Don't Refuse Him

Revelation 2:1-3 ESV

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.’”

It is possible to go through the motions of our Christian faith and practice and for our hearts to not be in it. It is possible to be doing the right things, which God has called us to do, but to do them without real love or passion for what we are doing or for the people we are ministering to.

It is possible to have strong convictions about right and wrong, and to endure persecution for the sake of righteousness, and to expose evil, and to proclaim truth, and to test false teachers and false teaching, but to be lacking in God-like love for others.

It is also possible to be doing many of the right things, even for the right reasons, but to end up doing them more mechanically or habitually rather than out of love and passion for our Savior. He is no longer the love of our lives, in this case, but other things have taken his place, even religion.

Revelation 2:4-5 ESV

“’But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.’”

So, what is this love that we are all supposed to have? The word is “agape” in the Greek, and it literally means “to prefer.” And it is used in the context of love which centers in moral preference, and typically it refers to divine love, i.e. to what God prefers (1).

And what God prefers, i.e. what he chooses for us, is what is moral, pure, upright, honest, faithful, kind, tenderhearted, forgiving, and concern for the welfare of others.

He chooses that we forsake our sins, follow Jesus in obedience, and submit to Christ as Lord. And, He chooses that we surrender our all to him, and that he becomes our life not just part of our life. For he died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (2 Co 5:15).

The Situation Here

And, I think this is the situation here. They were doing a lot of the right things, and perhaps even for the right reasons, but Jesus wasn’t the love of their lives anymore. He wasn’t first place in their lives. Other things had come into play that were replacing him in their hearts.

He was no longer King of their lives. He was not being treated as though he was their Lord and Master. Their religion had become just that, a religion, and mechanical, rather than being prompted and led by the Spirit of God out of a heart of love for God and for others.

And, so the Lord was calling them to repent. And, he is calling us to repent, too, if this describes our lives in any way, even if it is not to this extent. And, certainly it is encouragement to make certain our priorities are in the right order and that Jesus is truly Lord and that we are doing what we are doing out of a heart of love, not just out of duty.

And, to repent means to stop doing what we were doing before, to forsake whatever it is we were doing wrong, and then to turn to the Lord and to walk in obedience to him, and to do what is right, and to do it in love.

So, if they did not repent, what was to be the outcome? They would have their lampstand (or candlestick) removed from its place. And, we read in Revelation 1:20 that the seven lampstands were the seven churches. So, this would be like saying that he would remove them from their place.

They would cease to exist as the church, or their position or their influence or their opportunity for influence where God had placed them would now be lost. He would no longer call them his church, or they would no longer be useful to him in advancing his eternal kingdom.

It would (or could) be like if God called us to a specific ministry, to be his light and his witness wherever he sent us, but if we stopped listening to him, and if we got lazy or self-consumed, and if we failed to do the work he gave us to do, then we wouldn’t be useful for him anymore, and so he would remove that ministry from us because we weren’t faithful to fulfill our God-given commission.

But, what does this mean to you? How do you believe this could be applied to our lives today? To the church today?

Revelation 2:6-7 ESV

“’Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”

We have all been given a divine call from God. And, that call is to leave our lives of sin behind us, making Jesus Lord (owner-master) of our lives, and to follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (to his instructions to the church). For, this purpose Jesus died on that cross (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6).

And, this is not a one-time event that takes place in our lives, either. This is continuous, daily, persistent, until the end when Jesus comes to take us home. And, if we don’t continue in it, but we forsake the Lord, and we go our own way, instead, and if we don’t repent when he says to repent, we don’t have the hope of eternal life (Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8).

For, it is the one who conquers who is granted to eat of the tree of life. It is the one who overcomes the flesh by the grace of God and who walks according to the Spirit of God who is promised eternal life with God.

So, for all those reading this today, if you have wandered away from your pure devotion to your Lord, and if you have abandoned the love for the Lord you had at first, provided you did truly love him at first, then the Lord is calling you, as well, to repent, and to return to him as your first love and your only Lord, and to do what he has called you to do.

If you do not repent, and if you refuse him, he will cast you out. But if you do repent, he will receive you and he will restore you to himself, and he will be your only Lord, and you will be his sheep, and you will listen to him, and you will follow him wherever he leads you until the day he comes to take you home (Matt 22:13; Matt 25:30; Lu 13:23-28; Jn 10:27-30).

The Ninety and Nine

Lyrics by Elizabeth C. Clephane, 1868

Music by Ira D. Sankey, 1874

There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the fold;

But one was out on the hills away,

Far off from the gates of gold.

