religion

On the Eve of Battle

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“When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.” (Deut. 20:1).

We often feel the pressure of what the world calls odds and statistics. Many times we intimidated by what life throws at us, evil ambushes and anxieties attempt to choke the life out of us.

We see governments, media and the culture itself massing great numbers against the Christian faith and we seem outnumbered.

God tells his church, to stop being afraid of them because God who saved them and redeemed them is with them. His presence is salvation. His friendship means invincibility.

We must realize that individual salvation is no small accomplishment, it is a miracle, considering the hold the Devil and sin has on the will and minds of men and women. Imagine the salvation of thousands and even millions.  This is nothing for God to do, it is beyond words and emotion.

The God who delievered them from Egypt would be with them. No earthly power or government, no human strategy could have made Pharaoh and the undefeated armies of Egypt even negotiate a release for its working class of slaves. But God made Egypt an offer they could not refuse. The sting of God defeat of Egypt was felt for a long time after even on the godless nations (1 Sam. 4:8).

We must understand that it was by not only the great calamities with which the Lord pounded all the gods of Egypt that released them (Ex. 12:12), but the decisive victory was by the blood of the passover Lamb did they overcome Pharaoh who was a type of Satan and Egypt which was a type of the world (Ex 12:27). The gospel of Christ and his precious blood levels all the powers of darkness, sin, death  and all false gods (1 Pet. 1:19; Rev 12:11).

We smile and march with confidence into gospel battles and Paul says “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you  will be saved—and that by God.” (Phil 1:27-28).

The power of God in the gospel is so awesome, so powerful, it is laughable to think anyone can stop it.

We should glow with a confident faith! As we stand for God, the Son of Man stands at the right hand of God (Acts 7: 56) for his church! In fact he sist at the right hand of God and from that position neither he nor we can be defeated.

We are on the Lord’s team and we march in his army. The regiments of hell can sneer and mutter all their lies against you. They can shoot bullets of guilt at your conscience, lay IED’s of anxiety in your path and broadcast threats of terrorism and evil kill the body, but never can they touch your soul nor can the thwart the authority of the gospel witness!

As these demonic hordes see the LORD GOD leading His armies, it is they who will be afraid. “The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.” (Deut. 28:7).

© 2012 Soul Health Care Ministries, If you share this article just let them know about us and where it came from. 

THE HEART WHISPERER

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God tells the prophet Isaiah to speak comfortably or literally to speak tenderly to the heart of his people (Isaiah 40:2).  The heart is the priceless human soul (Mt 16:26) the source of our affection and appetites and it is the divine target of redemption. I was pondering the verse where King David says, “No man cared for my soul.” (Ps. 142:4). That is no feeble accusation of today’s church. Many times we have failed to do this. We talk to people’s felt needs and offer life enhancement principles but we have such difficulty addressing heart issues and their real needs concerning Christ, sin, repentance, forgiveness and spiritual birth. Perhaps we fear turning them off to church and God? Maybe we fear not being “loving” enough? We can give dangerous superficial comfort to people in the name of being sensitive to their needs.

Christ sees past all the surface issues and looks into the inner recesses of the heart. This does not refer to the Son of God using a soft voice when he speaks. It refers to those who realize that God’s still small voice through the scriptures carried by the Holy Spirit speaks life to the wounded human heart and lifeless spirit. While we are to be those who tenderly and affectionately speak his truth, let us not be confused about genuine comfort! The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter and yet he functions in his office to convince “the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.” (John 16:8NLT).  If that is what the Holy Spirit does-why don’t we do the same in our message?

HEARING CHRIST ABOVE THE NOISE

Popular preachers along with the mega-church phenomenon engage in marketing, religious entertainment, mushy self-esteem psychology and motivational speaking. There is a developing concern that droves of people will end up filling these religious stadiums and campuses that have never been saved or born again. These preachers and churches run the risk of being what Job called, “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) and when it comes to the soul they could easily be called, “physicians of no value.”  (Job 13:4). God alone knows the heart; he alone knows its condition and cure! They do not preach the heart of God in the scriptures and thus do not reach the heart of people! 

There are so many religious salesmen crying for our attention today producing torrents of spiritual confusion and biblical error.  They try to sell you whirlwinds in their books, earthquakes in their seminars, and fire in a bottle. But few offer the free gifts of the still small voice in the scriptures as sufficient! Christ the Heart Whisperer has bent low to bring people out of this “horrible pit” (Ps. 40:2) or a “pit of noise” and wants to “set their feet upon the rock” of Bible promises. Christ’s still small voice in the scriptures will be lifted up above this racket and that voice that they were deaf to will become like the roar of the ocean waves in the new heart and in the real church (Rev. 1:15).

FOOTSTEPS OF THE HEART

What is God’s assessment of the human heart?  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). That is what God says about the heart-GOD! The word deceitful in Hebrew is two adjectives which form the phrase “footprints on a path.”  With every heart beat there is a footstep, it shows the direction the sinner’s life is going. They are heart-prints. In the scene of a crime footprints would serve as crucial evidence to showing the presence of a person who perpetuated the crime. God even now is tracking the criminal footprints of people’s heart or heart-prints and he acts in wrath against them (Rom. 1:18)!  He says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The death sentence is the wage-or what the sinner deserves (Ezek. 18:4). Sin is dangerous and results in infinite crimes and an infinite penalty against an infinite God. The apostle Paul said the sin in his heart, “deceived me, and…killed me.” (Rom. 7:11). Every person who is not saved is dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1-3). That is a great problem and need.

 

CHRIST EXPOSES THE HEART

The heart was not hidden from the eyes of the Son of God. Jesus said, “For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” (Mk 7:20-23NLT). How can one preach self-esteem to those who should be ashamed that they have committed treasonous crimes against the crown of heaven? The only hope of the sinner is that his self-esteem is brought into the dust and he sees the glory of God. The Heart Whisperer exposes the real condition of the heart. 

THE HEARTPRINTS OF CHRIST

Christ whose heart full of love, made his way up to Calvary marking each step with heart footprints to pay for your sin and satisfy the anger of God against the sins of the heart. God only saw his footprints not mine, not yours. There his footprints were stained with blood as he bore our sins to the Cross. Now the evidence of our crimes and sins fell upon him! The justice of God tracked it all the way to Calvary.  Christ took my sin, gave me his righteousness and was judged on my behalf and I went away free. He who lighted the light of the sun and furnished the light of the night, he who made springs in dry lands, the Lord and of the heaven and earth, the sea and rivers, the sun moon and stars, the lofty mountains and the lowly valleys, the God of the heaven and in heaven and under heaven. Alas, we have seen the son of the living God stretched out on a cross. Alas, the body that possessed wisest dignity had been plunged into blood. A crown of thorns was placed about his beauteous head; the blood of Christ is flowing from his bleeding side; this cross is like the parting of the day from night!  The Heart Whisperer comforted me. He took the punishment I deserved. The Heart Whisperer spoke salvation into my heart of those who he calls and his heart-prints mark our lives forever.

TERMINAL HEART CONDITION

God’s says the heart is desperately wicked which refers to an incurable disease. The heart is injured by sin, it is bruised and broken. It has a life threatening illness. “This is what the Lord says: “Your injury is incurable, a terrible wound. There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can heal you.” (Jer. 30:12-13NLT). The Lord says again, “Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. You are battered from head to foot-covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds-without any soothing ointments or bandages.” (Isa. 1:5-6NLT). It is not just life’s trauma, exploitation and abuse that broke your heart. It was already broken by sin when you were born (Ps. 51:5). The heart is helplessly sinful, it is broken beyond repair, it is wounded beyond relief, and it is beyond human treatment. Only Christ can heal the cancer of the heart! The Lord who sees the heart is the only qualified surgeon of the soul.  No psychology or religion can help you. Christ is the help of the helpless. Here is a novel idea: preach more about Jesus Christ! He is the Heart Whisperer he can only speak a word and they will be healed.

