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!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, October 26-27, 2017

Before we get to the major thrust of the message, “Imitation or Actualization?”, I sense the need to make you fully aware that there are unbelieving men and women across the world who have no shame that, yes, they are “enemies of God”! Unbelief IS the major calling card of many people who are content in the ‘darkness’ of their minds and hearts of no need of God – they are ‘sufficient’ in themselves and what they stand for and want to hold on to it!

You may not be familiar with the Pharoah of Egypt that Moses and Aaron confronted in Exodus 5:1 on appointment from Holy God. They told Pharoah, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” But in Verse 6 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.”

There are many ‘pharoahs’ across our known world who are staunch enemies of our loving, merciful, caring God! There are many ‘pharoahs’ who are so ‘self-mastered’ that to suggest submission and surrender to the Author of Life and His authority is to release from within resentment of, hatred for, and opposition to the King of kings even if it ushers in more and more of unbelief, and they’ll willfully “crucify the Christ” over and over, again and again, in their hearts and minds!

There IS ‘the counsel of the ungodly’, there ARE ‘paths of the sinners’ clearly marked out, and there are those who “sit in the seat of the scornful”, fully opposed to Divine, Eternal Truth! Around you are “the chaff which the wind WILL DRIVE AWAY,” with the way of the ungodly becoming a ‘wall of separation eternally’ because they refused to bow before the King of kings and Lord of lords, not fully surrendered to His good and perfect will for their lives but content with the “best” sinful flesh has to offer! There ARE highly intelligent individuals in man-made ‘philosophies’ who, for themselves, “have no need of God or your Savior”, and they are strong, at times even, vindictive in their responses, but they ARE THE ONES FOR WHOM CHRIST JESUS SHED HIS INNOCENT BLOOD ON THE CROSS FOR THEIR REDEMPTION AND RECONCILIATION, Jesus even knowing there would be those who turn from Him, not to Him!

Unbelievers, yes, are ‘savorless salt’, yet they sense the world around them can’t do without them, even though they themselves ‘drink’ the poisoned waters of their own intellectual philosophies! Unbelievers speak of “my good chosen lifestyle” but void of abiding peace with God and with his/her fellow man. Unbelievers choose life apart from the sacrificial nature of Christ as He willfully gave Himself to fulfill God’s perfect will; unbelievers live without divine, sacrificial love, lives without the foundation of true faith that lights the way in and through their dark world, and, certainly, for them, no true foundation to withstand life’s, at times, brutal storms; oh, and void of sustaining power against the world, one’s old sin nature, and Satan Himself!

Unbelievers are unaware they’ve been totally blinded by Satan and the powers of darkness; they are unaware of Heaven’s intent, and without knowing it, blinded to demonic intent through Satan’s ‘disciples’ – they are well-trained in the deceptions of darkness; and, in Luke 14:34-35, Jesus describes lives who know nothing of “salt’s intent”, who are not ‘fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out’! Consider that for a few moments before continuing!

Unbelievers ARE slaves to their old sin-natures, carnal in a man’s ‘self-will’, always “behaving like mere men” (1 Corinthians 3:3!), ‘natural men’ bound by what their sin-natures dictate! There are ‘unrighteous men and women’, and they do not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9), Paul then saying, 1 Corinthians 6:9b-11, “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, not thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.”

And true believers forsake the world, their old sin-nature, and the Satanic deceptions, yes, even willing to die for the “Eternal Truth”! Do you remember what Christ Jesus said to the ‘religious’ (?) scribes and Pharisees, products of the false teachings of Judaism in Matthew 23:2-5, self-appointed, and, yes, out to deceive true seekers and true believers? “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe AND DO, but do not do according to their works; FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT DO. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; BUT they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men.” [Do you understand? There’s no radiant life in the ‘scribes and Pharisees’ unveiling Christ but only unbelieving men ‘trying’ to religiously pump their ‘flesh’ up to an acceptable level before God’s eyes and feel themselves ‘superior’ even to ‘grace-birthed-disciples of Christ; in fact, they’ll see to it you’re crucified or banned from legitimate, fleshly lives like theirs !].

I was awed recently reading again Dallas Willard’s book “The Great Omission” where in it he wrote the following: (pps. 11-12), “Nothing less than life in the steps of Christ is adequate to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the drama of human redemption, deprives the hearer of life’s greatest opportunity, and abandons this present life to the evil powers of the age. The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plain. It is to see, in Helmet Thielicke’s words, that “the Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic ‘You ought’, but in the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of the ‘You may’.”

And I must ask! Do you understand “the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of ‘You may’”? Here’s how Paul explained it in Colossians 1 as he unveiled “the mystery”! He said in Verses 26-29, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints (that’s those set apart by God FOR the dwelling place of His earthly presence!). To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

That, my friends, is a “Wow Word!” It’s not you ‘trying your best’ to serve Jesus! He crucified your worst and your best, raising you up to be the temple of His Holy Presence, so that His Resurrection Life, His Resurrection Hope, and His Resurrection Power would be continually manifested in and throughout the ages through any life finished with its self but available to Him as the earthly abode of all He is and all He desires to do through them! Most ‘church folk’ are so in love with their own ‘Christian identity’ that Christ is shut out from being Himself in and through them, and a lost world around them never sees the Savior and Lord being Himself!

But, in Galatians 2:20-21a, Paul wrote: “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. I do not set aside the grace of God…”! I am an A.W. Tozer fan because his writings truly align with Biblical Truth! Many years ago Tozer wrote about, his “feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout evangelical Christian circles – the widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and that we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to,” adding that for one to profess that falsehood is to deny its tragic deception but heighten the Truth “that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures”, with Jesus speaking in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?”

Christ Jesus Himself declared that obedience to Him is not an option in the day of grace and mercy! In John 6:63-64 the Lord Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (that’s the best and the worst of all fallen mankind!) profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

He went on to say, because He knew there were some who professed, followed, but did not ‘believe’, AND they eventually did and eventually will betray Him! (Of course, there are those who say: “It happened with early disciples, but not in our day or our time or in our ‘assembly of believers’!” Really?). And John 6:66 then says: From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. (For you, how sad is that?).

You understand, I pray, that there is a natural world AND there is a spiritual world, the world of fallen humanity AND the spiritual world of the Kingdom of God, a world of ‘self-direction’ AND the world, the kingdom, the family of faith, trust, and obedience who give King Jesus His rightful place as Savior and Lord and Sovereign Administrator ushering in His Kingdom-Will in repentant, available vessels who accept “crucified with Christ” but through Redemptive Faith have become vessels, temples of His Holy Presence!

No doubt this is why the Lord Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”! Do you think this just might be why Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and truth”? Jesus said and still says, “You MUST be born again,” stating the reality of spiritual birthing through repentance toward God and faith alone in Christ’s “finished work” at the Cross AND through “His empty tomb” presence and living as intercessor at the right hand throne of Holy God!

In Colossians 2:11-15 Paul testifies, teaches, and trains true disciples in Truth! He said, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism (that’s the ‘baptism’ of crucifixion-death’!), in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Dare I tell you? Believe I will! “If you NOW don’t see yourself crucified with Christ, you and your old sin nature, then you are still captive of the world philosophies, satanic deception, and your own brainless, godless nature!”) – “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!”

