Psalm 46:1-3 ESV
“God is our refuge and strength,
a very present
help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the
mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the
mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah”
Opposition to the Gospel of Christ
This passage can be taken literally, speaking of natural
disasters, or it can be taken figuratively of any kind of circumstances which
might trouble us, and which might tempt us to fear. It can be anything which
might unsettle us, and which might shake our foundation from underneath us, and
which might tempt us to doubt God or to fear man and what he might do to us.
What the Lord is leading me to write about today is the strong
opposition we in America are now facing against the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This opposition is shaking the foundation of the gospel as an earthquake would
shake the ground beneath our feet. It is splitting it in half, and it is
destroying it.
There are pastors and teachers of the Word of God who are
destroying the foundation of the gospel through the words that they are
teaching. For, they are not only teaching another Jesus and a different gospel
from the Jesus and the gospel of the Scriptures, but they are on the offensive
(the attack) against the gospel, as was taught by Jesus and his New Testament
apostles.
For, the authority for the gospel they are teaching is not
God, and it is not the Scriptures, but it is the flesh of man, and it is of
Satan. For the gospel they are proclaiming is self-indulgent, of the flesh of
man, and that which coddles people in their sin, and it even excuses away their
sin, too. So, it stands in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ and of his
apostles.
For, the gospel they are teaching does not require death to
sin or living to righteousness. It makes no demands for submission to Christ,
for repentance, and for walks of obedience to our Lord. So, the one believing
in this false gospel is told he can make a profession of faith in Jesus and he
is forgiven his sins, they are wiped out, and now he is on his way to heaven.
Not only does it not matter how he lives his life from that
moment forward, according to that teaching, but he is being given a free license
to continue living in slavery to sin without guilt. So, the message they are
teaching leaves the sinner still bound in his sin and headed to hell, not to
heaven. So, while it promises him life, it curses him to death and to hell.
Persecution of Christ’s Followers
But, it isn’t enough to just lead all these people to hell
while promising them heaven, but they are on the all-out attack to attempt to
discredit the true gospel of salvation from sin so that they discourage anyone
from believing the truth and so be saved from their sins and truly have eternal
life with God.
Thus, they are also coming against the Lord’s followers who
are out there on the front lines sharing the truth of the gospel each day. They
are trying to discredit them, trying to pull the rug out from underneath them
in hopes to trip them up in some way so that others will stop listening to
them.
So, it isn’t just that they are trying to lead people astray
from the truth, and that they are attempting to discredit the truth, but that
they are literally attempting to cut off the only source of life, the only hope
of salvation from people’s lives. They are keeping them from being free from
their bondage to sin, and thus they are knowingly leaving them still dead in
their sins.
And, the reason that they are being so successful in leading
so many people to a false Jesus, to a false gospel, and to a false hope of salvation
and eternal life with God, is because the shepherd’s of the sheep are largely
AWOL. They may physically be present, but spiritually they are absent.
And, so the thieves can break in to kill, to steal, and to
destroy even the sheep. For so much of today’s church has adopted this false
gospel as the true gospel of salvation, and thus they are leading their people
to abandon the true grace of God and to return to their vomit.
In Defense of The Truth
And, so the Lord has called out some of his followers to
oppose this cheap grace gospel, and to proclaim the truth in opposition to the
lies. And, they are waking up some people. And, so Satan is angry, and some of
the people are angry and pastors are angry at those of us who are telling the
truth.
And, so they are attacking the gospel from within the
church, but under the guise that they are somehow protecting the people from
error, that this is somehow for their good. And, they do this by presenting the
true gospel as “works-based salvation” and the false gospel as true grace and
true love.
But it isn’t just pastors of churches who are attacking the
truth of the gospel under the guise of protecting the people from harm, but it
is politicians, too, and it is the pope.
For, what they are trying to present is that the true gospel
is not loving, but that it is judgmental, fanatical, and hateful, etc. And, so
it needs to be done away with, for it divides people. It doesn’t unify them. And,
they are preaching a message of “love” and “unity” which will bring “peace” to
the world.
But it is a lie. It is not real love, and the unity is
forced unity, and it will not bring true peace, for it will force people into
compliance with the beast and with the world. But, the saints of God and the
gospel of our salvation will be sacrificed to bring about this false unity and
peace.
Psalm 46:4-7 ESV
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of
God,
the holy
habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help
her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his
voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of
Jacob is our fortress. Selah”
But God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in
time of trouble. So, we don’t have to fear all this opposition or these attacks
against us. We don’t have to be afraid of what others might say to us or about
us.
God is with those of us who are his by faith in him, who
have died with him to sin and who are living to him and to his righteousness.
Even though the shepherds of the sheep may abandon the sheep and leave them to
the wolves, God will never leave us or forsake us.
The Lord will give us the wisdom that we need. He will give
us the words to say to those who oppose us, and who oppose the true gospel
message. Or, he will give us the discernment as to when to say nothing in
response to our accusers.
So, we just need to keep on doing what the Lord Jesus has
called us to do, and we need to commit our ways to him, and trust him with our
future.
God is With Us
An Original Work / June 11, 2019
Based off Psalm 46
God’s our refuge. He is our strength,
A present help to us when in pain.
Therefore, we will not be afraid,
Although the earth beneath us gives way.
Though the mountains be moved to the sea,
Roaring waters abound so free,
And the mountains now tremble so,
We will not fear, God is near, we know.
God is with us and He makes glad
The hearts of all who to Christ have fled.
Christ is in us, so we’ll not fall
When on our Savior our hearts do call.
God will help us, as mornings arise,
To be faithful to His design.
Nations raging, and tempers flare.
Our God is with us. We know He cares.
Come and see the works of the Lord.
He’s armed for battle with His great sword.
He’s the Word, and He is the Life.
He gives us strength in all of our strife.
Be still and know that He is our God.
He’s exalted where’er He trods.
The Lord Almighty, with us still;
The God of Jacob, our citadel.
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