THE STUBBORN HEART OF ROCK

The Bible warns of the hardening that comes from the, “deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). Sin deceives the heart and hardens it, making it cold, brittle, and resistant to change.  When the message of the gospel comes to the hearts of some people, they are like Pharaoh (the poster boy of hard hearts) and in their hearts they say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him …I do not know the Lord.”  (Ex 5:2). God’s reply to them is, “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Rom. 2:5).  Unless there is a one hundred and eighty degree change, the hard hearted person will face God’s perfect justice one day and their unrepentant soul will be smashed upon the rocks of his righteous anger. There is no safety outside of Christ. Their refusal to turn from sin is storing more and more wrath where only an eternity in hell will satisfy the justice of God against them.  That is a deep problem-a great need wouldn’t you say? Only the fire of the Holy Spirit can thaw a frozen heart.  Preach to meet that need. Only Christ can conquer the feral, untamed human heart, only he can save the soul! No methodology, no program, no other religion can help the hard heart. The Holy Spirit is speaking to hearts here though scripture, “Today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts.” (Heb. 3:7-8NLT). The Heart Whisperer may be speaking to you tonight.

THE NEW HEART OF THE NEW BIRTH

God tells us in Ezekiel’s prophecy that he will take away the heart of stone and give us in its place a heart of flesh. Jesus tells us, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). Here is the most foundational, cardinal and essential truth the Heart Whisperer can speak! YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!  It at the very heart of the gospel message: regeneration must take place in order for a person to repent and trust in Christ for salvation.

W.A. Criswell comments, “How can you preach the gospel to a stone?  And how can you argue with a rock?  The man in his nature is hard.  He is indifferent.  He will pass by the sacrifice and the cross of Jesus without any repercussion in his soul at all.  He is lost.  He is hard.  His heart is like a stone.  And you can talk to him, and you can plead with him, and you can speak to him of the grace of the Lord.  He is impervious.  He is unmoved.  He is untouched.  His heart is like a rock.  He is lost. God must do something. 

God must give him a new heart if he is ever responsive, if he is ever teachable, if he is ever sensitive, if he ever repents. But when God gives a man a new heart, he is almost unrecognizable compared to what once he was.  You talk to him about the Lord Jesus and point to the cross and he will weep.  You talk to him about the grace of God, and his heart will overflow.  You speak to him about the Spirit, and the call, and the way of the Lord Jesus, and he is all attention.  He has a new heart that is the difference.”

HEART MEDICINE

Please stand. The Holy Spirit wants to introduce you to Jesus Christ who is the warm satisfying bread of life to those who are spiritually hungry (John 6:35) and he is cool running water to the spiritually thirsty (John 4:14).  I think of the scriptures that says, “Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.” (Mk. 10:49).  Only he can satisfy! What he has done for others he can do for you! You never need go, “hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.” (CHS). The Holy Spirit will be placed in your heart so he keeps fresh and alive in your new heart your desire to love and obey God.  Isaiah 53 asks who will believe the report about Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. You see him despised so you could be loved, rejected so you could be accepted, experiencing the depths of grief so you could have the heights of joy. He carried your weakness and the burden of your sorrows and was punished for your sins! You see him pierced for your rebellion, crushed for your sins, beaten and whipped so you could be whole. 

You must see this as the one and only remedy for sin. You must see that God will only accept one payment for sin and the propitiation of Christ to appease his justice against you.  You must see that Christ and his death is the one and only way to be saved. You must put your whole confidence in what Christ did in payment for sin. Lay aside your good works. They cannot save! Put down your sin and turn away from them and call upon the Lord to save you from the power of evil. !  Through a message like this it is my prayer that God will shoot a bullet of the gospel into some soul that triggers a wound that only he can heal. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.” (Job 5:18).  Such is the way of the Heart Whisperer.

Christ Will Catch You

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 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 13:47-50)

Manual labor was how most people survived in Bible days. Fisherman, farmers, shepherds, potters and carpenters are all used as illustrations of God’s Kingdom and how he worked in human lives. Farmers grew things, shepherds guarded things, potters made things and carpenters built things. The analogy Christ gave to his first followers in this parable included nets, fish and fisherman. His very first followers were fisherman and they were in the business of catching things.  

 We see that fisherman used a large net with weights on it or a dragnet to catch fish. Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven, the Sovereignty of God, his rule and reign over the earth and the hearts of men is like a dragnet. It is the preaching of the biblical gospel that catches people, like fisherman use a dragnet to catch fish (Luke 5:10).

The dragnet draws them in from the sea. The sea is symbolic of the world and its people, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” (Isa. 57:20). Like the world it is restless and unstable but God Almighty is an excellent fisherman (Ezek. 32:2-3). Christ is the Creator of life in the seas, oceans, lakes and rivers. He was the one who at Creation, said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.” (Gen. 1:20). So he who made the fish knows where they hide.

They collect every kind of fish: there all kinds of people the gospel dragnet catches. The Bible says God makes, “men as the fish of the sea…” (Hab. 1:14NIV). They come from every ethnic group, nation and tongue. Some are famous people, others unknown people, some rich, some poor. Christ catches all kinds of people. 

Once the dragnet is full they bring it to shore and sit down. One day fishing will be over. There will be no more need for gospel preaching, “And then shall the end come.” (Mt 24:14). The end of this “present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) will come and give way to the fullness of the kingdom age (Rev. 21: 4). For now the kingdom of God has come in this age but not in fullness (Heb 6:5). The kingdom of God has invaded and defeated the kingdom of Satan (Mt. 12:28) but Satan and death the last enemy are still around doing their dirty work.  So for now we have the righteous and the wicked side by side.

Then the fisherman shall sit down and separate the good fish from the bad. This involves the ministry of the holy angels who are appointed the task of separating the good fish from the bad or the righteous from the wicked, “and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” (Mk. 13:27).

When the kingdom of God arrives, the wicked and the righteous will be separated like weeds and wheat, sheep and goats and good and bad fish. Those who are disobedient to the gospel call and refuse to turn from their sin will be sent to hell and those whom he saves will be allowed access into heaven. We need to be careful to mention all have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and we all are pretty bad fish. The “good fish” Christ catches for salvation in his mercy and grace but they are not good in themselves. But not everyone will be saved. He keeps the living “fish” (those who have been born again) and the dead fish (those who are not born again) are thrown away in condemnation.

This message of the dragnet of the gospel has bad news and good news. We can see in this great dragnet of God’s kingdom His, “goodness and severity.” (Rom. 11:22). One day everyone will be caught and there is no where you can run from God. The Bible asks, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” (Heb. 2:3). Those who are saved are drawn out from the drowning waters of God’s judgment (Ps. 18:16). But the wicked will be burned in a furnace of fire (Mt. 13:42, 50). This is a constant theme in scripture where God differentiates between those who serve God and those who do not (Mt. 13:30, 41-42).  

You see Jesus was not our idea of a Savior and as sinners we have a twisted way of thinking completely remote from God ways and thoughts.  In building God’s kingdom, God the Father determined that Jesus was be the cornerstone and foundation of the church. The religious people were clueless. So Christ said to them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’ He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Mt 21:42-24NLT). The cornerstone is a stumbling stone for many people, but the idea of Jesus Christ being a savior scandalizes and outrages people. But Christ will catch you. He will catch you as a Savior or he will catch you as your Judge.

