“ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES OR SOVEREIGN PRICELESSNESS OF GOD’S GRACE?”
J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 31,2019
HOW AWARE ARE YOU OF, YES, THE DANGER OF “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”? THOSE SATAN-INSPIRED & FALLEN-NATURE ‘DISEASES’ HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COMMON & ACCEPTABLE, EVEN BY ADAM & EVE THO’ EMBARASSED WHEN THEY REALIZED THEIR ‘NAKEDNESS’; GENESIS 3:7 SAYS, “AND THE EYES OF THEM BOTH WERE OPENED, & THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; & THEY SEWED FIG LEAVES TOGETHER, & MADE THEMSELVES APRONS.”
IN HUMAN NATURE, VOID OF SOVEREIGN PRESENCE THROUGH THE “BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD, THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR”, THERE IS NO HOPE OR TRUE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ETERNAL SALVATION THAT PROPERLY “DRESSES THE SPIRITUALLY NAKEDNESS IN UNREGENERATE LIVES” APART FROM GOD’S KNOCK ON A NAKED ONE’S HEART, HIS KNOCK TO ALERT THE NAKED ONE’S MIND, & BY HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION TO UNVEIL THE WILL OF FALLEN MAN OF HIS/HER NEED TO “REPENT, REST IN, REACH FOR THE FREE GIFT OF AMAZING GRACE” & BE WRAPPED IN THE “FREE GIFT OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST” SINCE “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRE” IS DESCRIBED BY HOLY GOD IN ISAIAH 64:6 AS: (LET ME SHARE THE WHOLE VERSE!),
“BUT WE ARE ALL AS AN UNCLEAN THING, & ALL ‘OUR’ RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS (THAT’S MENSTRUAL RAGS!); & WE ALL DO FADE AS A LEAF; & OUR INIQUITIES, LIKE THE WIND, HAVE TAKEN US AWAY.” ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES IS A “NEVER LOOSING TIME EFFORT” & A“BINDING,BLINDING,BELITTLING, AND SAD BESMEARMENT OF THE SOVEREIGN PRICELESSNESS OF GOD’S GRACE”!
CERTAINLY HOLY GOD, IN HIS OMNISCIENCE, “KNEW” WHEN HE CREATED MANKIND WITH FREEDOM OF CHOICE OF ALLEGIANCE TO “HIM” OR ALLEGIANCE TO “SELF” THAT “SELF” WOULD HAVE A CRUDE CROSS TO WALK OVER THAT LED TO HELL ITSELF, BUT GOD WANTED THEM ON THE “BRIDGE OF AMAZING LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY, TO BE BEFORE THEM WITH A CHOICE: FAULTY BRIDGE OR THE FAITHFUL BRIDGE OF THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST HIS SON”! “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”? IT WAS ALEXANDER MACLAREN WHO LONG AGO TOOK THE STRONG, RIGHT, CONVICTING STAND SAYING,”THAT WHICH OF ALL THINGS UNFITS MAN FOR THE RECEPTION OF CHRIST AS A SAVIOR, IS NOT GROSS PROFLIGACY & OUTWARD,VEHEMENT TRANSGRESSION, BUT IT IS SELF-COMPLACENCY, FATAL SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, & SELF-SUFFICIENCY.” WOW! OH, HOW TRUE!
“ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES” ARE ALSO CONSTRUCTED ON THE ‘FAULTY FOUNDATION’ OF ‘FLESHLY INFIDELITY’! RICHARD CECIL ONCE SAID, “THE NURSE OF INFIDELITY IS SENSUALITY.” AGAIN, SO TRUE! AND IF THAT’S ‘BLIND REASONING’ TO YOU, BE ASSURED THERE IS THE “GREAT PHYSICIAN”, CHRIST JESUS WHO DOES “OPEN BLIND SPIRITUAL EYES”! IN MATTHEW 9:1-13 THE WORD DECLARES: AND JESUS ENTERED INTO A SHIP, & PASSED OVER, & CAME INTO HIS OWN CITY. & BEHOLD, THEY BROUGHT TO HIM A MAN SICK OF PALSY, LYING ON A BED; & JESUS SEEING THEIR FAITH SAID UNTO THE SICK OF PALSY: “SON, BE OF GOOD CHEER; YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU.”