Away on the mountains wild and bare;

Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;

Are they not enough for Thee?”

But the Shepherd made answer: “This of Mine

Has wandered away from Me.

And although the road be rough and steep,

I go to the desert to find My sheep.”

But none of the ransomed ever knew

How deep were the waters crossed;

Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through

Ere He found His sheep that was lost.

Out in the desert He heard its cry;

’Twas sick and helpless and ready to die.

“Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way,

That mark out the mountain’s track?”

“They were shed for one who had gone astray

Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”

“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?”

“They’re pierced tonight by many a thorn.”

And all through the mountains, thunder-riv’n,

And up from the rocky steep,

There arose a glad cry to the gate of heav’n,

“Rejoice! I have found My sheep!”

And the angels echoed around the throne,

“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqRjmVp4cR8

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(1)       https://biblehub.com/greek/26.htm

For HE is Our God!

Psalm 95:6-7 ESV

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

For he is our God,

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    and the sheep of his hand.”

We are to have no other gods before God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is to be our only sovereign, our only Lord (master), the only one to whom we give our hearts, minds, and souls, and the only one deserving of our worship and our praise.

No politician is worthy of our worship, and yet the way many Christians talk about their candidate for president you would think that person is a god to them – that he is their savior. They venerate their candidate way too high for any human being to ever deserve.

We are not to put our trust in princes or in the wisdom of man. We are not to be followers of man, but of God. We are not to be slaves of men. We are not to seek to be men pleasers, either. And, we are not to be taken captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men.

Oh, if Christians were only as passionate about Jesus Christ and his gospel of salvation as they are about pushing their political candidate for president. Oh, if they were only as passionate about defending the truth of the gospel as they are about defending their candidate and political platform.

If we are truly concerned about our nation and the people in our nation, then we need to be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, not pushing some man or woman as the hope of our nation to save us from what ails us. What if that man or woman turns out to be the (or of the) antichrist?

So, let’s give our worship only to God. Let’s look to him only as our Savior, to heal us, to deliver us from evil, and to give us hope and change. Let’s not put our trust in man to save us, for that is a vain hope. God is to be our only God – the only one we look to as our hope.

Psalm 95:7-9 ESV

“Today, if you hear his voice,

    do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

when your fathers put me to the test

    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.”

The people of Israel in Old Testament times had been in slavery in Egypt. So, God sent Moses as his servant to bring his people out of slavery in Egypt, which he accomplished in the power, strength, and wisdom of God.

A couple of months had now passed, and the people were grumbling against Moses and Aaron. They were lamenting their deliverance from slavery, and they wanted to return, for there they had their bellies filled. Then, God provided the people with bread (manna) from heaven.

But then the people complained about no water to drink, and they quarreled with Moses and demanded he give them water. Then God provided water for the people, but Moses called the place Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people and because they tested the Lord.

So, what were the people doing? They were not trusting God to supply their needs. They were making demands of God’s servant Moses. They were arguing and complaining and wishing they could go back to being enslaved again. And, that is what many Christians are doing today.

They are fighting and arguing among themselves over which candidate is the best to “save” this nation and to give us “hope” and the “change” that we need (or they think we need). They are looking to man to save them, even if it means that they go back to being enslaved again.

Remember the prophesies of Scripture here regarding these last days before the return of Christ. An antichrist (or beast) is going to rise and he (it) is going to conquer the whole world and to bring us all into submission (slavery) to him/it. If we are looking to man to save us, we may be opening a door wide to bring in the rule of this beast. So, trust God only!

Psalm 95:10-11 ESV

“For forty years I loathed that generation

    and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart,

    and they have not known my ways.’

Therefore I swore in my wrath,

    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

But this isn’t just about putting our trust in man over God on a political level, though that is a serious issue, especially if it brings in the rule of the beast. This is about putting our trust in a man-made gospel, too, which sends us back into slavery to sin. And, this is also a precursor to the one world religion, because of all the compromises the church has made regarding the gospel of our salvation from sin.

Those who are following a cheap grace gospel are in danger of hell, because they are believing a lie which says we can profess faith in Jesus Christ or merely acknowledge Jesus or accept his affection for us, and that we are saved and heaven is guaranteed us no matter how we live on this earth.

They are the immature, the irresponsible, and the self-indulgent who would rather return to enslavement to sin in order to have their fleshly appetites satisfied than to follow Jesus with their lives and to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus and for his gospel of salvation.

