A Hidden Gem

O Jehovah, I have heard your message, and I am in awe.

O Lord, restore to life in the midst of the years the one you created!

In the midst of his years, make him known.  In wrath, remember mercy.”

Habakkuk 3:2

Occasionally while translating the Old Testament, we come upon prophecies overlooked by other translators, such as the one above.  There are many of them.  The apostles had nothing but the Old Testament with which to work, but the holy Ghost opened their eyes to those holy scriptures to see the Son in them, and they preached the Son wherever they went.

Here, Habakkuk is moved by the Spirit to pray that the Father will make the Son known “in the midst of his years”.  And how did the Father do that?  He did that by sending him to the cross, and when He did, the Son dreaded the agony and pleaded with God to find another way to save mankind.  He said, “Abba (that is, Father)!  All things are possible with you.  Take this cup away from me!” (Mk. 14:36).  But even this plea of the Son was prophesied in another oft overlooked prophecy found in Psalm 102:24, and this time, God’s answer to the Son when he prayed that prayer is included:

Psalm 102

24. When I said, “O my God, don’t offer me up in the midst of my days,” you said, “Your years are throughout all generations.

25. In the beginning, you established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26. They will perish, but you will continue, and all of them will grow old like a garment.  Like clothing will you change them, and they will be changed.

27. But you will remain the same, and your years will have no end.

28. The sons of your servants will dwell, and their seed will be established, in your presence.”

There are very many such gems in the Old Testament which foretell the Son’s coming and his work to save us.  God has hidden them, but if we diligently search for them, we will find them, and it is a glorious feeling when we do.  Solomon said it: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and it is the honor of kings to search it out” (Prov. 25:2).

Chastisement vs. Discipline

Chastisement

People have a tendency to think that when they suffer, they have done something wrong, and sometimes that is the case.  God will correct His children when they err from the right path, but only because He loves them.  Both the Old and New Testament tell us that correction is one of the many ways our heavenly Father demonstrates His love toward us.

Solomon told his son, “Whom the Lord loves, He corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:12).  And before Solomon, David taught that to be chastened by the Lord is a blessing (Ps. 94:12).  He knew that none of us would know when we erred if God did not let us feel His displeasure.

In the New Testament, the author of Hebrews also spoke of the blessing of chastisement:

Hebrews 12

7. If you endure chastisement, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

8. But if you are without chastisement, of which all have been partakers, then you are bastards, and not sons.

9. Furthermore, we certainly have had fathers of our flesh who chastened us, and we reverenced them.  Shall we not much rather submit ourselves to the Father of spirits, and live?

10. They, for just a short time, disciplined us as it pleased them; but He for our benefit, that we might partake of His holiness.

Paul wrote that “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  But for those who do not love God, nothing works for their good.  For them, being blessed by God means that He is not chastening them; He is not bringing them back to Him.  God will use blessings to make rebellious souls comfortable in their sin.  How dreadful a curse that is!  Many a backslider boasts in his blessings when, if he knew what was really happening to him, he would cry out for God’s chastisement for doing wrong.

Discipline

Many times when we suffer, it is not chastisement for sin.  In fact, it may be a reward for righteousness.  Discipline is training, the way army recruits are trained so that they may be an effective fighting force.  The discipline may be hard at times, but it is not administered in hatred, and the goal is a good one.  Jesus told a parable about this:

John 15

1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

2. He takes away every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it might bear more fruit.

Two categories of believers are referred to in this parable.  The first does not bear any fruit to God.  Their end is eternal torment in the Lake of Fire, as Jesus said: “Unless a man abides in me, he is thrown away like a branch, and it withers, and they gather them up and throw them into a fire, and it is burned” (Jn. 15:6).  The other category of believers does bear fruit, that is, they do what is right.  But notice what God does to them: “He prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it might bear more fruit.”  In the past, I have said it this way: “We have but two choices.  We can be stubborn and be cut off (and thrown into the fire), or we can be obedient and be cut on.”  I would prefer to be cut on than to be cut off, wouldn’t you?

