“Take Heed, Lest You Fall”

“The LORD said to me, ‘Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She goes up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and plays the harlot there. And I said, after she did all these things, “Come back to me,” but she did not come back, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that, when for all the times that backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid, and she also went and played the harlot.’  ”

Jeremiah 3:6–8

It is surprising how often, despite the evidence, God’s people do not take to heart His judgments on the unfaithful.  One sister, some years back, watched a string of others fall away from Jesus and then said, “I never even considered the possibility that it would happen to me.” Now, she is completely backslidden and living a morally wretched lifestyle.

We live only by the continued mercies of God.  Those who survive and are saved in the end will be those who know, when they see God’s judgment, that God is no respecter of persons and that the same judgment could happen to them.  We would be wise to heed Paul’s warning, that the Old Testament events which tell of what happened to Israel “happened to them as examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have met.  Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1Cor. 10:11–12).

Earthly Evidence Versus Heaven’s Proof

There may be a mountain of evidence that the Bible is true, but there is only one proof of it: the baptism of the holy Ghost.  That is what John the Baptist told Israel that the long-prophesied Messiah would do (Mt. 3:11; Mk. 1:8; Lk. 3:16).  Therefore, whoever baptizes with the holy Ghost is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  Men can believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and believe it very deeply, (just as demons do – Jas. 2:19), but that is all we can do without help from God.  Without the holy Ghost, no one can say (and know for certain it is true) that Jesus is Lord (1Cor. 12:3).

We can be so devoted to belief in Jesus that we give up our lives for it, but that self-sacrifice will mean nothing to God unless it was motivated by the love of God, which enters our hearts only by the holy Ghost (1Cor. 13:1–3; Rom. 5:5).  We need the holy Ghost baptism because Jesus said we must be born again (Jn. 3:3, 7), and the baptism of the holy Ghost is the way to enter, or be born into, God’s family (cp. 1Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27).  We need to hear about Jesus because the Father gives the holy Ghost only to those who believe in Jesus and come to Him in Jesus’ name (Jn. 14:26).  Though we pray to God in the name of Muhammed from now until doomsday, He will not give us the Spirit because the Spirit comes only in Jesus’ name.

So, don’t get too excited about historical evidence concerning the scriptures and the Messiah they proclaim, whether it be archaeological or documentary evidence.  God’s living proof of His Son is infinitely more exciting.  An empty tomb is evidence, but it does not prove that Jesus rose from the dead; only the holy Ghost does that.  “The Spirit is the witness”, John wrote, “because the Spirit is truth” (1Jn. 5:6).  Historical evidence can be interesting, but its value pales to worthlessness in comparison to God’s living testimony of His Son.  That baptism is not like a dusty potsherd, known by and useful to men long ago, but not now.  No, God has never stopped offering His unique proof that Jesus is Savior and Lord; in every generation since Jesus suffered and died, God has been baptizing with the Spirit humble souls who obey Him (cp. Acts 5:32).

The Definition of a False Prophet

A false prophet is an unfaithful prophet, one who has had a real connection with God, but has wandered from the right way.  Among the ancient Gentiles, many prophets prophesied ungodly things, but none of them are referred to as false prophets.  In the Old Testament, we find no false prophet outside of Israel, except in very rare cases, such as Balaam, who was a true prophet of God before he surrendered his integrity for earthly gain.  God said of men who began to prophesy things He did not send them to say, “I did not send these prophets, but they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied” (Jer. 23:21).

In this New Covenant, a “false prophet” is the equivalent of a “false apostle” (2Cor. 11:13) or a “false teacher” (2Pet. 2:1).  These are ministers who are confident that they are ministers of Christ, when Christ has not sent them.

Those who have not been sent by Christ cannot speak for him.  And it is a pitfall into which a religious society has pushed many a young man with a heart for God.  We can do evil, thinking we are doing God service, and if He has not sent us, whatever we claim to do in His name is false.  In order to truly speak for Christ, we must first be spoken to by Christ; otherwise, the term “false prophet” will apply to us as well as to those in the Bible who did wrong, thinking they were doing right.

“You Are Never Supposed To Do That!”

