The Honor of God

“Now, it came to pass after the death of Joshua that the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites to fight against them?’  And the Lord said, ‘Judah shall go up.  Behold, I have given the land into his hand.’”

Judges 1:1–2

“And no one takes this honor upon himself, but one called of God.”

Hebrews 5:4

In Judges, if any tribe other than Judah had attempted to go up first against the Canaanites, they would have failed because God had chosen Judah to receive that honor, and nobody can annul God’s choices.  When some wicked men tried to stir up envy in John the Baptist’s heart toward Jesus, he sharply answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it be given to him from heaven” (Jn. 3:27).  What a wise man!  John knew that if Jesus was accomplishing a holy work, then God had chosen him to do it, and that if Jesus was doing his own will, whatever he was doing would amount to nothing.  That understanding left no room for envy of Jesus, for all true honor comes from God alone, and it cannot be stolen.

Some years ago, some of us were listening to an old reel-to-reel message by my father to the congregation in Louisville, KY.  In it, he made this statement: “I may not always be right, but I am always pastor.”  That bold and humble statement struck me, and I have never forgotten it.  He was saying, in effect, “Even if I have failed at times to perfectly fulfill my office, God chose me for this honor.”  That is a very humbling thought because it is more than just a thought; it is real life.  I know my own foolishness, weakness, and faults, and I have confessed them to God many times in prayer.

Paul’s confession in 1Corinthians 15:10 means a lot to me.  After admitting that he was unworthy to be an apostle, he said, “Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am.”  That is all that anyone can truthfully say who has been chosen by God to receive any honor.  Wise souls walk worthy of the honor that has been given to them by God.  And because that is true, I desire your prayers, that I might be found faithful in handling the honor that God has given to me to be your pastor and teacher.

With a Pure Heart

Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace,

along with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

2Timothy 2:22

God once told Isaiah that the people of Israel “seek me daily, and delight in knowing my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of their God.  They ask me for righteous judgments; they delight in approaching God” (Isaiah 58:2).

That kind of people sounds like good company for sincere people to keep.  It is good to seek God every day, to delight in knowing God’s ways, to ask for God’s righteous judgments, and to enjoy approaching God.  But God was sending Isaiah to these deeply religious people to show them their wickedness, not to congratulate them for their religiousness!  He was angry with these people and commanded Isaiah, “Cry aloud!  Do not hold back!  Lift up your voice like a shofar and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins!” (Isaiah 58:1).

God is not a beggar, grasping after and thankful for any praise He can get.  He is the Creator, and a very great King.  It is a great honor for us if He accepts our prayers and our worship, and wise saints offer praise with humility and fear.  Our God is worthy of more devotion than we can even offer, but He is good, and He will humble Himself to accept worship from a pure heart, a heart completely subdued before Him.

We get no “brownie points” for worshipping God; what we get is a blessing if He accepts the worship that we offer Him.  Knowing this, David cautioned God’s people to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling!” (Ps. 2:11).  God will, and has, rejected the worship of many, many people around the world.  People of the earth can be impressed with the appearance of devotion, but God never is.  He is impressed only with genuine, obedient faith.

In Isaiah’s day, Israel had become proud of what God had given them, of being His chosen people, of how often they gathered to seek His face, and how often they asked Him for more revelation.  Yet, they were neglecting to live according to His judgments, which they knew.  Theirs was a life that was “like righteousness”, but they were not righteous within.  They had all the appearance of a holy people without hearts that were after the holiness of God.  May God save us from an appearance of holiness and to learn to live truly, from the heart, in the holy way of Christ!

Every Yoke

“If you put away from the midst of you the yoke. . .”

Isaiah 58:9b

On several occasions, I have reminded my congregation that the “yoke” within us, mentioned by Isaiah, represents the desire to impose our will upon others.  A yoke is an instrument used by a man to control an animal, but the yoke Isaiah is talking about is spiritual; it is one person manipulating and controlling another.  I have known people who stay unhappy if others do not do as they want them to do; they are not content unless they have hitched up someone else to their will.