Again, remind yourself of John 6:63! “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (your old sin-nature!) profits nothing.” To give you understanding, let me take you to 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 where Paul wrote, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

What does 1 Corinthians 2: 14 declare to us and, yes, witnessed by us in the spiritual blindness of many unbelievers? “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” which affirms Jesus’ words, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”, affirming, “You must be born again, born of the Spirit, for new life in Christ alone!”

But, having moved away from the initial statements about “unbelievers”, has there been clarity for you of the difference between “imitation” of the faith and the “actualization” of re-born, Spirit-birthed, “new creations” through their repentance toward God and, yes, faith alone in Christ’s redemptive work at the Cross, taking ‘natural mankind’ to be “crucified with Christ”, and aware of it, repented, and then “rested” in His Resurrection Presence? HEAR ME:

No more ‘knowledgeable’ awareness of the ‘good self’ substituted for God’s verdict of worthiness of the Cross alone, what one author called “an embarrassing encumbrance”, but, yes, now, the Bible confession, “it was for my sin, my sin nature, my devotion to ‘self’ rather than all-out allegiance to “God’s Way” that Christ Jesus willingly, lovingly, obediently, submitted Himself to God’s perfect will and Way, and in the willful laying down of His own life for the sin of all the world because of God the Father’s still great love for all of fallen humanity, enduring the Cross”!

I close with Jesus’ words in John 7:16-18! “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.”

And, I ask, WHAT DOES JESUS’ WORDS EXPLAIN OR EXPOSE IN YOUR TRUST IN HIM ALONE OR ARE YOU STILL LEANING ON YOUR SELF-CENTERED UNDERSTANDING AND EXPRESSION OF YOUR ‘RELIGION’ BUT NOT HIS TRUE SCRIPTURAL FAITH OF AN INTIMATE, LIFE-EXCHANGE THROUGH YOUR DEATH WITH HIM AT THE CROSS, ACCEPTING HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE AS YOUR HOPE ALONE – NOT ME, BUT CHRIST IN ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL GLORY?

HAVE YOU “DIED TO YOUR OWN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS”, NOW CONSCIOUSLY AWARE HE TOOK YOUR OLD SIN NATURE TO THE CROSS THAT IT MIGHT DIE WITH HIM, BUT THEN GLORIOUSLY RAISED UP TO BE HIS “MASTER-FILLED” “NEW CREATION”?

By: J.Farrell Fisher, Nov. 19-21, 2017

Interesting verses for your consideration in 1 Corinthians 15:44b-49 for Paul wrote saying: “…There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man,” telling us that true manhood IS the exact image, likeness, presence of Christ in His Resurrection Presence highlighted by the Holy Spirit who, yes, “guides us into all Truth”!

But “nutty-natured” unbelievers and pretenders of religious activity? In Titus 1:15-16 Paul enlightened a young disciple named Titus, telling Him, “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.” Are “nutty natured” people ‘defiled’ because they do not possess the nature and character of the Resurrected Christ? Does ‘unbelieving’ describe the atheist, the agnostic, the unbelieving, or the pretender?

Oh, but then look at Paul’s words in Titus 2:11-15! He said, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, TEACHING US that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Dare I say it? I believe I will! “It’s a ‘nutty-natured’ individual that denies the need of the “Blood Redemption” in and through Christ alone! Impure hearts deny the need of a “Redeemer”! Self-pride and love of their fallen sin-natures easily identifies ‘unbelievers’! There are those among men who live selfishly to be admired by ‘world-captured, sin-bound men, and Satan himself’, and this because they are ‘lovers of themselves’ and not God, ‘lovers of money’ rather than Truth treasures, they are boastful, fleshly proud, blasphemers of biblical truths and those who stand for Truth, being unloving, unforgiving, unholy, easily slanderous, void of self-control, at times ‘brutal’, especially some ungodly ‘bosses’, resentful of the good, easily even a traitor to friendship, vows, or oaths, headstrong rather than heart-strong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, some even possessing ‘a form of godliness’ but deny its power, resisters of Truth, corrupt in the mind AND heart, bankrupt of any faith but experts in what God calls foolishness! (Be sure you check that very last statement out!)

Tell me: “Lately, have you heard preachers, teachers, religious leaders, even disciples, talking about God’s JUDGMENTS when He sends ‘the mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance of those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the glory of His power’?” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Sadly, it’s not only unbelievers we ought to be concerned about but also the uninformed, who’ve never seen, sensed, or heard one word of truth about the need of the Savior and Lord! Who is accountable for that situation?

Even as ancient, early men sought to live apart from God, even today there are those who live under a ‘cloud’ of indifference and unbelief because there still are recurring tides and strong waves of encroachment against the Author and Finisher of eternal salvation. Many men are, yes, obstinate to God and His will, His Word, and His way! ‘Self-willed individuals’, cemented and set in their own ambitions and fleshly, even religious desires, will, like the ‘religious Pharisees’ of Jesus day, live today to deny, reject, cloud over, and darken anyone’s attempts at turning them to “revealed Truth”, yes, even to King Jesus, the Promised Messiah!

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ really laid out heavenly concerns, biblical heartaches, and personal examinations for all life situations, believers or unbelievers! In Mark 4:13-20 Jesus declared a Word you must have understanding about! He said: And Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. BUT these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” From this parable do YOU gain understanding about “Nutty Natures” or “New Minds”?

“Nutty Natures”? That’s not only the “stars” of flesh achievement but also the “slow minded” who have no confidence at all in what it truly means to have ‘faith’ in God – both intuitively knowing, yes, ‘there is God for sure’, and they are sovereignly designed for Him but with a ‘free will to choose’ their sinfulness, their ‘shallow’ minds, and their devotion to “natural individuality”, blinding most unbelievers because they take great pleasure in satisfying their ‘tyranny of fleshliness’ with no concern for reconciliation to Holy God!

In 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 we read: “DO NOT BE DECEIVED: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’ Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame,” and Paul was writing to the church in Corinth!

Oswald Chambers had Spirit-instilled understanding when in “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.59) he wrote: “If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept (what) the light (exposes), and He will put it right. A child of the light confesses instantly and stands bared before God; a child of darkness says – “Oh, I can explain that away.” When once the light breaks and the conviction of wrong comes, be a child of the light, and confess, and God will deal with what is wrong; if you vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of darkness.” WOW!

In 2 Chronicles 14:9-12 Zerah marched out against (God’s people) with a vast army…(As God’s people or God’s person of faith, do YOU know about “the enemy” that comes against you and your faith?). Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in Your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man (the world, the flesh, the demons, or Satan!) prevail against you.”…and The LORD struck down the Cushites.”

I don’t know who wrote the following, but it is so true! “We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit blows and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.”

And the task in you is accepting ‘the light’ the Spirit brings, exposing in you, what He needs to make right, IF you will let Him! But ‘self-effort’ of correcting ‘sin’ always fails, but The Holy Spirit convicts, convinces, yes, and corrects what He knows only He can eternally correct what is opposite the nature and character of Holy God!

