Little Bad Girl

Through my teens and twenties, I embraced rebellion.  In my ignorance, I imagined people perceived my strength as a person, through the degree of my rebellion.  In my mind, the testament to my strength was the courage I had to stand against the status quo, to stand opposed to any hand that tried to steer my will.  Rebellion says, "No one is master over me, I am my own master."  Ultimately, rebellion says, "I submit to no one because I am my own god." 

The devil is the personification of rebellion and pride.  That is why scripture says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:6,7).  There is no humility in rebellion.  Rebellion is the opposite of submission and surrender, both of which are required to be a true disciple of Christ.  Scripture says, "Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols." (1 Sam 15:23).  God compares the sin of rebellion with the sin of witchcraft because its core principle is to manipulate and control people and circumstances to your own desired end.  Rebellion says I am my own god and witchcraft says I am god, either way is blasphemy.

Television, music and peers tell us to mix in some "bad girl" with our femininity, to embrace that rough edge and to make YOLO (you only live once) our battle-cry.  But we don't only live once, we live for eternity.  And how we live this life here on earth, determines how we will live in eternity.  I grew up in a culture that told me, "Blessed are those who are wealthy, happy, proud, arrogant, self-indulgent, pretty, sexy, promiscuous, talented and demanding."  But God's standards of how we are to think and live our lives are usually the total opposite of what media and culture tell us are desirable.  God says blessed are the poor in spirit, sorrowful, humble, merciful, pure, peaceable, persecuted and those who hunger for righteousness (Matt 5:1-12).

It took me a long time and a lot of hard work to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to let go of the value I placed in an attitude of rebellion.  Truly, it is the Holy Spirit that changes a person, but that person must cooperate in submission and obedience, and that my friends, is tenacious work.  Work that is carried out with the help of God's grace, but work that requires persistence nonetheless.  It was so hard for me to acknowledge that the "bad girl" image I had tried so hard to live up to had become an idol in my life.  It was so hard for me to let go of my own reasoning and to truly and completely allow Christ to clothe me with Him (Gal 3:27), rather than me continuing to clothe myself with the world and the desires of the world.  No where in my testimony will I ever tell you that picking up my cross and dying to myself was easy for me.  I will always be up-front in telling people that following Christ is simple, but it is not easy.  Jesus Himself said we must "count the cost" (Luke 14:27-33).

As a woman, scripture says that I am to be respectable and modest (1 Tim 2:9) and that my beauty should not come from how I dress or how I do my makeup or hair, but from "the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight." (1 Peter 3:4).  Neither should my value come from my education or my career or my talents, but rather from who I am in Christ which is to be walked out in a pure, chaste and reverent demeanor (1 Pet 3:2).  Today, I no longer turn away from and resist submission, but rather I embrace it.  Because it is through genuine and consistent  daily surrender that I find my true strength in the woman that God created me to be-- the woman I was created to be according to His standards, rather than the world's.

                                                                                                                               
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Gal 3:27)

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." (Prov 31:30)

"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:5-10)

The Consequences Of Compromise

For a long time, I elevated the finite and flawed wisdom of men over the eternal and perfect revelation of God.  I did this for many reasons, not the least of which being the intimidation of those who might think I was stupid because I believed the Biblical account of creation rather than the evolutionary theory I was taught in school.  I'm not gonna lie, it bothered me...a lot... for a long time.  Looking back, I think the reason it bothered me so much is because my spirit wanted to believe God, but my mind wanted to reconcile what God told me about creation with what mankind says about creation.  Surely the two could form some sort of marriage and coexist on some points?  Surely the truth lay somewhere in-between? 

I don't have a degree in cellular and genetic biology and many of the people who want to argue in favor of evolution are a lot smarter than I am.  But once I got to a point in my spiritual maturity in which I was able to fully surrender my faith into to God's revelation to us of the Biblical account of creation, it was then and only then that He revealed to me that I didn't have to fully understand all the scientific lingo to be able to stand up for His word.  I only had to have complete faith in His word....I only needed to have intimate knowledge of, and total trust in, the real thing. 