Every believer who obeys God will be pruned by God.  God has determined that every believer who obeys Him will suffer, but only to make them more like him.  The author of Hebrews gave God’s obedient children this wise exhortation:

Hebrews 12

2. [Let us fix] our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured a cross, despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3. Consider him who endured such hostility of sinners against himself, lest you grow weary in your souls and lose heart.

4. For you have not yet resisted to the death, striving against sin,

5. and you have forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons: “My son, do not lightly esteem the Lord’s correction; neither be discouraged by His reproof,

6. for whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”

Jesus never sinned, and yet, how much he suffered!  That is why Peter taught that when we do good, as Jesus did, and suffer for it, and if we bear that suffering with humility and faith, as Jesus also did, our heavenly Father will be pleased with us (1Pet. 2:20).  To live that way is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and to do that is our calling:

1Peter 2

21. You were called to this, for Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his footsteps,

22. who “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth,”

23. who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return, when suffering, did not threaten, but committed himself to the One who judges justly.

Either Way, God Is Good

Whether God makes us more like Him with chastisement or with discipline, it is always only for our good, not His.  If we love Him and are the called according to His purpose, everything we go through makes us happier, brings us more peace, and fills us with more joy.  It is the absence of suffering, not the presence of it, that is frightening.

“Let Both Grow Together”

     Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.  And when the crop sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares also appeared.  And the landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?  Where, then, did the tares come from?’  He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’  Then the servants said to him, ‘So, do you want us to go out and pull them up?’  But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering up the tares, you uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest-time, I will tell the reapers, “Gather up the tares first and bind them into bundles to burn them up; then, gather the wheat into my storehouse.”’”  – Matthew 13:24–30

Over the millennia, it has vexed many a righteous soul that the wicked are blessed.  Jeremiah was puzzled by it:

Jeremiah 12

1. You are righteous, O Lord, though I complain to you.  Nevertheless, let me speak with you about matters of justice.  Why does the way of wicked men prosper?  All those who deal treacherously are at ease.

2. You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit.  You are near in their mouth, but far from their hearts.

3. But you, O Lord, you know me; you see me; and you have tried my heart toward you.  Drag them away like sheep to the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter!

It so frustrated David’s friend Asaph that he almost lost his soul because of it:

Psalm 73

2. My feet had almost slipped; my steps were almost gone.

3. For I was envious of those who are praised.  I saw the happiness of wicked men.

     . . . .

5. They are not in trouble as other men are; neither are they plagued along with other men.

     . . . .

7. Their eye stands out with fatness; they have more than heart can wish.

     . . . .

12. Behold, these are the wicked, always at ease; they increase in wealth.

13. Truly, I have kept my heart clean for nothing, and washed my hands in innocence,

14. for I am plagued all day long, and correction comes to me every morning.

It frustrated Jeremiah too much at one point.  He even dared to compare God to a liar:

Jeremiah 15

15. You know, O Lord!  Remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors!  Do not defer your anger.  Receive me!  Acknowledge that for your sake, I have borne reproach!

16. Your words were found, and I consumed them.  Yea, your words were my joy and my heart’s delight.  Surely, I am called by your name, O Lord, God of Hosts!

17. I do not sit in the council of mockers and rejoice.  I sit alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.

18. Why is my pain unending and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?  You are like a liar to me, like waters that do not last.

Jeremiah had to repent for that, and he did.  But it was a hard lesson for him to learn, that whether the righteous like it or not, God is going to bless the wicked and the righteous together.  And when the Son of God came to earth, he commanded his followers to be like God in their attitude and conduct toward the wicked:

Matthew 5

44. I say to you, love your enemies; bless those who curse you; do good to those who hate you; and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

45. so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust.

That reality teaches us that we cannot know who God loves by who He blesses, for He blesses all alike.  Some, like the unwise pastor in ancient Laodicea, judge themselves to be good in God’s sight because God blesses them.  But Jesus had a stern message for him and for all who think the way he did:

Revelation 3

17. “You say, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, and pathetic, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

There is only one condition by which we may judge who God loves.  Jesus told that unwise pastor: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19a).  Understanding this, Solomon gave his son this wise counsel:  

Proverbs 3

11. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction,

12. for whom the Lord loves, He corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights.