I find it interesting that fisherman back then used a dragnet. According to the dictionary a dragnet is also, “a systematic and coordinated search for a wanted person made by police.”  (Encarta).  God is on a manhunt or soul hunt for those who have broken his law! This is a warning to those who think they can wait around and follow Christ whenever they want or whenever they are ready. It does not work that way (Isa. 55:1,-3, 6-7).  Augustine said, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance but not time to your procrastination.  All will be caught in an inescapable net one day. You will be entangled in this net, if you are not already. God will act in his justice and he will catch up with those running from it,  “Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Eccl. 9:12).

The bad news first: Judas was caught in the dragnet of Christ, but for condemnation. It is so very sad. What a trophy Satan has on hell’s wall in capturing Judas. Here Judas was a disciple he performed miracles and preached the gospel. “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” (Mt 10:1NIV) and yet he would be the one who would betray Christ (Mt. 10:4).  

That is why Jesus said don’t rejoice in performing miracles but rejoice that “your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20).  The Bible says that the devil put that idea of betraying Christ in his heart (John 13: 2) and entered into him (Luke 22:3) and Christ called him a devil (John 6:70) despite the fact he chose him for service. All Judas thought about was a convenient (Mk 14:11) opportunity (Mt. 26:16) to betray Christ to those who would eventually crucify him. Jesus treated Judas as the guest of honor at the last supper and washed his feet knowing what he was going to do. But Judas eventually committed suicide and after his neck broke, his body fell and cracked open and his intestines gushed out (Acts 1:18).  How did such a sad fish get in the net?  

You see, in the dragnet of the Kingdom of God there are good and bad fish. In theology, we call it the visible and invisible church. Simply put, the visible church has saved and unsaved people. It has real believers and hypocrites. There is the church we see and people who seem to be Christians and there is the church God sees and those he knows belong to him. They all coexist for a time and then God sifts them. A heart unchanged by the Spirit of God will not choose to serve God. Sin rules their heart. They can mask their true condition by religiosity, morality, generosity, and civility but they are still sinners.

They are slaves to sin and in their hearts they have a hatred for God and all his laws (Rom 8:7). But it is not so obvious. Yes, they can imitate things, they can play the role of religion but one day they will be exposed as frauds. “Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later.” (1 Tim. 5:24NLT).  The more they are around miracles, even solid preaching of the word of God instead of becoming softer they become harder. The Bible says, “When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.” (Heb. 6:7-8NLT). The Spirit of God asks, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Rom. 2:4-5). 

Peter was caught in the net of Christ for salvation. When the disciples went fishing at the Word of Christ, their nets broke under the weight of the miraculous catch and the boats began to sink (Luke 5:2, 7).  Peter was terrified. He said, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord!”  (Luke 5:8). But Peter was hooked he could not shake the dragnet of grace that now rest upon him. Seeing the sin in his life he knew he needed to change his ways as the very presence of Christ came as light that illuminated the darkest parts of his soul in one moment. He was afraid, because he was exposed, for he was tangled in the nets of Christ and was at his mercy.

There was a terrible storm one time and Christ came walking on the water, Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on the water with Christ, but he could not for long stay in that position. As he began to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Mt. 14:30).   I know Peter walked on the water for a time, I have heard this passage preached on, some good ones and others mangled out of context.  But here is the actual point:  Christ is Peter’s only hope and Savior.  We too must see the boisterous winds and powerful surging waves of Divine justice!  We must see our souls sinking down and look to Christ’s sinewy arm to reach in the waters and rescue us from drowning. His work, his will, his human powers of soul and spirit could not save him! He needed to be saved from and outside source and only Christ would and could save him!  What a difference when he first met Heaven’s Fisherman and said, “Lord, leave me!  Now he says, “Lord save me!”  

Before the crucifixion there were three main targets that Satan was after, Christ, Judas and Peter. He had a foothold situation in Judas. He was done. Satan had literally requested to sift Peter. Peter was in the dragnet, but was he to be a good fish? He was going to deny the Lord which is almost just as bad as or worse than betraying Christ. But Jesus told him, “But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32NLT).  Peter belonged to Christ by grace and despite all his failings; Christ assured him that he would be converted and able to strengthen his brothers. That day came and Peter’s greatest catch was on the Day of Pentecost when three thousand souls were added by grace to the church (Acts 2:42). Once caught by Christ he taught them that they too would be those would cast their nets for souls. Christ made it clear: they would catch men (Luke 5:10), therefore, the nets of their testimony must rest in his strength.  For the spirit of prophecy and all preaching must be and can only be the testimony of Jesus or it is not biblical and God honoring (Rev 19:10).   He that wins souls is wise (Prov. 11:30) but only Christ is powerful to save (Acts 4:12)!   To fish for them is to simply cast the net of God’s Word and let the Spirit of God do the work in the ocean of the world.  

Oh this dragnet can also be salvation to those people who God is calling in his grace. Christ is the Ultimate Fisherman who catches the drowning souls of men. Each and every day God is drawing those whom he has loved before the foundations of the earth were made “a people yet born, the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD! (Ps 102:18). The Bible teaches that the Father never fails to bring people to Christ who he is drawing. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:37, 44).  He is saying now, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer. 31:3). Your salvation cannot rest on anything but Christ alone and his power to save! This awesome Fisherman of Heaven has set out to catch you. In fact, you are as good as caught right now. Christ came and called men to follow him (Mt. 4:19) and they were caught in his dragnet of grace. You can struggle Mr. and Ms. Fish but once the dragnet is over you, you are at subject to the discrimination of the Master. Don’t be caught dead without Jesus. Because one day Christ will catch you!

A Hard Man to Do Business With

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“Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man…” (Mt. 25:24).

There are three parables set in order in Matthew 25:  Foolish Virgins who knew better but did not prepare, a lazy servant who knew his Lord but did not invest and oblivious goats who knew there were people in need and did not care.  Neglect, laziness and apathy are hated by God and they are sure factors that exclude people from the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 25:14-30 there is a parable about a master who was going away for a long time who entrusted three of his servants with his goods or his wealth and property.  The word talents refers initially to the measurement of coins given to these servants. But it is also a reference to the gifting or skills of people. It is the clear teaching of scripture that not only do we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in regeneration (Acts 10:45; 11:17) but it also teaches, “…every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.” (1 Cor 7:7).  We are responsible to guard those gifts (2 Tim 1:14) and invest them in other brethren for edification (1 Cor. 14: 12). We are never to neglect those gifts at any time (1 Tim 4:14). 

The Master desired his servants to invest and trade money for profit. That is good business.  Two of the three servants did well in their business transactions and the other was comatose.  Eventually, the Master came back to settle their accounts. Things were going well until the last servant met with him. The Master was not surprised and I can almost  hear the Master shouting. “Nothing?”  “You made nothing and you did nothing!”

Remember his Master was gone away for days, weeks, possibly months and the servant just buried the talents.  If he would have invested and lost the money at least the master would not have called him evil and lazy, maybe a few choice words for being  foolish. But he may still have kept his job. This guy had no sense even to walk down to the bank and invest in a mutual fund so at least he could have made some interest.  This set the master on fire and he was livid, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.” (Prov 25:19).

Lazy probably thought that he needed some “Me” time. It was a while before the master came back and he began to think that something is holding his master up or in his twisted mind maybe he was never coming home and he could continue in his career of lollygagging.  That was a big mistake.  The Bible warns that Christ’s coming will catch many people by surprise, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Mt 24:44).  We should be alert and prepared for his coming! I have to say this is not just the second coming or the rapture. Christ said he would come to his church in other ways (Rev. 2:16). Peter speaks of  “the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:12).   Thayer says it is “that act by which God looks into and searches out the ways, deeds character, of men.”  That is why fiery trials come our way (1 Pet 4:12) to reveal and to refine. But they also burn away worthless things. In fact, Christ will sit in judgment and  inspect and test our work by fire (1 Cor 3:10-17) when interpretd correctly gives proper understanding to being saved by fire.

