Liked by Many, but They Cannot Save

Isaiah 46 (select verses)

God is speaking to his children Israel. They were his people by physical birth. So, not all of them were followers of God. Today biblical Israel is comprised of both Jew and Gentile by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ via dying with Christ to sin and being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23). But not all who profess faith in Christ are of Christ, and not all who had true faith have continued in that faith.

[John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-18; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22]

So, if we are to apply these lessons to our lives today, I would suggest that this would be our Lord speaking to his church, but the gatherings of which also include false professers of faith, and those of weak faith who are living in spiritual adultery against the Lord, and those making no professions of faith in Christ at all. So, this would be the Lord speaking to his adulterous church of today, and to the apostate church, as well. And since I live in America, I will be relating this primarily to what I understand of what is going on inside the gatherings of what is called “church” here.

“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

    their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you carry are borne

    as burdens on weary beasts.

They stoop; they bow down together;

    they cannot save the burden,

    but themselves go into captivity” (Isaiah 46:1-2 ESV).

So, the Lord is speaking to those who profess his name about the idolatry which is prevalent among them: 

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

    and compare me, that we may be alike?”

“…for I am God, and there is no other;

    I am God, and there is none like me.”

“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

    you who are far from righteousness:

I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

    and my salvation will not delay;

I will put salvation in Zion,

    for Israel my glory.” (Isaiah 46:5,9,12-13 ESV)

So, this is how the Lord is leading me to apply this to the gatherings of his church and/or to what is falsely being called “church” today:

In America where I live, the gatherings of the church have mostly, it appears, been turned into worldly gatherings of any people in the world, regardless of whether or not they are of true faith in Jesus Christ. And these gatherings are being formed and patterned after the ways of the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings and to keep them coming back. And they are being developed via worldly means and methods and are being marketed to the people of the world just like other worldly businesses.

But what they are mostly lacking in are the truth of the Scriptures and of the gospel, and godliness and holiness and God’s righteousness and his commands. So much is being faked. So much is being diluted and altered in order to appease human flesh and to appeal to the ungodly. So much of what is being served up as “the Scriptures” is being altered and twisted and taught outside of its biblical context and is being manipulated and distorted in order to give off false, misleading, and misimpressions of truth.

And so we have a massive amount of people in America professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still living under Satan’s control – still living in idolatry and adultery, longing and hungering after the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. And this is because much of this is being fed to them in the gatherings of “the church,” and/or they are being told that faith in Jesus Christ requires no repentance, no forsaking of sins, no holy living, and no obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant).

So much of what is being taught as the truth of the gospel of Christ, and of our salvation, is literally in opposition to Christ and to what he taught, and to what his NT apostles taught. And it is what is supplanting (replacing) the truth of the Scriptures, but it is a lie, even though much of it includes truth, but they are deliberate half-truths which makes them lies. For it caters to the selfish and to the self-indulgent who want to continue living in sin but while claiming Jesus as Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny.

Now, those who are party to these flesh-driven and market-driven “churches” of today are trying to convince all Christians to join them. And if anyone who believes in Jesus does not join them and unify with them, then they are being singled out as “disunifiers,” or those who are neglecting the “gatherings of the church,” or they are tagging them as self-righteous or legalistic or hyper-religious or crazy or old-fashioned or those who are believing in and/or who are teaching “works salvation,” which is a lie.

So, why are some of us who believe in Jesus not part of the institutional church today? For all of the reasons above, for one. For they have partnered with the government and with big business, and most of them, from all appearances, are worldly and are appeasing human flesh and are not teaching the truth of the gospel but are actually opposed to the truth and are replacing the truth with the lies. So those of us who are still committed to the truth of God’s word and to obeying our Lord cannot participate in what is distorting and altering the truth and is discouraging obedience to God.

Now, when I say “institutional church” I am speaking of the government controlled and business oriented and worldly institutions of men which are going away from the truth of the gospel and away from what God intended his church to be and to do, and which are teaching lies in place of the truth, and which are appealing to human flesh and to the worldly desires of the people of the world, and which are being patterned after the world and are being marketed to the world. So this does not include gatherings of the body of Christ who are following Christ and his teachings.

So, what does the life of a true follower of Christ look like, biblically? Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self and for the flesh, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Christ’s sake we deny self, we die daily to sin and to self, and we follow him in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), then we have eternal life in him (see Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23).

He also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING (in practice) the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For many will stand before God on the day of judgment professing him as Lord and claiming all that they did in his name, but he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they refused to obey the Lord and to walk in holiness and in righteousness and no longer in sin (see Matthew 7:21-23).

[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] 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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