What does it mean to have faith? What does it mean to exercise faith? And what does it truly mean to trust in the Lord? The words faith and trust are often used interchangeably, yet Scripture distinguishes their shades of meaning. The Greek word for faith, πίστις (pistis), carries the sense of conviction, fidelity, and steadfast belief , a firm persuasion of the truth and character of God. It is not vague optimism but anchored certainty rooted in who He is. The Greek term for trust, πεποίθησις (pepoithēsis), flows from pistis and means confident reliance, settled assurance, and inward persuasion. It is faith extended through endurance, faith that has matured under testing. Thus, pistis believes what God has spoken, and pepoithēsis continues to rest in that promise when sight fails and the storm gathers. Both are born of the same root: confidence in the unchanging nature of God. This is the foundation upon which all true preparedness stands, the faith that acts and the trust that endures.
Faith, then, is the spiritual substance of what is unseen, the invisible made certain in the heart of the believer. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is not mere belief that God exists, but confidence in His goodness, His promises, and His Word. Faith does not rest upon sight or circumstance; it rests upon the immutable character of God. It looks into the unseen and says, “Thou art faithful.” It is the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters within the veil where Christ Himself has gone before (Hebrews 6:19–20). Pistis is not a feeling to be maintained but a conviction to be lived by, it sees the eternal in the midst of the temporal and moves the heart to obedience.
To exercise faith is to act upon that conviction. Faith untested remains theory; exercised faith becomes testimony. The one who believes that winter is near cuts his firewood before the frost. His pistis (faith) moves his hands; his belief produces action. But the frail widow, who has no strength to lift the axe, exercises faith in another form. She cannot labor, but she trusts , her pepoithēsis (trust) clings to God’s faithfulness, believing He will make provision where she cannot. In both, faith lives and breathes. The strong man acts upon what he believes; the widow rests upon what she cannot see. Faith is not idleness. It is obedience moving in harmony with the will of God , for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Yet these works are not self-reliant striving; they are the fruit of divine persuasion , the evidence that pistis (faith) is alive within the heart.
To trust in the Lord , to walk in pepoithēsis (trust) , is to place one’s full confidence in His sovereign care when reason falters and outcomes remain hidden. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6). Trust is faith stretched through time; it is the steady endurance of the soul that refuses to doubt the character of God though all outward things collapse. Job, sitting among the ashes, spoke this divine paradox: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15). That is trust refined in the fire , pepoithēsis (trust) at its highest expression. Faith says, “God can.” Trust declares, “God will.” Love adds, “Even if He does not, He is still my God.”
What, then, is our part in this divine partnership? Scripture tells us to “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11), to take up the shield of faith, to gird our loins with truth, and to shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. These are commands of readiness. The armor is given by grace, but it must be worn by choice. The believer must take up what God has provided. Preparation is not unbelief — it is the living demonstration of faith’s reality. The man who sharpens his sword before battle is not denying God’s help; he is aligning himself with it. Our pistis (faith) equips us; our pepoithēsis (trust) steadies us. The one is the conviction that moves; the other is the confidence that endures.
And did not our Lord Himself prepare? The supreme pattern of readiness is found in Gethsemane. Beneath the olive trees, Christ waged the invisible war before the visible cross. “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). The disciples slept, but the Captain of our salvation fought alone. The struggle was not with men but within His own humanity , the surrender of His human will to the divine. And when the moment came — “Not my will, but Thine be done” , the victory was secured. From that garden He rose, His face set like flint (Isaiah 50:7), and for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2). The battle of Calvary was the outworking of the triumph of Gethsemane. Pistis (faith) led Him into prayer; pepoithēsis (trust) carried Him through obedience.