If talk is cheap his words are on sale.  His lame, pitiful excuses do not even make sense. It seems he thinks that his master works magic, “harvesting what he has not planted” to make money rather than plain hard work and elbow grease.  It is like he is saying, “I am not like you, and beside you will make money somehow, it’s not like I lost the money.”  Some of God’s servants are just plain lazy and full of excuses. That is characteristic of slothful people (Prov 22:13). They make everything hard (Prov. 15:19) and are  a liability. What is worse he is a talented but lazy man. You have to wonder if his Lord knew about this servant from the beginning. But as tough as the master is, he gave him an opportunity-a simple responsibility. He must have known the character of this servant before hand, thus he gives him a small amount, the least responsibility and if he proves himself he will get credit and be given more authority and all the benefits.

But he did not.  All he got was canned.

Jesus says, “The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” (Luke 12:45-46).  There are those among the church who are hypocrites and play the role of a Christian but they are not.  Newsflash: laziness is not a fruit of the spirit. One day the Lord will come and see this counterfeit lifestyle and it is not going to be pretty. Being cut to pieces is also not very promising prospect. For those who only see God as a harmless tamed Deity-this is the red-letter section of the Bible that some Bible have that highlight the words of Christ. Jesus is speaking here.  No, this is not the Old Testament as many people whine when they see anything to do with justice or sentencing of evil doers. In this case,  our Master Jesus wants to be in the black, not the red. He wants the investment he has made in us to pay off in a life lived to the glory of God. He will see anything else as being ripped off.

You can hear the servant nervously saying,  “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.   I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”(25:24 NLT). The lazy servant says, “I knew thee..”  This is when things got ugly. The lazy servant professes to know what kind of master he serves.  He is the only servant that says anything in this parable. The others are basically quiet and received a promotion from their employer for a job well done.  But this man knew how to talk.  He knew how to make excuses.  He was a servant who was a master at rationalizations. He did not say that he was not feeling well, he had a family issue or his vehicle was giving him problems. These are all the unforseen circumstances which employers expect.

The real conflict in this passage is not just the laziness. This man makes it personal with his Master. He said, “I knew thee.”   That comment crossed the line and ticked the unnamed Master off  and almost smacks of this lazy servant blaming the Master for his actions.  If I may paraphrase the unnamed Masters reply, “If you knew me you would have done this or that, but you did not, so do not know me as well as you think.” 

The servant was not incorrect in his view. The man he worked for was a harsh businessman. He was not only an austere investor (Luke 19:21) he was “hard” and callous. This does not mean that because the master was so hard he was unrighteous.  He trusted his servants to manage his affairs.  He gave them responsibility which he thought they could handle.  He was not so harsh that he did not pay and reward his servants in fact, we only see him harsh on the laziness of the last employee.

The master does not disparage his servant’s comments and say,  “No you are wrong, I am a kind, loving and laid back individual.  I am really hurt.”  The master expected that servant to invest His Lord’s money!  The Master Christ says, “The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him” (John 13:16).  It is like he tells the servant, “I work and so should you. You see here is how we are different, you bury, I plant. I work in such a way that everything pays off.  You acted like this money was yours and extension of yourself. But it was not. It was my money. I wanted you to do with it what I would do with it. You could have easily made a return on what I gave you.”

His language was the bottom line and he rewarded those that spoke it fluently.  “He says, Lord, you are a hard man to do business with.” This “hard”  view of  Our Lord and God is one the truths that most ministers bury beneath their pulpits. The Lord is tough. He saves us by Sovereign Grace, but he expects a one hundred percent return on his investment in our lives. Jesus teaches “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”  (Luke 12:47-48). The idea of punishment set forth here presents an attribute of God often set aside or ignored, but it must be seen. God is holy, He is no joke, he means business and plays for keeps.

I think this is a problem for many so called Christians. You can hear the shouts, “God is a merciful God”  and people picketing such teaching in the church parking lot. They are confused about the “god” they serve which is more characterized by the sinful culture in which they live rather than the God of the scriptures. They have created a mental idol that is a  permissive, tolerant God, which is not his true nature. God says of his people in the Old Covenant that, “they know not me…” (Jer. 9:3).  You see that people today, especially in Christianity are just as or more ignorant of God, less conversant in scripture than at any period of history before. “For the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee. (Hosea 4:1,6). 

It sickens me how we will chant and sing, “I am a friend of God, he calls me friend”  and live in such disobedience.  But Jesus Christ tells us, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:14-15).  Well, there you go. As a servant, he DID NOT know what his master was doing. You must be a servant before a friend. There should be a sense of duty before devotion. You may be saved, but growing in friendship with Christ, means becoming more sanctified. Running around and calling yourself a justified sinner or telling everyone, “I know the Lord” gets old if you live in such a way that evidences no growth or deeper love for Christ!

There is a sense of finality in this passage that is inescapable especially after he takes the one talent gives it away to the man who has ten talents and kicks the man out in the dark unemployed and broke and weeping. That is sad.  My suggestion is start using and investing your talents and grow in Kingdom business because from what I see the Master is a hard man to do business with.

DO NOT DISHONOR GOD’S NAME

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“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.”  (Isa. 33:22).

The last time we focused on the immensity of God the LORD. This message is much more sobering because it deals with God’s holiness and the grievous sin and error of  misusing God’s name and titles. God’s  name shows all that He is.  It shows God’s disclosure to us, pulling back the curtain on all his attributes. The recent controversy calling the God of the Bible the Islamic name of  “Allah” is seen as blasphemy according to scripture.

That is among the many reasons why we should hallow his name and never at any time misuse it. Understanding something about His name should produce a holy horror and a sense of scared sacredness in our hearts!  This is not theophobia. In fact,  it is only because of people’s love of sin and hate of God, that they see him as dangerous and they run away in fear from Him (Gen. 3: 10; Ex. 20:18-20). 

I know many men do not preach this way today, but the Bible does not give us a surface report of the human condition. It gives us a diagnostic of the human heart and life and exposes its depravity for all to see.  Oh how I long for men of God who will teach people, “the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” (Ezek. 44:23). People may have redefined the fear of God to the point that even their definition of it as “reverence” is watered down. It is not just respect. It is loving God for all he is: His wrath and peace, his love and holiness. They are devoted to Him for who He is, even if it scares them they want to know and become closer to Him. 

The Bible teaches in the third commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7).   The Word “vain”  is sheqer in Hebrew which means all that associates God’s name to anything that is deceptive or false (Ps 119:29).  It is anything that misrepresents, defames, blasphemes his name. “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:12NLT). We should not even  “idly utter”  his name (Ex. 20:4 Darby).

Blasphemy  is a serious sin (Lev 24:16).  People have such hardness of heart and a dangerous willful rebellion and ignorance when it comes to holy things. 

The Hebrew word for blasphemy is nĕ’atsah. It means a disgust and hatred considering God unworthy of respect (2 Kings 19:3)  and it also involves actions that provoke God’s anger (Neh 9:18, 26).  The Greek word blasphēmias paints a picture of  character assassination upon God Almighty (Mt. 12:31)  with disrespectful actions and speech that  brings disgrace to God’s majesty (Col. 3:8; Rev. 13:6).