My wife and I and a few friends recently met with a couple (I will call them Barry and Jane) who testified to us that several years ago, they made up their minds to read the gospels (they may have said the entire New Testament) and put into practice every commandment of Jesus, no matter how odd it might seem to people, or what the cost to them.  In their reading, they noticed that Jesus healed people instead of sending them to the doctor, and so, they concluded that it is God’s will that His children not to go to a doctor or take any medicine, but trust His Son instead.  Our body is God’s temple, they told us, and it is His responsibility alone to take care of it.  They canceled their health insurance, threw away all their medicines, and began to trust Jesus alone to take care of their bodies “without”, as Jane said, “any back-up plan.”  Jesus would heal them, or they would remain sick.  And they also testified that since taking that course, they experienced a number of remarkable healings, and their overall health improved.

Their testimonies challenged me to examine myself, to make certain that I look to Jesus when I need healing, rather than thoughtlessly resort to medicines.  I told them that I loved their faith and zeal and that I believed their testimonies held some benefit for me and my congregation.  At the same time, however, I sensed that the Spirit did not agree with their teaching and that the course they had taken was not the way of true holiness, and I gently suggested to them that in time, Jesus would temper their views on medicine.  To that, Jane sweetly responded, “I hope not.”  In other words, as I took it, she was so blessed and happy with the results of her decision to trust Christ to heal them, with no “back-up plan”, that she hoped things would never change.

After our visit, certain brothers and sisters who were aware that Barry and Jane were visiting us wanted updates concerning our visit, but the Lord would not give me anything to say.  To some of their inquiries, I responded that I just felt to be quiet and that time would tell if Jesus will unite us in faith.  I am thankful for those saints’ interest in our visitors, but I am more thankful for their willingness to back off and give me time when they sensed that I could not talk about it.  I was waiting, very still in my soul.  I could only place my conversation with Barry and Jane at the feet of Jesus and ask him to help me know what to think and what to say.  I could not completely throw away what they had said, but neither could I follow them in their doctrine concerning medical aid.  Jesus had to show me the way.

That day passed, and then that night, with the conversation heavy on my heart.  The next morning found me rehearsing in my mind the things I had heard, and still waiting on the Lord’s judgment of it all.  Then, the Lord brought to my mind the very first thing Barry and Jane had told us regarding their decision to reject all medical assistance and to trust Jesus alone, live or die.  The first thing was that years ago, they made up their minds to read the gospels and to obey every commandment they found, regardless of how it appeared or how it made them look.  With their words echoing in my mind, the Lord spoke very sternly and said, “You [that is, you children of God on earth] are never supposed to do that!”  Suddenly, I realized that I have heard similar testimonies before, and that every time someone became zealous and made up his mind to read and obey the Bible, they became over-religious and odd.  Sometimes, they became very odd.

If Paul had been of such a mind as Barry and Jane, he would never have told Timothy to try drinking a little wine to help with his frequent stomach ailments.  Paul was, in effect, telling Timothy to take some medicine!  (Prilosec, after all, had not been invented.)  One lady in our congregation said recently that she grew up in a church that taught against using medicine and doctors and that she had seen people die as a result.  That is not the way of holiness; that is the way of lunacy.  True holiness is not contrary to common sense; in fact, true holiness gives us common sense.  The most spiritual people I have known have always been down-to-earth, sensible souls.

Some commandments of Jesus were intended for us all, such as, “Love one another the way I have loved you.”  But some commandments were just for the ones to whom Jesus was speaking at the time.  According to his own testimony, the TV evangelist Pat Robertson once read in the Bible that Jesus said, “Sell all that you possess, and give it to the poor, and come follow me” (Lk. 18:22).  Being young in the Lord and zealous, he went home and told his wife that he was going to obey Luke 18:22.  Then he sold all his furniture, etc.  But do you know what he did at some point after that?  He had to go buy some new furniture and replace the furniture he had foolishly sold, thinking he was obeying Jesus.  Jesus didn’t tell Pat Robertson to go sell all that he possessed; he gave that commandment to the rich young ruler, and he did so for a specific purpose.  For another example, during our conversation, Barry and Jane asked me if I had obeyed “the Great Commission”, which is the commandment Jesus gave his disciples to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.”  But there is no such thing as “the Great Commission”, and I pointed that out to them.  That is only a phrase invented by Christian leaders to pressure believers into giving money for their self-willed missionary efforts.  Jesus has not commanded me to go into all the world to preach the gospel, and I am convinced he has not commanded most of the men and women who go out on some foreign mission field.  I believe, instead, that they were taught, or just assumed, that Jesus’ commandment to his disciples applied to them.