Federal agents don’t learn to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. They study genuine bills until they master the look of the real thing.  All they need to know is what the real dollar looks like, and that is what they use in comparison to everything else.  I didn't need to have a full knowledge and understanding of mankind's speculation as to how evolution "scientifically" carried itself out, all I needed to know was that the notion of evolution corrupts the Biblical account of creation, the understanding of which, is the very foundation for the salvation of mankind and the restoration of all things.  Once you step out onto that slippery slope, the fall into contradicting God's word runs deep.

God's word says that it was the sin of Adam which introduced death and corruption into His perfect creation.  Evolution says that death over millions of years through the process of natural selection brought us life, completely bypassing any state of perfection within creation as having ever existed.  However, death cannot be part of the punishment for sin if it existed millions of years before people supposedly evolved.  Death, disease and suffering are the mechanisms for the evolutionary process, which they say existed for millions of years before any type of human supposedly evolved from animals and eventually sinned.  The two viewpoints cannot be reconciled.  Either Adam and Eve existed in a perfect creation and it was their sin that brought death, destruction and corruption, or it was death, destruction and corruption that eventually brought about the existence of all life, including Adam and Eve.

God's word says that all flesh is unique, each one created after it's "own kind", humans being the apex of all creation, distinctly separate from animals because we have been created in God's own image.  Evolution says we are simply a higher-order of animal, which completely devalues human life and, ultimately, relegates God's image to that of a bacteria that eventually became a monkey that eventually became a man.  When you devalue human life, then it is easier to see a fertilized human embryo simply as a "clump of developing cells", rather than the precious soul of an individual and unique person it actually is.  When you devalue human life, you argue over at what point in development that human being actually becomes a person.

Most devastatingly, evolution completely robs us of the hope of salvation and the restoration of all things through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Evolution says that there is no state of perfection in which to restore creation to.  The sin and fall of Adam is the purpose for the death and resurrection of Christ our Lord, and the notion of evolution renders Christ's death pointless.  If there was never a point in which humanity fell from grace, introducing sin and death into existence, then there is no reason for Christ to save us.  The concept of evolution not only undermines the entirety of the Gospel message, but it also serves as a perpetual temptation to question God's word (Gen 3:1).

Who am I to put limitations on God and His ability to take care of and scripturally reveal Himself to His own creation?  Who am I to question and compare such a scriptural revelation against the words of men?  The Bible is God's revelation to us, yet it was so hard for me to trust God at His word.  I was so hesitant to step off that ledge into total faith that if God created all of existence, then surely He was able to maintain the overall integrity and trustworthiness of the Biblical texts that are His revelation of truth to mankind.  If we don't have the Bible, then we have nothing.  We have no absolute standard of right and wrong, no revelation of our Creator, no instructions as to how to know Him, we are lost in darkness, supposition, opinion, speculation.  We are lost in evolutionary theory. 

At this point in my life I can freely say that I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and all my attempts to incorporate man's theory of evolution into the Biblical account of creation were but vain efforts of shame.  The uncomfortable and inconvenient truth is, that evolution and the Biblical account of creation cannot coexist.  There is only one truth, and we must take God at His word or open ourselves up to the consequences of compromise.  R.A. Torrey said, "The truly wise man is he who always believes the Bible against the opinion of any man." 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Rom 1:16,17)

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Heb 11:6)

"All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish." (1 Cor 15:39)

"God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good... And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day... God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day." (Gen 1:21-31)

Lukewarm Virgin With An Empty Lamp

When I was a lukewarm Christian, I thought me and God were cool. My relationship with God was on my terms and He simply overlooked my sins because I was saved in Christ, right?  That's what salvation means, right?  That Christ forgives us for our sins and we continue to live our lives pursuing our own interests?  Living our lives for our own pleasure according to our own plans?  Dating who we want to date, marrying who we want to marry, divorcing when our choice doesn't work out never mind the fact that we never consulted God in the first place, wine and cocktails on the weekends, watching what we want to watch, listening to music that glorifies the things of the world, spending our money on what we want, living our lives according to our feelings ...... all with a little bit of God on the side.  A spiritual blue-plate special with a heapin' helping of ourselves and a side-order of God.  That was me and God for a long time, and nobody needed to question my relationship with God because me and God were good.