The New Living Translation of 1 Samuel 17:45-47 tells us: David shouted to Goliath, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head…And everyone will know that the LORD does not need weapons to rescue His people. It is His battle, not ours. The LORD will give you to us.”

I know you’ve heard of “prayer warriors”, but I’ve wondered at times if they are also truly “trusting warriors”! Are you aware that “big ships” don’t leave shorelines at low tides? And could we say that “big believers” (which all are who are truly “born again”) are those who don’t trust themselves but are those who yield to “High-Tide, Holy God” as He says, “I’m able to handle your warring enemy – give Me My place in your “low-tide moment” – I can take care of you and defeat your Enemy of darkness, deceit, and devilishness!!” No doubt this is why Paul wrote: (Galatians 2:20b-21a), “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 the better translation of “faith IN THE SON OF GOD”, what about “the faith OF THE SON OF GOD”? Oswald Chambers wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest”, p.58], “This faith is not Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith that the Son of God has imparted to him “the faith OF the Son of God”. It is no longer faith in faith, but faith which has overleapt all conscious bounds, the identical faith OF the Son of God.” AMEN?

“Nutty Natures OR New Minds”? Do I dare to say that there are those “New Minds” that displace the Resurrected Christ within them for moments, days, weeks, and years for “illusions of a self-conscious ability of self-improvement in the faith” for “Christ in you the hope of glory”? Of course it happens! Immature, young disciples, at times, betray their ‘saving faith’ for a “best-effort” mentality that they ‘think’ will free them when it’s not emancipating but enslaving them to one’s old sin-nature! Is that the ‘ancient, rampant individualism’ of the Pharoahs of the past who saw no need for the True God because they’ve invented their own or, yes, ‘determined believers today’ who are deceived they can live “Christ-like” without the Christ!

“Nutty Natures OR New Minds”? Does ‘religious thinking’ define “new-born sons and daughters”? I don’t think so! ‘Religious thinking’ apart from Holy Spirit conviction and Holy Spirit conversion leads to the establishment of ‘false religions’, even much of modern-day ‘Christian’ (?) thinking! Societal secularization can, and often is, birthing ‘false faiths’ and, yes, birthing enemies of the crucified and resurrected Christ Jesus!

David F. Wells, in his book, “No Place For Truth”, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Mich. (1993),p.84) wrote: “Amid the peals of freedom, there are the modern thunderclaps of damnation.” In Psalm 87:7, didn’t the singers sing, “All my springs (my fresh springs) are in You, God”? Best-effort in Christian living is a contaminated spring – if you are His, you were “crucified with Christ”, and any hope you have for victorious living in the Faith is when daily you take the sentence of death to yourself that His Resurrection Presence be manifested in your mortal flesh – that’s Jesus being Jesus “in YOU!” “New Minds!!” How?

From the world, the flesh, or demonic bondage of darkness to the Kingdom of Life in the Lord of Light AND to the Victor over darkness and spiritual death in and through and by the Lamb’s shed blood…

From the temporal, outward beauty and pleasure of the flesh-nature-indulgence to the gift, the blessing, and the power of His Resurrection Life in one being “born again”, “born the second time by repentance and faith,” and “born again by the power of the Promised Holy Spirit who came and still comes”!!

From the darkness of the soul’s night to the Day of the Savior’s Light, from the bondage of slavery to the nature of sin and death under the devil’s and demons control TO the freedom of liberty and LIGHT and everlasting love, crucifying the soul’s drought of faith, and by the Holy Spirit giving the gift of eternal life!

From the seizure of sin, ‘self-paralysis’, and soul death to the Savior’s healing grace and “New Life’s giftings”, including a “new creation”, a “new garment of eternal righteousness”, “NEW FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT”, a “new name”, a “new heart”, a “new testimony of a re-born life”, a “new and living way”, a “new name written down and recorded in glory for even angels to rejoice in”!

It was E.Edwin Young and Gypsy Smith who wrote the old hymn, “Jesus, Revealed in Me”, (Copyrighted in 1931 and printed in London, England). It says: “Christ, the Transforming Light, Touches this heart of mine, Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory shine.

Here, Lord, I bring my heart, My love, my strength, my will; Cleanse me in every part, With all Your Spirit fill.

Life is no longer mine, I yield it all to Thee; Fill me that I may shine Until Your face I see. Triumphant peace is mine, Now Jesus reigns within; He gives joy divine, And victory over sin.

Oh, to reflect His grace, Causing the world to see, Love that will glow Till others shall know Jesus, revealed in me.”

In Psalm 16:8-9 David came to a clear, convicting, consecrating understanding of “New Minds” rather than “Nutty Minds”! He wrote: “I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.”

One of the Verses of the old hymn, “A Child of the King”, written by Hattie E. Buell and Rev. John B. Summer, says: “I once was an outcast stranger on earth, A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth; But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down, An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown…I’m a child of the King, A child of the King; With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.”

I don’t know of a better word in closing: “Nutty Natures or New Minds”!! Amen?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV.2-4, 2018

“Pathetic Decisions?” “There IS NO GOD! And even if there is, I don’t choose to walk with Him – ‘I’m OK without your God saying, “Follow Me!”’

“Pathetic Decisions?” “You may profess, confess, and follow your Savior – but for me, I follow what my fleshly instincts tell me to follow; I don’t need your God, and I don’t need your “Savior”; I’m ‘lord’ and ‘god’ and ‘ruler’ and ‘savior’ under my own self-chosen, self-governing, self-indulging administration! I don’t need to be ‘ruled’ by another, even your God!!”

“Pathetic Decisions?” “Stubborn-hearted is the way I was raised – I don’t need your God telling me to ‘follow Me’ – I’m able to discern for myself the ‘paths’ upon which I choose to walk, and your ‘Bible-path’ is not my choice.”

“Pathetic decisions?” Have you noticed the paths most unbelievers follow, like, “trusting in their mind and heart wickedness”, “warring against Biblical Truth and the compassionate, merciful, caring Savior and Lord”, “given over to fleshly pleasures with no desire to even hear of God’s Amazing Grace”, “living ‘enchanted’ by godless education, ‘bound and bruised’ intentionally by worldly minds and hearts-of diseased professors and teachers, both diseased and blinded, yes, by the powers of darkness under Satan’s management, yes, living ‘stubborn-hearted’ against the grace, mercy, and love of Holy God”?!?

“Pathetic Decisions?” “I choose my ‘idols’, my ‘flesh, sin-natured choices’, my ‘devil-inspired disillusionments’ of anything ‘religious or heavenly’, my ‘willful choice to rule my life under my self-imposed authority’– no need of ‘God-interference’ or ‘your God on the throne of my heart – I’m more than able to satisfy any spiritual urges I may have, certainly knowing your God could never match the fleshly rewards I choose for myself!’” Really?

“Pathetic Decisions?” How aware are you that far too many people of the ‘natural bent’, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “do not receive the things of the Spirit of God”, seeing ‘the things of God as foolishness to them’, not understanding, desiring, or receiving the gift of God of receiving “spiritual discernment through His gracious gift of the Holy Spirit to guide you into all Truth”? As a result far too many choose to live as “mere men” void of “the mind of Christ”, yet thinking they could instruct God if He’d listen to them!

