Isaiah 42:18-20 ESV
“Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
Who is blind but my
servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my
dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
He sees many things,
but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.”
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, if it is biblical
faith, and not man-made faith, we die with Christ to sin that we might live
with Christ to his righteousness. We forsake our former lives of living to sin
and to self, and we are transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God away
from sinful lifestyles to now walking in obedience and in surrender to our Lord
Jesus.
And this faith we now have, which is a gift from God, is a
choice to change how we live our lives, from the moment we believe in Jesus to
be Lord and Savior of our lives, until the day that we die. For, we realize
that faith in Jesus Christ is not a one-time commitment which can easily be
dismissed at any time for our convenience, but that it is a walk of faith that
lasts forever.
We understand that we aren’t saved just so we can escape
hell and so we can go to heaven when we die, but we understand and accept that
we are saved so that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave
his life up for us, and that this faith we have in Jesus Christ must endure to
the very end if we want to have eternal life with God (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom.
8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; 1 Jn. 2:3-6; Col. 1:21-23; 1 Co. 15:2).
Blind and Deaf
Nonetheless, not everyone who professed faith in Jesus
Christ maintained that belief. Many were persuaded somewhere along the line to
take a short-cut, so to speak, and to settle for spiritual mediocrity,
laziness, apathy and spiritual stagnancy. They chose an allotment, supposedly
from God, but not of God – not his portion assigned to them at all. And, that is
where they parked themselves and have remained.
But this portion, this share, supposedly in Christ, that
they have chosen for themselves as a short-cut, so that they don’t have to walk
the walk of faith for a lifetime, has placed them half-way between biblical
(conservative) Christianity and Unitarian Universalism (1), i.e. a one-world all-inclusive
religion which is of Satan, not of God.
And, that is because they have partnered with the world in
cutting short the gospel of our salvation to where it can include anyone of any
religion, for it requires no real allegiance to God at all, but it uses God merely
as a stepstool to gain heaven, or so they think.
For, by cutting the gospel short, many have opened the way
to heaven to all by making it so broad that anyone can enter with no real
commitment to God at all. For, all they have to do is accept God’s grace and
they are told that they are now part of God’s family and that heaven is their
eternal destiny. No repentance, no obedience and no submission to God/Christ required
at all. Just acknowledge God’s grace and you are in, set to go.
Not all have taken it to that extreme, though, but many
have. For, when they make the gospel of our salvation merely an escape from
hell and the promise of heaven when we die, but obedience to Christ and
repenting of sin are either discouraged, ignored or made optional, then all one
has to do is acknowledge Christ for what he did, and they are told heaven is
their eternal destiny and that it can’t be taken away from them no matter how
much they sin.
So, it is free license, not only to continue in willful,
habitual and premeditated sin against God, but it is free license to ignore
God, too. It is free license to refuse to hear God and the teachings of His
Word, for they now have their “free pass” and they think their sins no longer
matter.
Isaiah 42:21-23 ESV
“The Lord was pleased,
for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
But this is a people
plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become
plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
Who among you will
give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to
come?”
But, the Lord warned the church in scripture against
spiritual apathy, spiritual lukewarmness, and thinking that they can play
church, and play religion, thinking they can still continue in their sinful
practices unhindered. The Lord even used the example of the Israelites in the
wilderness and how many of them God cut off and they were not able to enter
into his rest because of unbelief, which was due to their disobedience to God.
He warned his church that they must repent of their sins or
face judgment, and he warned them, too, that if they continued on a sinful
course, and if they did not acknowledge him and obey him that they were in
danger of dying and going to hell and of not having eternal life with God (Gal.
5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 5:3-6; Rom. 2:6-8; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).
And, he has been sending messengers to his church here in
America for at least 70 to 80 years, confronting them with their sins of
idolatry and spiritual adultery, warning of divine judgment, calling them to
repentance, and promising restoration for the repentant and the obedient.
But, the vast majority of the American church appears to
have continued on their short-cut rather than to surrender their all to Jesus
Christ and to make him truly Lord of their lives. And, so God has sent multiple
judgments upon the church in America, over the years, but many of those did not
shake the church out of their apathy, and so they continued on their own
course.
And, so now the adulterous and idolatrous church in America,
and perhaps throughout the world, is facing more of God’s divine judgment with
this pandemic which is resulting in loss of jobs, loss of incomes, the shutting
down of our society, closing of stores, restrictions regarding being with other
people, and the closing of church doors (forbidding us to gather together),
etc. But, we are all impacted by it, just like Jeremiah shared in the
punishment of his rebellious people, even though he was righteous.
Isaiah 42:24-25 ESV
“Who gave up Jacob to
the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord,
against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
So he poured on him
the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all
around, but he did not understand;
it burned him up, but he did not take it to
heart.”
So, we are now surrounded by the New World Order, and we are
being conquered, I believe, for this is all part of the rise of the beast, and
this is all part of the fulfilling of the agenda of a conglomerate of the
wealthy and powerful of the world whose agenda it is to conquer us all. And, we
are being brought down one piece and one step at a time. And, this is because
the vast majority of the church, at least here in America, has gone the way of
the world and they have refused to listen to God.
But, I have this sense that the majority of the church here
in America still doesn’t get it. They still don’t understand what is going on
and why it is happening. And, I feel as though they assume that this will all
just blow over and then we can resume life as normal.
But, if normal is spiritual laziness and stagnancy, and if
it is quenching the Spirit of God, and if it is following after man-made
religion, and giving God a passing “hi” while we continue on a sinful course or
on a self-absorbed and self-gratifying walk of life, then is normal a good
thing? NO! It isn’t!!
So, we shouldn’t want to return to normal. We should not be
ok with spiritual stagnancy, like the church in Laodicea. We should not be
giving people “high fives” while they continue in sinful practices, and while
we refuse to speak the truth to them in love for fear that they will reject us
and that they will call us out as “odd.” But, it is ok to be odd. Jesus was!
I do believe there are Christians who are taking notice, and
that their lives are changing for the better, because they are taking this time
to take stock in how they have been living their lives, and so they are now
having closer walks with the Lord because of this trial we are all going
through. So, this has been a very good thing for the church.
But, many are still not taking this to heart. They are not
seeing this for what it is, and they are not being moved to change their hearts
or their lifestyles, for I believe they are convinced that soon they will
return to normal and that everything will be as it was before, with some minor
adjustments.
But, God is calling his church back to him, to make him
truly Lord of their lives. So, please listen to what he is saying to the
churches.
Nearer, Still Nearer
Lyrics and Music by
Lelia N. Morris, pub. 1898
Nearer, still nearer, close to Thy heart,
Draw me, my Savior—so precious Thou art!
Fold me, oh, fold me close to Thy breast;
Shelter me safe in that “haven of rest.”
Nearer, still nearer, nothing I bring,
Naught as an off’ring to Jesus, my King;
Only my sinful, now contrite heart,
Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart.
Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to be Thine!
Sin, with its follies, I gladly resign,
All of its pleasures, pomp and its pride,
Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified.
Nearer, still nearer, while life shall last,
Till safe in glory my anchor is cast;
Through endless ages ever to be
Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to Thee!
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