God is offended by disrespect and it  provokes him to holy anger (Rom 1:18). The Bible says, “ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:15).  “For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.” (Ps. 139:20).  God is so insulted by this that  he says he will punish anyone who dishonors his name, as a Judge would sentence a criminal and, “he will not hold him guiltless.” 

This sin is so often committed and is so obvious that there is no need to illustrate it. We should avoid using God’s name as a swear word or meaningless exclamation. We are not to commit blasphemy which means we are not to use his name flippantly, tell jokes about God or spiritual things, laugh at spiritual things or connect anything that relates God, Christ, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost  to profanity because all these violate the third commandment.

I have heard even some “brethren” justify their use of profanity with some lame cultural arguments. It is clear that anger is connected to cursing and profanity. It is a sinful habit. When it comes to saying, “Oh my God!” a common exclamation we have developed, it would help us to know that it is profanity  in any other use than prayer. It’s very simple. Do not connect God, Christ, Lord or the Holy Spirit to anything except in testimony, preaching and prayer-period.

It can also be the misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture by false doctrine (Deut. 13). It is a violation of God’s law to attach God’s name or approval to something that  human beings came up with on their own (Deut 18:20-22). This is something every pastor, expositor, preacher and teacher should keep in the forefront of what they say: does what I teach and preach glorify and represent God Almighty correctly. The idea that the preacher gets behind the pulpit as a humble servant and representative of God should bring a godly fear to his heart.

Notice the prophetic role of the preacher is seen simply in this: preach the Words of God as he conveys it in scripture.  Do not add anything to it, do not take away from it, tell them what I tell you. Anything else is vanity. “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Tim 4:16).

Misusing or taking God’s name in vain can be  seen as saying one thing and acting in another way: hypocrisy,  offensive unchristian behavior and backsliding. This is always a danger for those who profess to know Christ as Savior. That is why the King prays,  “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” (Prov. 30:7-9). Matthew McMahon (my favorite Presbyterian) puts it this way, ” …When we profess God’s name but do not live answerably to it. It means we live hypocritically. Thomas Watson said, “pretended holiness is merely double wickedness.” Whenever we do not live up to the call of the Christian life, we take God’s name in vain. We are mirrors that should reflect the perfection of God. If the mirror claims to be Christ’s and reflects tendencies of hell, then we use the name of Christ in vain, and people see that.” 

There is a relatively unknown passage (as far as the exposition of it goes) in the book of Leviticus that illustrates the serious nature of this subject: “And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.” (Lev. 24:11-16).

While that was an unforgivable blasphemy. People will still protest, “Oh well, that is the Old Testament.”  But it is still a sin in either Testament and payback of sin is spiritual death (Rom. 6:23).  This is not to promote a legalistic nitpicking about every word you say-so be cautious about that. Blasphemy falls under what the Bible calls presumptuous sins or a willful reckless, unthinking rebellion against God which despises his Word (Num 15:30-31; Ps 19:13). Whereas all manner of sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that a person that is not a child of God commits, “shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” (Mt 12:32).  There are certain sins that result in physical death (1 John 5:16) even among Christians for which God chastises them with death and calls them home. Christians once saved do not die spiritually, but some sins causes God to discipline them by physical death.  

This happened when the Corinthians approached the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy, undiscerning manner (1 Cor 11:23-34).  Some of them became sick and some even died (1 Cor 11:30) I know pretty scary-and this is the New Testament!  That is why the Bible says,  “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1 Cor 11:31-32).

People misuse and take the Lord’s name in vain so much these days, to correct others would be like cutting open a pillow and chasing its feathers. This is not to be legalistic but we do have a responsibility to confront people. “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.” (Lev. 5:1).  God’s law is for all people but I think this applies more to people who should know better an profess to be Christians!  How is it they can swear, use profanity or take the Lord’s name in vain? Among Christians this should be a settled issue. We should avoid abusive, corrupt, obscene, filthy, foul language (Eph 4:29, 5:4; Col. 3:8) and never misuse God’s name.  As brethren we are accountable to one another for the witness of the gospel should be seen in our words and actions.

What about the unsaved or unbeliever? Some people might say, “Well it’s not me but I am around it every day at work or when I visit my unsaved family. What am I supposed to do? I can’t keep rebuking and correcting them.”   We are concerned as appearing self-righteous (but we should be more concerned about God’s glory) yet I would like to offer  some plausible  imaginative ways of approaching this.

When people at my work place break this commandment (which they do creatively and continually)  I have found if I am in the vicinity they apologize.

Funny how that works right?

They know what I believe and they think they are offending me. I appreciate that. I attempt not to be snotty or discourteous with them but I sometimes say, “You did not sin against me!” 

Or I will smile and say, “Don’t speak about God that way he is bigger than you!”

Sometimes they say, “Jesus Christ!” I reply, “He is worthy to be praised!”

I do sometimes hear them connect the expletive “damn” to the Divine (you know what I mean) and I tell them, “there will be no damnation today!”

Sometimes I just say. “Easy, easy, gentle…”

Let us hallow his name with our lives and magnify the Lord in the eyes of others and honor his name to the best of our ability.

THE LORD IN CAPS!

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The LORD in caps“The LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King; he will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22). 

You can’t help but notice as you read this verse in Isaiah’s prophecy, the three times God is referred to as LORD. In a following article I will discuss the Hebrew name for God, but for now, something struck me: the three times that the letters of the word LORD is capitalized.  It is no mistake or translator preference that the Holy Spirit made sure the  letters  LORD are emphasized to stand out from all the rest.  When we see the King of the universe in his beauty, he is the chiefest among ten thousand (Isa 33:17; Song 5:10) he stands out among the rest!

He is the only One worthy of worship!  “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.” (Isa. 2:11).  He is above all other lords and gods because they are not real! They are lower case and miniscule-small potatoes. But the LORD alone is the living God,  “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” (Ps 96:5).  He is the only true God and there is none else. He is King of kings and Lord of lords!  

I am sure I am not the first one to emphasize this.  I am only a humble voice. But I can join the choir of  men of God, “that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” throughout the ages (Mal 3:16).  How we need to see our LORD  as he really is-the Sovereign matchless King of the Universe! Let me tell you who love scholarship something incredibly deep about the LORD. He is BIG!  HE is immense!  He is GIGANTIC!  The LORD is HUGE! He is the great LORD. “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.” (Deut. 4:39).

He is not small nor miniscule. You cannot fit an image of him in your pocket, paint him on a stain glass window or wear him around your neck.  “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth.” (Deut 5:8).

He does not fit in church buildings! Solomon builds his golden temple for God that today would bankrupt several nations and then moans, “But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!” (2 Chr 6:18). 

This does not mean God is limited to time and space. It does not mean volume or size per se.  What it does mean is that He is Omnipresent or everywhere present!  “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer 23:24). This LORD is uncomfortably close.  “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” (Ps 139:7-8).He is unavoidable. He is everywhere at once! He cannot be contained localized or reduced! Every person alive must deal with him and they cannot run away from him.

We do not serve God in small case but in caps! We should be “case-sensitive” in our proclamation of the gospel for many of those preaching today have minimized God in order appease people. The Psalmist says, “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.” (Ps 34:4). The word “magnify” shows that God should be praised, prized and valued! But I like the other meaning-intensify. We must make people see the great LORD God they cannot see. God is always great and even our praise cannot ever at any time match his greatness. But again, Peter tells us to “sanctify” the Lord God in our hearts (1 Pet 3:15).  God is already Holy.  There are angelic beings that cannot cease to spill this fact from their lips (Isaiah 6:3; Rev. 4:8).  But Peter  makes it clear we must see the LORD  and value the LORD  as the apex of holiness, the highest and the greatest. The LORD  is God all by himself, without worship, without acknowledgement by men “from everlasting to everlasting thou art God” (Ps 90:2).   The reality of God must be pressed upon people.

