Even the “Falling Down” Part

“So, Judas, having received a cohort, as well as officers from the chief priests

and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, and torches, and weapons.

Then Jesus, knowing all things that were coming upon him,

went out and said to them,‘Who are you looking for?’

They answered him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am he.’  

(And Judas, the one who betrayed him, was also standing among them.)

Then, when he said to them, ‘I am he’,

they went backward and fell to the ground.”

excerpts, John 18:3–6

“When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes,

came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.”

Psalm 27:2

God knew everything that would happen to His Son long before it took place.

Acceptable Service

“I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O LORD,

that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,

and tell of all thy wondrous works.”

Psalm 26:6–7

“But to the wicked, God says, ‘What have you to do, to declare my statutes,

or that you should take my covenant into your mouth?’ ”

Psalm 50:16

David understood that for worship of God to be acceptable, the worshipper must have “clean hands and a pure heart”.  He also knew that to serve God by speaking to others about Him accomplishes good only if the speaker is innocent in God’s sight.  To go about serving God with sin in your heart is worse than having sinned in the first place.  It is hypocrisy.

This is why God warns the wicked not to speak about Him.  He does not approve of sinful people testifying about His righteousness.  He does not accept that kind of service.  He wants the wicked to repent and be made righteous, then tell others about Him!

Doing Good in Hard Times

“Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.

But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold;

he shall give all the substance of his house.”

Proverbs 6:30–31

Circumstances may put a person in such a difficult position that he feels he has no option but to do something wrong in order to survive.  A man who steals to feed his family, for instance, is not condemned by others because people know they would probably do the same wrong thing in the same difficult circumstance.

It is the man who chooses evil when he is not under pressure to do so that is condemned by society, and rightly so.  “Let them be ashamed”, said David, “who transgress without cause!” (Ps. 25:3b).

But there is something else to consider.  What about those who are hungry but refuse to steal?  What about those who suffer, but keep God’s commandments anyway?  This path, the path of stubborn righteousness and faith toward God, is open to everyone who is suffering.  Men may not despise a thief if he steals because he is hungry; still, God will judge his sin because the path of faith was available to him, if he had wanted to take it.

In God’s eyes, there is no excuse for sin, even though people will not condemn sin in certain circumstances.  The soul is wise who chooses to do good in hard times instead of doing evil and blaming hard times for it.  For God will reward us all according to our works, whatever our circumstances.

Unremembered Counsel

“I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel.

My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.”

Psalm 16:7

Some instructions the Lord gives us come to us while we are asleep, in the form of dreams.  We may or may not remember such a dream; that doesn’t matter.  What matters is the residual effect of the dream on our spirit.  God uses dreams to adjust our attitude and give us direction even if we do not remember the dream when we wake up.

We bless the Lord for giving counsel, even if “our minds are unfruitful”; that is, even if we don’t remember the counsel He has given.  As long as our hearts are influenced by it, we are blessed.

The Perfect Heart

“You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night;

you have tried me, and shall find nothing;

I am determined that my mouth shall not transgress.”

Psalm 17:3

This is perfection, and this is how you live your life when you walk in the Spirit.  Perfection does not mean you never drop a fork, or never trip on a rug, or always understand everything.  Perfection is a heart that will not lie, a heart that is determined to live uprightly in all situations.  Perfection is a heart like God’s, and that kind of heart passes every test.  When Jesus said, “Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect,” this is the perfection he was talking about.  And he was telling us that it is doable.

Do not believe those who say that you can never be perfect.  They say that because of their unbelief.  You believe God, and He will lead you into perfection.  It’s the only place He ever leads any of His children.

One God; One Way of Worship

“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god:

their drink offerings of blood will I not offer,

nor take up their names into my lips.”

Psalm 16:4

The holiness and glory of God is so great that it demands exclusivity; that is, it demands that we worship Him and no other.  In practical terms, this means that we worship Him as He says to worship Him, and no other way.

This is why we do not add ceremonies to the way of worship God created through His Son.  Jesus said that the Father desires to be worshipped “in spirit and in truth.”  And if God has revealed how we are to worship Him, who are we to choose another way of worship?  Who are we?  But more importantly, who is God?

“O LORD God, there is none like thee.”  He is infinitely wise, and good, and mighty, and holy.   He has condescended to speak to us and He has revealed how we can worship Him acceptably!  That one thing – that He deigned to show us the way – is what makes all other ways of worship so wrong that godly souls refuse to participate in them.

