Willing or Not?

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:34-35 ESV)

If we apply this to today then we have to acknowledge that “Jerusalem,” spiritually speaking, is no longer a physical city in a physical country. So the physical city of Jerusalem in physical Israel is no longer the Holy City of God, but she, representing the Jewish nation, is of Hagar, the slave woman, and not of Sarah, the free woman, because she is still in slavery with her offspring. So she is the same as the Arab nations in the eyes of God.

[John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:14-18; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22]

And God’s chosen people, his holy nation, are now those who have believed in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, whether they are of Jewish descent or not. So, to apply this to today we must apply this to the church at large, and I can say with confidence that I believe this applies to the church at large here in America, but I don’t know about in other nations, and I am certain this does not apply to every believer in Jesus Christ.

So today this would be like Jesus saying, “O Church, the people who profess my name but who deny me and my name because they reject the truth of the gospel and they shun and despise my messengers who are bringing them the truth of the gospel.”

For the gospel message which is permeating the market-driven “churches” of America is not the same gospel that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught. For what most are teaching is a diluted and altered gospel message which also alters and dilutes the divine character and will of God for our lives. And so those who are teaching the full gospel message are largely being rejected, shunned, ignored, or rebuked and falsely accused of being legalistic, self-righteous, crazy and/or of teaching works salvation.

The gospel message that is largely permeating the church here in America is teaching that we can “believe” in Jesus Christ (not usually defined biblically), and now all our sins are forgiven and heaven is our eternal destiny and nothing can take it away from us, but regardless of how we live. But “regardless of how we live” is not part of the gospel taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one doing God’s will.

And Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him that 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 we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die to our old lives of sin so that we can now walk in the ways of the Lord, then we have eternal life in him. So if sin is our practice, and if righteousness and obedience to God are not our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; Galatians 5:16-21]

Now I feel with great passion what the Lord said here about how often he would have gathered those who professed his name under his wings but they were not willing. And I see this on a regular basis when I share the truth of the gospel with people who are believing the lies of the enemy and I get ignored or rejected or cast aside. Most don’t want to hear the truth of the gospel but they prefer the lies for the lies coddle them in their sins and do not demand repentance nor obedience to the Lord.

And I do believe that these “houses” (buildings called “church”) are forsaken, empty, abandoned spiritually, because so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are following the ways of man and not the ways of God, and so they are abandoning the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Scriptures to go after messages which tickle their itching ears and which do not confront them in their sins. But this applies to people’s hearts and lives, too, and not just to the physical gatherings of what is called “church.”

And from a spiritual perspective, I believe we can take this last sentence to say that those who this describes will not see the Lord unless they honor the Lord with their lives, unless they humble themselves before the Lord and truly repent of (turn from) their sinful lifestyles to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands. Then, when the Lord returns they will see him and they will go to be with him because they repented, and because they obeyed, and because they followed our Lord and no longer walked in sin.

[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] 

Willing or Not

Video Talk

August 10, 2023

https://youtu.be/QDzS_-8jETk 

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

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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