It is that deluded mindset of my past, that drives my passion for what I do now. Because God lifted me out of that self-deception, I have a passion for those who are still stuck in it.  I was saved for a long time, but I had never bothered to read the Bible.  Sure, I got snippets of scripture here and there and listened to the messages at church on my sporadic attendances, but I didn't have time for Bible study.  I was too busy with my own stuff.  I didn't need to go to church every Sunday because my relationship with God was my business, the Body of Christ could operate just fine without me.  There was even a time when I taught Sunday school, feeling like I was doing "my reasonable service" for God, but all the while I was still worldly minded and living my life for my own desires and purposes.

When I finally read the Bible, you know, the whole thing, I was forced to reconcile the way I was living my life with the way scripture said I was supposed to be living my life. I was also forced to reconcile Who I thought God was, with Who scripture says He is.  I was also forced to reconcile the actual Jesus of the Bible, with the love-your-neighbor Jesus I grew up hearing about.  I was forced to reconcile these things with the way I was living my life, because according to scripture I was a hypocrite.  I was not living out the faith I claimed to believe in and follow because my life was more about myself than Christ.  You see, claiming to be a Christian and actually living like one according to scripture, are two totally different animals.  It was when I read the Bible, that God revealed to me that I was a lukewarm virgin with an empty lamp, and that is something that you do not want to be when Christ returns.

Jesus speaks of Christians with lukewarm faith at Revelation Chapter 3. They are the middle-of-the-road Christians of the Church of Laodicea, which I wrote more about in an article titled, "Examining The Church Of Laodicea".  That was me for a long time.  I was saved in Christ, but I wasn't doing anything with my salvation, I had no passion for scripture and no passion to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  My faith was dead because I had no works to back it up (James 2:17), and there was very little change being done on the inside of me by the Holy Spirit because I lived a life that didn't foster an environment where the Holy Spirit could flourish.  I was full of the world and I was full of excuses.  I was one of those that Christ said, "I will spit you out of my mouth.." (Rev 3:16). Those are Christ's words, not mine.  And they are harsh and they are painful to hear and they were offensive to my fleshly ears.

Jesus also tells a parable about the ten wise and foolish virgins at Matthew Chapter 25. They are believers in Christ who all began with their lamps full of spiritual oil.  But only five took extra oil for their lamps with them to meet the Bridegroom (Jesus).  All ten anticipated Jesus' return.  All ten fell asleep.  All ten woke up at the shout of the Bridegroom.  But only five had enough oil to go with Him.  The haunting words of Christ tell us, "those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut." (Matt 25:10).  Those who were ready.  Those who had the extra oil.  Those words haunted me because all that time I thought I was ready, I wasn't ready according to the words of Christ, Who says those who are truly ready to be taken from this place will be those who have the extra oil for their lamps.

We can't earn our salvation, nor do we keep our salvation with works of our own effort. The salvation of our soul from hell is free and it is ours eternally by God's grace.  However, the Bible speaks of a time in which Christ will return to take "those who were ready in with Him to the wedding feast.." And I don't know about you, but that is a party I don't want to miss.  Neither do I want to find out what those who weren't ready must endure after that door is shut, because the Bible also speaks of a time in which those in Christ will be, "handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me." (Matt 24:9).  A time in which the Beast that is coming will be "allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them." (Rev 13:7).  How this will all actually play out, I do not know.  But I do know that if there is any way for us to escape it, then we should strive for it.  We should be serious enough about our Father's business to strive for the extra oil that He freely gives to those who seek it.

