Get Ready!

Thursday, July 2, 2015, 2:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind this song:

Worthy is the Lamb / Darlene Zschech / Hillsong United

Revelation 5:12b-13b

Thank you for the cross Lord

Thank you for the price You paid

Bearing all my sin and shame

In love You came

And gave amazing grace…

Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Timothy 4:1-8 (NASB).

Sound Doctrine (vv. 1-5)

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

That time has come when people are not putting up with sound doctrine, but they are accumulating for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and they are turning away their ears from the truth, and they are turning aside to myths. And, this is rampant in evangelical Christianity here in America. And, many are blinded to that reality.

The modern church of today is much like Jesus’ followers who, after he gave them the teaching with regard to eating his flesh and drinking his blood, turned away from him, never to follow him again, because they said his teaching was too hard (John 6:35-66). And, it is hard, but so many people today want to make it “light and fluffy” in order to please human flesh, but that is a lie, and it is giving people a false hope of salvation and of eternal life.

The hard reality is that Jesus Christ died on a cross, not so we could “get saved,” live our lives however we want, and then go to heaven when we die. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave himself up for us (2 Co. 5:15). He died in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who no longer walk according to the flesh, but who conduct our lives now according to the Spirit (Ro. 8:1-14). He died that we might forsake our former lifestyles of living according to our sinful flesh and selfish desires, that we might be transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and that we might be given new lives in Christ, living to please him in every way, all in the power of the Spirit now within us (Lu. 9:23-25; Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 6:1-23; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:17-24).

The hard reality is that God’s grace to us is not a free license to continue living sinful lifestyles free from guilt, shame and remorse. God’s grace, which brings 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 Christ’s return. The truth of the gospel is that Jesus Christ gave himself up for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good (Tit. 2:11-14). The truth of the gospel is that if we say we have fellowship with God, but we continue to conduct our lives in the darkness (in sinful lifestyles), that we are liars, and we do not live by the truth (1 Jn. 1:5-9). The truth is, if we conduct our lives according to the flesh, we will die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of our sinful flesh, we will live (Ro. 8:1-14). If we hold on to our old lives of living for sin and self, we will lose our lives for eternity, but if we lose our lives (die with Christ to sin), we will gain eternal life (Lu. 9:23-25).

So, if someone is telling you that you can “get saved,” but that nothing is required of you by God at all other than to “believe,” although “belief” is not really explained, then don’t believe them. Don’t take scriptures out of context to make them say what you want them to say while ignoring the bulk of the teaching on salvation in the New Testament. Look up these verses I have referred to above. God does require holy living, though not sinless perfect, but even “I am not perfect” is never to be an excuse for living in willful defiance to Christ’s instructions on holy living. Jesus said that his sheep (his followers) know his voice, they listen to him, and they follow (obey) him, and these are those who can’t be snatched out of his hands (Jn. 10:27-30). Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). John said, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (See: 1 Jn. 2:3-6).

The time has come in America where the church is going to have to make a choice whom they will serve – man or God. Our leaders (nationally and globally) are quickly moving to bring the church to that point of decision. Those who are preaching freedom from slavery to sin to the captives will be outlawed by laws against what they consider to be “hate crimes.” This is what this situation with the church in Charleston is all about. The “powers that be” are going after God/Christ and his church to destroy her and to reduce her to rubble, that out of the ashes of the old order of the church, as was taught by the apostles, will rise a new church, but not the church of Jesus Christ, but a new order of the ages where no one will preach about sin, repentance, obedience, faith in Christ alone and coming judgment. This has been transpiring for years now within the church itself, but now the government is stepping in and will restrict our freedoms to spread the true gospel of salvation. And, the church (not the true church), instead, will be turned into a place of social justice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice). So, get ready for persecution!

A Drink Offering (vv. 6-8)

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Paul was speaking here of martyrdom, i.e. of the giving of his life for the sake of the name of Jesus and for the sake of the gospel of our salvation, though not just of his physical death most certainly to come, but of persecution, false arrests, beatings, trials, hardships, and rejections which he faced continuously because he preached Jesus Christ crucified, risen from the dead, ascended to the Father, and coming again, and because he preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God in heaven. The church presently is suffering such persecution throughout the world, and this is quickly moving its way to America, and via many of our leaders in government and within the “church.”

Yet, despite all that Paul had to endure for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ and his gospel, he continued, and he did not give up. He fought the good fight, i.e. he daily put on his spiritual armor, given him by God, with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against him, and he continued to obey his Lord despite all opposition. God’s love compelled him to continue to preach freedom to the captives, to open blinded eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus (Ac. 26:16-18). And, this is where many believers are right now, and will soon be here in America, too, when we will be forced to make a choice to serve God and to suffer for his name, or to serve man and to compromise our faith in order to avoid such persecution.

Yet, we are not to live for this world and for our earthly lives. This world is not my home, I’m just passing through. We are not to lay up treasures here on this earth, but in heaven. We are to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Jesus did not die for our sins so that we could just live to please ourselves with little to no regard for him or for his desire and will for our lives. Heaven is not to be seen as just a place of eternal rest where we go when we die, while we do our own thing while we live on the earth. Why would anyone want to go to heaven and spend eternity with God if they ignore him on this earth? We should long to see Jesus return for his bride, not as something completely different from our lives now, but as a continuation or as the culmination and ultimate fulfillment of the lives we have lived with and for Christ while still here on the earth.

Persecution is most certainly coming to America. Are you ready? Will you stand on the Word of Truth and not deny your Lord and his gospel? Or, will you compromise with the world in order to avoid being persecuted? A line is being drawn in the sand. We must choose which side of it we want to be on, because soon we will be forced into having to make that decision. Will you fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith? I hope so!

Worthy is the Lamb / Darlene Zschech / Hillsong United

Revelation 5:12b-13b

Thank you for the cross Lord

Thank you for the price You paid

Bearing all my sin and shame

In love You came

And gave amazing grace…