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.