They are men followers instead of God followers, who listen to the lies because the lies tickle their itching ears and they tell them what their flesh wants to hear. But because they have listened to the lies, they have fallen into sin, but not just into sin, but they have fallen for a lie.

For, the gospel they are accepting is false, for it requires no repentance, no obedience to Christ, and no submission to Christ and his cross. For, there is no dying to sin and no living to righteousness required. Under this gospel you can sin as much as you want and still go to heaven when you die.

But Jesus said if we want to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For, if we hold on to our old life of living for sin and self, we will lose it for eternity. But if we lose our old life (die with Christ to sin) for the sake of Jesus, we have eternal life (Lu 9:23-26; cf. Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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He Made us Both One

Ephesians 2:11-12 ESV

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

The Israel of old was the Jewish nation. They were God’s chosen people. Those who were not Jews were not Israel. They were called Gentiles. The Jews were called the circumcision because they circumcised all their males, in obedience to God, but the Gentiles were called the uncircumcision.

The Israel of old were believers in God and in the promise of the Messiah who was yet to come, but they didn’t all believe. Just because they were Jews didn’t mean they all had faith. In fact, Scripture tells us that many Jews failed to enter into God’s eternal rest because of their unbelief, which was evidenced by their disobedience to the Lord (Heb 3:7-19; Heb 4:1-13).

Jesus even told the Pharisees that their father was not Abraham, and their Father was not God, but that their father was the devil, for they didn’t do the works of Abraham, but the works of the devil. And, he told them they would die in their sins because they didn’t believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, and because everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn 8:12-59).

So, it wasn’t just the Gentiles who were separated from Christ, but it was also unbelieving Jews. But now that the Messiah had come, Jesus Christ the righteous, the Gentiles were being given the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ and to become one with all who were Israel by faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:13-16 ESV

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

What we need to understand here is that Jesus Christ is the promised seed of Abraham, and it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are Israel. Only those who believe in Jesus Christ are heirs of the promise God made to Abraham and to his seed, meaning Jesus.

There is no longer the division of Jew and Gentile. Jesus made us one in him, by faith in him. Being a physical descendant of Abraham does not mean one is Israel, either. We are only Israel by faith in Jesus Christ.

[Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 3:10, 16, 26-29; Gal. 4:22-31; Eph. 2:14-18; 1 Jn. 2:22]

Another thing we need to understand here is that God did not abolish the whole law, just those expressed in ordinances, such as the ceremonial and the purification laws and laws about special days. We, as followers of Jesus, are not under all those old laws the Jews had to follow.

But we are still under God’s moral laws, which Jesus and the New Testament apostles repeated over again, and in fact said that if we do not keep the commandments of God (under the New Covenant), and if we are still living according to our flesh, that we will die in our sins, not have life with God.

Ephesians 2:17-22 ESV

“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

The peace this is speaking of is not world peace. It is not absence of conflict in this world. It is not uniting with the world so that we become one with the world. It is not making compromises with the world, so we don’t upset people with the truth of the gospel, either.

The peace this is speaking of is peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are no longer his enemies, no longer separate from him, but we are united with him by faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, we have died with him to sin that we might live to him and to his righteousness.

And, again, Jew and Gentile both have access in One Spirit to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ. Christian and Israel are the same thing. They are not separate. Anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives is not Israel, but all who do are Israel.

So, whether Jew or Gentile by birth, if we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith, which dies with Christ to sin, and which lives to Christ and to his righteousness, we are Israel. We are heirs of the promise God made to Abraham. There are no other heirs.

We who believe in Jesus are God’s household, his temple, the body of Christ, Israel, his church. But this is not a physical building or temple. We the people of God by faith in Jesus Christ are his temple which is the body of Christ. So, this building is not physical, but spiritual.

And, this building is not built with human hands, but on the spiritual foundation of the apostles and prophets of old, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. We are joined together by faith in Christ to grow into a holy temple in the Lord, set apart from the world and unto God and to his service, for the glory and praise of God, and not for our own glory.

For, Jesus died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. Our lives are to be for his glory and praise. For, Jesus bought us back for God with his blood which he shed for our sins (1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21; 1 Co 6:19-20; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17).

Blessed Assurance  

Frances J Crosby, 1873

Phoebe P Knapp, 1873

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Perfect submission, all is at rest

I in my Savior am happy and blest,

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPVt__1i3ZY

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The Importance of Encouragement

3 John 1:5-8 ESV

“Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”

It is a wonderful thing to receive encouragement from other believers in Jesus when one is out there daily sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ – confronting sin, and calling for repentance and for obedient faith in Jesus Christ, and for submission to Christ as Lord.