“Pathetic Decisions?” How many do you know who choose to ‘build’ their lives without, yes, the firm foundation of Christ alone, His gold, His silver, His precious Stone, but choose wood, hay, and stubble, worked up by ‘self-effort’, and when the ‘storms of life come’, they are so easily tossed around, yes, ‘blown away’ by demonic deception?

“Pathetic Decisions?” Is THAT “guided by worldly wisdom”? Examine 1 Corinthians 3:18-20! “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a ‘fool’ that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”, and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

“Pathetic Decisions?” How moved are you in your mind, heart, and walk as a disciple of Christ Jesus when in Matthew 18:11 Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to save that which is lost”? “Lost”? “Alienated, separated from the God who made you, lost you, but bought you with a price (His own shed blood at Calvary), but you CHOOSE to walk independently without Him as your Lord, your Savior, and the Master of your life-walk in the here and now, and then into the eternal realm after your death – you’ll just ‘walk alone’, independent of any need of His love, grace, and mercy?”

“Pathetic Decisions?” You had rather be ‘leveraged by Satan’ than be truly liberated by Christ eternally? You’d rather be “cast down to hell, delivered into chains of darkness, reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4) than to be, yes, freed from ‘demonic bondage’ and ‘fleshly indulgence’ that separates you from Holy God ‘in Christ’?

“Pathetic Decisions?” Have you ever seen, been confronted by, or fully awakened to the “sickly and deathly fruit” from, yes, “the law of sin and its state of spiritual death”, its alienation and separation from Holy God and His eternal purpose for your life in the here and now, and then, because of that stupid choice, thrust into the wide, open doors of entrance to Satan’s eternal prison?

“Pathetic Decisions?” Consider one, rejecting the wisdom of the Word of God, then CHOOSING “fleshly, sin-indulging, ‘investment-wisdom’(?) in how best to satisfy the Satanic, worldly, ‘old-man-fallen-away from God passions’, continually resulting in more and more waves of spiritual bankruptcies, majoring on ‘cheap-life-investment’ apart from yielding to Holy God’s knocking on their heart’s door, accepting life-bankruptcy as their chosen door of opportunity in satisfying ‘fleshly lust and leanings’ instead of the Indwelling, Victorious, Reigning Christ!

“Pathetic Decisions?” That’s a life-long journey of willful, flesh-honoring ‘Spirit-repression’, ‘Spirit-neglect’, ‘Spirit-absence by fleshly choice’, a life birthed in the ‘Adam-nature’ continuing to breed spiritual death and separation from the God who, yes, lovingly knocked on their hearts’ doors, choosing the pollutions of Godless lives, satisfied as ‘slaves of corruption, indecency, and self-rule’, bound stronger by the whims of self and Satanic governing, entangled in the chains of a world denying your need of God, darkened by, yes, the ‘spirit of darkness’ that desires you to remain in your present ‘state of life’ blinded to the eternal, only hope you have: surrendered to the Lordship of Christ alone!

“Pathetic Decisions?” That’s “choosing the way of a ‘dog’ that faithfully turns to his/her own vomit, or like a fat, sassy sow, wallowing in his/her mire”! I think Peter talked once about folks who are “led away, astray, with the error of the wicked”, rather than receiving, resting in, the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! (2 Peter 3:17-18).

But rather than “pathetic decisions”, why not CHOOSE NOW TO RECEIVE HOLY GOD’S DIVINE, ETERNAL, LIFE-CHANGING, EVER-FAITHFUL DIVINE, SCRIPTURAL PROMISES? In Ephesians 6:10-20 Paul instructed true disciples then and true disciples now, saying: “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, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

BUT…are you witnessing, observing, sadly seeing, many believers who rather than “resting” in Christ’s Victorious Conquest, yes, over the world, your failing, fallen flesh, and Hell’s deceitful, darkening, destructive demons, are choosing rather to be blinded to sometimes, or are blinded willfully most times in true allegiance to the demons, not heaven’s angels, seeking to travel on both the ‘low road’ and the ‘high road’, compromising the fallen flesh rather than walking in Spirit-power, with greater allegiance to that old man of flesh rather than choosing consistently the “new man’s victorious armor”, yes, the inner presence of the Resurrected Christ, the witness of a Paul who said often, “I choose death to my old man daily that Christ’s Resurrection Presence might reign supremely through me as I willfully choose His promise, ‘I’ll never leave you nor forsake you!’” THAT PROMISE STILL STANDS!!!

SO….CHOOSE THE GRIP OF GRACE, NOT THE ‘BEST EFFORT’ OF A DECEIVED BELIEVER! Do YOU understand that Psalm 68:18 is a prophetic word from David about Christ Jesus’s amazing work on the Cross and through His empty tomb, raised up as your Conqueror over sin and death? “He (Christ Jesus) led captivity captive”? In his book, “Can Man Live Without God?”, (Chapter 16, p.174), Ravi Zacharias used a quote of James Stewart in Stewart’s book, “The Strong Name,” (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972,p.55), that says:

“It is a glorious phrase – “He led captivity captive.” The very triumphs of His foes, it means, He used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to subserve His ends, not theirs. They nailed Him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to His feet. They gave Him a cross, not guessing that He would make it a throne. They flung Him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King come in. They thought to root out His doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy. They thought they had God with His back to the wall, pinned and helpless and defeated; they did not know that it was God Himself who had tracked them down. He did not conquer “in spite of” the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.” Glory Be To the Father, and to the Son, and To the Holy Spirit – the marvelous, eternal Victors – the Three in One!!

Apart from God’s Eternal Gospel, YOU choose for yourself, the “best effort” of human flesh? Apart from the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, YOU choose the “myth” that God accepts all who “try” without an ounce of the blessing of “trusting” the finished work of Christ at the Cross and through His empty tomb and His promise, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.” Also, Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest,”, (p.105), wrote: “As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and luxurious prospects will open before you, and these things are yours by right; but if you are living the life of faith you will experience your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith, but if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and let God choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed into the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.”

“He LED captivity captive”, and as a redeemed believer daily takes the sentence of death to self, he/she allows the “Christ in you [to BE] your hope of glory”, and he/she therefore yields to His abiding presence within them to be Himself expressing gloriously His divine nature, His eternal character, and His never-fading power over sin, over death, and, yes, over Satan’s devilish ways, unveiling the Abiding Presence in YOU of the “Conquering King” over sin, over Satan, over the ‘foreign world spirit’ of no need of God, but willfully allowing Jesus in you to supremely reign over self, over sin, over Satan, and over opposing ‘world forces’ in opposition to the Resurrected,Reigning,Savior and Lord! Amen? ARE YOU CHOOSING DAILY YOUR “VICTORY IN JESUS?”