The sorrows of those who worship in a way that pleases themselves instead of in the way that pleases God shall indeed “be multiplied”.  But the joys and pleasures of those who obey God also “shall be multiplied”, as God promised in this same Psalm! “You will show me the path of life [and I will walk in it!]  In your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 16

“O my soul , you have said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord!

My goodness does not extend to you, but to the saints that are in the earth,

and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.’ ”

Psalm 16:1–2

This was the Son, talking to the Father and confessing that the Father is so great that there was nothing he (the Son) could do to make Him greater.  The only thing the Son could do was make the Father happy, and this he did by loving and blessing those on earth whom the Father loved.

It is the same with us and the Son.  Jesus has been “exalted above the heavens” and is “most blessed, forever.”  There is absolutely nothing we can do to make him more blessed than the Father has made him.  The only thing we can do is make Jesus happy, and this we do by loving and blessing those on earth whom Jesus loves.  Remember what Jesus said: “As often as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.”

If you want favor with God, then love and bless His children.

Psalm 15: What To Do To Be Saved Part Four

“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?

Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? . . .

‘He that does not lend money on interest,

or take a reward against the innocent.

He that does these things shall never be moved.’ ”

Psalm 15:1, 5

Requirement #8: Be merciful to those who are vulnerable.

The Amalekites took advantage of every defenseless person they ever met.  That is why God swore to Moses that He would eradicate them from the earth.  Godly people are not like Amalekites; they have compassion on those less fortunate than they.  If you can help one of God’s people with a loan, just do it without using the opportunity to enrich yourself.  Remember, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD.”

Requirement #9: Do not lie for money.

You do not have to like everybody, but you absolutely must treat everybody honestly.  If someone is innocent, then he is innocent.  Do not be influenced by money to speak evil of anyone when you (1) know he is innocent and (2) when you don’t know for certain that he is guilty.  Maintain your integrity.

God has promised that those who live according to these simple rules of personal integrity will live forever.  Resist the pressures around you to compromise on any of them.  God will remember your faithfulness, and He is “not slack concerning His promises.”  You will be blessed with His eternal favor, and from that blessing, you “shall never be moved.”

Psalm 15: What To Do To Be Saved Part Three

“LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle?

Who shall dwell in your holy hill? . . .

‘In whose eyes a vile person is condemned;

but he honors them that fear the LORD.

He that swears to his own hurt, and changes not.’ ”

Psalm 15:1, 4

Requirement #6: Make righteous judgments.

We are required to know what is good and what is evil, and to condemn those who are wicked and to honor those who are godly.  In another place, the Psalmist said that if we want to live, we must “eschew evil”.  But how can we refuse what is evil without judging what is evil?  Or how can we “love what is good”, as God tells us to do, unless we first judge what is good?

Requirement #7: Be faithful.

When a righteous person has given his word that he will do a thing, he will be faithful to the person with whom he made that agreement – whether that other person is Jesus himself or the lowest sinner on earth.  And he will keep his word even if he learns afterward that the deal he made is not the best deal he could have made.  It’s not about the deal; it’s about being trustworthy.

Psalm 15: What To Do To Be Saved Part Two

“LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle?

Who shall dwell in your holy hill? . . .

‘He that does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor,

nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor.’ ”

Psalm 15:1, 3

Requirement #3: Do not backbite.

When someone in authority speaks to us, God requires us to acknowledge that person’s God-given authority by not talking back at him in a sarcastic or rebellious manner.  Those who are saved in the end will be those who have respected in this life the “higher powers” that God ordained.

Requirement #4: Love others.

“Love does no harm to its neighbor”, wrote Paul; “therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Requirement #5: Do not repeat gossip.

When a “reproach”, that is, a slanderous comment, is spoken against someone in our hearing, we must not “take it up” and carry it around to others.

Psalm 15: What To Do To Be Saved Part One

“LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle?

Who shall dwell in your holy hill?

‘He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness,

and speaks the truth in his heart.’ ”

Psalm 15:1–2

David was moved by the Spirit to ask God who would be saved in the end, at the Final Judgment.  Then, immediately, God spoke back to David, through David’s own mouth, and answered his question, revealing what will be required of all who hope to meet Him in peace.  God began with these two requirements.  Meditate on them, and ask Jesus to help you live this way.