Jesus suffered and died to deliver us from dependence on our understanding of the scriptures to guide us.  To receive guidance written by the hands of men was the Old Testament way of learning how to serve God, but that way can never perfect or unite the saints of God.  That’s why Jesus came to bring us this “new and living way”, that is, the way of being led by the Spirit from within.  If what we are doing was given to us by the Spirit, then it is right.  But if our deeds are the result of reading the Bible and making up our minds to do whatever it says, we are wrong.  “The letter kills; but the Spirit gives life.”  And it is obvious that we will never be led into eternal life by something that can only kill us.  If someone insists on going that way, his life will only become more perverse with the passage of time.

I am so thankful that Jesus took away my quiet burden regarding our conversation with Barry and Jane.  And when he did that, he reminded me of one of Jane’s comments and let me hear it now as he had heard it then.  You may recall that I gently suggested to our visitors that Jesus would, in time, temper their absolute rejection of all medical intervention, and that Jane very sweetly responded, “I hope not.”  Now, however, I saw that response as Jesus had seen it: a sweet, self-willed spirit that was determined to do things its own way.  At the time, the sweetness of Jane’s tone impressed me, but Jesus warned his disciples not to judge by what we see and hear.  What Jesus had taken note of was the self-will behind the sweet demeanor.

At one point in our conversation, Barry said he would start taking medicine again if I could show him just one place in the scriptures where Jesus or Paul told someone to go to a doctor.  Of course, I could think of no such place.  I could just point out that God sent Jesus and Paul to heal people, and they weren’t supposed to tell the sick to go somewhere else.  That was the best answer I could come up with.  But after Jesus spoke to me and relieved me of my burden concerning the conversation, he gave me the right answer for Barry.  He let me know if Barry ever again asks me to show him one place where Jesus told someone to go to a doctor, I was to say to him, “I will show you a place where Jesus told someone to go to a doctor if you will show me just one place where he or his apostles ever told someone not to.”  Jesus’ point in giving me that answer was to get me to see that Barry and Jane are not obeying any commandment of God contained in the scriptures, as they think they are.  They are only doing what they claim the Bible teaches, and they can show no one a single verse that commands God’s people to take no medicine and see no doctor.  And I believe that Jesus loves them enough that he will, at some point, do as I suggested he would do for them, namely, temper their extreme position against medicine.  I hope that he will not have to resort to extreme measures to do that.

Believers are sometimes carried away with “winds of doctrine”, including doctrines that lead them to do things that cause them pain.  The “name-it-and-claim-it” movement of the late twentieth century is an example of believers becoming strange by “standing on the word” instead of being led by the Spirit.  Another such movement of that time is the “shepherdship” movement, which destroyed families and damaged many innocent, trusting souls.  Both of those movements used scriptures profusely to justify their madness.  Speaking of this sort of thing, Paul told the Colossians that “such things, though having an appearance of wisdom in a self-willed religion, humility, and abuse of the body, are of no value to anyone in opposing gratification of the flesh” (Col. 2:23).

God has given us all things in this life to enjoy and use, but everything in this world waxes old or is sometimes damaged, and everything God has given us will occasionally need maintenance or repair.  God does not expect us to fast and pray about whether or not to put a bandaid on a cut.  The possessions of a righteous man are precious, Solomon said, even his animals (Prov. 12:10, 27).  Righteous people value all of God’s gifts, and they take good care of them, whether the gift be a house, a car, a pet, or a fleshly body.  They sweep their porches and repair leaky roofs; they wash their cars and change the oil; they feed and nurture their animals; and they bathe their bodies and treat a damaged part.  There is no more sin in changing a flat tire than there is in pouring balm on a wound.  

God made His Son a sacrifice for sin to rescue us from self-willed religion, the kind of religion that Barry and Jane fell into a few years ago.  Hear the word of the Lord: “You are never supposed to do that!”

Pray for our friends, Barry and Jane.  We love them, but we cannot follow their example.