WITH “THE SAVIOR”?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 5-6, 2019

IT MIGHT BE EASIER TO SAY, ‘DANCING WITH SIN’ WHICH ALL MEN HAVE DONE & SOME STILL DO, “OR”, A “DALLIANCE WITH SIN” WHICH SOME ‘CHOOSE’ TO CALL IT WITH THE WORD ‘DALLIANCE’ IN “THE RANDOM HOUSE COLLEGE DICTIONARY” OF 1973 DEFINING ‘DALLIANCE’ AS “A TRIFLING AWAY OF TIME;DAWDLING, AMOROUS TOYING, FLIRTATION.” THAT WORD MAY NOT FULLY DESCRIBE THE SERIOUSNESS OF A ‘SIN-INDULGER’, BUT SADLY THE WORD IS ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE HOW EASILY THE ‘SIN-NATURE’ HIDES ITSELF IN ITS OWNER!

SOME SEE IT AS A ‘SPORT’ RATHER THAN WHO OR WHAT THEY INDULGE IN REGULARLY; OTHERS DECEIVE THEMSELVES IN DEFIANCE TO THE “LAWS OF GOD”, LIKE “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY”; BUT IF ONE DOESN’T CARE WHAT GOD SAYS, HE/SHE CONTINUES IN “SELF-WORSHIP” & “SELF-PLEASURE” CONSIDERING, “I AM WHO I AM, DOING AS I PLEASE!” A ‘DALLIANCER’ STRUTS PROUDLY BEFORE HOLY GOD UNASHAMED OF HIS WORLDLY, FLESHLY, SATAN-INSPIRED RENDEVOUS WITH ‘DEADLY INDULGENCE’!

‘A DALLIANCE WITH SIN’? DOES IT HAVE CONSEQUENCES? FOLLOW PETER IN THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD IN 2 PETER 2:9-22!! IT’S SERIOUS & SOVEREIGNLY UNVEILING BY HOLY GOD WHO INSPIRED PETER TO WRITE IT!!! “THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER THE GODLY OUT OF TEMPTATIONS, & TO RESERVE THE UNJUST UNTO THE DAY OF JUDGMENT TO BE PUNISHED; BUT CHIEFLY THEM THAT ‘WALK AFTER THE FLESH’ (OR OLD SIN-NATURE!) IN THE LUST OF UNCLEANNESS, & DESPISE GOVERNMENT. PRESUMPTUOUS ARE THEY, SELF-WILLED; THEY ARE NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNATARIES. WHEREAS ANGELS, WHICH ARE GREATER IN POWER & MIGHT, BRING NOT RAILING ACCUSATION AGAINST THEM BEFORE THE LORD.

BUT THESE, AS NATURAL BRUTE BEASTS, MADE TO BE TAKEN & DESTROYED, SPEAK EVIL OF THE THINGS THAT THEY UNDERSTAND NOT; & SHALL UTTERLY PERISH IN THEIR OWN CORRUPTION; & SHALL “RECEIVE THE WAGES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS”,AS THEY THAT COUNT IT PLEASURE TO RIOT IN THE DAY TIME. SPOTS THEY ARE & BLEMISHES, SPORTING THEMSELVES WITH THEIR OWN DECEIVINGS, WHILE THEY FEST WITH YOU: HAVING EYES FULL OF ADULTERY, & THAT CANNOT CEASE FROM SIN; BEGUILING,UNSTABLE SOULS:AN HEART THEY HAVE EXERCISED WITH COVETOUS PRACTICES; CURSED CHILDREN; WHICH HAVE FORSAKEN THE RIGHT WAY, & ARE GONE ASTRAY, FOLLOWING THE WAY OF BALAAM THE SON OF BOSOR, WHO LOVED THE WAGES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS;

BUT WAS REBUKED FOR HIS INIQUITY; THE DUMB ASS SPEAKING WITH MAN’S VOICE FORBAD THE MADNESS OF THE PROPHET. THESE ARE WELLS WITHOUT WATER, CLOUDS THAT ARE CARRIED WITH A TEMPEST; TO WHOM THE MIST OF DARKNESS IS RESERVED FOR EVER. FOR WHEN THEY SPEAK GREAT SWELLING WORDS OF VANITY, THEY ALLURE THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH, THROUGH MUCH WANTONNESS, THOSE THAT WERE CLEAN ESCAPED FROM THEM WHO LIVE IN ERROR. WHILE THEY PROMISE THEM LIBERTY, THEY THEMSELVES ARE THE SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION; FOR OF WHOM A MAN IS OVERCOME, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE.

FOR IF AFTER THEY HAVE ESCAPED THE POLLUTIONS OF THE WORLD THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, THEY ARE AGAIN ENTANGLED THEREIN, & OVERCOME, THE LATTER END IS WORSE WITH THEM THAN THE BEGINNING. FOR IT HAD BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAN, AFTER THEY HAVE KNOWN IT, TO TURN FROM THE HOLY COMMANDMENT DELIVERED UNTO THEM. BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB, THE ‘DOG’ IS TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN; & THE SOW THAT WAS WASHED TO HER WALLOWING IN THE MIRE.” HOW SERIOUS, HOW SAD, HOW SCARY DO YOU FIND THOSE WORDS? “A DALLIANCE WITH SIN?”

IN LUKE 11:34 JESUS SAID, “THE LIGHT OF THE BODY IS THE EYE; THEREFORE WHEN YOUR EYE IS SINGLE, YOUR WHOLE BODY IS FULL OF LIGHT; BUT WHEN YOUR EYE IS EVIL, YOUR WHOLE BODY ALSO IS FULL OF DARKNESS.” ARE ‘YOU’ DOUBLE-EYED OR SINGLE-EYED? DO YOU SEE YOUR VIEW OF SELF & YOUR WORLD FROM ONLY YOUR POINT OF VIEW OR HAVE YOU ALLOWED HOLY GOD TO SOLVE THE ‘DOUBLE-EYED SPIRITUAL STUPIDITY’? IS YOUR ‘LIFE’ THE “DEW-NITED-STATES OF THE USA” SOAKEN ‘WET’ WITH THE SATANIC MOISTURE OF ‘SELF-INDULGENCE’? HOW MANY DO YOU KNOW WHO ARE “ANCIENT IN UNBELIEF” OR “AGED IN BONDAGE TO SIN” LIKE THE WORLD, THE FLESH-NATURE, OR SATAN HIMSELF?