Jeremiah and Asaph grew weary of God sternness toward them when they had done what was right and yet, they saw God blessing the wicked.

It is a hard reality to face, but God in His wisdom has decided to let the good and the evil grow together in this world, drinking in the same sunshine and rain until the harvest.  Until the harvest!  That is the thought which shook Asaph and woke him from his foolish stupor, and made him glad that he was living right, even if he suffered:

Psalm 73

16. When I tried to understand this, it was hard for me

17. until I entered into God’s sanctuary; then, I considered their end.

     . . . .

21. When my heart was bitter [against you, God], my soul was pierced,

22. and I was brutish and did not understand.  I was like an animal before you.

23. Yet, I was always with you.  You held onto my right hand.

24. With your counsel, you will guide me, and afterwards, you will receive me to glory.

     . . . . 

27. For, behold, those who are far from you will perish.  You will destroy all who go a-whoring from you.

28. But as for me, the nearness of God is good for me.  I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge, that I might declare all your works.

And so, let us continue doing the will of God, whatever our circumstance, knowing that at the harvest, the righteous and the wicked will no longer enjoy the same blessings as we do now.  In the next world, God will not command that the righteous and the wicked must grow together, but He will have them in very different places indeed.

Death Is Coming, but so Is Jesus

It is appointed to men once to die, and after that, the Judgment.

Hebrews 9:27

We have many times heard the famous biblical phrase, “It is appointed to men once to die, and after that, the Judgment.”  But when the man of God wrote that, the certainty of death was not his point.  He was making another point altogether.  We get the point only when we notice that the phrase is introduced with the words, “just as.”  So, the author was saying, “What I am about to tell you is as certain as death is.”  So, what was he about to tell us?

The entire thought is this: “Just as it is appointed to men once to die, and after that, the Judgment, so also, Christ . . . will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who earnestly look for him.”  His point was the certainty of Jesus’ return to earth. He was saying that just as surely as every man will die, Jesus is coming again.

Every death is a reminder from God that His Son Jesus is coming again.  Next time you read an obituary or visit a funeral home, then, let it remind you of the coming of the Lord, for his coming is as sure as death is for us mortals.

On Experiences

There is a strange doctrine taught by some which has gained some vogue in recent decades is the doctrine which warns against “going by experience”.  You won’t listen to very many sermons before you’ll hear a warning not to depend on your experience.  Is this not exactly what the serpent persuaded Eve to do in the garden of Eden?  Did he not say, in effect, “Do not make your decisions based on your experiences with God, but on what I tell you about God”?   Is that not exactly what happened?  Eve had walked with God on the earth; she had talked with Him; she and Adam had been the beneficiaries of incredible blessings.  They had been created in God’s own image, given dominion over an earth of great beauty and peace.  They had experienced God’s love and care beyond human expression.  But Satan, through a cunning use of words, persuaded her to make a foolish, fatal decision –– based on his lie, rather than what she herself had experienced with God.

“Not go by experience”?!?  How can anyone not base his life on experience?  What on earth is not an experience?  Being taught not to go by experience is itself an experience, and if there is an experience which one should not be led by, it is that one.  We all begin our earthly journey as fools (Prov. 22:15).  If we don’t learn from experience, we cannot grow.  Then why do some men teach against “going by experience”?  The answers are simple.  They do so because (1) They have experienced no ordination from God and (2) the doctrines they teach cannot be confirmed by experience.  Therefore, they tell their followers that (1) God no longer bears anyone witness, if he ever did (i.e., “trust me, not God ”), and (2) experience is an untrustworthy guide (i.e., “trust me, not yourself ”).