Requirement #1: Do righteousness.

This is God’s righteousness, not our own, and to be able to do His kind of righteousness, we must receive His Spirit, for the holy Spirit, alone, gives us the power to understand and live in God’s kind of righteousness.

Requirement #2: Be honest-hearted.

To speak the truth in your heart means that you are honest with yourself, about yourself and all others, including those you love most.  An honest-hearted man would rather see the truth, whatever it is and whoever it is about, than to look the other way and pretend the truth is not there.

If All Men Believed

“You have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.”

Psalm 14:6

The answer to all of life’s perplexing questions is Jesus, the Son of God.  If all men would humble themselves to Jesus, there would be peace everywhere.   There would be no crime, and no need for police or law courts.  If men would humble themselves to the Lord, love for others would reign in men’s hearts, and there would be no conflicts and no wars.  Political and social strife would cease altogether because those who walk with Jesus in the Spirit walk in harmony.

Hospital and medical clinics would become obsolete, for healing would flow like a river from Jesus, who “heals every disease.”  Hunger and poverty would cease to exist because the Father would “supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

What a wonderful world this would be if all men would believe!  Let’s do our part to make our part of this world like that, to make those around us feel secure and surrounded with love.

The Power to Influence

“Be followers of me, just as I also follow Christ.”

1Corinthians 11:1

“The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.”

Psalm 12:8

Those whom God puts in positions of authority have a great responsibility to be and to do good because they are in a position of influence.  The ordination of God to be a leader brings with it power to move people, their thoughts and their feelings, not just the power to command, judge, and guide.  But will the person to whom God gives power use it wisely, for good, or use it foolishly, for evil?  If he uses it wisely, those under him will be and do good because his example has authority from God.  If he uses his power from God foolishly, those under him will drift toward evil for the same reason.

This is why Paul exhorted the saints to “pray for all who are in authority”.  He knew that “there is no power but of God”.  And inasmuch as God has put them in office, those authorities have power that cannot hardly be resisted; it is the great power to influence others to do good, or to do evil.

Destroyed Foundations

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Psalm 11:3

The most effective way to destroy the truth is to redefine the words used to teach the truth.  How can one teach the truth about salvation if the word “salvation” has been redefined?  In that case, you are saying one thing, but the listener is hearing something else.  You cannot communicate the truth to someone who does not understand your words.

Satan has redefined many of the words we need to use to explain the truth.  He cannot keep God from revealing truth, for God speaks to the heart.  But between humans, Satan has erected crafty barriers of communication, the most effective barrier being the redefining of words used in the Bible to tell the story of Jesus.

God’s Judgments

“The LORD is known by the judgment which He executes.”

Psalm 9:16

If the LORD is known by the judgment He executes, then if He never judges, He is never known.  Or if He executes judgment and we do not see that He is doing so, then we do not know Him.

We are blessed that God judges, for He reveals Himself to us in His judgments.  Pray to be able to see and perceive it, when God executes His judgments.  Otherwise, you will never come to know Him.

“Tongues Are for a Sign”

Psalm 2 is a prophecy of what the Father said and did to Jesus after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  It speaks first about how both Israel (“the people”) and the Gentiles rejected Jesus and conspired to rid themselves of him.  Then it tells how God, having exalted Jesus to sit at His right hand, will laugh at them for having tried to destroy His precious Son:

Psalm 2

1. Why do the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2. The kings of the earth took a stand, and the rulers assembled together, against the Lord and against His Messiah, saying,

3. “Let us tear off their bands, and cast off their cords from us.”

4. He who dwells in heaven will laugh.  The Lord will mock them.

Then, in the same Psalm, the psalmist continues to prophesy about this great event, saying that God will speak to those who rejected and killed His Son, and that He will vex them.

Psalm 2

5. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.

 This part of the prophecy was also fulfilled after Jesus’ resurrection, on Pentecost morning when God baptized Jesus’ disciples with the Spirit and spoke through them to the Jews in languages the disciples themselves did not understand.  Centuries before this happened, the prophet Isaiah said that God would speak to His people this very way, and that even then, they would not listen to Him:

Isaiah 28

11. With stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people,

12. to whom He said, “This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing!”  Yet, they would not hear.

This is what God did on the day of Pentecost when by His Spirit, He spoke to Israel through those who had believed in Jesus:

Acts 2

1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord, in one place.