Self-will: The Door to Insanity

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination!”

Samuel to King Saul, in 1Samuel 15:23a

King Saul earned that stern rebuke from the prophet Samuel by his self-willed actions.  Saul had obeyed God’s command to attack the cruel Amalekites, but when it displeased some of his fellow Israelites for Saul to utterly destroy all that pertained to those Amalekites, as God had commanded, Saul rebelled against God and did as he thought best instead.  Saul’s will was to please those around him rather than to please God.  He knew the will of God, but he chose to do something else.

It is important to note that when Samuel confronted the guilty King Saul, the prophet said nothing about the people who had influenced Saul; he condemned and cursed only the King himself.  And it is also important to note that Saul’s stubborn rebelliousness led him, in not too long a time, into complete madness.  He made it a lifestyle of stubbornly resisting the will of God instead of resisting the unclean spirits about him, until they became his masters.

Every angel that was cast out of heaven with Satan was cast out because of self-will, and they are all insane.  Without a body of their own now, they spend all their time looking for humans who will let them inhabit their bodies, and foolish humans receive them into their bodies by becoming self-willed, as those demons are.    My friend, you are playing with fire when you know the will of God, but you choose to do things your own way instead.  It may seem to you, as it seemed to King Saul, better to do things your way instead of God’s, but Solomon warned us that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is death.”  The world around you may try to make you think that God’s way is hard, but the truth is that “the way of the transgressors is hard.”  Just ask King Saul . . . or a few believers that I have known.

In my time serving God, I have seen precious believers go completely insane, and in every case, stubborn resistance to the will of God was the root cause of their insanity.  Fellowship with demons in self-will was the door that the demons used to enter their hearts and take control of their minds.  Self-will is the way that humans conjure up demons from their place of damnation to come inhabit a new home, a human one.  That is why God told King Saul, through Samuel, that rebellion is like the sin of divination.  

Stay happy and free, and just do the simple, sweet will of God in Christ Jesus.

To Be Established

William E. Mellick Jr. 

In February, 2004, as my wife Judy and I were coming home from a family gathering, we decided to stop at a grocery store and shop for supper.  It was around 2:00 p.m. when we came out through one set of automatic doors into the breezeway waiting to go through the second set to exit into the parking lot.  A lady could not make her mind whether to go ahead of us or to wait until we went through.  Judy went first, the lady and her grocery cart went second, then I followed up with our groceries out the second set of doors.

As Judy went out, the lady followed her, and she made a funny sound.  She pushed her cart into the street, twirled and fainted.  Hitting her head on the set of glass and steel double doors, she cut deep into the corner of her eye next to her nose; she was having an epileptic seizure.  Lying face down, I saw blood pooling on the ground while she was shaking violently.  A crowd was gathering, and I told Judy to call 911.  I ran over and put my hands under her head so she would not hit her head on the concrete; I told her I would not leave her, and help was on the way.

A doctor passing by us eased into the scene and told me to take her inside because it was cold where she was lying.  I told him that I saw her hit her head and that she could have a neck injury.  While he agreed with me, the manager and others put coats and a tarp over her to keep her warm.  The doctor then told me to keep pressure on her wound to help stop the bleeding.  I was already doing that.  I could tell that this doctor was afraid of a malpractice suit, and equally afraid to walk off because of his medical conscience, so the only thing he would do is give medical orders and have someone else to do them.

The crowd was growing larger.  My wife was very shaken and began praying in the Holy Ghost.  A black lady stretched forth her hands on the other side of the double-glass doors and was praying, too.  I was on the other side, on my hands and knees holding this lady and praying in the Holy Ghost also.

The fire department was on the way and two nurses were now on the scene, delaying their shopping to help this seizure victim.  As the nurses took over, I stood up and saw a very petite lady standing next to me.  She had blondish hair, and an olive-green coat on.  She was smiling, and she patted me on my back on three occasions.  She never spoke a word to me, but I felt as if she was saying everything was going to be all right. 

With the fire department parked in front of us and the nurses taking over, I asked them if they needed anything else from me.  With nothing else I could do, I was released by the paramedics as they thanked me for helping this person.  Judy and I picked up our groceries and went back to the truck to go home.  We began crying and talking about what had happened to us.  We were both puzzled about the doctor not wanting to get personally involved.  Then Jesus started telling me what this lady was sent this day for.

