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.”
And this is where we are today, at least here in America. So
many people these days are making professions of Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior of their lives. But for so many of them, it is lip service only. For
they have bought into a cheapened and diluted gospel message, which is a
half-truth (lie) gospel, which is telling them that a profession of faith in
Jesus is all that is required of them and now all their sins are forgiven
(past, present, and future) and heaven is guaranteed them based on that
profession.
So, although they are giving lip service to the Lord, their
hearts are far from him. For they never bowed the knee to him in humility and
repented of their sins. And so they never were crucified with Christ in death
to sin, and so they were not raised to walk in newness of life in him, created
to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So their hearts didn’t
change. The profession of faith was outward only with no transformation of the
heart and mind of the Spirit of God. So they never walked with him in
obedience.
So, their fear of God is a commandment taught by men, which
in this case is this “cheap grace” gospel, which is no fear of God at all. For
it is a man-created gospel designed to appeal to and appease human flesh. For
it makes no requirements for dying with Christ to sin and walking in obedience
to his commands, which Jesus and the New Testament apostles definitely taught
we must do if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But
it gives carte blanche for its adherents to continue in deliberate sin.
Right now our Lord is allowing this to happen. He is
allowing wolves in sheep’s clothing and charlatans to serve in positions of
pastor in “church” (Institutional Church) congregations and to lead many astray
to this cheapened form of God’s true grace and gospel. And he is allowing
people to be deceived by these crafty men in their deceitful scheming. Right
now he is not stopping this from happening, for this is what was prophesied in
Scripture would happen in these last days before our Lord’s return.
So this is where it is critical that we who are following
Jesus Christ with our lives should be diligent in getting the truth of the
gospel out to as many as possible. And we should be diligent in exposing the
fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, too. So, we should be calling
out this false grace gospel of men and showing the fallacy of it biblically in
order to open blinded eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God so that they can receive forgiveness of sins and a place
among those who are being sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:18).
And one day our Lord is going to return in judgment and we
are all going to stand before him and we are all going to be judged according
to our works. And if we repented of our sins and we followed our Lord in walks
of obedience to his commands, and in righteousness, in his strength and power, then
we will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But if we ignored his commands, and
we went our own way, and so we continued in deliberate and habitual sin and not
in walks of obedience to our Lord, then the Scriptures teach that we will not
inherit eternal life with God.
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels’” (Luke 9:23-26 ESV).
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14 ESV).
Seek
the Lord
An
Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
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