For there is much opposition to the gospel, even coming from others who proclaim Christ as Savior. And, we are on the front lines in a serious spiritual battle against our enemy, daily refuting the lies and proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Christ – of the whole counsel of God.

We who are following our Lord in doing what he has called us to do, who are proclaiming the truth of the gospel, and who are refuting the lies of Satan, are in the minority. And, we don’t usually have a lot of friends, if any. We often face much opposition, and we don’t always get much encouragement.

We work for the Lord, not for men, and we don’t work for the approval of humans, either, but for the glory of God. So, we will do what we do if we get no encouragement. And, we will keep speaking truth even if no one is listening. So, when the encouragement comes, it is a blessing.

3 John 1:9-10 ESV

“I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.”

There are many within today’s church, at least here in America, who are like Diotrephes, who do not acknowledge the authority of God’s Word, and who speak evil against the true gospel of our salvation and against those who are proclaiming the full gospel message.

But they aren’t content with just disapproving of the message of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, or of talking evil against its messengers. But they are willfully trying to persuade other Christians and the world that the true gospel is the lie and that the lie is the truth.

So, they are on an all-out attack against the truth of the gospel to try to discredit it, and they are fully engaged in persuading Christians and the world that their diluted half-truth gospel is the truth and not a lie.

But the message they are teaching is a misrepresentation of what the Word of God teaches, because they take Scriptures out of context to make them say what they want them to say, which if taught in context would rend a different understanding altogether.

For, they are teaching a gospel absent of repentance, and of obedient faith in Jesus Christ, and of submission to Christ and to his cross. They are teaching a gospel message absent of the honor and respect of God, too, for they teach a very selfish self-centered gospel that honors human flesh, instead.

Their gospel has all to do with what God can do for us humans, and how God views us as special, and how he is enthralled with us, but it doesn’t teach that we need to be enthralled with God and honor him as special and how we need to do for him what he has required of us to do.

Their gospel promises people deliverance from hell, freedom in Christ, and heaven as their eternal destiny, but it frees no one from slavery to sin, it does not honor God as holy, and it encourages continuance in sinful practices under the guise of God’s grace and salvation by faith alone.

So, if you are one who is proclaiming the true gospel message, you will most likely not be welcome in many of today’s modern “churches” (businesses), and you may even be invited to leave and to go someplace else where you will be a “better fit.”

3 John 1:11-12 ESV

“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.”

It is important for us to not believe everything we read or hear or think we see, but that we test everything in prayer against the Word of God.

For, liars and deceivers abound everywhere. And, the masses are being fooled by the lies, because the lies tickle their itching ears and they tell them what they want to hear, for they console them in their sin rather than confront them in their sin, and they tell them God will not judge them.

So, we need to be students of the Word of God, and we need to read the word in context, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and book by book. And, we need to read the Word with open minds to hear what the Spirit wants to teach us, for many of us learned things wrongly early on in our lives.

We are often are taught the Scriptures topically, which has its place, but often these are taught by using Scriptures out of context, and thus we get the wrong idea of what the Scriptures are really saying until we read them in context, and we have a “Wow!” moment where we see the truth.

So, please know what the truth teaches, for it does not teach an easy road to heaven and to eternal life with God. It teaches that faith in Jesus Christ involves dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his righteousness, and that this is daily, by the Spirit, for the glory of God.

For, if we walk (in practice) according to the flesh (in sin), we are going to die in our sins, not have eternal life with God. So, we are not to imitate evil but good. We are to walk in obedience to our Lord, surrender our lives to him, and leave our lifestyles of sin behind us (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Lyrics by Frances J Crosby, pub. 1875

Music by Robert Lowry, pub. 1875

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdmZGik1Jw

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Law, Works and Faith

Galatians 3:1-6 ESV

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?”

Context, Context, Context

When interpreting Scripture, context is everything. So, what is the context here? The Jews had been under the Old Covenant Relationship with God for many years. Now Jesus, their Messiah, had come, had died on a cross for our sins, had been resurrected from the dead, had ascended back to heaven, and had sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers.