In seminary, one of my professors told us, “Brethren, if your doctrine is contrary to the facts, it is time to get a new doctrine.”  I thought that was an astute observation, but it is one that seems to be lost to both the liberal and conservative side of the religious spectrum.  Left-wing professors of theology deny the reality of the life of the Spirit on philosophical and psychological grounds, ignoring the fact of human experience with the Spirit’s baptism and its consonance with the Biblical record.  Right-wing fundamentalists deny the power of the Holy Ghost, ignoring the testimonies of many who have come from their own ranks.  Let’s be honest.  Both groups of Christians are just too proud to confess their need of a Savior who lives and offers an experience that sets men free from pride.  All their erudite, philosophical protestations on one end and Bible-thumping denunciations on the other are “red herrings”, thrown onto the road in order to divert the bloodhounds of conviction.

God has enough precious souls of every economic and social background who have experienced and testified of the power of the holy Ghost that no honest person anywhere can reject it.  “Whosoever will” may come if he will humble himself to Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.  God is an equal opportunity forgiver.

My dear friend, if you have been blessed by God with the holy Ghost, you need never be ashamed of the wonderful experience you have had.  In the kingdom of God, it is a dignified thing to feel the blessings of the holy Ghost, to raise your hands, jump for joy, and “speak with the tongues of men and of angels.”  You are blessed by what you have experienced, for all that really matters is that Jesus is pleased with you.  What is man,  God once asked, “whose breath is in his nostrils!  For wherein is he to be accounted of?”

When you take your first step toward the experience of new birth, when you kneel alone and sincerely ask God that first question, the things you will feel will not be the result of a psychological weakness.  It will be the result of doing something Jesus has wanted you to do for a long time.  And if you continue to follow those feelings, your own experience will teach you that it was the right thing to do.

Those of us who have managed, by God’s grace, to follow His call, are pulling for you.

On Feelings

One of the intriguing doctrinal developments in the past century is the oft-heard exhortation to ignore our feelings.  “Don’t go by feelings,” we are told; “just take it by faith.”  When one goes hunting in the Bible for similar exhortations, he returns to the camp with an empty bag.  There is no such animal found in the Scriptures.

Feelings are a precious and integral part of the kingdom of God because feelings are part of life as God has created it.    We all feel because we are made in the image of God, who is “of tender mercy” and who is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities”, though He be “angry with the wicked every day.”  God feels, and He wants to create in us His feelings and thoughts, which He does by the holy Ghost that Jesus purchased for us.  Even those who are dead and gone from this life feel things, whether they are in Paradise or in Hell.  Jesus leads us to God through our feelings, as Paul said: “Godly sorrow produces repentance (2Cor. 7:10).  And Jesus made it very clear that without repentance, a man will never see God (Lk. 13:1-5).  

Ministers warn their flocks not to go by their feelings so that they will pay no attention to how empty these ministers’ doctrines make them feel.  Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” but men say, “Deceived are they who hunger and thirst for anything other than what we’ve told them they have.”  Peter said that the saints rejoice with “joy unspeakable and full of glory”.  Where do you see such joy now?  When is the last time you were in a gathering of the saints in which the joy was so great that it was virtually inexpressible?

Jesus felt grief, and he poured out his heart to God with “strong crying and tears.”  On other occasions, he “rejoiced in spirit”.  The Philippian jailor was moved with fear of God’s wrath, and then, after he was baptized with the holy Ghost, he “rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”  We are exhorted by Paul to “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  Whence, then, comes this strange notion that one’s feelings are not to be trusted or given expression?  What is left as a guide if feelings are removed from the picture?  “The Bible,” some will answer.  But to what does the Bible guide us, but to God, who first grants us the feeling of remorse for sin, and then relieves us of the burden (a feeling) of guilt, and gives us peace (a feeling)?

