Lift Up a Standard for the People

Isaiah 62:10-12 NASB

“Go through, go through the gates,

Clear the way for the people;

Build up, build up the highway,

Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.

Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth,

Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Lo, your salvation comes;

Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.’

And they will call them, ‘The holy people,

The redeemed of the Lord’;

And you will be called, ‘Sought out, a city not forsaken.’”

Many people in this world of ours are living in captivity to sin, bound in slavery to sin, living ungodly and unholy lives, not in conformity to God and to his divine will and purpose for our lives, but in conformity to the evil and wicked and lustful pleasures of this sinful world. And the sad reality of it all is that a good number of them are those who make professions of faith in Jesus Christ and who claim that they are Christians and worshipers of God.

So, this is an encouragement to those who are walking in true fellowship with the Lord – who are walking in obedience to his commands, in practice, and who are teachers of the truth of God’s word, and who are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ – to open the way for the people to escape their bondage to sin, to show them the way out, and to remove all the obstructions which are in their way to the path to true freedom from sin.

So, what is the most predominant and leading and prevalent obstruction today to the people of this world and to the false professers of faith in Christ to gain true freedom in Christ from their lives of slavery to sin? It is all the false teachers and false teachings and gospel presentations out there which are telling them that all they have to do is “believe” in Jesus (not usually biblically defined) and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and heaven is now guaranteed them regardless of how they live.

For the most prevalent obstruction today to people hearing and believing the truth of God’s Word and to finding true freedom in Christ from their lives of sin is twofold. First it is the liars, deceivers, manipulators, and opportunists who are not trustworthy people who fake their Christianity who are deliberately teaching the people lies. And then it is the lies themselves which are promising them freedom from sin but while it still leaves them bound in slavery to sin and headed to hell, but on the promise of heaven.

And these liars are spreading their lies, but not just through sermons, but through social media memes, and through books they have written, and via podcasts and videos and movies and music and advertisements, etc. And I am certain I don’t even know all the various ways in which they are spreading their lies, but I do know a lot of them, for I see and hear or read them on a regular basis, and sometimes purposefully so that I do know what is being taught. And so many people are believing them without question.

So, for those of us who know the truth of God’s word, and who know the character and will of God, we need to be exposing these lies and liars in order to remove the obstacles out of the way and to clear the path for people to come to genuine repentance and to obedient walks of faith in Christ Jesus. We need to be those who are speaking the truth in love to the people in opposition to the lies so that people’s eyes and ears and hearts will be open to the truth so that they are delivered from slavery to sin.

And the truth of the Scriptures with regard to the gospel of our salvation is that none of us can choose our own path to salvation from sin and to eternal life with God. Our salvation from sin and even the faith to believe in Jesus Christ do not come from within ourselves. They come from God, and they are gifted to us by God, and they are persuaded of God, and so they will also conform to God’s will and purpose for our lives, and to his moral character.

So, the truth that is in Christ Jesus is that we are “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (see Ephesians 4:17-24).

And it is that if we are to come to Christ we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) our Lord Jesus Christ. For, if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we die with Christ to sin and now live for him and his righteousness, then we have eternal life with God. For if we are ashamed of Christ and his words in this life, he will be ashamed of us when he returns and he will deny us (see Luke 9:23-26).

So, we can’t just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and assume now that all our sins are forgiven and that heaven is guaranteed us regardless of how we live. For as those who are of genuine faith in Christ Jesus, we were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So, sin is to no longer reign in our mortal bodies to where we obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it ends in death. But if obedience is what we obey, it ends in eternal life (see Romans 6:1-23).

And then we must know that the Scriptures teach us that if we claim to be in fellowship with God but while we still walk in deliberate and habitual sin, we are liars. And if we claim to know God, but we don’t obey his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, we are liars. And if righteousness is not what we practice, but if wickedness is what we practice, we don’t know God, we are not born of God, we are of the devil, and we will not inherit eternal life with God (1 John 1,2,3).

So, if you want to find true freedom in Christ Jesus from your slavery to sin, and if you want to be in true relationship with God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – you must turn from your sins and now follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. And now you must walk in righteousness and in holiness, in practice, though not necessarily in absolute perfection, and only in the power of God. And you must continue in that walk of faith steadfast in faith until the end. See these Scriptures:

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

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.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296