Now followers of the One True God are followers of Jesus Christ, God the Son, and now we are under a New Covenant Relationship with God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are no longer under all those old ceremonial and purification laws. But we are under the law of love:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

So, how do we know that we are still under those two laws? This is taught to the church all throughout the New Testament, even here in the book of Galatians where it teaches that if we make sin our practice that we will not inherit eternal life with God, and that what we sow on this earth, we will reap – if to the Spirit, we reap eternal life, but if to the flesh – we reap destruction, decay, death (Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8).

But it isn’t the law which saves us. We aren’t saved by keeping the law, for not one of us could keep it perfectly. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but that faith is not some status we hold to. Faith in Jesus Christ is surrender to Jesus as Lord (owner-master) of our lives, and it results in us leaving our lives of sin behind us and us walking in obedience to our Lord (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Tit 2:11-14).

So, when we believe in Jesus, we don’t become lawless. Faith in Jesus Christ is not free license to live however we want and to continue living in sin. We are not free to sin. We are free to NOT sin because Jesus died on that cross to free us from our bondage to sin and to empower us to live righteously.

So, What is the Issue Here?

The issue here is not that the people were living holy lives, pleasing to God, and that they were being scolded about that and that they were being told that they should return to their lives of living for sin and self out of fear that living holy lives would be considered “works-based salvation.”

The issue here is that they were adding externals to their faith, that they were adding outward and physical things to the gospel message. The Judaizers were trying to convince the Christians that they still had to adhere to the ceremonial and purification laws the Jews once had to follow.

So, the works of the law being referred to here are not God’s moral laws which continued into the New Covenant. They are the ceremonial and purification laws having to do with circumcision, foods they could not eat, and special days they were to celebrate, etc.

And, the faith being referred to here is not absent of works, but they are the works of God, of the Spirit of God, which God had planned in advance that we should walk in them, as God works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13; Eph 2:10; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:14; Jas 2:17).

And, Abraham is given to us here as our example of faith. And, what do the Scriptures say about Abraham’s faith? Yes, it was counted to him as righteousness, but what else? It says, “By faith Abraham obeyed” God. And, it says that “Faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works” (Heb 11:8-19; Jas 2:21-24).

So, please know when you are reading these Scriptures about the law and works of the law in contrast to faith, that we are not being encouraged here to abandon holiness, righteousness, purity, and faithfulness. We are not being given permission to sin. For, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who WALK, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Tit 2:11-14).

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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Children Who Deal Corruptly

Isaiah 1:2-4 ESV

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;

    for the Lord has spoken:

‘Children have I reared and brought up,

    but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner,

    and the donkey its master's crib,

but Israel does not know,

    my people do not understand.’”

“Ah, sinful nation,

    a people laden with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,

    children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the Lord,

    they have despised the Holy One of Israel,

    they are utterly estranged.”

This speaks much of the present spiritual decline in the American church, and in perhaps other nations, as well. America is where I live, so America is what I know. And, what I know, and what I have observed, is that the church has been turned upside down, as has the gospel of our salvation.

Instead of teaching people to love and adore God, to worship him and submit to him, to obey his commands, and to walk in the fear of the Lord, showing our Lord enormous honor and respect, many in the church are teaching the opposite.

They are teaching how much God loves and adores us humans, and how much he just loves to be with us, and to expend himself for us, and how he is enthralled with us unconditionally, regardless of whether we honor him as Lord, follow his commands, or forsake our sins to follow him.

It is like having a baby without first going through pregnancy and labor, or like having a homecooked meal at home without first cooking it. People want the resurrection without first the death on a cross. And, they want all the blessings of obedience without the obedience.

But Jesus said that if any of us want to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. If we lose our lives (die with him to sin) for his sake, we will gain eternal life. But if we hold on to our old lives (of living to sin and self), we will lose them for eternity (Lu 9:23-26; cf. Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

Two Opposing Gospels

There are two main gospels being taught here in America. One is true, and one is false. One is of God, the other of the flesh of man. One has holiness, righteous, purity and integrity as its outgrowth. The other has worldliness, spiritual apathy, immorality, and lawlessness as its produce.

The false gospel, though, disguises itself as the true gospel, and many are deceived by its lies. It gives the appearance of truth and hope, but it is a façade, a cover-up for what is underneath. For, it promises freedom and life, while it delivers bondage to sin and death.

But by the deeds of those who follow this false gospel, the truth of what it is teaching and what it is producing is exposed. For, hidden underneath the façade is all kinds of immorality, lasciviousness, self-indulgence, corruption, greed, deception, entrapment, and slavery to sin, not freedom.