God is not like that.  He would rather we have our way than His – except that He loves us and knows that if we do our own will, we will end up hurt and sad.  So, He counsels us to do His will.  If you have been around very long in Christ, you know that God will back off and allow you to do things your own way if that is what you insist on doing, and you have no doubt learned better than to do that.  God has no yoke in His heart that He will impose on us; on the contrary, He has love in His heart and is willing for us to learn that His way is best.

Other Yokes

But that yoke is not my point in this message, for as I said, I have taught that message a number of times.  Though I have read Isaiah 58 often, I noticed this morning for the first time that other yokes are mentioned which may burden God’s people.  Here is what Isaiah said: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen? to undo the bonds of wickedness, to loosen the thongs of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you remove every yoke?” (Isa. 58:6).  The “bonds of wickedness” are spiritual ropes that bind people, and ungodly men use those “thongs of the yoke” to oppress and control others.  And there are other yokes, or influences, upon God’s people which NOTHING but the anointing of God will destroy.  And thankfully, God has promised that someday, His anointing will destroy every yoke that burdens His people:  “It shall come to pass in that day that He will remove [the evil man’s] burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck!  And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing” (Isa. 10:27).

God’s point in Isaiah 58 is that we may “be about our Father’s business” now, before that final, complete deliverance from all yokes, by removing the yokes that evil men have put around the necks of His people.  These yokes are superstition, sickness, false teaching, fear of man, and whatever else that His children are moved by besides the Spirit.  To be led by the Spirit is life and peace, and we have the opportunity now to show God’s people the way to live that happy life.

Jesus said, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.  My yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  His yoke is not a yoke at all; it is a new heart that wants nothing but what God wants.  His yoke is to make it our nature to agree with God and love to do His will.  Every other yoke is against us and leads us astray, and Jesus came to set us free from every one of them.  This is the liberty he was talking about when he said, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

May God give us all the wisdom and power, first, to destroy any yoke that is within us toward others, and second, to destroy every yoke we see that has been hung around the necks of God’s children.  That is part of what God considers to be a true fast, and fasting that way produces wonderful fruit.

Works, not Feelings

 Greetings everyone.

My son John and I have recently been discussing a matter related to the Final Judgment that will interest you.  It is a thought that I had never thought before, and it has benefitted me.  He pointed out last week that if a person keeps his eyes on the single, unalterable fact that he will be judged solely on the basis of what he does, not on the basis of how he feels, then that person can ignore the spirits of depression, doubt, fear, etc., because they cannot control his actions.

Psychological diagnoses are irrelevant to the person who truly believes that what he does, not how he feels, is all that will matter in the Final Judgment, for he will keep his mind on doing good in God’s sight instead of being obsessed with how he is feeling.

We all feel the spirits that are in this world, but we will not be judged on the basis of what we have felt!

Here’s the latest communication from John.  I thought it was worth passing on:

“I’ve been thinking about the uselessness of feeling encouraged, blessed, etc., without deeds.  Those feelings are as useless as depression, without deeds.  Tonight while reading James, I’m realizing it’s not just feelings [that are worthless without deeds] but it’s also understanding and wisdom.  Everything that is intended to bring about worthy deeds is unperfected without those deeds.  ‘Do you see that faith was working together with Abraham’s works and that faith was perfected by his works?’ (Jas. 2:22).  We’re looking for something from Jesus, just as he is from us.  When we are being blessed and encouraged by Jesus, he is doing something.  In that moment, we can see more of who we really are, but those feelings must mature into deeds.  Any understanding or feeling that doesn’t mature into deeds is lost.  I think that goes for depression as well as blessings.  What we DO decides where we end up:

James 1

21. Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness, and every wicked excess, receive with meekness the implanted word that is able to save your souls.