2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3. And there appeared to them divided tongues like fire, and it sat upon each one of them,

4. and they were all filled with holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit moved them to speak.

God brought great joy to Jesus’ disciples when He gave them the Spirit, but He brought great shame to others in Israel that day – by not giving them the Spirit!  Through Isaiah again, God promised He would speak to the hearts of those who were outcasts in Israel because of their love for Jesus, and that He would bring them joy:

Isaiah 66

5b. “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified!’ but He shall appear to your joy, and they will be ashamed.”

The next verse in Isaiah explains that when the Spirit came and the disciples began speaking in tongues, that sound, originating from God’s temple in heaven, was the voice of God avenging His Son of those who hated him – by not giving them the Spirit:

Isaiah 66

6. A sound of uproar from the city!  A sound from the temple!  The sound of the Lord rendering recompense to His enemies.

If you hear someone speaking in tongues, and you do not yet have that blessing, pray that you are not hearing the avenging voice of God laughing at you!  Pray not to be left out!  “Tongues are for a sign”, Paul said (1Cor. 14:22), a sign of God’s blessing on those who are speaking in tongues.  But beware!  Tongues can also be a sign of God’s “hot displeasure” toward those who have not received His Spirit, just as on the day of Pentecost.

"Remember the Sabbath"

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Exodus 20:8

Paul said that the law’s holy days were “shadows” of Christ in this New Testament.  So, how are we now to obey the commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”?  The first thing we must do is find out what the Sabbath day was a shadow of, for whatever the Sabbath was a shadow of, we must “keep it holy” in this New Testament.

God did not give the Sabbath as a day of worship; He gave it as a day of rest:

Exodus 20

9. Six days shall you labor and do all your work.

10. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God.  You shall do no work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your livestock or your foreigner who is in your gates.

But then, we hear Jesus say this:

Matthew 11

28. Come to me, all who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest!

29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.

The Old Testament Sabbath day was a shadow of the rest that Jesus gives.  This rest, then, is the rest that we must now reverence in our hearts if we want to please God.  Isaiah the prophet foretold of this New Testament rest:

Isaiah 28

11. He will speak to this people with stammering lips and another tongue,

12. to whom He said, “This is the rest with which you will cause the weary one to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing.”  Yet, they would not listen.

This is what we are to reverence now, this supernatural baptism of our hearts is rest from all our own ways.  To be led by the Spirit (instead of by our fleshly nature) in what we say and do is how we now keep God’s Sabbath day holy.  Isaiah also gives us some details concerning how to do this:

Isaiah 58

13. Turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable.  And honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.

Paul was saying the same thing when he said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”  This is the New Testament way to honor the Sabbath God has given in this New Testament.  And it is no small matter, for Paul warns us that the only people with whom God is pleased are those who keep His Sabbath holy; that is, those who live in the Spirit:

Romans 8

8. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him,

. . .

13. For if you live after the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

". . . if you want peace."

Do you want to live, and have a happy life?  Yes?  Then, seek peace among yourselves!  Pursue it!

1Peter 3:10-12:

For, “He who wants to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile.  Let him eschew evil, and do good.  Let him seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears open to their cry.  But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Possessing the Whole Promised Land

After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua and said, “Moses my servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise and go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast” (Josh. 1:2-4).

Everyone who has studied the geography while reading the Old Testament story of the conquest of Canaan knows that Israel never took all the territory that God told Joshua to take. They never possessed and dwelt in the part of the Promised Land that was farthest north, the land which reached the Euphrates River. King David and King Solomon forced the people living in that territory to pay them tribute, but even they never took possession of the land for Israel.

Did the New Testament people of God do any better? Has the body of Christ attained to the power and wisdom that rightly belongs to it? Obviously not.  I believe that someday it will; at the same time, viewing the confusion and divisions that exist among those who belong to Jesus, I have to say that the New Testament family of God has not attained to its potential in Christ. How patient God has been with us!

The same, no doubt, holds true for individuals. Each born-again soul is given the power through the Spirit to fully conquer their old, sinful nature. But how many actually fulfill that potential in Christ? That is a sobering, humbling question. May God grant all of us, and all His children everywhere, the grace to conquer the entire land of our lives, and to make all of it a dwelling place for Jesus!

Fellowship Is Precious

“. . . there are many gods and many lords,

yet, for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things,

and we exist for Him,

and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,

and we exist through him.”