And, that is because this false gospel is of Satan and of the flesh of man, therefore it glorifies the flesh, not God. It honors humanity, not God. It is all centered on what God can do for humans, but it has nothing to do with humans worshiping, honoring, valuing, submitting to and obeying the Lord.

So, although it mimics the true gospel, it is a lie straight from hell. For, it delivers no one from hell, for it delivers no one from his slavery to sin, but it leaves him still bound in sin without hope while promising him eternal life with God in heaven when he dies. So, it is a trap! Don’t fall for it!

Isaiah 1:5-8 ESV

“Why will you still be struck down?

    Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

    and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head,

    there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

    and raw wounds;

they are not pressed out or bound up

    or softened with oil.

“Your country lies desolate;

    your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

    foreigners devour your land;

    it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

And the daughter of Zion is left

    like a booth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

    like a besieged city.”

The church in America has been under siege from enemy forces for many years. For this false gospel has existed within the church all my life, although it has grown increasingly more wicked and debase in the past twenty years, I would say.

It used to be that it merely taught one could be saved and bound for heaven based on words repeated in a prayer to invite Jesus into one’s heart. And, anything that came after that was just considered spiritual growth.

If a person never changed, they would say he was never saved. But the “saved” could live rather worldly lives free from God’s rule and still be regarded as saved and bound for heaven. Church attendance was considered a sign of being a Christian regardless of how one lived his life.

But then it really turned evil when they began to teach that we don’t have to submit to Christ as Lord, or turn from our lives of sin, or walk in obedience to our Lord, but that God does it all, and it is all for our glory and praise, not for his. And, then the true gospel began to be regarded as evil, instead.

And, so the Lord has been sending out his messages through his willing messengers, calling the church to repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ, and to leave “Babylon,” i.e. man-made church and man-made religion and man-made gospels which deny Jesus Christ as Lord (master).

The Lord was/is calling his wayward ones to repent and to leave “Babylon,” or to face his judgment, and now I believe his judgment is upon his wayward church.

In America, some of our cities are being burned with fire, and much land is now lying desolate. Foreigners, I believe, have invaded our land and are wreaking havoc on our nation. And, gatherings of the church have been disbanded or altered to where there is no room for fellowship and the communion of the saints because everyone must wear masks and must social distance one from the other.

Isaiah 1:9 ESV

“If the Lord of hosts

    had not left us a few survivors,

we should have been like Sodom,

    and become like Gomorrah.”

America is looking a lot like Sodom and Gomorrah, but not everyone here has bowed the knee to “the beast,” and to Satan, and to his false Savior and his false gospel and his false church. A minority of us have left “Babylon,” and we are walking in close fellowship with our Lord, and we are casting sin aside, and we are following the Lord in walks of obedience.

But we are also being persecuted for our walks of faith and for our stands on the truth of God’s word, too. And, greater persecution is on its way, too, for the signs are all there that censorship is coming and that forced unity and compliance with the world are just around the corner. So, we must be steadfast in our faith, and we must not submit to the enemy.

On Zion's Glorious Summit

By John Kent

On Zion's glorious summit stood

A numerous host redeemed by blood!

They hymned their king in strains divine;

I heard the song and strove to join,

I heard the song and strove to join.

Here all who suffered sword or flame

For truth, or Jesus' lovely name,

Shout victory now and hail the Lamb,

And bow before the great I AM,

And bow before the great I AM.

While everlasting ages roll,

Eternal love shall feast their soul,

And scenes of bliss, forever new,

Rise in succession to their view,

Rise in succession to their view.

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of hosts, on high adored!

Who like me Thy praise should sing,

O Almighty King!

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of hosts, on high adored!

Holy, holy, holy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhmEBpRnXis

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Eating, Drinking and Believing

John 6:35-37

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; the one coming to me shall not hunger and the one believing in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one coming to me I will never cast out.’"

It is unfortunate that many of our English translations do not properly translate the correct verb tense in many of the Scriptures, so I have taken the foundation of the ESV translation, and I have looked at the Greek, and I have replaced verbs in the ESV that sounded “past tense” with verbs that are properly “present tense” and indicative of something now happening.

So, instead of saying, “Whoever comes to me,” or “Whoever believes in me,” which can sound as though they are one-time events, it should read “The one coming to me,” or “The one believing in me,” which is something presently happening, and which implies something ongoing and continuous.

