Word of God as your ‘daily food’! It says:

Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to Your word.” Psalm 119:11, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:24, “Your testimonies are my delight and my counselors.” Psalm 119: 28b, “Strengthen me according to Your word.”

Psalm 119:49, “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope.” And it continues to amaze, equip, and encourage one’s “feeding on the Word of God” when in Psalm 119:89 David said, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven,” saying also in Verse 92, “Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction,” adding in Verse 97, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

In Psalm 119:101-104 the author said (Spirit-enlightened!): “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, THAT I MAY KEEP YOUR WORD. I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”

Two other Psalm 119 words, and then we’ll move on: Psalm 119:105 says: “Your word, God, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Then, Psalm 119: 111, “Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” [Tell me: How many ‘church-folk’ do you know who are truly ‘faithful feeders’ on the Holy Word of God? Many says, “I’m saved, I know it – nothing else about the Bible concerns me!” Really?].

In Matthew 4:1-4 we read, Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become flesh.’ But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by (physical) bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

In John 6:53-58 the Lord Jesus declared to the ‘religious and self-serving Jews” the following: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven – not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

THIRD, “REMEMBER” THE TESTIMONY OF TRUE DISCIPLESHIP IS HOLDING ONTO IN FAITHFUL DEVOTION TO THE CHRIST WITHIN YOU! In Galatians 2:20-21a Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live(in old sinful flesh still living), 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. I do not set aside the grace of God…!” And dare I tell you that the grace of God is strong, enduring, and able to do in us even above all we ask or think!

In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

And I assure you that to live in and through God’s grace reveals to all ‘seekers’ and ‘settlers’ in the Kingdom of God in and through Christ knows the power, the blessing of bestowed grace and continual, faithful victory, because in Him we “are more than conquerors”!

Robert Robinson and John Wyeth wrote the old hymn entitled “Come, God’s Fount”, a hymn I grew up on through my childhood and teen years and into my adult life. It’s found in The American Hymnal, copy-righted by Robert H. Coleman in 1933, published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee,. It says:

“Come ‘Christ-Fount’ of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Your grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount – I’m fixed upon it – Mount of Your redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Your help I’m come; And I hope by Your good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Your goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to You; Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Your courts above.”

Dare I say: “And seal us in Your courts of heavenly power, grace, and love in the here and now”?

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?