‘FLESH-AMBITION’, ‘SIN-NATURE ENSLAVED’, ‘WORLDLY DECEIVED’, OR ‘SATANICALLY BLINDED’ TO THE WORD, THE WILL, THE WAY OF HOLY GOD IN & THROUGH CHRIST ALONE THROUGH HIS SHED BLOOD, THE CRUEL CROSS, & THE HISTORIC BURIAL,THEN RESURRECTION AFTER THREE DAYS IN THE BORROWED TOMB, PRESENTLY RULING & REIGNING AT THE RIGHT-HAND-THRONE OF ALMIGHTY GOD, &, YES, STILL KNOCKING ON THE HEARTS’ DOORS OF ALL MEN IN ALL THE WORLD, YES, ASKING, “OPEN TO ME & I’LL COME IN” – & IF “YOU” DO, YOU’RE INVOLVED IN ETERNAL BLESSINGS BY MERCIFUL GOD WHO “GAVE HIS OWN SON FOR THE CRUEL CRUCIFIXION” IN ORDER TO DELIVER US FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN & DEATH & SLAVERY TO SATANIC CONTROL & BLINDED WITH A FALLEN WORLD’S MISCONCEPTION OF WHAT “LIFE” HERE IS ALL ABOUT!!! THERE ARE THOSE WHO WANT “MY WORLD, FOR MY SELF, ACCORDING TO MY MIND, HEART, & FLESHLY AMBITION – NOT THE WILL OF SOME FOREIGN GOD!” THAT IS “FALLEN AWAY”!! THAT IS “BLINDED TO THE LOVE OF GOD”!! THAT IS “DECEIVED BY THE POWERS OF DARKNESS” & “LURED INTO THE WORLD OF UNBELIEF, THE WORLD OF SELF-INDULGENCE, & THE WORLD OF SATAN’S CONTROL”!! WHERE & WITH WHOM ARE YOU LIVING & WHAT IS YOUR STYLE OF WORSHIP & BELIEF?

IN THE “AMAC MAGAZINE” (MAY/JUNE 2019) IS AN ADVERTISEMENT ABOUT DAVID HOROWITZ’S BOOK, “DARK AGENDA: THE WAR TO DESTROY CHRISTIAN AMERICA.” THOUGH JEWISH, HOROWITZ EXPOSES, YES, A WAR AGAINST CHRISTIANS WITH THE AIM OF ELIMINATING ANYTHING ‘CHRISTIAN’ IN AMERICA! (EXCUSE ME, BUT I THINK AMAC’S INTRODUCTION OF HOROWITZ IS VITALLY IMPORTANT!). HERE GOES: “DARK AGENDA:THE WAR TO DESTROY CHRISTIAN AMERICA,” IS DAVID HOROWITZ’S EXTRRAORDINARY LOOK INTO THE LEFT’S CALCULATED EFFORTS TO CREATE A GODLESS, HEATHEN AMERICAN SOCIETY. HE ARGUES THAT EVEN JEWS – & ANYONE WHO BELIEVES IN GOD-WILL BE IN DANGER IF CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PROTECTED. HOROWITZ IS A “NEW YORK TIMES” BESTSELLING AUTHOR & LEADING CONSERVATIVE THINKER. HOROWITZ ARGUES THAT JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES ARE AT THE VERY ROOT OF AMERICA’S DEMOCRACY & SUCCESS. KILL OFF SUCH VALUES & ALL OUR FREEDOMS COULD PERISH. EVERYBODY COULD BE IN DANGER….!!.”DARK AGENDA” BRINGS VITAL INSIGHTS INTO THE WAR AGAINST CHRISTIANITY & NAMES THE GLOBAL RADICALS, LEFTISTS DEMOCRATES, & FAT CATS OF HOLLYWOOD & WALL STREET RESPONSIBLE FOR IT. FINALLY, A CLEAR & SENSIBLE AMERICAN VOICE –ONE THAT IS JEWISH, THAT MAKES AN IMPASSIONED PLEA WARNING OF THE GRAVE DANGER TO OUR FREEDOMS & OUR VERY LIVES IF WE LET THE SECULARISTS WIN & CHRISTIANITY IS DESTROYED.” “A DALLIANCE WITH SIN”?

IN MARK 13 YOU’LL FIND AN AMAZING, ASTONISHING, ACCURATE UNVEILING OF THIS “DALLIANCE WITH SIN OR ONE’S DESTINY IN & THROUGH CHRIST JESUS”!!! IN VERSES 5-26 YOU’LL FIND MULTIPLE ENLIGHTMENTS BOTH TRAGIC & TRUTHFULLY TRIUMPHANT! JESUS SPOKE FIRST OF FALSE CHRISTS IN VERSES 5-6, SECONDLY HE ENLIGHTENS ABOUT ‘WARS’ IN VERSES 7-8, THIRDLY, HE SPEAKS ABOUT PERSECUTIONS, VERSES 9-13, FOURTHLY, HE HEIGHTENS UNDERSTANDING OF CONTINUING DANGEROUS TIMES, VERSES 14-23, IN THE FIFTH PLACE, VERSES 24-37, HE UNVEILS A CLIMAX TO THE WORLD’S STRUGGLES & THE CLIMACTIC VICTORY OF THE SON OF GOD!!

IN “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL” (PUBLISHED IN 1933 BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.), PAGE 364, IS A HYMN WRITTEN BY WM.F.SHERWIN ENTITLED “SOUND THE BATTLE CRY”. IT SAYS: “SOUND THE BATTLE CRY! SEE, THE FOE IS NIGH; RAISE THE STANDARD HIGH FOR THE LORD; GIRD YOUR ARMOR ON, STAND FIRM, EVERY ONE; REST YOUR CAUSE UPON HIS HOLY WORD.

STRONG TO MEET THE FOE, MARCHING ON WE GO, WHILE OUR CAUSE WE KNOW, MUST PREVAIL; SHIELD & BANNER BRIGHT, GLEAMING IN THE LIGHT; BATTLING FOR THE RIGHT WE NE’ER CAN FAIL.

O! YOU GOD OF ALL, HEAR US WHEN WE CALL, HELP US ONE & ALL BY YOUR GRACE; WHEN THE BATTLE’S DONE, & THE VICTORY’S WON, MAY WE WEAR THE CROWN BEFORE YOUR FACE.

ROUSE,THEN,SOLDIERS, RALLY ROUND THE BANNER, READY, STEADY, PASS THE WORD ALONG; ONWARD, FORWARD, SHOUT A LOUD HOSANNA! CHRIST IS CAPTAIN OF THIS MIGHTY THRONG.”

GRACE IS NOT GREASE, MY FRIENDS, YOU ‘TRYING YOUR BEST TO OVERCOME’ – GRACE IS GOD IN ACTION THROUGH YOU!! GRACE IS NOT GREASE, BUT THE GLORIOUS CONQUEST OF CHRIST OVER YES THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN NATURE, & SATAN HIMSELF! GRACE IS NOT “GUTTING IT UP” BUT LEARNING TO BE FINISHED WITH YOUR OLD SELF ALLOWING CHRIST IN YOU TO BE YOUR HOPE OF GLORY! IN ROMANS 8:24-39 PAUL ENLIGHTENS US & INSPIRES US!! HE SAID: “WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE; BUT HOPE THAT IS SEEN IS NOT HOPE (IT’S BEYOND PHYSICAL VISION – IT’S SPIRITUAL REALITY!). FOR WHAT A MAN SEES, WHY DOES HE YET HOPE FOR? BUT IF WE HAVE HOPE FOR THAT WE SEE NOT, THEN DO WE WITH PATIENCE (STEDFASTNESS) WAIT FOR IT.

LIKEWISE THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPS OUR INFIRMITIES; FOR WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE SHOULD PRAY FOR AS WE OUGHT; BUT THE SPIRIT ITSELF MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US WITH GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED. & HE THAT SEARCHES THE HEART KNOWS WHAT IS THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT, BECAUSE HE MAKES INTERCESSION FOR THE SAINTS ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD. & WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, TO THEM WHO ARE THE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW, HE ALSO DID PREDESTINATE TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.