But how we translate these verbs is critical to us properly understanding their meaning so that we don’t end up misinterpreting their meaning and forming a doctrine of salvation which is false. And, what I mean by this is that many people are misinterpreting the Scriptures because of mistranslations of verb tenses, and so they see their belief for salvation as past tense rather than as something presently happening and ongoing.

In other words, it is not the one who believes (one-time) in Jesus who has eternal life with God, but it is the one believing in him (present tense). We must keep believing. We have to continue in our faith, steadfast, and true to the end, if we want to have eternal life with God (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 8:1-17).

John 6:38-40

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone looking on the Son and believing in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Yes, it is God’s will that Jesus should lose nothing of all that the Father has given to him, but that we should have eternal life and be raised up on the last day. But let’s keep reading. For this is the will of the Father that everyone looking on the Son and believing in him should have eternal life.

And, this “looking on” is not looking at casually, but it is experiencing, discerning, partaking of and concentrating and focusing our attention upon. This means that we are fully involved in the life of Christ, we are dying daily to sin and self, and daily we are walking (living) according to his Spirit, and we are actively obeying his commandments.

And, “believing” isn’t just some emotional or intellectual decision we made to “receive Christ.” For belief in Jesus is divine persuasion, and if persuaded by God, we will submit to Christ as Lord daily, and we will daily follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17).

For, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who are walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. For, if we are walking (living) according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God (Rom 8:1-17; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Co 5:10).

John 6:53-57

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one feeding on my flesh and drinking my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one feeding on my flesh and drinking my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one feeding on me, he also will live because of me.’”

Now, this is where we really get to the meat of what it means to be believing in Jesus Christ. For, it is not the words we say in a prayer, nor is it an intellectual or emotional assent to who Jesus is and to what he did for us on the cross. And, it is not a verbal confession of him as Lord, not by itself. For, many will say “Lord, Lord,” and he will say, “I never knew you.”

So, what is Jesus talking about here? He is talking about the death he was going to die on a cross for our sins. His body (his flesh) would be put to death. He would shed his blood on that cross in putting sin to death on our behalf in order that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.

So, if we are eating (present tense) his flesh, and if we are drinking (present tense) his blood, it means we are participating with him in his death to sin. We are daily denying and dying to sin and self, and we are following (obeying) our Lord and his commandments (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 8:1-17)

If we are not eating his flesh and drinking his blood, i.e. if we are not participating with him actively in death to sin and in living to righteousness, then we don’t have eternal life with God. But this goes beyond just that. This is about abiding in him, communing with him daily, feeding on his Word and then obeying what he teaches us.

For, our belief in Jesus and our salvation are not one-time events in our lives which guarantee us eternal life with God and heaven as our eternal destiny. We must actively be denying self, dying to sin, and living to righteousness, communing with our Lord, reading his word, praying, and walking in obedience to his commands if we want eternal life with God.

On Zion's Glorious Summit

By John Kent

On Zion's glorious summit stood

A numerous host redeemed by blood!

They hymned their king in strains divine;

I heard the song and strove to join,

I heard the song and strove to join.

Here all who suffered sword or flame

For truth, or Jesus' lovely name,

Shout victory now and hail the Lamb,

And bow before the great I AM,

And bow before the great I AM.

While everlasting ages roll,

Eternal love shall feast their soul,

And scenes of bliss, forever new,

Rise in succession to their view,

Rise in succession to their view.

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of hosts, on high adored!

Who like me Thy praise should sing,

O Almighty King!

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of hosts, on high adored!

Holy, holy, holy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhmEBpRnXis

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Other lords Besides You

Isaiah 26:13-14 ESV

“O Lord our God,

    other lords besides you have ruled over us,

    but your name alone we bring to remembrance.

They are dead, they will not live;

    they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

    and wiped out all remembrance of them.

What is “another lord”? Well, the word “Lord,” in this context, is the word “master,” and literally this is saying that other “masters” besides our Lord God have ruled over us. They have had dominion over us. But now only the name of our Lord is what we bring to remembrance.

So, before we trusted in Jesus Christ with God-given faith to be our ONLY Lord and Master, we were living under the dominion of Satan, the flesh, and sin. They had control over our lives. They ruled supreme. They controlled our thoughts and our actions. We obeyed them, not God.

But when we came to faith in Jesus Christ, we died with Christ to sin, we were reborn of the Spirit of God, and we were given new lives in Christ Jesus, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness.

Yet, this death to sin is not a one-time deal. Scripture teaches that we must, by the Spirit, be putting to death the deeds of the flesh, as a continual course of action. And, we must be walking (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit and not according to our flesh (Rom 8:1-17; Lu 9:23-26).