He is uncontrollable. I know in this age in which we live people prefer a domesticated Deity to the biblical untamed Deity. But He is the Sovereign Lord, ” Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” (Rom 9:18). God is not civilized enough for today’s culture and world. The religious marketers for years in all ages have attempted to repackage and sell their new and improved deities to no avail. Men have attempted to dumb truth down, they have attempted to create a more acceptable image of God.  God does not need better public relations men in the pulpit but prophets, those who preach his word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Despite all this, God remains the same when the universe and its inhabitants are moth-eaten and are tossed aside like old clothing the Bible says of the LORD, “but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.”  (Ps. 102: 26-27). Here is a novel idea-preacher tell people who God really is!  We are under the impression that we should hold back on certain truths about God because people will not understand or that is “too deep for them” We love the old, “don’t scale the fish before ya catch ’em.” philosophy.  It is pathetic. Churchianity in America  has become intoxicated on the notion that it should make the less palatable or harder to digest truths about the LORD like the fine print or a disclaimer.  But God is the immutable and impassable  God who says, “For I am the LORD, I change not!” (Mal. 3:6).

Let me end with this Psalm, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.” (Ps. 66:1-5).

Selfish or God-ish?

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The Bible says to “be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

I don’t care what anyone says, when we think of being filled with something,  it gives us the picture of having a liquid like water poured into a glass until it is full. It probably means something else in the Greek.  It always does it seems, but thank God for the English Bible. Somebody apparently  thought we would understand what “filled” would mean.

No, I do not disparage scholarship nor exposition. I love it. When we understand this to be filled to the full  it makes much more sense.  But it does not seem to carry the meaning to accomplish or execute or be fulfilled.  That makes no sense in the context. It is quite clear that God wants all of us. He wants to fill us. Paul describes being filled with the Spirit as the displacement of self and the replacement of Himself  in our lives like water replaces the air in the glass with liquid. 

When we are full of self we cannot be full of God.  It is so easy to be full of self mainly due to the fact that  I am…me-myself and you are your self.  When we are full of self we are selfish as human beings. We are self-centered or egocentric. “Selfishness, in its worst or unqualified sense, is the very essence of human depravity, and it stands in direct opposition to benevolence, which is the essence of the divine character. As God is love, so man, in his natural state, is selfishness.” (Websters 1812 Dictionary).  The suffix, “ish”  in essence means “belonging, pertaining or tending  toward.”  Thus a person who is selfish does what pertains to, or tends toward self.

There is a tincture or hint of selfishness even in the very best, most selfless things we do. We are such needy people because sin contaminates the best things we do. This is why the sinner must be justified by Christ and the work he did on the cross alone or we would be lost simply and easily. It was the most selfless act. It was God-ish. That is also why we need to be filled with the Spirit of God.  I see that benevolence although the linguistic opposite of selfishness just does not cut it for the point of this writing, so I pray you will indulge me on this point. I guess it would awkward to say but we need to be God-ish  but that is the meaning that is carried with being filled with the Spirit of God. It is a life that tends toward, leans and pertains to God’s Spirit at work in us.

It would seem obvious with the following verses of the text above that after a person is filled with the Spirit they are God-centered or theocentric.  That involves, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:19-20). They live for God’s glory not their own whims. Being conscious of the influence of sin should drive us to our knees to ask for the Spirit of God to work in us, but we act so independently of God’s power most of time, we invent our own idolatrous devices, thus we are selfish because we are man-centered. 

Being filled with the Spirit is not an esoteric level of spirituality-it is a life centered around God and his laws.  It is a life that worships God in every aspect of their lives, individual character, family, work and church.  It is a God-ish life. The only way this can happen is by the grace of God that gives us the recognition and awareness of His presence. I believe the Latin term Coram Deo comes into play which is,

“Something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live Coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God. To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze.” Coram Deo, R.C. Sproul 

This is a genuine fear of the Lord. It is what I like to call the comfort and dread of the Lord. When I read about the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence of God in passages like Psalm 139 it brings me a sense of relief and freedom from anxiety to know he sees all that I do. It also brings a fierce fear and awe of the God who sees and knows all that I do.  To know he is everywhere and with that knowledge is to honor him and is evidence of being  filled with his Spirit.  It is to be God-ish. Oh that we might be filled with his Spirit in every part of our lives.

HELP IS ON THE WAY!

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Help is on the way! What a sigh of relief that gives the Christian who can bodly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Heb 13:6). I think this is good news-don’t you? I know these are difficult times, you look at the mess you are in and all you feel is alone,  bewildered or perplexed constantly thinking, “Where did I go wrong?”  There is guilt for past sins and bad decisions and you feel alone or like you are being punished.  There are some reading this article that are staring at some insurmountable problem that is testing the very heart of their faith in God. Others have to deal with the perfunctory day-to-day issues eating away at their souls. But God who does not sleep or slumber will preserve your soul from evil and you go about your daily life.  Your,  “help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” (Ps 121:2).

What is worse is other people you trusted and depended on are not there. “My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.” (Ps 38:11NIV). Some people just become cold and aloof to others who have issues. You were there for them, prayed for them and wept with them but now they are nowhere to be found. People do not know what to say, they do not know what to do for you, so they stay away.

Sometimes people become vicious toward us. “They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.” (Ps 35:12). It is pretty sick the way we human beings treat each other especially when people pay others back with evil instead of good. There are people who are just envious and miserable and they love company. They are jaded, thinking everyone has some hidden hypocrisy and when bad things happen they see it as God’s disfavor.  Notice what the scripture says, “they do it to the spoiling of our souls.”  They seem to rob our faith and plunder our victory, maliciously waiting to see your failure. This is not paranoia, but it seems since they can’t attack God they use you for target practice. David has people saying about him,  “There is no help for him in God.” (Ps. 3:2).   They look and say, “Wow they have really blown it this time, even their God will not rescue them out of this mess.”  The deep dark trials that some Christians have endured have made others think God has left them. In the time of trial, weakness our brothers and sisters need help not condemnation and accusation. But help is on the way!!!

Your God has always proved to be “a very present help in time of trouble.” (Ps. 46:1).  A very present help.  The word “very” here means above average, out of the ordinary, exceeding and in the extreme. Trouble is a problem in the extreme. You need an extreme God and an  incredible Savior.  Life is no longer ordinary it has taken a dangerous turn. You profess a faith that sees God in control every day as the one by who things all things consist, who makes everything stable, everything nominal. But the speed of life can be dizzying  and out of control, so this is why you need to see God as the Lord over problems no matter how extreme. You will see that your difficulty is no match for your Savior God Almighty! He is nearer than the trouble. Notice he does not just send you a letter or a check, He will come himself. He will help you, run at the first cry of distress.  William Gurnall in his classic The Christian in Complete Armor writes: 

“How much more will God, who is the Father of such dispositions in his creature, stir up his whole strength to defend his children?  ‘He said, They are my people, so he became their Saviour,’ Isa. 63:8.  As if God had said, Shall I sit still with my hand in my bosom, while my own people are thus misused before my face?  I cannot bear it.  The mother as she sits in her house hears one shriek, and knowing the voice, cries out, ‘O it is my child.’  Away she throws all, and runs to him.  Thus God takes the alarm of his children’s cry: ‘I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, saith the Lord;’ his cry pierced his ear, and his ear affected his bowels, and his bowels called up his power to the rescue of him.” He is more present than the difficulty, closer than the pain of a broken heart and  nearer to the one who is distressed and wounded. Help is on the way!

