Righteous are you, O
Lord,
and right are your rules.
You have appointed
your testimonies in righteousness
and in all faithfulness.
My zeal consumes me,
because my foes forget your words.
Your promise is well
tried,
and your servant loves it.
Psalm 119:137-140 ESV
What the Lord Jesus is impressing upon my heart this morning
is how so many people are buying into false doctrines or a false gospel of
salvation because it has the appearance of righteousness. It has the appearance
of truth. But, when you look inside, it is a different story. It may look like
the gospel of Jesus Christ on the outside, but inside it is truly a gospel of
men, of human wisdom, not of God’s wisdom.
So, how do you know the difference? How can one distinguish
the true gospel from a false gospel of men’s wisdom (human wisdom) if on the
outside it appears to be the true gospel?
We have to look inside. We have to examine what is inside.
We have to test the contents of this gospel against the teachings of Jesus and
of his NT apostles in the context of the whole of the New Testament and against
the whole counsel of God, which Paul said that he taught, and he did.
We have to ask, “Does what I just read or heard line up with
scripture?” But, we can’t look at just a handful of “cherry picked” scriptures,
but we have to look at the whole of what the Bible teaches regarding the
doctrines of the Christian faith and practice, and regarding our salvation from
sin and eternal life with God. For, we can easily support most any doctrine if
we take scriptures out of context to make them say what we want to believe.
I am small and
despised,
yet I do not forget your precepts.
Your righteousness is
righteous forever,
and your law is true.
Trouble and anguish
have found me out,
but your commandments are my delight.
Your testimonies are
righteous forever;
give me understanding that I may live.
Psalm 119:141-144 ESV
This brings to mind the narrow road that leads to eternal
life which few find, for it is “small and despised.”
What is popular and loved by most people is the broad road
that many travel which leads to destruction. But, to gain followers for the
broad road, false shepherds of the people have had to discredit the narrow road
so that people will be discouraged from following that pathway, and their plot
is working.
For, the narrow road which leads to eternal life, which few
travel, is restricted, and so they accuse it of being “works-based salvation.”
Yes, the gift of God’s grace is free, but we need to know what the gift is and
what grace is in order to understand what this free gift really entails.
For, God’s grace, which brings salvation, instructs us to
say “NO!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright
and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return. And, the free gift is
deliverance from our slavery to sin and empowerment to live righteously before
God (Tit. 2:11-14; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).
With my whole heart I
cry; answer me, O Lord!
I will keep your statutes.
I call to you; save
me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
I rise before dawn and
cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake
before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
Psalm 119:145-148 ESV
I believe what is really at risk here is the truth of the gospel.
It is coming under fire from men in their deceitful scheming, and they are
giving it a bad reputation. And, it is being replaced with a gospel of men, of
men’s wisdom, which is also including aspects of other religions and their false
gods, too.
So, the truth of the gospel needs to be rescued from those
who would malign it and distort it. And, the only way this is going to happen
is if more people would begin to speak out about what the gospel really teaches,
and if they would expose the teachings which are false and are of Satan, and
are not of God.
For, so many people these days have been deceived, and they
are blinded to the truth, and they think that the gospel they have come to
accept is the true gospel, and so they are holding on to that belief, some of
them truly not knowing that they are believing a lie instead of the truth.
Yet, there are many who willfully ignore the truth they know
in order to embrace the lies, because the lies give them permission to continue
living in their sin without guilt.
Hear my voice
according to your steadfast love;
O Lord, according to your justice give me
life.
They draw near who
persecute me with evil purpose;
they are far from your law.
But you are near, O
Lord,
and all your commandments are true.
Long have I known from
your testimonies
that you have founded them forever.
Psalm 119:149-152 ESV
The true gospel of our salvation needs to be brought back to
life in the hearts of men and women across this globe. Those who are
persecuting the true gospel of Christ are definitely far from God’s law,
because they believe they don’t have to obey Jesus’s commands, and that they
don’t have to surrender their lives to Christ, and that they don’t have to turn
away from their sin.
So, those of us who know the truth of the gospel need to be
spreading that truth far and wide so that many will hear, and so they will have
the opportunity to be saved from their sins and to have eternal life with God.
But, we are fighting against the lies of the enemy of our souls, so we have to
also be those who will expose the lies for what they are, for they are fighting
against the truth.
And, the truth is this: Jesus Christ died on that cross so
that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He
died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life
up for us. Jesus, when he died on that cross, bought us back for God with his
blood so that we are now God’s possession, and so that we now honor God with
our lives (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Co. 6:20; Tit. 2:14; Eph. 2:10).
The truth that is in Christ Jesus teaches that we must
forsake our former lives of living for sin and self, that we must be renewed in
our minds of the Spirit of God, and that we must now put on Christ and his
righteousness. It also teaches us that we must now walk (in practice) according
to the Spirit of God, and not according to our flesh, if we want to have
eternal life with God.
[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal.
6:7-8; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph. 5:3-6; 1 Jn. 1:5-9]
So, the truth of the gospel is not that we can pray some
prayer or make some acknowledgment of Christ and what he did for us on that
cross and that we now are saved from our sins and that we are guaranteed
eternal life with God no matter how we live our lives from that moment forward.
The truth is that how we live our lives from that moment on
does matter. It is not us trying to earn or to deserve our salvation, but it a
heart response to God for giving us salvation and eternal life, that we want to
obey him and to do what he says. We want to leave our former lives of living
for sin behind us, and we want to now walk in Christ’s righteousness in the
power of God.
And, so we surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ, and we
choose to walk in his ways and in his truth. And, our heart’s desire is for him
and not for the things and the trappings of this sinful world.
And, we understand, too, that the faith that we proclaim to
have in Jesus Christ must not only be true faith which does leave lifestyles of
sin behind to follow Jesus, but it must continue to the very end if we want to
have eternal life with God.
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work /
November 12, 2019
Hear the Spirit calling.
He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling,
“Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily.
Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy.
Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you.
Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you
If you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you.
Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you
If you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior,
Reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor
So we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin,
Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in,
Purified by Him.
Friday, November 15, 2019
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