1Corinthians 8:5–6

Your most important asset is the fellowship you have with another in Christ.  It is through fellowship that you receive much of the strength, encouragement, correction, and knowledge that you will receive in this life.  God’s people who do not get along very well still have great hope of getting along well if they have fellowship in the things of God, and if they love what fellowship they have.

The fellowship you have with anyone else in Christ has been created for you by God!   It is priceless!  Love it!  Suffer for it!  Fellowship is more valuable to you than your life in this world.  Fellowship in Christ is the work of God; you did not do it, and you cannot fix it once you ruin it.  Only God can.

When a brother in Corinth sued another brother, Paul was deeply saddened because that lawsuit put those brothers’ fellowship at risk.  He asked the brother who filed the lawsuit, “Why wouldn’t you rather suffer being wronged?”  In other words, “Your fellowship is too precious to put at risk!  Suffer being wronged rather than risk losing fellowship!”

I have yet to see anyone in the Lord do well without loving and pursuing fellowship.  And loving and pursuing fellowship includes overlooking faults, making room for differences in things that don’t matter to God, and sometimes, being misunderstood.  The benefit to you of having fellowship with a brother or sister in Christ far outweighs whatever you have to fight through to keep it.  Do not love yourself so much that you let fleshly differences become so big to you that they endanger the fellowship you have with someone else in Christ!

A Love That Blinds

“The god of this world has blinded unbelieving minds

so that they cannot behold the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.”

2Corinthians 4:4

“Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness

 but shall have the light of life.’ ”

John 8:12

You’ve seen them on news programs, wailing before the cameras.  Mothers, whose sons have committed crimes and have been caught red-handed.  They are crying out for justice, telling the world that their sons have always been good boys and that their sons are innocent and are being mistreated.  But the truth is, those mothers did not discipline their boys, and their boys grew up expecting the world to give them whatever they want and to let them have their way, whatever that way is, as their foolish mothers always did.  Those boys were brought up by mothers who loved themselves too much to inconvenience themselves by making their children behave, and now their children love themselves too much to inconvenience themselves by behaving.  And the mothers see no wrong in either themselves or their rotten offspring.  It is easy for Satan to deceive and to use such blind people, and he often does.

There is an old saying, “Love is blind”.  But that saying is true only if you are talking about the kind of love that is in the flesh.  God’s kind of love is not blind at all.  God’s love knows the truth, and it rejoices in the truth it knows.  God’s love knows that every sinner can be changed by God, but before that change takes place, that same love knows who is a sinner that needs changing.  God’s kind of love holds out hope for sinners, but in the meantime, it knows that without Christ Jesus, sinners have no hope.  God’s love doesn’t blind us to the obvious.  On the contrary, it opens our eyes to see everything rightly: first, to see ourselves and others as we really are, and secondly, to see Jesus, who surrendered his life to deliver us from our deadly kind of love.

Our kind of love turns us into blind fools if we follow it long enough.  It is a love that blinds, a love that hates uncomfortable truth.  Nevertheless, to those who are laboring in the bondage of their own kind of love, God offers liberty and light.  Through His Son Jesus, He is freely offering liberty to us all from our flesh’s love of darkness by filling our hearts with the light of His kind of love.

A Godly Father

“Neither shall you bring an abomination into your house,

lest you be a cursed thing like it.

But you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it,

for it is a cursed thing.”

Deuteronomy 7:26

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,

but bring them up in the instruction and admonition of the Lord.”

Ephesians 6:4

God expects us to enforce His order and peace in our area of control, especially in our homes.  When I read this verse from Deuteronomy recently, I was reminded of an event in my childhood that shows how well my father feared God and kept this commandment without respect of persons.

When I was about twelve years old, I walked across town one day to the public library and checked out several books to read.  One of the books I chose was a book on the subject of witchcraft.  It was not that I had a desire to become a wizard; it was just that the subject seemed unusual, and it intrigued me.  Witchcraft was a new subject to me because my life had been surrounded by godly people since my birth.

Now, my father gave us, his children, plenty of liberty, as far as personal choices were concerned.  He was not nosy, and he never examined the titles of the library books we picked out to read.  And so, when I arrived home with my new load of books, I just laid the books down in open view, giving it no thought.  But it just so happened that my father walked by at that moment, and he noticed that I had brought home a book on witchcraft.  Without hesitation or explanation, and without raising his voice, he ordered me to take that book out of his house – immediately.  Now, whenever my father gave an order in our home, there was no back-talk or whining; there was only obedience.  It is possible that I asked him what to do with the witchcraft book, since the library was over a mile away, but if I did ask him what to do with it, he would have just said something like, “I don’t know.  Just get it out of here.”