These should not be received as words of discouragement, but as sobering words for a church that is drunk with the world, enamored with "self", and blinded by our emotions. I don't write this blog to appeal to people's flesh.  God led me to start this blog to appeal to people's spirit with His word of truth.  Often times the truth is bitter to the taste, but sweet to the soul of those who are teachable-- to those who genuinely hunger for righteousness and thirst for truth.  I take great joy in the fact that Jesus' instructions to correct someone like I use to be are simple and reasonable: "be zealous and repent."

"Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you." (Rev 2:5)

"I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent." (Rev 3:18,19)

"Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." (Rev 2:5)

"If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." (1 Cor 3:14,15)

Unqualified

Sometimes I wrestle with God over some of the things He leads me to write about because I don't feel qualified to speak on such matters. My argument is, "Who am I to point a finger?  Who am I to call out sin, when I am a sinner myself?"  As I was mowing the grass the other day, feeling sorry for myself and fretting and wrestling with God over some of my own spiritual shortcomings, He spoke into my spirit, "I didn't call you because you are qualified, I called you because you are obedient."

The Bible never tells us what we must do to be "qualified" to serve God because we are all flawed and we are all sinners, so, in essence, we are all unqualified.  The Bible only tells us what makes us disqualified from serving Him in certain capacities.  As I continued to mow that day, God began to bring to my mind examples of various people in the Bible who He called to serve Him. And there were two things that they all shared:  they were unqualified and they were obedient.  Jacob, Moses, David, Gideon, Jonah, Peter-- all were unqualified, but all were obedient. 

The simple fact of the matter, is that I am indeed unqualified. I disciple under my Pastor and I've read the Bible from cover to cover, but I have no degrees behind my name, I have no formal training.  No mantle of spiritual authority has been handed down to me.  The only claim I can make is Christ, and that is enough.  I am not qualified, but the Holy Spirit that works within me, is.  Every morning I tell God that I am His to use, for whatever purpose.  I ask Him to search my heart and show me any wicked way within me.  I ask Him to open my eyes to truth and to make me well-equipped for service unto Him.  I ask Him to correct any wrong thinking or understanding and to help me rightly divide His word of truth.  I say with my mouth, "Father I submit to You in obedience, You are Lord of my life."  I ask that my humility be genuine and my motives and intentions be pure. I ask Him to make me clean, to pluck a burning coal from His holy altar and place it upon my lips, that I may only speak His truth and nothing else.   I pray all these things, and I mean them.

I am not sharing these candid, intimate details of my life to make it seem like I am some spectacularly faithful person, because I'm not. There is nothing exceptional about me, I am just like everyone else.  I am simply obedient.  I have counted the cost to follow Christ and I am willing to die to whatever is necessary for me to glorify God with my life and bear Him fruit (Luke 14:28).  Which means that any person who is saved in Christ can be used in a mighty way and can experience the spiritual riches of an intimate relationship with God and hear His voice clearly, as long as they are obedient.  It is equally available to all of us, none of us being of any greater value to God than the other. 

I am sharing these personal details of my life, because I want people to know and understand that God will always answer these kinds of prayers. God answers these kinds of prayers because they are His will for us.  He desires that we know Him intimately.  He desires that we submit to Him so we can bear Him fruit with our lives.  He desires us to understand His word and to hear His voice clearly.  These are all prayers that are in line with His will.

No human being could ever possibly be "qualified" to serve God because God is perfect and we are not. However, scripture tells us that we can be well-equipped for such service through study and application of His word, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16,17).

God is without failure, without fault, and without flaw and we, in our humanity, are intimately acquainted with all three. Therefore, if it were necessary that God call only those who were qualified, zero would be a very short list to choose from.  For all intents and purposes, it is only our obedience to the Holy Spirit that works within us that qualifies us for service unto a perfect and holy God and it is a thorough knowledge and application of His word that makes us well-equipped for such service.