MOREOVER WHOM HE ALSO DID PREDESTINATE TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. MOREOVER WHOM HE DID PREDESTINATE, THEM HE ALSO CALLED: & WHOM HE CALLED, THEM HE ALSO JUSTIFIED; & WHOM HE JUSTIFIED, THEM HE ALSO GLORIFIED. WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN TO THESE THINGS? IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? HE THAT SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON, BUT DELIVERED HIM UP FOR US ALL, HOW SHALL HE NOT WITH HIM ALSO FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS? WHO SHALL LAY ANY THING TO THE CHARGE OF GOD’S ELECT? IT IS GOD THAT JUSTIFIES. WHO IS HE THAT CONDEMNS? IT IS CHRIST THAT DIED, YES, RATHER, THAT IS RISEN AGAIN, WHO IS EVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO ALSO MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US. 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 THE DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER. BUT NO, IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US. FOR I AM PERSUADED, THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS, NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR POWERS, NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANY OTHER CREATURE, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.”

BUT, SADLY, ROMANS 8, THOUGH CLEAR ABOUT THE “SECURITY IN REPENTANT, FAITH-GRIPPED LIVES”, ROMANS 1 ALSO REVEALED ‘THE DALLIANCE DANCERS WITH SIN THAT DECEIVES’ & LEADS TO CONTINUED ALIENATION & A FOREVER SEPARATION FROM HOLY GOD, FROM THE SON, & FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT! REFLECT SERIOUSLY UPON ROMANS 1:18-32!! “FOR THE WRATH OF GOD IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL UNGODLINESS & UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN, WHO HOLD (OR SUPPRESS) THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; BECAUSE THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD IS MANIFEST IN THEM; FOR GOD REVEALED IT UNTO THEM (1 TIMOTHY 6!).

FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER & GODHEAD; SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE: BECAUSE THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS (SPECULATIONS), & THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED. PROFESSING TO BE WISE, THEY BECAME FOOLS, & CHANGED THE GLORY OF THE INCORRUPTIBLE GOD INTO AN IMAGE MADE LIKE TO CORRUPTIBLE MAN, & TO BIRDS, & FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS,& CREEPING THINGS. WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP TO UNCLEANNESS THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, TO DISHONOR THEIR OWN BODIES BETWEEN THEMSELVES: WHO CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE (‘YOU CAN SIN & NOT DIE’!), & WORSHIPPED & SERVED THE CREATURE MORE THAN THE CREATOR, WHO IS BLESSED FOREVER. AMEN.

FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS: FOR EVEN THEIR WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INTO THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE: & LIKEWISE ALSO THE MEN, LEAVING THE NATURAL USE OF THE WOMAN, BURNED IN THEIR LUST ONE TOWARD ANOTHER; MEN WITH MEN WORKING THAT WHICH IS UNSEEMLY, & RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET (‘SIN PLANTED PRODUCES A SIN-HARVEST’!!).& EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENEIENT;

BEING FILLED WITH ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, FORNICATION, WICKEDNESS, COVETOUSNESS, MALICIOUSNESS; FULL OF ENVY, MURDER, DEBATE, DECEIT, MALIGNITY; WHISPERERS, BACKBITERS,HATERS OF GOD,DESPITEFUL,PROUD, BOASTERS, INVENTORS OF EVIL THINGS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, COVENANTBREAKERS, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, IMPLACABLE, UNMERCIFUL: WHO KNOWING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, THAT THEY WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, NOT ONLY DO THE SAME, BUT HAVE PLEASURE IN THEM THAT DO THEM.”

“A DALLIANCE WITH SIN”? OR: “ONE’S DESTINY IN & THROUGH CHRIST JESUS & GOD’S SAVING GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE?” HOW VERY CLEAR, ETERNALLY CLEAR, WAS PAUL WHEN IN GALATIANS 5:16-17 THE APOSTLE WROTE, “THIS I SAY THEN, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, & YOU SHALL NOT FULFILL THE LUST OF THE FLESH (OR OLD SIN NATURE). FOR THE FLESH LUSTS AGAINST THE SPIRIT, & THE SPIRIT AGAINST THE FLESH: & THESE ARE CONTRARY THE ONE TO THE OTHER: SO THAT YOU CANNOT DO THE THINGS THAT YOU WOULD”,THEN IDENTIFYING “THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT” IN VERSES 22-25 SAYING, “BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE: AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. & THEY THAT ARE CHRIST’S HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!) WITH THE AFFECTIONS & LUSTS. IF WE LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”

IN “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL” (P.211) IS A SONG BY P.P.BLISS ENTITLED “ALMOST PERSUADED”. IT SAYS: “ALMOST PERSUADED” NOW TO BELIEVE; “ALMOST PERSUADED” CHRIST TO RECEIVE; SEEMS NOW SOME SOUL TO SAY, “GO, SPIRIT, GO YOUR WAY, SOME MORE CONVENIENT DAY ON YOU I’LL CALL.

“ALMOST PERSUADED”, COME, COME TODAY; “ALMOST PERSUADED,” TURN NOT AWAY; JESUS INVITES YOU HERE, ANGELS ARE LINGERING NEAR, PRAYERS RISE FROM HEART SO DEAR, O WANDERER, COME.

“ALMOST PERSUADED,” HARVEST IS PAST! “ALMOST PERSUADED,” DOOM COMES AT LAST! “ALMOST CANNOT AVAIL; “ALMOST” IS BUT TO FAIL! SAD,SAD, THAT BITTER WAIL – “ALMOST – BUT LOST!”

IT WAS THOMAS a’KEMPIS WHO LONG AGO SAID, “WERE THE WORKS OF GOD READILY UNDERSTANDABLE BY HUMAN REASON, THEY WOULD BE NEITHER WONDERFUL NOR UNSPEAKABLE,” AND BECAUSE, YES, THEY ARE BEYOND ‘HUMAN REASONING’, WE MUST “REST” IN GOD’S DIVINE REVELATION OR UNVEILING OF TRUE SALVATION IN & THROUGH CHRIST’S BLOOD ATONEMENT & NOTHING ELSE, EXCEPT A REPENTANT, TRUSTING, FAITHFUL LIFE COMMITTED TO HONOR THE KING OF KINGS & THE LORD OF LORDS! IS THAT “YOU”?

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By J. Farrell Fisher, September 15, 2016

Who could ever believe that ‘the safe place of a coffin is about the only choice to live out one’s devotion to Christ’? Certainly assaults against one’s devotion to the Lord and Savior has, can now, and will in the future stir up opposition and resentment toward faithful believers! Genuine, passionate, faithful hunger to know the Lord indicts unbelievers, incites their anger often, and releases personal intimidation against the faithful!

Unbelievers don’t see the desire to know the Lord as ‘sane thinking’ but as exposing believers’ stupidity! It’s as if they think heart passion to know the Lord Jesus is an ‘asinine’ activity, not worthy of their time! ‘Asinine’? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary (Revised Edition, 1975) defines ‘asinine’ as “stupid, unintelligent, silly, or foolish”, which sadly unveils the condition of many opponents of the faith, yet at the same time unveils the sad condition of many professing Christians!

