CLOTHED IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST?”

July 25-26, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

And, Holy God WILL reserve punishment for the day of judgment as the “self-robed crowd” lives on thinking they’ve overcome ‘warped beliefs’ to live religiously independent of eternal truth! In 2 Peter 2:1-11 Peter wrote: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom THE WAY OF TRUTH WILL BE BLASPHEMED. By covetousness they will EXPLOIT YOU with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

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

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

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

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

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

“Religious robes of best efforts”? Have you any awareness and awakenings of the “do-gooders”, the “try-your-best-crowd”, the “strong debaters of self-justification in their ‘spiritual assemblies’(?)”, the “church attender who thrives on “self-justification” as he/she tries his/her best”, or the “religious elite”, like in Jesus’day when He confronted the religious ‘elite’ of Pharisaism or Judaism, experts at strict observance of temple practices, never understanding Christ’s desire to BE the Holy Presence within their personal temples, when in John 8 upon their response that they were Abraham’s children, Jesus said, in Verses 39-47, “IF you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.

Then they said to Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. YOU ARE OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, AND THE DESIRES OF YOUR FATHER YOU WANT TO DO.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

“Religious robes of best efforts” OR “Clothed in the righteousness of Christ”? In 2 Peter 1:1-4 Peter wrote: “To those who have obtained LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH with us BY the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue (manmade glory, manmade virtue?), by which HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO US exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A CHURCH’S, A PASTOR’S, A DISCIPLE’S

MINISTRY TO A LOST, NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD”

VERY ‘WEIGHTY,CONVICTING VERSES’ RESIDES IN JAMES I:26-27 WHERE THE BROTHER OF JESUS, JAMES, WROTE: “IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU,SEEM TO BE RELIGIOUS, AND BRIDLES NOT HIS TONGUE, BUT DECEIVES HIS OWN HEART, THIS MAN’S RELIGION IS VAIN. PURE RELIGION AND UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD AND THE FATHER IS THIS,..

TO VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.” THE BROTHER OF JESUS SAW A GREAT NEED, ‘THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION.’ THANK GOD FOR JAMES BECAUSE “HE SAW” A GREAT NEED AND INSTRUCTED DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO MEET THAT NEED! BUT IS THAT ALL THAT A CHURCH, A PASTOR, OR A DISCIPLE IS CALLED TO DO? “I DON’T THINK SO! I KNOW IT’S NOT ALL! DID JAMES REALLY SAY: “TRUE DISCIPLES ARE TO KEEP THEMSELVES UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD”?

BUT MULTITUDES ACROSS AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD WILL IGNORE “BLOOD ATONEMENT THRU’ CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION, IGNORE HIS RESURRECTION, DENY HIS PROMISE, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART AND I WILL COME IN!” BUT RATHER THAN REPENTING, INVITING JESUS IN, LETTING THE “HISTORIC CHRIST” BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU, MOST PROFESSORS OF FAITH IN CHRIST ‘PROFESS’ BUT THEY WANT ‘CHURCH MEMBERSHIP’ APART FROM “NEW BIRTH”!

IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 PAUL WROTE: “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 MADE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED IN ALL GOOD WORKS.” WHAT POWERFUL, CONVICTING, INSTRUCTIVE WORDS OF GOD TO EVERY DISCIPLE!

THE CONVERTED, POWERFUL, NATURAL FISHERMAN AND SPIRITUAL FISHERMAN,SIMON PETER, WROTE IN 2 PETER 1,FIRST,VERSES 3-4, “ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, “THROUGH” THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST WHO HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE: AND, WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT “BE” PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST”!

READ IN YOUR OWN BIBLE VERSES 5-7 BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THE FOLLOWING, VERSES 8-11, WHEN PETER,YES, ALSO INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WROTE: “FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, AND ABOUND,THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BUT HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, AND CANNOT SEE AFAR OFF, AND HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS.

WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN,GIVE DILIGENCE,TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE; FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.”

I’M SORRY IF IT ‘BOTHERS’ YOU THAT I SHARE SO MUCH SCRIPTURE WITH YOU, BUT I’M FULLY CONVINCED THAT YOU NEED GOD’S TRUTH MORE THAN MY THOUGHTS!

WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO READ IS GOD’S HOLY CALLING TO FAITHFUL DISCIPLES TO, YES, BE MISSION-MINDED MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD LITERALLY AND FAITHFULLY LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE IF NECESSARY TO SHARE THE EVANGELISTIC TRUTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE OF HIS SON! AND YOU?

SO…IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-31 WE READ EVERY TRUE DISCIPLE’S CALLING AND LIFE-IN-CHRIST’S MISSION AND MINISTRY!! IT SAYS: “FOR CHRIST SENT ME NOT 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 PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO US WHO ARE ‘BEING’ SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

FOR IT IS WRITTEN, I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. WHERE IS THE WISE?WHERE IS THE SCRIBE?WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD?HAS NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD?” (‘THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD’? THAT’S MEN WHO BELIEVE THE WORLD WAS MADE ‘FOR THEM’, NOT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE!).

VERSES 21-31 FOLLOWS: “FOR AFTER THAT IN THE WISDOM OF GOD THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD, IT PLEASED GOD BY THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE. FOR THE JEWS REQUIRE A SIGN, AND THE GREEKS SEEK AFTER WISDOM:(LET ME PAUSE &SAY,“FOOLISH AMERICANS, ASIANS,AFRICANS,EUROPEANS”?),VERSES 23-31!BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, UNTO THE JEWS A STUMBLING BLOCK, AND UNTO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ‘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,HOW THAT NOT MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH, NOT MANY MIGHTY, NOT MANY NOBLE, ARE CALLED;

BUT GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY; AND BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THINGS WHICH ARE DESPISED, HAS GOD CHOSEN,YES, AND THINGS WHICH ARE NOT, TO BRING TO NOTHING THINGS THAT ARE:THAT NO FLESH (OR OLD ‘SIN NATURE’) SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE. (YOU’RE AWARE,MAYBE,THAT EVERY BELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN,AND EVERY UNBELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN, WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF HOLY GOD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM ONE’S LACK OF FAITH OR ONE’S FULL TRUST IN THE BLOOD REDEMPTION SACRIFICE OF KING JESUS!!).

VERSES 30-31, “BUT OF HIM ARE “YOU” IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD (GET READY FOR THE FOLLOWING!!), “YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US (HIS) WISDOM, AND (HIS) RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND (HIS)SANCTIFICATION, AND (HIS) REDEMPTION: THAT, ACCORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN, “HE THAT GLORIES (IN LIFE’S JOURNEY), LET HIM/HER GLORY IN THE LORD”!!!

B.B.MCKINNEY,IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” OF 1940 (COPYRIGHTED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE,TENN.)WROTE THE HYMN “HE LIVES ON HIGH”(P.336) THAT SAYS: “CHRIST THE SAVIOR CAME FROM HEAVEN’S GLORY,TO REDEEM THE LOST FROM SIN AND SHAME; ON HIS BROW HE WORE THE THORN-CROWN GORY, AND UPON CALVARY HE TOOK MY BLAME.

HE AROSE FROM DEATH AND ALL ITS SORROW, TO DWELL IN THAT ‘LAND OF JOY AND LOVE’; HE IS COMING BACK SOME GLAD TOMORROW, AND HE’LL TAKE ALL HIS CHILDREN HOME ABOVE.

WEARY SOUL, TO JESUS COME CONFESSING, REDEMPTION FROM SIN HE OFFERS THEE; LOOK TO JESUS AND (SURRENDER?) AND RECEIVE A BLESSING, THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS JOY AND VICTORY .”

DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS “VICTORY IN JESUS” OVER THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH, A GOD-ORDAINED LAW? DOESN’T ROMANS 3:23 TELL US:”FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”? DARE I SAY IT? BELIEVE I WILL! “ARE YOU AWARE THAT SOME ‘PROFESSING BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, CHURCH MEMBERS’, SINCERELY BELIEVE THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL JESUS COMES THE SECOND TIME?” JESUS “CAME” AND HE STAYS IN THE HEARTS OF TRUE BELIEVERS, EXPRESSING HIMSELF,EXTENDING HIS LOVE, & PROVING HIS POWER – AND HE DOES IT, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS, CONVICTING, CONVERTING, TRANSFORMING,ESTABLISHING ANOTHER “TEMPLE” IN WHICH HE RESIDES, REMAINS, AND REACHES OUT THROUGH THEM TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM RULE IN MANY MORE HEARTS AND LIVES!