"It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor 3:5,6)

"But thank God! ... Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume..... And who is adequate for these things? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God." (2 Cor 2:14-17)

"If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work." (2 Tim 2:21)

"Now the God of peace... even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Heb 13:20,21)

Examining The Church Of Laodicea

In a previous post titled, "Fire And Brimstone",  I discussed the church movement that has taken place over the last half-century to attempt to play-down the role of our sinfulness in the application of the Gospel.  However, because our understanding of sin is utterly integral to the Gospel message of Christ, any attempt to separate sin from the cross results in preaching another gospel.  It is this preaching of another gospel over the last half-century that has ushered us into the lukewarm Laodicean Church age. 

Jesus' Letters to the Churches in the Book of Revelation are to seven literal churches that existed at the time Revelation was written.  However, a very common understanding of those Letters is that they also spoke to seven different "types" of churches that would exist from that time and throughout, until Christ's return.  And it is with that perspective that we see that the Laodicean Church would be the last church "age" before Christ's return. Each church age would correspond to a definitive time period, yet some of each type would exist simultaneously.  Meaning, although we may be in the Laodicean age, there are other church types that still exist during this age.

So, let's open up our Bibles to Revelation Chapter 3, verses 14-22 and see what Christ has to say to us during this Laodicean age of the Church.

The first thing He says is, "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot." (v. 15).  The first thing Christ says to this church is that their faith is mediocre and they have no real passion.  No passion about their salvation, nor for His word.  They may have come to the cross, but they are still living in the world and are blinded by the things of the world.  These are "middle-of-the-road" Christians.

Then He tell them, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." (v. 16).  Because of this church's complacency in regard to their "works"--for example:  standing up for truth, seeking God through prayer, reading His word and living their lives according to that word-- Jesus said that He would reject them.  These words of our Savior should make everyone who claims faith in Christ to sit up and take notice.  Every human being who claims to have faith in Christ should be deeply affected by these words.  Jesus is not playing "church", and neither should we.

Next, Jesus tells them, "Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked," (v. 17).  The most heartbreaking thing about this whole situation, is that this group of believers think they are in right standing with God with their mediocre faith.  The real passion in this church is for their own way of living, their culture and their own selfish desires and pursuits.  Many in the church today have far more passion for their favorite sports team, their personal hobbies, their favorite book or television series, their favorite movie themes, their favorite band or music, or clothing and fashion, than they do about the things of God and His word.  We are far more consumed with all the worldly things we are passionate about that bring us circumstantial satisfaction and temporal enjoyment. 

But Jesus tells them that all of the things that have their attention most of the time, are an utter waste of time, and are worthless in comparison to the eternal things of God, "I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." (v. 18).

When He tells them to "buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich,"  He is speaking of the refining "fires" of sanctification that all Christians must go through.  We are saved by faith, but our souls are refined through the fires of obedience to God's word (Eph 5:26; James 1:21; 2 Thess 2:13) and death to self.  That is what Jesus meant when He said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matt 16:24,25). The white garments Christ speaks of, is the pursuit of righteousness.  As Christians, a genuine faith in Christ should compel us toward a life of progressive sanctification-- a life of increasing righteousness and victory over sinful behavior.  Christ accuses this church of being spiritually naked and blind, not only because they continue to dwell in unrighteousness, but also because they are utterly ignorant of their shameful condition. 

One of the trademarks of this Laodicean church, is that an entire group of believers have come to the cross for forgiveness, without ever having truly repented.  Or, perhaps they repented initially, but failed to understand that repentance, or "turning away", is something we must do daily, throughout our entire lifetime.  Without perpetual repentance, without daily "turning away" from sin and the things of this world, no real change happened on the inside of them.  Or, what change that did occur, became stunted.  In either regard, Jesus is telling them that they still need to undergo sanctification through the "fires" of refinement.

And it is that sanctification through the "fire" of refinement that will purify them in order that their garments may become "white".  Jesus is telling them that the way they are living their lives is making a mockery of His blood that was shed to deliver them from sin.  He is also telling them that their utter lack of effort or cooperation toward any spiritual maturity is shameful and has left them spiritually naked, "...the shame of your nakedness.." and He advises them to buy "eye salve" so that they may see their actual spiritual condition, verses the image of the one they have comforted themselves with in their own mind.