AND, BEHOLD, CERTAIN OF THE SCRIBES SAID WITHIN THEMSELVES, THIS MAN BLASPHEMES. & JESUS KNOWING THEIR THOUGHTS SAID, “WHEREFORE THINK YOU EVIL IN YOUR HEARTS? FOR WHETHER IS EASIER, TO SAY, ‘YOUR SINS BE FORGIVEN YOU; OR TO SAY, ARISE, & WALK? BUT THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THE SON OF MAN HAS POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS, (THENSAID HE TO THE SICK OF THE PALSY), ARISE, TAKE UP YOUR BED, & GO INTO YOUR HOUSE.” AND HE AROSE, & DEPARTED TO HIS HOUSE.
BUT WHEN THE MULTITUDES SAW IT, THEY MARVELED, & GLORIFIED GOD, WHICH HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER UNTO MEN. & AS JESUS PASSED FORTH FROM THERE, THEY MARVELLED, & GLORIFIED GOD, WHICH HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER UNTO MEN. & AS JESUS PASSED FROM THERE, HE SAW A MAN NAMED MATTHEW, SITTING AT THE SEAT OF CUSTOM: & HE SAID UNTO HIM, “FOLLOW ME.” AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS JESUS SAT AT MEAT IN THE HOUSE, BEHOLD, MANY PUBLICANS & SINNERS CAME & SAT DOWN WITH JESUS & HIS DISCIPLES. & WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT, THEY SAID UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, WHY DOES YOUR MASTER EAT WITH PUBLICANS & SINNERS? BUT WHEN JESUS HEARD IT, HE SAID UNTO THEM, “THEY THAT BE WHOLE NEED NOT A PHYSICIAN, BUT THEY THAT ARE SICK. BUT YOU GO & LEARN WHAT THAT MEANS, I WILL HAVE MERCY, & NOT SACRIFICE; FOR I AM NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS TO REPENTANCE.”
“ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES?” COULD IT BE, THAT EVEN IN ‘TOUGH TIMES’, ‘SERIOUS,PERSONAL WARFARES’, ‘QUESTIONS ABOUT VICES,IMMORAL HABITS, OR A ‘FAULT’, A ‘SLIGHT DEFECT’, OR ‘A LITTLE BIT OF DEGRADING BEHAVIOR’,THAT MEN & WOMEN, & YOUTH & KIDS TODAY, SEE THEIR EXPERIENCE AS ‘LEARNING TO GROW UP & MATURE’, RATHER THAN ROBERT BURNS’ FAMOUS STATEMENT, “PERHAPS THE CHRISTIAN VOLUME IS THE THEME, HOW GUILTLESS BLOOD FOR GUILTY MAN WAS SHED, HOW HE WHO BORE IN HEAVEN THE SECOND NAME HAD NOT ON EARTH WHEREON TO LAY HIS HEAD.” ROBERT BURNS WAS SPEAKING OF KING JESUS WHO “LIVED & DIED, NOT “IN” SIN, BUT HE LIVED, THEN DIED “FOR SIN” TO WASH AWAY ITS PENALTY IN THE ROYAL BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD WHO’D NEVER SINNED!