There are even those who suggest that there is nothing for us to go by at all except the Scriptures, that God no longer communicates with man, except by what man reads in the Bible!  One such denomination purchased space in my hometown newspaper some years back which proclaimed that the Bible is all we need for salvation.  Think of it.  No experience with the Lord.  No feeling of communion with the Father.  No guidance from the Spirit.  Just you and your Bible, you and lifeless pages made from dead trees and ink, covered with the dead skin of a dead animal.  Should you trust your eternal destiny to something you can hold in your hand?  Will you be saved from the flames of eternal damnation by something which itself can be burned up?  Jesus spoke to this issue when he found some of the leaders of Israel trusting their souls’ destiny to the Scriptures.  He said, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me, and you will not come to me, that you might have life! (Jn. 5:39-40).

The Bible cannot give life because the Bible itself is dead.   Paul was referring to the Holy Scriptures when he wrote, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2Cor. 3:6).  This means, for example, that Paul’s letter to the Corinthians kills, and his letter to the saints in Rome kills.  Pauls and so.  But the holy Ghost which Paul had, and which the Corinthian and Roman saints had, gave life to both him and them.  This is what Jesus was teaching in John 6:63 when he said, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The things that I am telling you, they are spirit, and they are life!”  It is the Spirit, not the Bible, that will raise up God’s saints from the grave (Rom.8:11).  The Spirit is life, Paul said (Rom. 8:10), and it makes us alive to God’s thoughts and feelings now so that we might be found worthy to live with Him forever.

Without the holy Ghost, every religion is false religion; without the holy Ghost, every sermon is a lie; and without the holy Ghost, every man is a hopeless sinner.  Without the holy Ghost, there is no righteousness of God, no peace with God, and no hope of salvation.

Ministers warn against “going by feelings” because they feel intimidated by the life that God’s Spirit brings to people.  The greatest threat to every ministry of man is the life of the holy Ghost.  It is no wonder that such ministers strive to keep people from it!  The liberty and joy and zeal that the Spirit brings exposes every man who has no credentials from heaven.  Many a soul has gone to a minister with a feeling of not being right with God, only to be told not to go by how he feels, but only to trust the Bible – as interpreted by that minister. 

It is a tragedy that multitudes – billions – are being told that they are prepared to meet God in the Judgment when they are not.  But the twist which makes it so frustrating is that many of them have feelings of a spiritual need, and when they ask for help, they are told to ignore what they feel and trust the Bible – again, as interpreted by their pastors.  God help us reach people with the good news that there is a holiness they can know about!  Their longing is for something that is there, that is real, waiting to be believed and felt – and Jesus has it!

Jesus did not come to start a religion so dead that men have to tell you when you have it.  If you can’t feel the spirit that a minister tells you that you have, trade it in for the one that’s alive!  Dead spirits can do nothing for you.  The Spirit of Christ brings eternal life into your soul.  Why, when it enters your heart, it starts off by making a sound through you so that you and others may know you have it (Jn. 3:7–8; 1Cor. 14:21).  How many times have we heard people say after receiving the holy Ghost, “For years, I felt there had to be more to God than what I knew.”  And to get that “more”, they had to overcome a thousand ministers telling them to ignore their feelings.

“Don’t go by feelings”?!?  How absurd!  Paul said that “the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).  Peace and joy are feelings!  The fruits of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22-23, are essential to the health of the body of Christ, and what are these fruits?  “Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faith, meekness, self-control.”  Now, how in tarnation are you to know that you have joy unless you feel it?  Should you wait for a man to tell you that you’re happy?  And how in the world are you to know that you love, unless you feel it? Are you going to wait for a man to prove it to you by quoting scriptures?  Listen to what Paul said about those who are past feeling: “Having their understanding darkened, being aliens to the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the dullness of their heart, [they], being dead to feelings, have given themselves to licentiousness, to perform with insatiable desire every kind of uncleanliness.  But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and been taught by him, for truth is in Jesus (Eph. 4:18-20).  Notice, please, that Paul said the end result of denying feelings is a descent into moral wickedness.

God wants us to feel it when we are not on the right track.  That is our safety.  Men cannot keep God from doing that for us, but they will attempt to persuade us that listening to our feelings indicates a lack of faith in the Bible – as they teach it.

Beware, my friend.  Any man who would tell you not to listen to your feelings would have you to listen to him rather than to God.