What will happen to those people living in the Church who only have a reputation of being alive but are dead? What will happen to the mere professors of Christianity who are not possessors of Christianity? What will become of those who are only outward religious?… They will walk in black, the blackness of God’s hell. They will walk in black, the blackness of hopeless despair. They will walk in black, the blackness of incomparable anguish. They will walk in black, the blackness of damnation.

They will walk in black forever because they are found unworthy. Oh you who profess to be a Christian, examine yourself. Oh ministers examine yourselves! Oh you who make a profession of Christianity today, look within your hearts and search your souls. You live in the sight of a holy God, Oh stop and search your own hearts. It is not a small matter of which I plead, but a matter of double importance. I beg you examine and cross examine your own souls and see if you are in the path of righteousness for it would be terrible for you to find in the end that you were in the Church but not of It!…

Oh I think I can hear them saying in hell, “Here is a preacher, here is a deacon, here is a church member, here is a man who has had the wine of the Lord’s Supper on his lips, here is a man that has the baptism water on his clothes.” Aah, take care my friends, there are only a few people in Sardis who will walk dressed in white. Make sure you are a part of that few! (Spurgeon)

What will happen indeed. This blackness will exponentially increase as the days of this world come to a close. With every passing day that draws us closer to the return of Jesus, the gross darkness falls and only the true light of Christ will shine in those days. For those who dwell in shades of grey will simply be swallowed up by the greater darkness. Grey can disappear into darkness but light and darkness cannot coexist. And so when the gross darkness comes then light must stand apart and everything outside of the light of Christ will be consumed. It must be so. 1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I confess my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in your sight; that you might be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge……………Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

So we see that the principals of submission and surrender leads to humility by David. He identifies this truth “You desire truth in the inward parts.” And also “Cast me not away from your presence oh Lord and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” Let me ask you this day, do you feel “cast away,” from His presence? Does it feel like the Holy Spirit has been taken from you? Let me ask this question also, do you have “truth in the inward parts?” What is it that is keeping you from an intimate relationship with the Lord or being restored to an intimate relationship with the Lord? Whatever it is, is it worth it?

Martha says to Jesus after her brother died “If you had only been here my brother would not have died.” To this Jesus gives Martha a great revelation “I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? ”

Jesus asks Martha to confirm that she believe this. When Mary finally comes and makes the same accusation to Jesus, at His feet, a familiar place to her, Jesus says nothing but “He weeps.” How sad for the Lord that even those closest to Him, those who loved Him with such depth, could , in effect, accuse Him of not caring.

Have you ever made a similar accusation to Jesus? I know I have, oh precious Lord forgive me. May all the tears I shed at your feet be tears of love and devotion and faith, may it always be so Lord. If we truly believe in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the lover of our souls should we not refrain from putting that which is most precious to us behind a great stone.

Have we locked away that most intimate part of us? Has that what is most precious to us, and most precious to our Lord, been buried behind a great stone of disappointment or sin? Has the garden of our hearts, the most intimate place, become a grave, a place of death and darkness? Have we robed ourselves in death clothes? Have we covered up painful unrealized expectations in layers of flesh, in layers of death?

Jesus commands that the stone be rolled away! He further commands that we come forth in life. He speaks to death, just as He spoke to the storm, and He rebukes it. Death, where is your victory? Can you resist the word of the Lord? You cannot! So brothers and sisters, if physical death cannot resist the word of the Lord, how much less the spiritual dark place that you have possibly retreated to? Even darkness becomes light to our Lord.

Today, if you find yourself in a dark place behind a great stone, know that it is a place of death. Yet, know this, the Word of God calls you to come forth out of darkness into His marvelous light. Can you hear the Lord call you today? Listen, He is calling. He loves you. He has wept over you. He died for you. And if He died for you while you were yet in your sin, if He loved you that much, how much more now? Choose to believe it this day and reject the lie that He does not care. Reject everything that would keep you from coming forth whether that be sin or a cold heart. Do that today and He will restore unto you the joy of your salvation and He will renew a right spirit within you.

John 1:4 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

All the sins of the world would be laid upon Him. And in the darkest moment of history, one that cannot be imagined, the Father turned His head and looked away. The full horror of hell, now visited upon the one who was one with the Father, and He would suffer our punishment in our place. And in the most agonizing cry ever uttered, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.” Only when one comes before God for judgment, and then cast away from His presence, will that one even begin to imagine the horror Jesus suffered for each and every one of us.

The Character of Jesus is higher than the highest heavens. His love and compassion and mercy and obedience are beyond what our feeble minds can comprehend. And since we can only compare with what we know, we can say with full assurance, and still fall pitifully short, that our Saviors love would render the deepest ocean to but a single tear from the Masters eye. The sun that blazes brilliantly in the sky, but a spark compared to our Lords burning passion. The universe and all others combined, smaller than the smallest chamber of His heart.

This is the God we serve; this is the Jesus of the Gospels; this is Jesus, God amongst us: He is the Bread of Life, The True vine, the Good shepherd, the Light of the World, He is the way, the Truth and the Life, The Gate for the sheep, Yahweh, He is our Victorious Champion, He is Master and Lord, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He is the Resurrection and the Life, the Lamb of God, He is worthy to be praised, the Hope of mankind, He is every breath that I take, Mighty councilor, the Almighty, The Christ, My Savior, The Anointed One, The Prince of Peace, The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End.

He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, the Messiah, The Potter, The Comforter, The Conqueror, Creator, Ancient of Days, The Living Water, Majestic, Omnipotent, The King Eternal, He is the Everlasting Father, The Exalted One, He is faithful and True, A Father to the fatherless, this Fire that burns within, He is my Rock and my Fortress, The Foundation of the world, The Fountain of Life, The God that Healeth thee, He is Higher than the highest heavens, Incorruptible, Infallible, My Keeper, The Lion of Judah, My Righteousness, My Strength, Merciful, He is the mighty One of Israel. He is Perfect…………….He is the Lord my God and He is one God. I shall love the Lord my God with all of heart. I shall praise the Lord my God with all of my soul………….Let Jesus be praised! He is all these things and so much more. But most importantly, He is alive!

Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

In this modern day world of Christianity, great swaths of Christendom pray for healings. The portion of Scripture that is quoted often is ” Pray for one another that you might be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Strange how the first portion of that Scripture tends to get overlooked or ignored. To confess one’s sins to another requires a certain degree of brokenness and humility. It requires transparency before men and before God.

We come up with a thousand reasons why we do not see healings in the west, we are too reliant upon technology and pills and doctors, our need is not as great as someone in the third world who has none of these things. We have rationlized away the supernatural. All of these things are undoubtedly true to one degree or another, yet perhaps the central issue is more simple and more profound. Pride. The sin that existed before the world began.

“For this is what the high and exalted One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isa 57:15)

If the Body of Christ wishes to walk in power, supernatural power, it begins with humilty and brokenness which is transparency before God and men. God dwells with such and their prayers availeth much.