When will God help his church? “God will help her right early.” (Ps. 46:5). He will be the early! What a promise! “Make no tarrying Oh my God.” (Ps 40:7).  You may lie down with tears on your face but the sun will open your eyes with joy. He has heard your cry, “Help me LORD! I am needy, broken and hurting!”  Yes, help us Lord early! We need your help!  “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up! (Ps 5:3). This darkness will pass and morning will break with glorious light!  Like Spurgeon says,  “As soon as the first ray of light proclaims the coming day, at the turning of the morning God’s right arm shall be outstretched for his people.” Amen and amen. This is the day that the Lord has made and in a time of salvation he is helping you! Notice a time of trouble is seen as a time of salvation in the scriptures. It is trials savings time! Like the first light of the dawn rushes over the horizon may the Spirit of God help us. Help is on the way!

My wife and I were in a large church in New Jersey looking at a giant mural of Peter and Christ in the famous walking on the water story. In fact, the caption under the picture said, “Come and walk on the water with me.” But both my wife and I saw it differently. We remembered what the scripture said of Peter said, at that moment when he yelled, “Lord save me!”  Oh dear christian although he invites you to walk on the water, it is safe to say, you may not do it perfectly. There are times you will feel the water coming upon you up to your face and all you can do is cry for help! Yes you must have faith that  His help can uphold you, but on the other hand if you falter you shall not drown either.  THIS IS THE LORD WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!  The mighty Savior, the God of the armies of the heavens. This is the One who, “gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment…” (Prov 8:29).  He will help! You will not drown. You have one of his exceeding great and precious promises: Thus says the Lord in Isaiah 43:2: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee…”  Help is on the way!

Don’t be afraid, I know your anxiety beats your heart like a drum in your ears, your brow is furrowed with confusion and your body trembles with fear, but can you even at this moment feel the strength of the nail scarred hand of Christ grab your hand and as you “look and live” you will see the most tender loving eyes of Jesus ask you, “Wherefore didst thou doubt?” Don’t feel condemned. He must ask this question. Your doubts will melt away as he shows you how ridiculous your fears were as the Lord Jesus escorts you through the raging sea of trouble. See how big, how wonderful, how powerful Jesus our Master really is! He is not bringing you back to safety for HE is your safety as much on the water as in the boat or on the shore. The sinewy arm of the carpenter of Nazareth is no other than the  Lord who has made bare his arm in the sight of all the nations and he will save. Your help in his righteousness not your own! “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.” (Ps 69: 14). Help is on the way!

He saves you as though you and he were on dry ground. The water, “under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone.” (Ex 24:10). What once almost drowned you becomes a place that you walk on. People will be amazed and some even ashamed because of the invisible power of Christ upholds you.  

It becomes like a precious jewel.  The time of trial is like refining gold in fire (1 Pet 1:7) and becomes a priceless time of learning and sparkles with God’s glory and presence. Heavenly Jerusalem’s streets are, “pure gold, as it were transparent glass.” (Rev 21:21).   What should have made you sink now is a firm foundation beneath your feet. 

It should also be noted that it is “paved with love.” (Song 3:10).  You will find that what you thought were bitter steps was actually God was leading you in his love closer to him! Every step you took in the trial was ordered by the Lord and lined with his affection for you.  What people saw as God’s abandonment has now made a major turn around. Do not doubt. Do not be afraid! Help is on the way!

We must note finally that man was in extreme sin, radically depraved. “How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water.” (Job 15:16). Men and women are described as the wicked who are like “the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ” (Isa 57:20).   All people are “without strength” (Rom. 5:6) and the sinner is helpless to save himself. The Bible says, “God was in Christ” and he became his people’s very present, extreme help!  There he stepped out in front of Pilate’s ” judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.” (John 19:13).  Before Golgotha there was Gabbatha. There in the ocean of man’s criminal acts and God’s wrath against sinners,  he stepped out on the waters and walked God’s justice like no other could all the way to Calvary. There his steps were paved with an everlasting love and there on the Cross with a superhuman strength he stretched out those same arms that saved Peter and gathered his elect people in salvation to himself.  Through the gospel he calls them from death to life. There he says I will “uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee!” (Isa. 41:10, 13). Only God by his grace can help us. He  is he only One who can rescue us from the danger of dying in our sins.  

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe am I…Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves, He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves. He’s the Master of the sea, billows His will obey, He your Savior wants to be, be saved today. Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help Love lifted me!

Help is on the way!

Can You Hear Me Now?

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The Galatians were saved. How were they saved? Paul asks, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2).  They were saved by the hearing of faith, they sincerely believed what they heard about the message of Jesus Christ.  Hearing was a gift. Faith was a gift.  The Holy Spirit was a gift. This is because the Bible says we were dead in sin and it is by God’s gift of grace we are saved (Eph 2:8-9). Simple enough. They heard the message of the gospel of Christ and believed and were saved.

It is also wise to note that dead people do not hear anything.  There is no awareness of sound in the grave. After a loved one has died talking to them at their grave site may be psychologically beneficial for you but really they can’t hear you. Why bring that up? Because God had to give us the ears to hear what he was saying by raising us from spiritual death to life.  A person must be born again first then they hear, believe and repent.  The Bible teaches, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” (Eph 1:13). God gave us the hearing of faith after regenerating us and brings us back from the dead spiritually and then we heard the word of truth and then received his Spirit!

But can we hear him now? Are we listening to God now? Yes, there is a difference between hearing and listening, just ask my wife. In fact, James insists that we should be, “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (James 1:19). Notice the idea of being swift to hear and being prepared to listen to God’s Word, with the readiness that cultivated soil has to receive seed. Hearing or listening is a heart issue.  It tells us whether we are living in error or not.  God spoke though Isaiah, “I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.” (Isa. 66:4).  Hearing was connected with the act of obedience, disobedience was seen as not hearing.

Real listening brings prompt obedience. We have so much to repent for. The Christian should praise God everyday for what Christ did on the cross, and justification by faith through grace or we would truly be lost, just for the fact we drag our feet to obey when God tells us what he demands.  We should feel crushed at  how slow we are to obey.  Jesus rebuked his disciples saying, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken…” (Luke 24:45). God wants us to pace ourselves with his Word. In an unagitated manner, in a peaceful heart  be ready to receive the Word. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” (Ps. 119:32NIV). No delays, let me run in the path of your commands. He who has the liberty to obey, being set free by Christ liberating power should run as fast as they can to obey.  

The Apostle James states that we should, “lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21 italics mine).   The word used for filthiness here can refer to a filthy garment and several commentators agree that it actually means “wax in the ear that plugs up the sound.”  Spiritual ear wax, imagine that.  Ears are one of the parts of the body that adults forget to clean, they also have to be careful how they clean them.  But this is not hygiene we are talking about.  The people here are not listening, they have so much sinful wax build up, they have neglected their spiritual walk and are deaf to God.  

I have had to shout and still was not heard with people who have “ear-buds” listening to their MP3’s.  I even see it in some churches where kids instead of listening to the message sit in church “plugged up.” It is like that. Imagine the Pastor attempting to preach with everyone in his congregation with ear buds inserted.  They are playing games, listening to music or watching a video. They cannot and will not hear him. They can smile, throw in an amen and hide their yawn, but they are basically deaf. As preachers we cannot really tell who has heard our message every time we preach. Even Isaiah asks, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Is 53:1). We cannot visibly see the evidence of the hearing of faith, it only be seen in the fruit of people character. I am sure there is many a preacher who would like to tap his microphone and ask, “Can you hear me now?”