OH, THEN IN ROMANS 5:5 PAUL WROTE: “HOPE MAKES YOU NOT ASHAMED (ANY LONGER!MY TWO WORDS!); BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS GOD’S GIFT TO ALL TRUE BELIEVERS!!”

BUT YOU ARE AWARE OUR KNOWN WORLD IS ALSO FILLED WITH “RELIGIOUS SUBSTITUTIONS”, ‘THAT’ IN AND THROUGH WHICH RELIGIOUSLY DECEIVED MINDS WILL EXERCISE THEIR ‘REIGIOUS FEELINGS’ APART FROM CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, APART FROM CONVERTED TO “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” AND UPON CONVERSION, IN-FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED AS HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS”!

SO MANY CHOOSE NOTHING BUT “ME, MY, AND MINE”,OR SOME WILL ‘UNITE’ WITH, ‘LIAR-OLOGY’, ‘MYTH-OLOGY’, ‘FLESH-OLOGY’, ‘WORLD-RELIGIONS’ THEOLOGIES, ‘SELF-ORDAINED THEOLOGY’ – CHOOSING ‘MY CHOICE IS BETTER THAN GOD’S CHOICE, YOUR CHURCH’S CHOICE, OR THE FALSE CHOICES OF OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS’! “AS FOR ME? I’LL TRY TO BE THE BEST RELIGION-PARTICIPANT I CAN BE!” REALLY?

BUT IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-12 PAUL ENLIGHTENS US EVEN MORE AS HE WROTE: “AND LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE, THROUGH THE ABUNDANCE OF “REVELATIONS GIVEN TO ME”, THERE WAS GIVEN TO ME A THORN IN THE FLESH, THE MESSENGER OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME, LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE. FOR THIS THING, I BESOUGHT THE LORD THRICE, THAT IT MIGHT DEPART FROM ME. AND HE SAID UNTO ME, “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU: FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.

MOST GLADLY THEREFORE WILL I RATHER GLORY IN MY INFIRMITIES, THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES, IN REPROACHES, IN NECESSITIES, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DISTRESSES FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG.” WHY? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PROFESS THROUGH “BEST EFFORT” BUT “RESTS” IN JESUS’S BEST, & BECAUSE YOU “DIE DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH.”

IT’S TIME FOR YOU AS A ‘PROFESSING DISCIPLE’ TO ALLOW JESUS TO POSSESS YOUR BODY, HEART, AND MIND THROUGH WHICH HE LIVES OUT HIMSELF THROUGH YOU TO TOUCH THE WORLD AROUND YOU WITH HIS MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE.

I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER HYMN OUT OF THE BROADMAN HYMNAL, THE HYMNAL I QUOTED FROM EARLIER, BUT HERE IT’S A HYMN (P340)BY P.P.BLISS THAT SAYS:

“FREE FROM THE LAW (THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH?),O HAPPY CONDITION, JESUS HAS BLED, AND THERE IS REMISSION; CURSED BY THE LAW AND BRUISED BY THE FLL, GRACE HAS REDEEMED US ONCE FOR ALL.

NOW ARE WE FREE – THERE’S NO CONDEMNATION, JESUS PROVIDES A PERFECT SALVATION; “COME UNTO ME”, O HEAR HIS SWEET CALL, COME, AND HE SAVES US ONCE FOR ALL.

“CHILDREN OF GOD”, O glorious calling, surely his grace will keep us from Falling; passing from death to life at his call, blessed salvation once for all.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it; once for all,O brother, believe it; cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”

AT THE ETERNAL THRONE OF JUDGMENT AS GOD EXAMINES “YOU”, WILL IT BE, “I TRIED MY BEST”, OR: “I TRULY, WHOLE-HEARTEDILY, ONCE FOR HIM ONLY DO I “REST” THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, HIS REIGN IN ME, REJOICING DAILY IN HOPE!