Psalms 119:113-115 ESV
“I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.”
Who are the double-minded? In James 1:5-8 it says this:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Double-minded means to be of two minds and souls, and to be
wavering and vacillating between two opinions. It is like a person split in
half, kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – one person but split
personalities. It is a lot like someone who professes faith in Jesus Christ but
who lives like hell, still walking in deliberate and habitual sin without
regard for the Lord and for his commands (New Covenant). He professes one thing
but lives the opposite.
And it is like the modern-day church in America, professing
to be the church, the body of Christ, while most of it is the institutional “church,”
which is of man, not of God, and which gives honor to the world and to big
business and to marketing schemes and goals and instructions. Now I am certain
that genuine believers in Jesus exist within these institutional “churches,”
but the institutions themselves are not the church, the body of Christ, and the
buildings where they meet (gather) are also not the true church.
So, believers in Christ, or those professing to be in Christ,
if they are all caught up with these institutional churches and their marketing
schemes and goals, and with following the ways of the world in order to attract
the world to their gatherings, and so they are compliant with the diluting of
the gospel, too, so as not to offend the people of the world and human flesh,
then they would also be considered to be double-minded. For they profess to
follow Christ while primarily they are following man and his methods.
So, then if we become followers of the world, we cease to be
followers of Christ, for we can’t do both, though we might try. But this is
where so many professing Christians are today, professing faith in Jesus Christ
but still caught up in the world and in the worldly “church” which is a product
of human thinking and reasoning and greed, and not a product of our Lord and
his righteousness and holiness. And so many of these institutional “churches,”
i.e. businesses, have rejected the Lordship of Christ and his gospel message,
and they are following the world, instead.
So, if you are part of an institutional church which is
worldly, and which is using worldly means and methods to attract the world to
their gatherings, and which has diluted and altered the gospel message to make
it more attractive and acceptable to human flesh and to the people of the
world, please know that this is not the true church, but a business, and its
goal is not to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to do his will, and it is not to
spread the true gospel of Jesus Christ and of our salvation.
So, if you truly want to follow Jesus Christ with your life
wholeheartedly, in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands (New Covenant),
and in walks of holiness and righteousness, and if you want to have a voice and
a testimony for the Lord and for his gospel, chances are pretty good that the
institutional market-driven “churches” are not going to provide that for you.
Chances are greater that they will reject you and they will silence you and that
they might even cast you out if you are very verbal about your walk of faith.
So, you might want to seek the Lord’s face and to inquire of
him as to whether or not you are where he wants you to be, for you may not have
a voice in these institutional churches and God wants you to have a voice, and
he wants you to be where you can grow in your walks of faith in him, and where
you can connect with other believers who are also following the Lord Jesus in
walks of obedience to him and in righteousness. For ungodly influences have a
way of pulling us away from pure devotion to our Lord.
Psalms 119:118-120 ESV
“You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.”
Please know that a mere one-time profession of faith in Jesus
Christ is not enough to guarantee you salvation from sin and eternal life with
God. The Scriptures teach that we must die with Christ to sin, not just once,
but daily, and that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to
the flesh. We must obey our Lord and his commands (New Covenant), in practice, and
we must walk in righteousness and holiness and not in sin or we don’t have
eternal life with God and heaven is not our eternal home.
And also please know that the wicked are defined in the
Scriptures as all who are walking in sin, for whom sin is their practice, and
for whom righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not their
practice, regardless of whether or not they profess faith in Jesus Christ. For
many who profess faith in Christ are going to stand before him one day and he
is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of
lawlessness,” because obedience to God was not their practice, but sin was
(Matthew 7:21-23; cf. 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10).
So, don’t be like them. Love the Lord your God with all your
being, and follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands under the New
Covenant. Surrender your lives to Jesus Christ and make him truly Lord (Owner-Master)
of your lives. And love his word, and obey his word, in practice. And share the
truth of the gospel and not the lies. So be students of the Scriptures who
study them in context so that you can discern truth from lies, and so you make
certain what you are believing and sharing is indeed the truth according to the
Scriptures.
Praise
the “I AM!”
An
Original Work / February 24, 2012
Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,
Glorious in power, mighty in strength;
Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,
My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!
Perfect salvation my Lord provided
When He died for my sins on a tree;
Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,
When He arose, so I could be free!
I am so thankful for His forgiveness;
Grateful that He chose to pardon me,
Giving me new life full in His Spirit,
So I can serve Him; His servant be!
Walking in daily fellowship with Him,
Obeying Him whate’er He commands;
Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,
I will endure with Him to the end!
He gives me peace and calm reassurance
In times of sorrow, or in distress.
His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient
To meet me in my need for sweet rest.
Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.
My heart longs for You where’er I am.
Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;
Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”
No comments:
Post a Comment