After walking outside with the unwelcome book and standing there a few minutes, I surrendered to the obvious, and walked back across town to the library to turn the book in, and then made the long trip back home.  Nothing else was ever said about the incident.  My father had made his point, and I had understood it.

You must know this about my father.  He did not feel obligated to send me away with that book because he had read Deuteronomy 7:26 that morning and felt obligated to obey it.  Instead, he was reacting from his heart to seeing such a book in his area of control, and his command seemed, even to me then, natural and right.  Inconvenient, yes; but not harsh and dictatorial.  Without me realizing it, my young heart was being helped by Jesus to understand that my father was motivated by fear of God and that he had commanded me to take that book out of his house because he was righteous.  My heart sensed that my father was only doing the will of God, and I could not feel mistreated.

Some parents fear their children’s displeasure more than they fear God’s, but by doing that, they unwittingly train their children to love themselves and pleasure more than they love God.  I thank God with all my heart that I had a father who loved and feared God more than he loved and feared me!  Godly men bring up their children “in the instruction and admonition of the Lord”, and with the help of such a father’s example, children may learn to live in the instruction and admonition of the Lord, and have a life filled with God’s blessing.

Preaching the Kingdom

“In those days, John the Baptizer appeared,

preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying,

‘Repent!  The kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ ”

Matthew 3:1–2

“Now, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee,

preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and saying,

‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand!

Repent and believe the gospel!’ ”

Mark 1:14–15

From conversations with Preacher Clark, about 1976.

Neither John the Baptist nor Jesus preached the kingdom of God; they only preached about the kingdom.  Of the kingdom of God, both Jesus and John the Baptist said, “It is at hand.”  The kingdom of God, according to Paul, “is righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17), and that kingdom came to men on the day the holy Ghost came, the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Jesus said that the remission of sins which brings us “righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Ghost” had to be preached everywhere, but that it had to start in Jerusalem (Lk. 24:47).  That is where the kingdom of God, the holy Ghost, came and filled about 120 souls who loved Jesus.  Then, the kingdom of God was preached on this earth, and Peter was the one who preached it.

“That It May Be Well With You”

“These are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments

which the Lord your God commanded to teach you,

to do them in the land to which you go to possess it.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you.”

Deuteronomy 6:1, 3

God has never given a commandment for His own benefit.  Every commandment He has ever given to creatures in heaven or on earth has been for their good, and the good of others.  The excerpt from Deuteronomy, above, is part of Moses’ last sermon to Israel before he died.  It is just one instance of Moses’ great effort to persuade Israel to believe that God’s commandments were designed to bring them blessings if they would only keep them.

“With All The Heart”

“An expert in the law put a question to him, testing him, and saying,

‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’

Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 

This is the first and great commandment.”

Matthew 22:35–38

“Unite my heart to fear your name!

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart,

and I will glorify your name for evermore.”

Psalm 86:11b-12

When we read the Bible’s commandment to love and serve God “with all your heart”, it is easy for us to understand what it means; to wit, we must love and serve God with all our heart, not just a portion of it.  But since that commandment is so simple and easy to understand, why did God’s people in the Old Testament almost never keep it?  Although knowing perfectly well that God must be served with the whole heart, God’s Old Testament people, according to their own scriptures and their own prophets, almost never served God that way.  Have you ever wondered why?

The reason is simple; namely, God’s people did not understand how His command to love Him with all the heart was broken.  In other words, they never understood what it is that makes a soul guilty of loving God with only a portion of the heart.  Moses warned Israel shortly before he died not to add anything, or leave off anything, from the law that God had given them (Dt. 4:2)  Moses knew that loving God with all the heart meant to serve Him as He says to serve Him, adding nothing and omitting nothing from His will.  They did not understand that to add holy days beyond the ones God commanded, or to fail to observe the ones He did, was to fail to love God with the whole heart.   They did not understand that to add sacrifices to those ordained in the law, or to fail to make the sacrifices that the law required, was to fail to love God with the whole heart.