No doubt these words of our Lord and Savior are harsh and even offensive to those who may be in this particular spiritual condition, however Jesus doesn't apologize for His severe tone.  Instead, He justifies His instructions to them by saying, "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent." (v. 19).  In essence, Jesus is telling them, "I love you enough to tell you the truth, even and especially when you don't want to hear it, even though it hurts, even though it may seem harsh and cruel.  But it is my genuine love for you that makes this revelation to you necessary." 

And because Jesus is a perfect Savior, He does not simply rebuke them and then leave them to wallow in discouragement.  He tells them what they need to do to fix their situation:  "be zealous and repent."  He gives them instructions that are simple and reasonable. He tells them to be more consumed with the things of His kingdom, rather than the things of this world.  He tells them to be more passionate about His kingdom, His ways and His word, rather than their own kingdom, their own ways and the words of men.  And He tells them to repent, to confess that they have sought the wrong things, been passionate about the wrong things, been distracted by the wrong things and to turn away from them.  He is telling them to confess and admit that they have failed at making a genuine, consistent, faithful effort towards spiritual growth and to make the changes in their life that are necessary to put their spiritual growth on the top of their list of priorities, "be zealous".

Then, because He loves them, He makes them a promise, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." (v. 20).  He tells them if they will heed and obey His word, then He will help them make the changes they need to make in themselves and in their lives.  Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit that does the sanctifying work in us to help us more reflect the image of our Savior, but we must cooperate.  God will not change a person against their will, and when we are distracted by the things of this world and by our emotions and our circumstances, very little cooperation takes place.  And when we spend little to no time in prayer and fellowship with God and in His word, any cooperation on our part grinds to a standstill.

Lastly, Jesus makes them another promise, one that is filled with hope and a future, "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (v. 21,22). 

Fire And Brimstone

The very foundation of the Gospel message is predicated on the notion of sin and our salvation from it.  Unfortunately, over the course of church history, many well-meaning pastors inundated their congregations with fire-and-brimstone messages of God's judgment of sin, and balanced it out with very little of God's abundant grace towards repentant sinners.  The result of their extreme focus on God's very real hatred of sin, in effect, caused the pendulum to swing in an equally opposite extreme towards His very real abundance of grace towards those who repent from their sins.  Anything done to one extreme, usually results in a backlash toward the other extreme, neither of which portraying true balance. 

Thus, over the last half-century, most church movements have laboriously tried to disassociate themselves from the "fire-and-brimstone" messages of their predecessors. Which means that the pendulum has swung from "fire-and-brimstone", clear to the opposite side with "hyper-grace", resulting in an equally unbalanced presentation of the Gospel Message of Christ.  But despite the best efforts of many church movements over the last half-century, sin cannot be separated from the cross.  A message of hyper-grace may fill the churches, but it will not fill those who hunger for true righteousness. 

Any attempt to divest sin from the message of salvation in Jesus Christ results in preaching another gospel (Gal 1:6-9; 2 Cor 11:4).  Which means if you preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then you must preach about sin, for it is our sin that makes the Gospel necessary.  Jesus didn't die for us to be happy, Jesus died because we are sinners in need of eternal salvation from hell.  Not a popular, warm and fuzzy message, but Gospel truth nonetheless.  Jesus loves us even though we are sinners, but He will not allow us to dwell in it.  Which means when we come to Christ in true repentance, we cannot bring our sinful lifestyle with us.  Jesus said, "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins.." (Mark 2:21,22).  Forgiveness of sin, and sanctification from sin through continued obedience, are part and parcel of genuine salvation.