IN PHILIPPIANS 2:5-13 PAUL WROTE, “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS: WHO,BEING IN THE FORM OF GOD, THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD…(I MUST INSERT AN AWAKENING WORD FROM GOD IN JEREMIAH 17:5, “THUS SAYS THE LORD: CURSED BE THE MAN THAT TRUSTS IN MAN, & MAKES FLESH HIS ARM, & WHOSE HEART DEPARTED FROM THE LORD.” WELL, CONSIDER THIS: CHRIST JESUS NEVER DEPARTED FROM GOD THE FATHER,NEVER! HE WAS & IS GOD IN HUMAN FORM! THERE “IS” THE HOLY TRINITY: GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, & GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ETERNAL “THREE IN ONE”!!), NOW, BACK TO PHILIPPIANS 2:7-13, BUT MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION, & TOOK UPON HIM THE FORM OF A SERVANT, & WAS MADE IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN;
AND BEING FOUND IN FASHION AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF, & BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS.WHEREFORE GOD ALSO HAS HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, & GIVEN HIM A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME: THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, & THINGS IN EARTH, & THINGS UNDER THE EARTH; & THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER. WHEREFORE, MY BELOVED,AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS OBEYED, NOT AS IN MY PRESENCE ONLY, BUT NOW MUCH MORE IN MY ABSENCE, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION IN FEAR & TREMBLING. FOR IT IS GOD WHICH WORKS IN YOU BOTH TO WILL & TO DO OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE.”
THAT LAST SCRIPTURE EXPLAINING “IT’S GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU,” SHOCKS THE ‘SELF-CENTERED “CHRISTIAN” DEVOTEE’ WHO SEES HIMSELF BEING A GOOD ‘FOLLOWER’, BUT IS EASILY ENRAGED WHEN HE/SHE LEARNS THEY’VE BEEN SHAMMED BY ‘RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ RATHER THAN “SHIELDED” BY THE SPIRIT, WHO,YES, INFORMS US OF BEING ‘INFLAMED’ BY THE “STAR” IN THE EAST! MATT.2:2 SAYS, “WHERE IS HE THAT IS BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR IN THE EAST, & HAVE COME TO WORSHIP HIM.” A “STAR” GIVES LIGHT! OH, & IN JOHN 8:12, THE LORD JESUS SAID: “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: HE THAT FOLLOWS ME SHALL NOT WALK IN DARKNESS, BUT SHALL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE.”
BUT, SELF-CENTERED ‘PROFESSORS OF FAITH’ WHO PROFESS BUT KNOW NOTHING OF BEING “POSSESSED, OWNED, RULED OVER BY THE INDWELLING CHRIST WHO DOESN’T TAKE YOU INTO DARK PATHWAYS”, BUT “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES” WILL CAPTURE YOU IN “DARKNESS” RATHER THAN YOU FAITHFULLY BEING LED BY “THE LIGHT OF LIFE, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IN HIS RESURRECTED PRESENCE IN YOU AFTER YOUR FINISHED WORK OF FAITH & TRUST IN HIM ALONE – NOT “BEST EFFORT, FALSE ‘CHRISTIANITY’”!!!
AND TO THOSE “ENSLAVED” TO THE FALSE CLAIMS OF JUDAISM IN HIS DAY, REJECTING HIS JOHN 8:12 CLAIM, JESUS THEN SAID IN JOHN 8:24, “I SAID THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT YOU SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS; FOR IF YOU BELIEVE NOT (TRUST NOT,ADHERE NOT TO ME) THAT I AM THE “TRUE MESSIAH”, “GOD IN FLESH”, YOU SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS”; & THAT INCLUDES, “REGARDLESS HOW ‘RELIGIOUS’ YOU THINK YOU ARE”!! OH, THE LORD JESUS WASN’T FINISHED YET IN HIS EXPOSURE OF THE “JEWISH RELIGIOUS PRETENDERS”! IN JOHN 8:38 JESUS SAID: “I SPEAK THAT WHICH I HAVE SEEN WITH MY FATHER, & YOU “DO” THAT WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN WITH YOUR “father”, (OR SATAN HIMSELF, THE DEVIL OF HELL!).” AND EVEN THOUGH PAUL UNDERSTOOD CLEARLY ‘RELIGIOUS DECEPTION’ IN HIS JEWISH COMMUNITY, AS HE WROTE TO HIS SPIRITUAL SON IN THE FAITH, TIMOTHY, IN 2 TIMOTHY 2:15-26, HE WROTE: “STUDY TO SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDS NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH. BUT SHUN PROFANE & VAIN BABBLINGS: FOR THEY WILL INCREASE UNTO MORE UNGODLINESS. AND ‘THEIR’ WORD WILL EAT AS DOES A CANKER; OF WHOM IS HYMENAEUS & PHILETUS; WHO CONCERNING THE TRUTH HAVE ERRED, SAYING THAT THE RESURRECTION IS PAST ALREADY; & OVERTHROW THE FAITH OF SOME.