Some believers look on radical disciples who hunger for God’s Word and live to extend His kingdom, walk in His love, and ‘witness’ to others about the Way of reconciliation, as ‘arrogant, pride-full, stuck-up slaves’, which is exactly what many ‘pretenders’ openly are!

Asinine choices of fleshly devotion to Christ is evident when you often hear ‘church members’ talk about, “We work hard at seeking to be like Jesus”; and I have to ask, “What’s the scriptural text for that false assertion?’ Have you ever heard a ‘pretender’ say, “I’m trying to be faithful in making some changes from my fleshly-indulgent days,” not even aware he/she was crucified with Christ over 2000 years ago, yes, your worst and best of human existence put to death on the Cross with Christ? The Living Savior does not, as Charles Stanley wrote in his “In Touch” Bible readings of April, 2016, (p.13), “The Lord isn’t looking for people who change a few habits by sheer force of will; He’s calling people to surrender themselves to Him.” Dr. Stanley went on to say in the same article, “We don’t evolve into a saved people by deleting old habits and instituting better religious ones; we are transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ when we believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to) in Him,” and I add: “Trust in Him only to ‘birth me to oneness with the divine, eternal Kingly-Presence of Christ in me, my hope of heavenly glory’”!

There was an interesting statement on national television a few days ago when someone said, “The cop who breaks the law doesn’t deserve to wear the shield!” But compare that to someone professing faith in Christ saying, “I’m so thankful that my forgiveness through His shed blood overshadows any sin I continue to willfully enjoy”, totally oblivious to His ‘finished work’ on the Cross!

In Revelation 2:7 the angel (or messenger) of the church of Ephesus wrote: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

But remember the title of which I am now writing: “Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”! Where, in the Bible, do you find, “A Christian can’t do anything but sin until he/she gets to heaven one day,” when the Holy Word tells me, “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. I do not set aside the grace of God…”. That’s Galatians 2:20-21!

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? Do you remember what followed in Galatians 3:1? Paul went on to say, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified?” Oh, then adding in Verse 3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

When Jesus said on one occasion: “In the world you will have tribulation..”, (so try your best to overcome? No!..;), but, “ be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

But, sadly, many are ‘programmed’ that, yes, “Sin in the believer is still normal; get used to it – you’re forgiven,” when the Holy Word declares, Jesus Himself speaking, (John 8:34-36), “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 makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? Rather than ‘pressing on’ in fleshly determination, is there the biblical reality of willful evaluation of the bankruptcy of ‘self-effort’ and the willful trust in Christ’s work on the Cross in my place?

In Philippians 3:7-11 Paul illuminates, not an ‘asinine choice of fleshly devotion to Christ’, but THE spiritual trust in His finished work on the Cross in my place! He said: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I HAVE SUFFERED THE LOSS OF ALL THINGS, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found IN HIM, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but THAT WHICH IS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I MAY KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, and THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS, BEING CONFORMED TO HIS DEATH.”

This is why “spiritual ‘fleshers’” (?) of devotion to Christ are so “self-exposing” as to Who or what they put ‘faith’ or trust in, which is “the accomplishment of the best of our self-effort to honor Jesus”, which is nothing more than “pumped up flesh with a religious ‘twang’” that celebrates ‘fallen-men’ at their ‘religious best’ – not “the finished work of Christ” in the Cross and empty tomb!

This is why in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 Paul wrote: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES but in God who raises the dead, who delivers us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us..”.

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? I’m taking personal liberty in Matthew 15:29-31 to use “the physically afflicted” as a “picture”, ‘blown up’, to describe “fleshly people devoted to Christ” who spiritually are still ‘sick’, ‘crippled’, ‘blind,’ ‘no voice of a true, eternal testimony that glorifies God alone,’ even ‘spiritually maimed’ though professing, I’m saved! It says: Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified God.”

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? How many “asinine assemblies” have you observed in your faith walk? How many “asinine voices” have you heard that make you want to throw up? How many “asinine publicly professing leaders” have you heard, encouraging you to follow their examples, which often leads to nothing more than fleshly indulgences?

At least Paul, ordained of the Holy Spirit, was able to say, “Follow my example”! In Philippians 3:17-19 the Apostle wrote: “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – WHO SET THEIR MINDS ON EARTHLY THINGS.”

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? There are those who ‘profess’ devotion and allegiance to Christ Jesus, but “seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus”! (Philippians 2:21). Paul later said, Philippians 3:2, “Beware of dogs, (professing unbelievers), beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation!” Why did Paul write Colossians 2:8? “BEWARE lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ."

Later, in Colossians 3:5-6, Paul challenged, yes, Christians and the church at Colossae and the Christians here in America and the rest of the world, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which YOU YOURSELVES ONCE WALKED WHEN YOU LIVED IN THEM,” and he is saying, “Part-time indulgence is as dangerous as full-time indulgence”!

“Asinine Choices of Fleshly Devotion to Christ”? In Colossians 4:3-8 we are confronted with another stout Biblical warning, and especially in a nation like the U.S.A. where “fleshly indulgences” appear to be rampant! The Word says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”

In Isaiah 26:3 is a ‘song’ of the salvation, healing, and deliverance for the ‘biblical remnant’! It says: “You (God) will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Are you aware of how “the mind of Christ” can be neglected and the “implanted mind of ‘flesh’” can rule in ‘religious pretenders’? The perfect peace of Christ can be amended, altered, or torched by the “hot flashes” of ‘self-indulgence’ while ‘professing’ allegiance to the Savior, Lord, and Master of eternal life in the Spirit! The perfect peace of Christ starves ‘fleshly imagination’ and STAYS on Father-God! But many leave behind His peace and live on their indulgences! Many are ‘zoned in’ on the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ or ‘zeroed’ Him out in the ‘stultification’ of fleshly futility or absurd distractions from Christ Himself to adoring one’s fallen sin-nature!

It’s so sad that some ‘believers’ easily forget, as Chambers once said, “Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve!” In his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [Discovery House Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, Mich.,49501,p.31], Chambers wrote, writing about 1 Samuel 3:10, “Speak Lord; for Your servant hears,” saying, “Because I have listened definitely to one thing from God, it does not follow that I will listen to everything He says. The way in which I show God that I neither love nor respect Him is by the obtuseness of my heart and mind toward what He says. If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, “You are My friends if you do what I command you,” (John 15:14); Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized it was a command of Jesus, I would not consciously have disobeyed it; but most of us show such disrespect to God that we do not even hear what He says, He might never have spoken.” It’s as if in the Christian pilgrimage many have determined it’s ‘OK’ to live TO himself/herself, but not to the glory and honor of Christ alone!

What a promise we find in Isaiah 60:1-3! “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles (unbelievers) shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

What a calling! What a promise! What an opportunity! What a privilege! Used by God to touch your world with “Amazing Grace”! Isaiah 59:20-21 says: “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the Lord. “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is my covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.” Amen? “SO BE IT, LORD!”