As Pastor John Clark had said in a meeting in North Carolina a few months before, when God says something twice in the Bible, He means it, and is confirming what He has said.  And God was showing me through this second epileptic that what He did for me in August of 2001, when I helped another epileptic who had a seizure where I worked, was no accident and that He meant what He was at that time telling me!  And I humbled myself and believed Him.

As for the little petite lady with the green coat, I don’t know if she was an angel or not, but I got the message God sent through her.  She was telling me everything is OK and on schedule, not to worry or doubt about anything God is doing in my life; He is still taking good care of His people and me.  He is perfect and what He does is perfect.  He was showing me that just as the epileptic was going to be just fine, I was going to be just fine.  I felt God also let me know that Judy was with me that second time so that she could witness what I had gone through the first time, and to let her know what Jesus was saying to me was true.  People go without experiencing dealing with an epileptic their whole life, but I had been through two first-hand situations!  God knows how to get His point across.

Sometime after that experience, the Lord gave me a dream about the mysterious lady who was beside Judy and me as the crowd gathered on that frosty afternoon with the epileptic at the grocery store.  In the dream, I heard a group of people sing the tune to a James Taylor song, “Shower The People With Love”, but the words were changed to Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to your own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and He shall establish (direct) thy paths.” 

That same petite lady with the green coat approached me in the dream and asked me with the same expression as she did at the grocery store, “Do you know what it means to be established?”  I started to quickly give her an answer because I thought I knew the answer.  But then, as I started to open my mouth to speak, I felt like I turned from a grown man to a small school boy, and I shook my head from side-to-side so as to silently convey to the petite lady, “no”.  Then the  smiling, happy, young woman spoke and said, “Well, let me tell you!  Jesus is the only one who knows the way, and to be established means that no one will be able to remove you from this path [as she pointed to the line we were standing on].”

After she spoke, I saw that the group of very happy and joyous singers, now locked arm-in-arm and swaying back and forth, started singing again the Proverb verses to the tune of the James Taylor song, Shower The People With Love.

As the group sang the song, I felt like I turned back into a grown man, and with the song ringing in my ears, I looked ahead and saw the path ahead of me continue until it disappeared, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.  The feelings from the song were breathtaking and joyful.  Smiling now, I started to walk the path Jesus had laid out for me, knowing that he is the only one who knows how to get us to the end of the path.

After waking from the dream, I searched and found the words to the James Taylor tune, or should I say, Proverbs 3:5–6. 

Shower the People with Love

James Taylor

You can play the game and you can act out the part 

Though you know it wasn't written for you 

But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart 

Ashamed of playing the fool

One thing can lead to another; it doesn't take any sacrifice 

Oh, father and mother, sister and brother 

If it feels nice, don't think twice 

Just shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna work out fine if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way you feel 

Things are gonna be much better if you only will 

You can run but you cannot hide 

This is widely known 

And what you plan to do with your foolish pride 

When you're all by yourself alone 

Once you tell somebody the way that you feel 

You can feel it beginning to ease 

I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel 

Always getting the grease. 

Better to shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna be just fine if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel 

Things are gonna be much better if you only will 

Shower the people you love with love 

Show them the way that you feel

There Is Hope in Satan’s Prison

“You have set me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of depths.

Your burning anger pressed upon me.” 

Psalm 88:6–7a

“You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”

Psalm 86:13b

If you have done wrong and find yourself a prisoner of the LORD’s displeasure and justice, there is hope, for He is merciful and quick to forgive.  He does not despise you (Ps. 69:33), and He is eager to forgive and set you free (Ps. 146:7).  On the other hand, if you have persisted for so long in a self-willed sin that you have fallen into “the snare of the Devil” and “have been taken captive to his will,” your hope is a little dimmer, for Satan “does not open the house of his prisoners” (2Tim. 2:26; Isa. 14:17).

God gladly releases His prisoners, but Satan never willingly releases his.  To be delivered from Satan’s prison, you must receive special intervention and grace from God because, in truth, He is the One who gave you over to Satan’s power in the first place.  In other words, once God has been so provoked that He has handed you over to Satan, you must find a way to regain His favor, and that can be very difficult to do, depending on the circumstances.  Nevertheless, since God is the one who turns the rebellious over to Satan, the rebellious are still His prisoners although they are consigned to Satan’s prison.