I have borne witness to those going so far as to quote Jesus' interaction with the adulterous woman at John Chapter 8 as an example of Him excusing sinfulness.  But the reality of John 8:11, is that when Jesus told the adulterous woman He did not condemn her for her sin, the word used in scripture is "KATAKRINO", which means He did not judge her worthy of punishment.  Why?  Because He could see true repentance in her heart.  That is why He simply told her, "Go and sin no more."  Because He knew, in her heart, she truly wanted to turn away from it.  Jesus never defended her for committing the sin.  He never said what she did was okay.  He never encouraged her to embrace it as a part of her life, neither did He try to convince everyone to be accepting of what she did.  He only said He wouldn't punish her for it and to never do it again. 

Jesus said, "I have come into the world to testify to the truth." (John 18:37).  And as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to the same testament.  Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.."  Therefore, anyone who condemns truth, whether a believer or unbeliever, condemns Christ.  And the truth is, God hates sin.  The truth is, when we come to salvation, God expects us to live holy lives.  The truth....is equal parts fire-and-and-brimstone and abundant grace.

"..but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:15,16)

 

"For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life." (1 Thess 4:7)

"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and those who practice magic arts, and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev 21:8)

"I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.  I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless." (Isaiah 13:11) 

 

Spiritual Cannibalism

Scripture tells us that the Pharisees of Jesus' day told Him to rebuke His disciples for glorifying Him by speaking truth.  Scripture then tells us Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40).  This is one of my favorite verses in all of scripture because it attests to the fact that truth is an irresistible force that has no equal.  It cannot be counterbalanced because it is balance itself.  Truth needs no defense because it stands alone in eternal offense, marching forward against time and circumstance, history and culture.  When Jesus was being questioned by Pontius Pilate, He told him, "I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37).  Pilate then asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (v. 38).  Unbeknownst to Pilate, Truth was standing right in front of him, about to be put on trial, judged by the people and crucified.

An unfortunate condition of the church today, is that many of those who claim to have made Truth Lord of their life, condemn those who speak it.  Like Pilate, even though truth is staring them in the face, they put it on trial and crucify it.  When a Christian condemns another Christian for speaking truth, they commit spiritual cannibalism.  Despite what the world would like you to think, there is nothing wrong with a Christian calling out sin.  Jesus said we are the light of the world and that we are to let our light shine before men, giving light to all who are in the house (John 5:15,16).  To speak truth is to shine a light into the dark rooms of deception.  Unfortunately, many Christians aren't shining their light before men because they have adopted the worldly mindset of, "Don't judge people because they sin differently than you do." 

Something that most people don't realize, is that when they reference Jesus' instructions to "Judge not, lest ye be judged," and "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye," they are misquoting Jesus in verbiage and in context.  In almost all instances, people who do this, fail to include the verse in between these two, which says, "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." (Matt 7:2).  Which means, if your standard of measurement is God's word, and you are not living your life in violation of it, then you are neither a hypocrite, nor is your standard of measure unfit.  As long as your motive is love--  the love of God's word and the love of the soul you are trying to reach-- there is no condemnation in your assessment.

Jesus tells us that we are to be sanctified in truth and He defines that truth as God's word:  "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." (John 18:38).  By the mouth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Himself declares God's word-- which should be every Christian's standard of measurement-- as truth.  And part of that truth is defining what is sinful so that we can be sure to turn away from it.  We may not like to hear it and we may feel uncomfortable talking about it, but it is truth nonetheless.  And in a time in which the church only wants to hear messages about God's mercy and grace, we need those who are bold enough to preach the truth about sin to balance us out now, more than ever.  As Christians, we should be more inclined to stand with our brothers and sisters in reminding the world what God sees as sin, rather than defending or excusing those practicing it.

 

"If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you." (Matt 18:15)

"Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently." (Gal 6:1)

"If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." (2 Thess 3:14,15)

"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us." (2 Thess 3:6)

"My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."  (James 5:19)

"Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth and come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." (2 Tim 2:25)

"As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, for people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them." (Titus 3:10,11)

"But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister [in Christ] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  But those who are outside, God judges..." (1 Cor 5:11-13)

"Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don't let me refuse it. But I pray constantly against the wicked and their deeds." (Psalm 141:5)