Isaiah 29:13-16 ESV
And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
This could easily have been written about the institutional
market-driven church in America today, which is comprised of some true
followers of Jesus, many professers of faith in Jesus who are not living the
Christian life, and some people from the world, because the world is their
target audience. The world is who they are trying to reach, but not with the
truth of the gospel of our salvation, but for their institutions of men via
their marketing schemes.
So, these modern and worldly market-driven “churches,” which
are not the true church, the body of Christ, but which are businesses and
institutions of men, are made up largely of people who draw near to the Lord
with their mouths and honor God with their lips (lip service only) while their
hearts are far from him. And how do I know this? I know it by how many people
are teaching the false gospel and by the masses who are believing the lie.
It is obvious on social media, and it is obvious in the
blogging world, and on Christian discussion sites, and if you listen to any
current sermons on TV, on the radio, or on the internet, or if you attend an
institutional (501c3) incorporated “church” here in America, and if you listen
to their sermons and to their conversations and to the teachings in their small
groups, that the majority of what is being taught as the gospel today here in
America is not the same gospel that Jesus and his New Testament apostles
taught.
Most are teaching a diluted, altered, and adulterated “gospel”
which is a half-truth (lie) gospel of men in their deceitful scheming whose
intention is to lead people away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ to follow
the ways of man and of the flesh, instead. And Satan is behind this half-baked
gospel. And it is obvious because it teaches the opposite of what the Bible
teaches and it is opposed to the divine character and will of Almighty God.
For they are teaching that you can “believe” (not defined)
in Jesus, have your sins forgiven, and have heaven guaranteed you when you die,
regardless of how you live your life on this earth. For they either steer away
from or they blatantly teach against walks of obedience to the Lord and repentance
(turning away from your sin) and the honoring of Christ as Lord (Owner-Master)
of your life. They call that “works-based salvation.”
But God calls it truth. He calls it His Word. He calls it
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the whole counsel of God. And his word teaches that
if we don’t die with Christ to sin, and if we are not forsaking our sins to
follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), and if he is not Lord
(Owner-Master) of our lives, and if we are not submitting to him as Lord, then
we will not inherit eternal life with him, but we will die in our sins.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal
5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal
6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb
10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev
18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]
Isaiah 29:15-16 ESV
“Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us?’
You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
‘He did not make me’;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
‘He has no understanding’”?
Because so many people are believing this altered gospel and
they are not only believing it, but they are spreading it far and wide all over
the internet and on social media, etc., and because so many of them are also
attacking and maligning the true gospel of grace, therefore, many professers of
faith in Jesus Christ are still living in deliberate, habitual, and often premeditated
sin against God and against other humans, including their spouses.
Some of them are rather blatant about the idea that they can
keep on living in sin now because of “God’s grace,” while others are still
hiding their sins in secret. And they may be secret believers in the altered
gospel, too, while claiming with their lips to believe the true gospel. And
some may be more open about their sins, at least to a point, but they still
believe God’s grace covers them all, even though they are walking in deliberate
and habitual sin, making sin their practice, and they are not walking in
obedience to the Lord.
But whether they are closet sinners or they openly sin or
they sin privately but sometimes confess their sins out loud to others but then
still walk in sin, if sin is what they practice, and if righteousness is not
their practice, and if they are not walking in obedience to the Lord, and their
lives are not surrendered to Jesus Christ, but they are still ‘lord’ of their
own lives, it is all the same to God. They will not inherit eternal life with
God.
But, yes, many professing Christians are closet sinners who
give the appearance of righteousness on the outside while they deliberately and
habitually sin in secret, the biggest of which today is probably sexual
immorality, and probably mostly related to pornography and/or to sexual
idolatry and adultery in one form or another. And many pastors are caught up in
this, too, and so not many pastors are teaching the true gospel.
So, yes, they have absolutely turned things upside down, and
they are turning light for darkness and darkness for light, and evil is now
being called “good” and good is now being call evil. It is all twisted. And
yes, they are playing God, too, and they are deciding their own life course,
and they are treating God as though he is their genie in the sky and that he is
there to grant their every wish and to do what pleases them instead of the
other way around to where we do what pleases God according to his desires.
And so everything is flip-flopped, which is by Satan’s design
and purpose. And so we need to get back to the basics. We, as the church, need
to humble ourselves, and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways, and
now follow Jesus in obedience to his ways, and operate as the body of Christ
was designed to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the will
of God under his design and with Jesus Christ truly as head.
And we need to get back into the Scriptures and stop
listening to liars and deceivers and memes and tweets, etc., which are pointing
us away from the truth. And we need to study the Scriptures in context
prayerfully, seeking our understanding from God and not from the flesh of man.
And then we need to be the people of God who are walking in obedience to the
teachings of his word and who are spreading the truth of the gospel to the
world.
He
Touched My Mouth
An Original Work / June 13, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 6:1-8; Jeremiah 1:4-9
Oh, I saw the Lord seated on His throne,
High and lifted up; Holy is the Lord!
The earth is full of His glory.
“Woe to me,” I cried,
“I’m of unclean lips.”
My Lord touched my mouth
With His cleansing pow’r;
Removed all my guilt, paid for by His blood.
He asked, “Whom shall I send;
Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Before I was born, God set me apart;
He appointed me to His servant be.
I said, “I don’t know how to speak.
I am but a child.” Then, the Lord replied:
“Do not say to me, ‘I am but a child.’
You must go to all and do what I say.
Do not fear them, for I’m with you.”
My Lord touched my mouth;
Gave me words to say.
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