For Israel’s stubborn resistance to God’s will, He severely punished them.  Along with burdening them with heathen domination for centuries, He unleashed myriads of unclean spirits on the land and its people.  However, in His time and wonderful grace, He sent His Son to set Israel free from the physical and spiritual afflictions that God had laid upon them.  Isaiah foretold of God doing this, and in Jesus’ first sermon in his hometown synagogue, he read aloud Isaiah’s prophecy declaring that the foretold time had come:

Luke 4

17. And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.  And when he had unrolled the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

18. “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberty to those held captive, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send the oppressed away free,

19. to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.”

20. And when he had rolled up the scroll and handed it to the attendant, he sat down.  And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.

21. Then he said to them, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

God is so good!  We still have hope, even if we are in Satan’s prison, for God does not want any of us to perish.  May we never provoke God’s wrath to the point that He turns us over to the power of that wicked warden, but even if that happens, there is hope, for God is good.

Don’t ever let yourself go that far.  Don’t burn a bridge that Jesus has built for you; at some point, if God grants you repentance in your prison cell, you will look for that bridge to get you back home.

“No”

“When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,

there stood a man opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand:

and Joshua went to him and said to him,

‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’  And he said, ‘No!’ ”

Joshua 5:13–14a

If God had sent this angel from heaven to kill Joshua, he would have done it.  The angel was neither for Joshua nor against him, just as he said to Joshua; he had come only to do God’s will, whatever it was.  All this world knows is “for or against”, “this side or that side”, and people choose sides accordingly, but God has nothing to do with any of that.

Men know that God is neither old nor young.  Men know He is neither male nor female.  But what is often overlooked is the fact that He is neither right nor wrong, good nor evil, wise nor foolish – as concerns earthly rightness and wrongness, earthly goodness and wickedness, or earthly wisdom and foolishness.  He is none of those things.  He doesn’t participate in our kind of life.

All that the religions of the world can teach is right or wrong in a worldly sense, good or evil in a worldly sense, wise or foolish in an earthly sense.  God is not in any of that.  If Joshua had asked God’s angel, “Are you wise or foolish?” He would also have answered, “No.”  God’s ways are not our ways – neither our good ways nor our bad ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts – neither our right thoughts nor our wrong thoughts.

Many of God’s people have lowered themselves to take sides in worldly matters.  The Lord showed me not to become either a yes or a no in matters of this life, for to be either is to partake in this world’s strife and waste our lives debating with men and demanding of them, “Are you for us or against us?”  All that God ever responds to that question is “No.”

Reconciled by Death

“We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.”

Romans 5:10

We are, as Paul plainly stated, reconciled to God by the death of God’s Son, but only when we enter into that death.  The death of God’s Son, apart from a man’s soul, will not reconcile him; it will eternally condemn him.  To partake of reconciliation to God, we must partake of the death of His Son.

There is but one way to enter into the death of God’s Son, and thereby be reconciled to God: the baptism of the Spirit.  Paul explained it perfectly in Romans 6:3–11:

3. Do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4. We were buried with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in the newness of life.

5. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection,

6. knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ so that our sinful body might be rendered powerless so that we no longer are slaves to sin,

7. for he who is dead has been made free from sin.

8. Now, if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him,

9. knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, can die no more; death has no more dominion over him.

10. As concerns his death, he died to sin once, but as concerns his life, he lives to God.

11. You, likewise, think of yourselves as completely dead to sin, too, yet alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The death of God’s Son is not just history; it is a daily experience in the hearts of God’s people; it is something lived on earth as much as it is something to be faced at the end of earthly life.  Paul said, “I die daily” (1Cor. 15:31), and he considered his converts dead also (Col. 3:3).  This death is death to sin and self; it is life in God.  When we receive and begin to live God’s kind of life, we enter into the kind of death that His Son lived while in this world.