NEVERTHELESS THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDS SURE, HAVING THIS SEAL, “THE LORD KNOWS THOSE THAT ARE HIS.” &, “LET EVERY ONE THAT NAMES THE NAME OF CHRIST DEPART FROM INIQUITY. BUT IN A GREAT HOUSE THERE ARE NOT ONLY VESSELS OF GOLD & OF SILVER, BUT ALSO OF WOOD & OF EARTH; & SOME TO HONOR, & SOME TO DISHONOR. IF A MAN THEREFORE PURGE HIMSELF FROM THESE, HE SHALL BE A VESSEL UNTO HONOR,SANCTIFIED,& MEET FOR THE MASTER’S USE, & PREPARED UNTO EVERY GOOD WORK. FLEE ALSO YOUTHFUL LUSTS: BUT FOLLOW RIGHTEOUSNESS, FAITH, CHARITY, PEACE, WITH THEM THAT CALL ON THE LORD OUT OF A PURE HEART.
BUT FOOLISH & UNLEARNED QUESTIONS AVOID, KNOWING THAT THEY GENDER STRIFES (OR SPECULATIONS!). AND THE SERVANT OF THE LORD MUST NOT STRIVE; BUT BE GENTLE UNTO ALL MEN, APT TO TEACH, PATIENT, IN MEEKNESS INSTRUCTING THOSE “THAT OPPOSE THEMSELVES”; IF GOD PERADVENTURE WILL GIVE THEM, REPENTANCE TO THE ACKNOWLEDGING OF THE TRUTH; & THAT THEY MAY RECOVER THEMSELVES OUT OF THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL, WHO ARE TAKEN CAPTIVE BY HIM AT HIS WILL.”
‘SNARED BY SATAN’? ‘TAKEN CAPTIVE BY SATAN AT HIS WILL’? IT WAS JOHN DRYDEN, IN HIS WRITING, “ABSALOM & ACHITOPHEL”, (PT.1,L.79), WHO SAID: “WHEN TO SIN OUR BIASED NATURE LEANS, THE CAREFUL DEVIL IS STILL AT HAND WITH MEANS.” OR, EVEN ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S WRITING IN “AURORA LEIGH,” (BK.7,L,105), WHO WROTE: “THE DEVIL’S MOST DEVILISH WHEN RESPECTABLE.”
OH, BUT ONE OF THE BEST STATEMENTS I READ ABOUT SATAN’S ‘BEST’? IN HIS WRITING: “SUENOS”,BY SIR ROGER L’ ESTRANGE, HE SAID: “WHEN THE DEVIL PREACHES THE WORLD’S NEAR AN END.” AND HE, SATAN, PREACHES “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”, EVEN PROCLAIMING, “APPROVED BY GOD HIMSELF”! REALLY? ARE YOU AWARE THAT THERE ARE THOSE “RELIGIOUS FOLK” WHO “FEEDS ON ASHES”? THAT’S ISAIAH 44:20! “HE FEEDS ON ASHES; A DECEIVED HEART HAS TURNED HIM ASIDE, THAT CANNOT DELIVER HIS SOUL, NOR SAY, ‘IS THERE NOT A LIE IN MY RIGHT HAND’?”
“ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”? PAUL SAID IN GALATIANS 6:3, “FOR IF A MAN THINKS HIMSELF TO BE SOMETHING, WHEN HE IS NOTHING, HE DECEIVES HIMSELF.” IT’S TRUE! “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES” ARE THE FOUNDATION STONES OF “RELIGIOUS PRETENCE” & “RELIGIOUS FABRICATIONS” WITH NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SACRIFICIAL BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD ATONING FOR THEIR FALLING AWAY FROM GOD’S GRACED WAY OF LIVING, GOD HAVING CRUCIFIED THE OLD SIN-NATURE WITH CHRIST, & OFFERING JESUS’S RESURRECTED PRESENCE IN THE BODY GOD HAS DESCRIBED AS ‘WORTHY’ ONLY OF BEING CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!
“ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”? IN GENESIS 11:4 WE READ ABOUT WHAT FALLEN MEN CONSIDER THEIR ‘REMEDY’FOR THEIR ‘RELIGIOUS PRETENCES’: AND THEY SAID, “GO TO, LET US BUILD A CITY & A TOWER, WHOSE TOP MAY REACH TO HEAVEN; & LET US MAKE A NAME, LEST WE BE SCATTERED ABROAD UPON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH.” BUT, ZEALOUS SELF OR RELIGIOUS DESIRES, HAVE NOT, CANNOT, WILL NOT BE RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD – ONLY BY CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD ON THE CROSS DO MEN FIND THEIR SINS WASHED AWAY & “NEW BIRTH” GENERATING, BY GOD’S GRACE, HIS ABIDING PRESENCE IN THE REDEEMED HEART & LIFE!!
OH, BUT THERE IS: “THE SOVEREIGN PRICELESSNESS OF GOD’S GRACE”!!! ROMANS 6:23 ILLUMINATELY DESCRIBES IT AS PAUL, INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WROTE: “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN OR THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” WHAT DID PAUL ALSO TELL US IN ROMANS 8:32? HE (GOD) 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?” IN ERIC METAXAS’ BOOK, “7 MEN & THE SECRETS OF THEIR GREATNESS”, INTRODUCED THE BOOK, SAYING, (P.XIV),
“NOW, MY OWN PERSONAL ‘GREATEST’ ROLE MODEL IS JESUS. &YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT HE DIDN’T JUST TALK. OF COURSE HE SAID A LOT OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS, BUT HE ALSO LIVED WITH HIS DISCIPLES FOR THREE YEARS. THEY SAW HIM EAT & SLEEP& PERFORM MIRACLES. THEY SAW HIM LIVE LIFE & SUFFER & DIE. THEY SAW HIM INTERACT WITH ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, INCLUDING THEMSELVES. HE LIVED AMONG THEM. THAT’S THE MAIN WAY THAT HE COMMUNICATED HIMSELF TO THE MEN WHO WOULD COMMUNICATE HIM TO THE WORLD. THAT’S HOW HE MADE DISCIPLES – WHO WOULD MAKE DISCIPLES, WHO WOULD MAKE DISCIPLES. SO FROM THE GOSPEL STORIES OF JESUS’ LIFE, YOU GET THE IDEA THAT SEEING A PERSON’S LIFE IS AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS GETTING A LIST OF LESSONS FROM THAT PERSON. YES, SERMONS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT SEEING THE ACTUAL LIFE OF THE GUY WHO GIVES THE SERMON MIGHT BE EVEN MORE POWERFUL. AND YOU GET THE IDEA THAT HOW YOU LIVE AFFECTS OTHERS. IT TEACHES THEM HOW TO LIVE.”
IN PROVERBS 3:5-8 THE “WISE MAN” WROTE, “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART; & LEAN NOT UNTO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM ( THAT’S GIVING JESUS THE REINS OF YOUR LIFE, NOT YOU ‘PERFORMING’ FOR HIM!), & HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS. BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES; FEAR THE LORD, & DEPART FROM EVIL. IT SHALL BE HEATH TO YOUR NAVEL, & MARROW TO YOUR BONES.” HOLY GOD SAID TO ISAIAH IN ISAIAH 55:11, “SO SHALL MY WORD BE THAT GOES FORTH OUT OF MY MOUTH:IT SHALL NOT RETUTN TO ME VOID, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH THAT WHICH I PLEASE, & IT SHALL PROSPER IN THE THING WHEREIN I SENT IT.”
