Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Friday, June 5, 2015

Are We Ready?

Thursday, June 4, 2015, 7:47 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Fully Ready.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 4 (Selected vv. NASB).

Law vs. Grace (vv. 1-11)

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

The promise of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, was given by God to Abraham 430 years before the law. Jesus Christ is the promised “seed” of Abraham through whom all nations were to be blessed, and are blessed. The law did not replace the promise, but the law was put into effect to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24). The law “was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made” (Gal. 3:19). The law was never intended to save us, because not one person can keep the whole law. It was weakened by the sinful nature (See: Ro. 8:3). As human beings, we are all born into sin, i.e. we are born with sin natures, separated from God, doomed to hell, without hope, and we are in slavery to sin. Our only hope of salvation is through us putting our faith in Jesus Christ. “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Gal. 3:25).  

When this speaks of being under the law, though, it is not only speaking of God’s righteous requirements for salvation, but it also speaks of the ceremonial laws of the old covenant, and the Ten Commandments, and it speaks of the curse of the law, too. The curse of the law is the penalty charged to us for not keeping the law. The law demands perfection, which is impossible for us to achieve, because we are all sinful by nature. The law was weakened by the sinful nature, which is why it cannot save us. We can never be good enough, no matter how hard we might try. We all fall short. So, Jesus Christ became a curse for us (See: Gal. 3:13-14), i.e. he who knew no sin became sin for us. He took the punishment for our sin so that he could set us free from the curse of the law (sin and death), and so we could be free to walk in his righteousness and holiness. Jesus Christ “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Ro. 8:4).

You see, God’s grace to us, and our faith response to him, do not mean we are free to sin just because we are no longer under the law but under grace. Jesus didn’t abolish God’s moral law, he came to fulfill it (See: Matt. 5:17). Faith in him means death to sin and living to righteousness. Faith in him means we no longer walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Faith in him means we no longer live for ourselves, to please ourselves, but we live for him who gave himself up for us. God’s grace to us is not a free license to sin without guilt and without remorse. God’s grace to us for salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for his return (See: Tit. 2:11-14). Yet, we don’t do this to earn our salvation, and we don’t do it in our own flesh (can’t do it in the flesh). We, as followers of Christ, are empowered with the Spirit of God to walk in holiness and righteousness. We just have to submit to God and allow the Spirit of God to work his righteousness in and through our lives, by his grace, through our faith in Jesus - I having been crucified with Christ so that I no longer live but Christ lives in me, and I now live by faith in Jesus Christ. If I sin, I repent, and I keep walking by faith in Jesus Christ.

Persecuted for Telling the Truth (vv. 16-20)

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

There are certain people who deviate from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the apostles, who wish to alienate Christians (or prospective Christians) from those within the Christian community who are teaching the gospel as taught by the apostles. These deviations come in many different forms, but the most popular and the most dangerous of them all, I believe, is this gospel which says you pray a prayer or make some acknowledgement of Christ publicly and you have your salvation guaranteed, and no one can take it away from you, no matter how you live your life from this point forward. They do not teach repentance and obedience as necessary components of believing faith, even though scripture teaches that, no question about it (See: Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 8:3-14; 2 Co. 5:15; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:8-10; 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; & 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

They dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more pleasing to sinful human beings. They remove the teachings of scripture on the necessity of us dying to sin and living to righteousness, or else they try to discredit these teachings by falsely calling them “works-based salvation.” They teach that God is pleased with us no matter what we do, and that walking according to the Spirit is trying to earn our salvation in the flesh. They teach we are saved (past), we live our lives, and we go to heaven when we die, even if we barely even acknowledge God in between. They don’t want anyone telling people about death to sin because it might offend them, and for fear they won’t want to come back to the “church,” i.e. to these organizations and corporations of humans called “church.” They, instead, teach tolerance and inclusiveness, and they blend various religions and beliefs together.

They focus much of their time, resources, money and energies on making sure church is fun and entertaining so that they can draw in large crowds of the unsaved by attracting them through worldly means and methods. They target the unsaved and the unchurched, and those not knowledgeable of scripture because they can then mold them and shape them according to the ways of the flesh, and of the marketing schemes of men, instead of in the ways of the Spirit. And, they work hard to discredit and to remove from their midst those who hold to the truths of scripture and who do not deny Jesus Christ, for fear that we might expose their lies and that people might learn the truth or that we might offend them and they might not come back. They simulate walks of faith, but they are really walks of the flesh, maybe just cleaned up a bit, or maybe not. So, sin is rampant in the church and goes unchecked and the church is going down the toilet, because so many are following these wolves in sheep’s clothing and are not testing what they say against the Word of Truth.

Persecution of Christians is on the rise because so many have bought into these lies of these deceivers and liars who masquerade as servants of righteousness, and because so many lack spiritual discernment to see through these lies and to see what is really happening. The church and the gospel and the foundation of our faith are being taken apart piece by piece while the church in America is largely lulled to sleep by entertainment and by feel-good messages which tickle itching ears and which are pleasing to the senses. Because the church is putting up easily enough with false teachers and has partnered itself with an ungodly government, it is not those without the church who are destroying it, yet, and who are making the way for thieves to enter in to steal and to destroy, but it is those within.

By diluting the gospel, and by making it more acceptable, non-offensive and pleasing to the people of this sinful world; by blending it in with other religions, and by using trickery, manipulation and subliminal messages to deceive the church, this has paved the way and has opened the door for the church here in America to now come underneath severe persecution. There is an alliance of nations and religious groups who are presently making it their goal to bring all religions underneath one umbrella, and to do away with those they deem to be extremists, i.e. those who still hold to the true gospel of salvation and who believe Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, and the only way by which humans can be saved. We will soon be among the obsolete who must be reprogrammed or discarded. This has already happened in the church here in America, but we will now see this on a much larger scale and with much greater severity and intensity, I believe. So, we must be ready.

Fully Ready! / An Original Work / June 19, 2013

Based off Acts 20-22, 26; Mt. 28:18-20; Ac. 1:8

Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?
I’m fully ready to suffer for Christ.
If I must die for the sake of His name,
I am convinced it will not be in vain.
Glory to God and to His Son Jesus,
Who has redeemed us; bought with His blood.

May I speak to you? Jesus came to me;
Asked of me, “Why do you persecute me?”
He said, “Now get up and stand on your feet.
Go, and you’ll be told all I have for you.
I have appointed you as a servant,
And as a witness; you have been sent.”

“Go into the world and preach the gospel.
Open the blind eyes. They will receive sight.
Turn them from darkness to the light of Christ;
From power of the evil one to God,
So they may receive forgiveness of sins,
And a place among those who’re in heav’n.”




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