The death of God’s Son is more than the crucifixion of Jesus at Golgotha.  That crucifixion was only a part of Jesus’ death to his own will.  It was not Jesus’ defeat; it was his moment of greatest victory, the act that showed most clearly his death to self and his life to God.  And it is this death of God’s Son, of which the crucifixion was just one part, that reconciles us to God – when we enter into it by the baptism of the Spirit.

The cross, being the greatest expression of Jesus’ death to self-will, became the symbol of the death of God’s Son in its entirety.  When Paul mentioned the cross in his epistles, his readers well understood that Paul was speaking as much of the death they were to be living as he was of the death which Jesus died.  They knew “the cross” of which Paul spoke was a spiritual crucifixion to the ways of this world that they were expected to partake of.  When Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me,” he was speaking not of a physical cross, but of a spiritual way of life.

This is why Paul considered believers who lived ungodly lives to be “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phip. 3:18).  They were, by their ungodly lives, enemies of the kind of life the cross was a part of; they were not crucified with Christ in their spirits.  Others, continuing to indulge in symbolic ceremonies prescribed by the law were, in Paul’s view, trying to avoid the reproach of the cross (Gal. 5:11; 6:12); that is, they were ashamed to cease from religious rituals and simply serve God in spirit and truth.  These were those, Paul wrote, who refused to die to the law’s ceremonial works and, in fact, gloried in those fleshly ordinances.  “But far be it from me to boast,” he continued, “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:13–14). 

Conclusion

To partake of the grace and hope which are in Christ Jesus, we must enter into him.  We must partake of Christ if we would be partakers of his benefits.  In order for us to be reconciled to God we must be in Christ, for that is where reconciliation is.  That means, for the death of God’s Son to be effectual for us, we must be dead with him.  The key is to be in Christ, where all the  hidden treasures of God are, and not outside of Christ, where there is nothing but darkness.  And there is but one door into Christ: the holy Ghost baptism.  As Paul told us:

“Do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into his death?”

“Instead of Being Your Fathers”

In ancient Israel, the coming Messiah was often referred to as “the son of David”.  This is the title by which blind Bartimaeus used when he cried out to Jesus as he was passing by: “O son of David, have mercy on me!”  But one day when the Messiah was teaching in the temple in Jerusalem, he pointed out, by asking a simple question, that “son of David” was an inadequate title for him.  How could it be, he asked, that the Messiah is David’s son, when David, speaking by the Spirit of God, referred to the Messiah as his Lord (Mt. 22:45, referring to Ps. 110:1).  It was a good question.  Why would any man call his son his Lord?

The central revelation of the New Testament is that from the foundation of the world, God has had a Son and that God’s Son was His agent in the creation of all things.  Only with this revelation can we see the wisdom in Jesus’ penetrating question.  God’s Son did not come from David; on the contrary, David, along with all creation, came from God’s Son.

This truth, hidden at the time, lies behind one of David’s prophecies of the fathers of Israel someday reigning over the world with the Messiah.  David must have wondered what the Spirit meant when it spoke these words through him, for David was ignorant of the Son.  He didn’t know that the Messiah had been with God from the beginning or that the Son was the perfect reflection of the Father.  And so, David didn’t know what the Father meant when He spoke through David’s mouth to the Son about the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and said, “Instead of being your fathers, they will be your sons, and you will set them as princes over all the earth” (Ps. 45:16).

The Law Helped Fallen Men To Sin Safely

“He answered and said to them, ‘What did Moses command you?’

They replied, ‘Moses allowed for a man to write a certificate of separation, and to divorce.’

Jesus answered and told them, ‘He wrote that commandment for you

because of the hardness of your heart.’”

Mark 10:3–5

Jesus was saying that although God created men and women to be married once, they were bound to sin, thus making divorces inevitable.  So, He gave them laws regarding divorce so that they would do the evil they were going to do, the safest way they could do it.  We see this same love of God in another place in the law He gave to Moses.  Foreseeing that Israel would one day reject Him as their king, God gave them instructions on how best to reject Him and choose a different king (Dt. 17:14–20). He didn’t want Israel to destroy themselves before He sent His Son to save them.