ARE “YOU” FACING LIFE’S “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES”, REJECTING THEM, ABANDONING THEM, & SHUTTING THE DOOR ON THEM? THEN ARE “YOU” ACCEPTING “THE SOVEREIGN PRICELESSNESS OF GOD’S GRACE”? THERE’S AN OLD “BENEDICTION” CHORUS IN THE BACK OF THE 1940 BROADMAN HYMNAL THAT SAYS: “MAY THE GRACE OF CHRIST OUR SAVIOR, & THE FATHER’S BOUNDLESS LOVE, WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT’S FAVOR, REST UPON US FROM ABOVE. AMEN, OR SO BE IT.” IS THERE A “SO BE IT” IN YOUR SPIRITUAL VOCABULARY & YOUR DAILY SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE?
ALSO IN THAT SAME OLD HYMNAL IS ANOTHER “SONG-MESSAGE” ENTITLED, “FOLLOW, I WILL FOLLOW THEE”. IT SAYS: “JESUS CALLS ME, I MUST FOLLOW, FOLLOW HIM TODAY; WHEN HIS TENDER VOICE IS PLEADING, HOW CAN I DELAY? JESUS CALLS ME, I MUST FOLLOW, FOLLOW EVERY HOUR, KNOW THE BLESSING OF HIS PRESENCE, KNOW THE FULLNESS OF HIS POWER.
JESUS CALLS US, I MUST FOLLOW, FOLLOW HIM ALWAYS; WHEN MY SAVIOR GOES BEFORE ME I CAN NEVER STRAY.
FOLLOW, I WILL FOLLOW YOU, MY LORD, FOLLOW EVERY PASSING DAY; MY TOMORROWS ARE ALL KNOWN OF THEE; YOU WILL LEAD ME ALL THE WAY.” BEING LED BY GOD TRULY IS BEING LED BY HIS GRACE, HIS MERCY, & HIS LOVE!
EXODUS 13:18 TELLS US THAT GOD LEADS US THROUGH LIFE’S WILDERNESSES. ISAIAH 63:12 SAYS GOD LED US WITH HIS RIGHT HAND.ROMANS 8:14 SAYS WE’RE LED BY GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, & ESPECIALLY SINCE THE WORD SAYS, THE SPIRIT GUIDES US INTO ALL TRUTH! WHAT ABOUT THE INSPIRATION OF GALATIANS 5:16-25? THIS I SAY THEN, WALK IN THE SPIRIT, & YOU SHALL NOT FULFILL THE LUST OF THE FLESH. 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.BUT IF YOU BE LED OF THE SPIRIT, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW.
NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE MANIFEST, WHICH ARE THESE: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNES, LASCIVIOUSNESS, IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT, HATRED, VARIANCE, EMULATIONS, WRATH, STRIFE, SEDITIONS, HERESIES, ENVYINGS, MURDERS, DRUNKENNESS, REVELLINGS, & SUCH LIKE: OF THE WHICH I TELL YOU BEFORE, AS I HAVE ALSO TOLD YOU IN TIME PAST, THAT THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE,JOY,PEACE, LONGSUFFERING,GENTLENESS,GOODNESS,FAITH, MEEKNESS,TEMPERANCE; AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. AND THEY THAT ARE CHRIST’S “HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH, WITH THE AFFECTIONS & LUSTS. IF WE LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WALK? “BEST EFFORT”? “TRYING HARD”? OR, DAY BY DAY, “TAKING THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO THE OLD SIN-NATURE, THE OLD MAN, THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED IN YOUR MORTAL FLESH”? IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”, (PUBLISHED IN 1933, BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE,TENN.P.43)IS A HYMN ENTITLED “MOMENT BY MOMENT.” IT SAYS: “DYING WITH JESUS, BY DEATH RECKONED MINE; LIVING WITH JESUS, A NEW LIFE DIVINE; LOOKING TO JESUS TILL GLORY DOES SHINE, MOMENT BY MOMENT, O LORD, I AM THINE.
NEVER A TRIAL THAT HE IS NOT THERE, NEVER A BURDEN THAT HE DOES NOT BEAR; NEVER A SORROW THAT HE DOES NOT SHARE, MOMENT BY MOMENT, I’M UNDER HIS CARE.