Israel was a pattern for the New Testament people of God, the body of Christ on earth.  And just like Israel, the body of Christ has almost never loved the Lord with their whole heart.  Paul tried to persuade them to.  He labored to convince them that Jesus was sufficient for their salvation.  But the people of God under this covenant of grace, like Israel under the law, have steadfastly been determined to add to the grace of God in Christ, and to leave off some of what is in that grace.

To love God with all your heart means to be completely satisfied with His way, so satisfied that no other way even appeals to you.  And in this covenant, God’s way is in the Spirit!  In this covenant, no one loves God and His Son with all the heart who adds a fleshly, water baptism to Jesus’ baptism of the holy Spirit.  And no one loves God with all the heart who adds a holy day, a Sabbath, to God’s Sabbath of rest that He gives in the Spirit.  And no one loves God with the whole heart who adds special robes for worship to the robes of righteousness with which the Spirit clothes God’s children, or who adds a fleshly communion of grape juice and crackers to the “communion of the holy Ghost”.  This is why Paul, so hurt and grieved, scolded the saints who added fleshly ceremony to the way of the Spirit, and warned them that they were endangering their souls by doing so:

Galatians 3

1. O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth – before     whose eyes Jesus Christ, crucified, was openly displayed among you?

2. This only would I learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

3. Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 5

4. You are severed from Christ, you who are justified by the law!  You have fallen from grace!

5. For by faith in the Spirit, we await the hope of righteousness.

Under the law, the only people who loved God with the whole heart were the ones who trusted His law completely to make them worthy to be saved from the coming wrath of God.    Theirs were the only hearts in Israel that were not divided between faith in God and faith in something else.  And under this covenant of grace, the only people who love God with the whole heart are the ones who trust His Son, by the Spirit, completely to make them worthy to be saved from the coming wrath of God.  Theirs are the only hearts in the body of Christ that are not divided between faith in God and faith in something else.

David was wise to pray that God would unite his heart to love and serve Him only.  May God give us the wisdom to do the same, and be delivered from the temptation to add the rites and traditions of Christianity to the perfect, holy way of the Spirit of Christ. 

Free Indeed

“If, then, the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

John 8:36

Long ago, Jesus taught me to be like him and never put pressure on people to be a part of my ministry if their hearts were not in it.  Consequently, I have never gone out looking for “members”.  Nor do I put pressure on the people whom God did send to be a part of this ministry to stay once they come here.  I have never pursued anyone who chose to leave my congregation.  I thank God for every one He sends to help, and I thank God for every one He takes away.  Every person who is associated with me in my work knows that if he or she chooses to leave, I will not chase after them or try to persuade them to change their minds.  They all know they are perfectly free to do whatever is in their hearts to do.  I would not have it any other way because God will have it no other way.

Decades ago, the Lord told me to offer a “money-back guarantee” to any person who becomes a partner here with me, but who – for any reason whatsoever – afterward regretted supporting this ministry with his tithes and offerings.  God and His ministers are not beggars, for numbers of people or for money, and I have imitated my heavenly Father in making sure that every person working with me is doing so only because they want to.  I make sure they know (1) they are free to leave at any time, and (2) if they want their money back, they can have it.  (For obvious tax reasons, such a refund can only apply to money given within the most recent fiscal year.)

I have kept that promise on several occasions.

The freedom with which the Son makes us free is so real and so all-encompassing that it can be frightening to consider.  God is so much a God of liberty that He will have no unwilling servants.  Of course, there will be dire consequences for unfaithfulness.  We all will most certainly reap what we sow; still, God has determined that we are free to choose not to serve Him if we don’t want to.  He makes real promises, but He does not manipulate; He warns, but He does not threaten; and He pleads, but He does not hound those who turn from Him and go another way.  God’s wayward children may be dearly loved and sorely missed, but when Jesus makes us “free indeed”, part of that extraordinary gift of freedom is the freedom to cease from serving Him if we choose to love the world instead.  Jesus will let us go if we insist on it.  After all, if we are not free to choose disobedience and rebellion, then we are not free to choose love and faithfulness.  If we cannot turn from him and embrace eternal death, then we cannot “drink of the waters of life freely”, either.

God releases His prisoners if they want to escape from Him.  He loves us too much to hold us against our will.  He forces no one to serve Him, and if you feel discontent with Him, He would rather you feel content with someone else than to keep you bound in discontentment to Him.  Only God loves you so much and so purely that He wants you to be free to live the way you really want to.