The law was not given for those who hated righteousness (1Tim. 1:9), but for those who hated sin but could not escape its domination over them.  God loved those who wanted to do right, even if they could not always do it.  Therefore, He gave them the law to guide them in their sin, to save them from the worst effects of the sins they could not escape until He sent His Son.  As Paul told the Galatians, “Why the law?  It was added because of transgressions, until ‘the seed’ should come” (Gal. 3:19).  And in the end, the “seed” came, for God loved those struggling against sin enough to send His Son to purify their souls so that they would no longer need to be guided in wrongdoing because they would no longer desire to do wrong.

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God is so good to man.

Gary

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Good morning,

I see a great love for God’s people in this!  God knew that “man at his best state is altogether vanity” without Him and needed help, so he gave them the Law so they could go about doing the wrong they intended to do in the safest way.  There was only love in that.

I was thinking as I read this, how wrong I used to feel towards God before I studied the Old Testament with you.  Before, I thought the Law with all of its rules and ceremonies was hard and grievous.  But the more I studied, the more I saw the tender love from God toward his children “to save them from the sins they preferred”.  The Law was intended to make their lives easier, not harder.  

Then, it made Jesus’ coming all the sweeter knowing that God sent him to purify our hearts so that we would no longer desire to do any evil thing. We no longer need an external law because Jesus gave his life so we can have clean hearts!  I love that we can have clean hearts!  And I love the way you ended that we no longer need guidance in our wrongdoing because we no longer desire to do wrong.   What a precious gift!

Lee Ann

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John,

This shows the love God had for His people before He sent His son. God knew that they could not keep the law perfectly with only their carnal nature. 

I really like the last paragraph.  The way you explain the reason God sent His son is very good. 

Tom

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I love this sentence: “for God loved those struggling against sin enough to send His Son to purify their souls so that they would no longer need to be guided in wrongdoing because they would no longer desire to do wrong.”

What a good God we serve! 

Thank you for writing this!

Donna

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I love how simple the message is here – God knows our humanness and that we can have hardness and stubbornness in our hearts when we want our own way, but He loves us so much that He gave instructions on how to do the least damage to ourselves and others – and then He sent Jesus to change our old nature into His godly nature so we could really live and take care of the hearts around us. 

Bess

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I love this!  I feel the love of God in it.   He knew men were going to fall, to sin, to follow their own ways but he loved them so much he gave them the law as a “cushion” until He sent His beloved Son!  

Really love this: “for God loved those struggling against sin enough to send His Son to purify their souls so that they would no longer need to be guided in wrongdoing because they would no longer desire to do wrong.” 

That is a love that’s beyond anything in this world!  How precious!  How humbling! 

Michelle

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I like this. These are thoughts man would never think of, that God loved them so much He would guide them in their sin. Whew, that’s love. Then, love them enough to send His Son. This is so good and full of love!

Lou

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This is so good, John! God’s people need to hear this clear and simple message. Thankful for God’s anointing on you to deliver it, if they’ll only take it in. Thankful that we have!

Jim K.

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I know the Law is holy because it’s from God. But after reading this and I feel the Law is less holy than I thought before. It’s an uncomfortable feeling.  I certainly can feel the love and mercy in the law but at the same time, I feel like I just learned it’s not the highest standard set by God. It’s a very thought provoking blog post. 

Michael

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Yes, the law was certainly holy.  The apostle Paul told us that several times.  But he also told us that in comparison to the holiness of God revealed in Christ, the law has no glory at all.

Pastor John

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This is wonderful.  I’ve been studying 1 and 2Timothy recently, and these verses where Paul was talking about this stood out to me, but I didn’t understand it as well as I do now after reading your blog.

Studying the law is wonderful to help fine-tune our judgment in things happening around us to help us get ready to rule with Jesus.  But as long as we're walking in the Spirit (staying holy), we won’t have problems where we need it used on us!

I love the food you feed us!

Aaron

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God loved His people enough to guide them in their sin, to save them from the worst of the sins they preferred. Then, He loved them enough to send His Son to purify their souls so that they would no longer need to be guided in wrongdoing because they would no longer desire to do wrong.

Oh how this makes my heart sing! For this is my testimony. This is truth that I know deep in my soul. How many times I wanted to just follow “the law” and never did I dream I would one day be set free from even the desire to sin. This truth, this love, is what my Jesus did for me. I know this love in the fibers of my soul, it was sewn in by my Jesus, whom my heavenly Father sent to rescue me.

I love the truth.

Beth D.