NEVER A HEARTACHE, & NEVER A GROAN, NEVER A TEARDROP & NEVER A MOAN;NEVER A DANGER BUT THERE ON THE THRONE, MOMENT BY MOMENT HE THINKS OF HIS OWN.
NEVER A WEAKNESS THAT HE DOES NOT FEEL, NEVER A SICKNESS THAT HE CANNOT HEAL; MOMENT BY MOMENT, IN WOE OR IN WEAL, JESUS, MY SAVIOR, ABIDES WITH ME STILL.
MOMENT BY MOMENT I’M KEPT IN HIS LOVE; MOMENT BY MOMENT I’VE LIFE FROM ABOVE;LOOKING TO JESUS TILL GLORY DOES SHINE; MOMENT BY MOMENT, O LORD, I AM THINE.” FOR YOU,IS IT “ZEALOUS SELF-DESIRES OR THE SOVEREIGN PRICLESSNESS OF GOD’S GRACE”? I MUST SHARE COLOSSIANS 2:6-17!! “AS YOU HAVE THEREFORE RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS THE LORD, SO WALK IN HIM; ROOTED & BUILT UPON HIM, & STABLISHED IN THE FAITH, AS YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, ABOUNDING THEREIN WITH THANKSGIVING. BEWARE LEST ANY MAN SPOIL (OR TAKE YOU CAPTIVE!)THROUGH PHILOSOPHY & VAIN DECEIT, AFTER THE TRADITION OF MEN, AFTER THE RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD, & NOT AFTER CHRIST. FOR IN HIM DWELLS ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. & YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY & POWER: IN WHOM ALSO YOU ARE CIRCUMCISED WITH THE CIRCUMCISION MADE WITHOUT HANDS, IN PUTTING OFF THE BODY OF SINS OF THE FLESH (OR OLD ‘SIN-NATURE’) BY THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST: BURIED WITH HIM IN BAPTISM, WHEREIN ALSO YOU ARE RISEN WITH HIM THROUGH THE FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD, WHO HAS RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.
AND YOU, BEING DEAD IN YOUR SINS & THE UNCIRCUMCISION OF YOUR FLESH HAS HE QUICKENED TOGETHER WITH HIM, HAVING FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES; BLOTTING OUT THE HANDWRITING OF ORDINANCES THAT WAS AGAINST US, WHICH WAS CONTRARY TO US, & TOOK IT OUT OF THE WAY, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS; & HAVING SPOILED PRINCIPALITIES & POWERS, HE MADE A SHOW OF THEM OPENLY, TRIUMPHING OVER THEM IN IT.
LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU IN MEAT, OR IN DRINK, OR IN RESPECT OF AN HOLYDAY, OR OF THE NEW MOON, OR OF THE SABBATH DAYS; WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME; BUT THE BODY IS OF CHRIST.”IN CLOSING, CONSIDER SERIOUSLY COLOSSIANS 3:1-5A,PLUS VERSES 15-17! “IF YOU THEN BE RISEN WITH CHRIST, SEEK THOSE THINGS ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST IS SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. SET YOUR AFFECTION (MIND) ON THINGS ABOVE (ETERNAL), NOT ON THINGS ON THE EARTH. FOR YOU ARE DEAD, & YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD. WHEN CHRIST, WHO IS OUR LIFE SHALL APPEAR, THEN SHALL YOU ALSO APPEAR WITH HIM IN GLORY. MORTIFY THEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH ARE UPON THE EARTH…” VERSES 15-17, “AND LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, TO THE WHICH ALSO YOU WERE CALLED IN ONE BODY; & BE THANKFUL. LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY IN ALL WISDOM; TEACHING & ADMONISHING ONE ANOTHER IN PSALMS & HYMNS & SPIRITUAL SONGS, SINGING WITH GRACE IN YOUR HEARTS TO THE LORD. AND WHATSOEVER YOU DO IN WORD OR DEED, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, GIVING THANKS TO GOD & THE FATHER BY HIM.” AMEN? I PRAY SO!