22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man contemplating his natural face in a mirror,

24. who observed himself and went away, and immediately forgot what he was like.

25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, and perseveres, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his doing.

I think Jesus wants us to judge him by his deeds.  We are supposed to learn to judge everything he does as good.  But we have to judge what he did in order to judge it to be good – no doubt, judging it to be wrong many times as we learn.  This feels so good!  We think we are going to decide if something is good or bad when we judge it.  But when it is Jesus, the verdict comes with the action.  He is always good, but we will miss it if we judge it otherwise.”

This is what Jesus was talking about in John 12:48: “The word that I have spoken, that will judge [you] on the last day.”  The only thing that will matter on that day is, did Jesus’ word produce good works in us who heard it, or not?

Some of us are struggling with feelings of depression, fear, doubt, etc., but so what?  Those spirits are real, and they are around us, and we feel them.  As long as those feelings do not determine our actions, and our faith keeps us doing what is good in God’s sight, we will be OK because our actions, not how we feel, will determine our judgment from God.  And in time, if we keep doing the will of God, we will no doubt lose sight of those spirits, and have peace.

John 5

28. Don’t marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear [Jesus’] voice,

29. and they will come out, those who did good things unto the resurrection of life, but those who did bad things unto the resurrection of damnation.

Pastor John

Why Many Turn Away

From a sermon by Preacher Clark in late 1975

This is a very valuable lesson that will help save your soul.  May God help us take it in!  Preacher Clark was talking during a Sunday afternoon meeting about that Sunday morning’s "lesson", as he called it. Apparently, after we had read the Bible that morning, he taught us this great truth which, thanks be to God, sank down into my heart.  I have never forgotten it, though I had forgotten it was during that morning’s Bible reading that he taught it to me.  Here is the excerpt of his sermon which I just listened to:

“Why did the angels fall away from God?  They had no sinful nature about them.  Why did Lucifer himself turn?  He wasn’t made with any sin in him.  Why did Adam and Eve, why did they turn back?  They weren’t created evil.  You know, every one of them missed God the same way that you’re going to miss God if you miss Him, the same way you have missed God.  They believed they were right in what they were doing.  They believed they’d get wise like God.  They believed they’d go forward, not backwards.  They believed they were in the right and that they were going the right way, until they found out.

“The Devil is not going to come up to you when you’re on fire for God and show you something evil.  He’s not going to do that.  He’s not going to start off by getting you to do something bad.  He’s going to let you start off by sympathizing with somebody, or doing this or doing the other.  First thing you know, it’s going to lead into something, and you won’t know how in the world you got there.  All you know is that you’re not feeling good.  And then he’ll come around and justify you, or try to make you justify yourself.”

Just about every child of God I have known who wandered from the right path believed they were doing the right thing when they left, even those who have ended up in gross sins, far from what even some sinners know is good.  My own siblings, those brought up with me and taught the same precious truth, thought they were doing the best thing when they drifted out of the way and joined a religion they once knew was not of God.  “The desire for other things”, as Jesus said it, entered their hearts and gave them a different perspective on life, and after some time, they came to believe that the simple and pure way of Christ, which they were taught as children, is not true.

My dear friends, remember what David told his young son Solomon: “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”  Stay full of the Spirit of truth, for if a wrong idea enters your heart, the truth which Jesus has shown you will stop thrilling your soul, and wrong things will begin to feel right.  The appeal of the forbidden fruit will increase, and you will begin to lose your taste for the sweet produce of the garden of God.

I hope that we will all be saved from the coming wrath.  That is God’s plan for us and for all His children everywhere.  But He requires that we walk in the light that He has given us.  If you ever find that the light is losing its luster and you begin to see why it would be good to withdraw yourself from it, I beg you to spend time on your knees asking your best friend, Jesus, to show you the wrong thing that has entered into you heart.  And then pray to be willing to believe what he tells you.