Any time we are unable to hear the voice of God in the scriptures,  that is when the flesh takes over and masquerades as religion and spirituality.  Sadly, we do not realize that we are stunted. What is worse is that we begin to listen to “voices” other than the Holy Spirit through Scripture.  It is not an intellectual issue, or being locked up in a room and being tortured and brainwashed by heretics. It is frightening how easily this can happen. We do not even notice our deafness and suddenly when we need to hear him most-we cannot! God open our ears! Teach us to pull out the weeds from the garden of our hearts. Teach us to change our spiritual oil and maintain a clean heart. As Christians we must make a lifetime commitment to throw off the whole network of evil and malice, the remnants of sin in our lives so that we can hear the Word. 

The Spirit brought us into union with Christ so we might hear his voice. He who breathed on the disciples will not shun from whispering to us through the scriptures. But when we develop or are taught human ideas about what pleases God, or it can cause confusion, and deafness or we become sluggish, slow, lazy and begin to do stupid things because we are “dull of hearing” (Heb 5:11). That is legalism.  The most dullard thing to do is depend on our strength rather than the Lord’s mighty power. When we are plugged up our love for God and others, our joy and our peace is completely based on what we do rather than on who Christ is and what he has done. For without the Word the Christian is  frustrated and discontent. How many times in the beginning of the New Testament did Christ say, “ye have heard, but I SAY?’   We have heard so many man centered things. It is nauseating. Oh that we would shut our ears to all men and be locked in with the scripture. The sad condition of many who have professed Christ is that they are walking in defeat and self worship because all they hear is opinion and bad teaching. They are agitated, anxious and angry.  They need to rest in Christ who says, Come unto me all ye who a weary and heavy laden.” Can you hear me now?

Many people  just do not listen to God anymore. They have shut their ears to the scriptures. “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.” (Zech 7:11). They listen to MAN and his teachings and their worship is empty (Mk 7:7).  We need our hearing checked.  How can you test your hearing? We need be careful about the content of what we hear that it lines up with the scripture. “For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.” (Job 34:3). If it is not scriptural reject it and move on. There is no perfection on this side of heaven but there are things which are most surely believed among us as Christians and we should adhere to those things and those things alone. Jesus said, “Take heed what ye hear…” (Mk. 4:24).  

Then the way in which we listen should be adjusted.  How am I listening? I should be asking, “Did I hear you right?  Let go back to the above illustration of ear wax and I won’t dwell on that too much because it would be way to wierd, but let me note ear wax or cerumen can be beneficial against bacteria, fungus and insects.  God obviously wants us to protect our hearing,  “to discern both good and evil.” (Heb. 5:14).   We should not listen to anything that we have not tested to see if it matches up with the scripture and the confessions of the church. He says to  “test everything; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thess 5:21ESV).  If sin is in our hearts we cannot hear correctly. We should take an inventory before we hear the word like we are taking inventory before the Lord’s supper. We should examine, test the mettle of our hearts and motives, and be in an open prepared state to hear the Word of the Lord in the scriptures. Once again Jesus teaches us to, “Take heed how ye hear…” (Luke 8:18). How we need to tune in to what he is saying and adjust the frequency of our hearts.

If you long to hear and obey Jesus said you will have clarity and peace. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:17). If you are but willing and the Spirit of God has ignited in your heart and fire to hear Christ Words he will teach you and receive you to himself. You will be where he is and walk with him and speak to him as a man speaks to his friend.

He will say, “Can you hear me now?” Good!

Twisted Thinking

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We hear Romans 12:1-2 quoted as often as John 3:16 but I wonder if we get it. Paul pleads,  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” 

Over and over again in our lives we hear that everything we do begins with a thought. You cannot have wrong thinking and right actions. It doesn’t work!  That is why right teaching and biblical doctrine matter.  The problem is what we think about God. Sin has twisted your thinking.  When it comes to thinking about God the Bible says, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Ps. 10:4).  Yes, that verse says that God is not in any of his thoughts. Other translations indicate that the spiritually dead person has no place for God in their thinking,  The NIV states, “in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” The margin of the KJV says that, “in all his thoughts they keep thinking, “there is no God.”  That is one of sin’s greatest hijackings of our souls it leaves no room for God.  We set aside God first in our thoughts then our deeds. It brings a moral, practical atheism that lets sin and self-control the soul. Sin attempts to erase the concept of God from our minds or distort it. We must spend our lives untwisting that thinking by the teaching about God that comes from his Word, the Holy Scriptures.

What you think about God has direct influence over how you worship God and how you live. The minimization of God has a direct influence over everything we are. As the old preachers told us we need to magnify the Lord in our lives. Let him be bigger than the trial. Don’t let sin and unbelief put a magnifying glass in front of your problems. But let God become bigger in your mind and heart. Let praise be the magnifying glass that helps you see that God is bigger than your problems.

Amen to that!

If we place God at the center of our preaching, not the peoples needs, problems not our agendas but God-this will give clarity to our understanding of God and he will be the Savior and Helper.  The Bible says teaches when Christ redeems all of his Bride and when all is said and all is done the final result will be that “God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:26-28). God must become bigger in our lives because sin attempts to make him seem so small.

At the heart of self is idolatry. The first two commandments are vitally linked. God will not only have no rivals but he forbids the making of an images, especially an image of him. Why? The mind is a factory for idolatry to paraphrase, John Calvin and unscriptral thinking eventually become anti-scriptural. Notice the image can be our thinking. We need to repent not only of sin but from wrong thoughts about God. Peter commented on Paul’s letters, “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Pet 3:16).  Notice the untaught and unstable wrestle with the scriptures: they distort and twist them because self is at the center and has no room for God in its thinking.

Christ and genuine Christianity teaches that you must have a new nature. The glorious truth of the new birth is that God gives us life and then we renew our minds by the truth as found in Jesus Christ and the scriptures.  “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” (Heb 8:10).  God writes his laws on our hearts gives us a love for God and the power to do what is pleasing to him.

What should we be thinking about?  How to change and modify our behavior? What steps to follow in order to make life less hostile? The behavioral sciences offered in the forms of motivational speaking and psychology are much of  the reason for Churchianity’s failure today. Most people are learning things backwards because they think because their actions change their life will change and that is only partially correct. Your thinking and emotions must change. Your mind must be renewed.  Only God can do this.

After a person is saved, they have a new heart and spirit but their mind must be renewed in order to be transformed into the image of Christ (Rom 12:1-2). This does not happen overnight but occurs in day by day obedience and consistent submission to God’s will. God sanctified and causes all things to work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:28-29). 

He does this by using trials in our life as a means to purify us. But this means that He controls and monitors our trials! He actually uses our trials to purify us and make us holy.  He takes evil and turns it around for good in our lives. He does this because he has loved us before the world was made in Christ! He is with us and will not allow us to be overwhelmed by life’s trouble but as the Old hymn says, “When through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow; For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

What untwists our thinking about God is the straight beams of the cross and the straight edge of the scriptures. Yielding and offering our bodies, renewed thinking that leads to a metamorphosis of life  is directly tied to Christ offering himself. These are “the mercies of God” in Christ. Of the many, many, mercies of God in sending his Son, will we ever completely discover what actually happened on the cross of Christ? We should be constantly focused on it and it will change us. 

This is where we learn to accelerate into obedience and put the brakes on with temptation. The motivating factor is the crucified and risen Savior. “Christ’s gift, meditated on, accepted, introduced into will and heart, is the one power that will melt our obstinacy, the one magnet that will draw us after it…The Gospel of Jesus Christ presents itself, not as a mere republication of morality, not as merely a new stimulus and motive to do what is right, but as an actual communication to men of a new power to work in them, a strong hand laid upon our poor, feeble hand with which we try to put on the brake or to apply the stimulus…” MacLaren Commentary on Romans 12.