We don’t do this in our own flesh, though, but in the power of God’s Spirit. But we still live in flesh bodies, so we still are tempted to sin, and we still have the propensity to sin. So, if we get lax in these spiritual disciplines, we may fall back into sin and other masters may rule us again.

And, this is why we have the bulk of the teachings we have in the New Testament written to the church, to warn, to correct, to counsel, to urge, and to encourage steadfastness of faith, the putting on of the armor of God, and the resisting of Satan, fleeing temptation, and submission to Christ as Lord.

For, it is possible for a true believer in Jesus to fall back into sin. We have examples of this in the New Testament, especially in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Five of the seven of them were rebuked by Jesus for things that were wrong with their Christian lives.

And, so they needed to repent of their sins, even though they were already His church, because, in some areas, they had drifted away from their pure devotion to Jesus Christ, and they had let “other gods” (masters) rule over them again. If they did not repent, though, he would bring judgment.

Isaiah 26:15 ESV

But you have increased the nation, O Lord,

    you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

    you have enlarged all the borders of the land.”

This reminds me of the teaching in the New Testament where Paul was talking about division in the church, and how people were showing favoritism to one servant of the Lord over another. Paul told them that they were all servants of the Lord, just with different responsibilities.

He said that one planted, another watered, but it was God who gave the increase. Amen! (1 Co 3:6-9)

The word translated “increase” means “to grow,” “to become greater.” Now, this can be a reference to the number of followers of Jesus that had increased, or it could be a reference to spiritual growth (maturity), as a result of this planting the seed of truth in people’s hearts and others sharing it or teaching it in a way to help others to grow to maturity in Christ.

When we are taught the Scriptures properly, either as part of our initial introduction to the Word of God, or as our ongoing training in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, he will teach us truth, and he will show us what things need to be forsaken and what needs to be developed (nurtured) in our lives.

So, whether we forsook our previous masters at the moment of faith in Jesus and we never went back to any of them, or if after we forsook them we eventually went back to some of them, for a time, if we repent of our sin, and we turn from it, and we follow Jesus wholeheartedly, those previous masters will no longer be a memory in our lives.

And, the Lord will not only mature us in our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord, but then we will have an impact on others’ lives so that they, too, can forsake those “other lords,” so that they no longer rule over them, and so that they are now completely forsaken and forgotten. Amen!

Isaiah 26:20-21 ESV

“Come, my people, enter your chambers,

    and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

    until the fury has passed by.

For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

    to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

    and will no more cover its slain.”

There are many people today, many of them pastors, who claim Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord of their lives, but they have never genuinely repented of sin, never submitted to Christ as Lord, and they have never walked in obedience to their Lord, because they believe they don’t have to.

Then, there are those who do believe in repentance, which is more an initial confession of sin, not a turning away from sin, who believe they can say some magic words to “receive Christ,” and that it guarantees them heaven when they die, regardless of how they live their lives on this earth.

Then, there are those who say they believe in the true gospel of salvation from sin, who will proclaim we must repent (leave our lives of sin) and walk in obedience to our Lord, but their lifestyles haven’t backed up what they say they believe. For, they are still being controlled by the flesh, not by the Spirit.

Even though they all believe (or proclaim to believe) they are saved, yet according to Scripture, none of them have eternal life with God, because they are not walking according to the Spirit, but they are still walking according to the flesh – always have. Their hearts were never transformed of the Spirit of God away from sin to walking in holiness and righteousness.

They are still living for the lusts of the flesh, doing what their evil hearts desire, living to please themselves and not God. And, this means they are living lives opposed to God and opposed to his true gospel. And, God will bring judgment upon them, although most don’t accept that idea.

As we near the return of Christ, the bulk of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ are convinced they are going to be raptured and that they will not have to face judgment. But read Revelation. It was written to the church, not to the world. The seven letters were written to the churches, not to the world, and they were warned of judgment if they did not repent.

And, then in Revelation we have the declarations of judgment on the earth, and the saints of God are being persecuted and put to death for their faith in Jesus Christ during the tribulation. So, don’t be surprised if you don’t get raptured and you face judgment, instead, because the bulk of today’s church, at least here in America, is still living to the flesh and not to God.

For, the truth of the gospel of our salvation is that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live with him to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24).

All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Lyrics by Frances J Crosby, pub. 1875

Music by Robert Lowry, pub. 1875

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdmZGik1Jw

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