What, then, does it mean for us to be prepared? It means to cultivate a heart steadfast in pistis (faith) and anchored in pepoithēsis(trust). The prepared soul is not caught unaware when the storm descends. It has stored the Word in its heart, for the Word is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). It has guarded its thoughts with the helmet of salvation and girded its life with truth (Ephesians 6:14). It prays without ceasing, for prayer is the breath of faith (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It stands ready with the gospel of peace, for readiness itself is part of the armor. Such a soul walks neither in fear nor presumption, but in quiet confidence. The unprepared are like those who wait for winter with no firewood; but those who live by faith have already kindled the flame within their hearts.
The battle, as the Lord showed us, is won not first in the field but in the heart’s preparation. “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1). Victory begins in surrender. When a believer bows in the secret place and whispers, “Not my will, but Thine be done,” the triumph is already assured. From that hidden Gethsemane he rises clothed in divine strength, able to endure the cross set before him, whatever form it takes. Faith has believed; trust has endured; preparation has secured the victory.
To have faith is to believe. To exercise faith is to act. To trust is to endure. To prepare is to triumph before the battle begins. And when the soul, through pistis (faith) and pepoithēsis( trust), comes to that holy place of surrender, it finds, as Christ did, that peace flows where agony once reigned. For the Lord who prepared Himself in Gethsemane now prepares His saints likewise , that they may stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Ephesians 6:13). Praise be to the Lord, for the battle is His , yet He trains our hands for war and girds us with strength for the fight (Psalm 18:34, 39).
Scripture Appendix
I. Πίστις (Pistis) — Faith, Conviction, Persuasion
Hebrews 11:1 – Faith as substance and evidence of the unseen.
Romans 1:17 – ‘The just shall live by faith.’
Ephesians 2:8 – Faith as the gift of God in salvation.
Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Galatians 2:20 – Living by the faith of the Son of God.
James 2:17 – Faith without works is dead.
Hebrews 11:6 – Without faith it is impossible to please God.
2 Timothy 4:7 – ‘I have kept the faith.’
II. Πεποίθησις (Pepoithēsis) — Trust, Confidence, Assurance
2 Corinthians 3:4 – ‘Such trust have we through Christ to Godward.’
Philippians 1:6 – Being confident that He who began a good work will perform it.
Philippians 3:3–4 – Having no confidence in the flesh.
Hebrews 3:14 – Holding the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
2 Corinthians 1:9–10 – Trusting in God who raises the dead.
Ephesians 3:12 – Boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.
Faith (pistis) is the seed; trust (pepoithēsis) is its fruit. One believes God’s word; the other continues in that belief when all else fails. Together, they form the unshakable posture of the prepared soul , believing, enduring, and standing firm until the end.
At the turn of the 20th century, we witnessed the birth of two monumental Pentecostal movements. First, in 1904, came the Welsh Revival in Britain, and then, in 1906, the fires of revival swept through Azusa Street in Los Angeles. These were no ordinary stirrings, they were powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit that would give rise to entire movements, such as the Elim Pentecostal Church in Britain and the Assemblies of God, which would spread globally and impact hundreds of millions.
From these humble beginnings, in every corner of the land, small Pentecostal churches began to emerge. Their message was simple: salvation through Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the restoration of spiritual gifts. These fellowships sprang up in the shadow of massive denominational institutions, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and others, hige edifices steeped in their own traditions. Yet right beside them, in modest, unassuming buildings, were these Spirit-filled gatherings where lives were being radically transformed, adults were getting saved, and the gifts of the Spirit were active and alive.
This was a profound blow to the kingdom of darkness. The enemy, seeing the explosive growth of this movement, would not sit idly by. His question became clear: How can we bring this down? And so, beginning in the 1940s, we saw the emergence of new “theological,” trends, the Word of Faith movement, the Prosperity Gospel, and of course the Charismatic movement in the 60s, which would swallow up the others and become indistinguishable.
It was a cunning strategy: If you can’t beat them, buy them. The philosophy was simple, promise the very things that human beings everywhere fear to lose: health and wealth. Whether you’re in New York City or a remote village in the jungle, the universal concerns remain the same, our bodies and our bank accounts. The enemy offered a counterfeit gospel, one that shifted the focus from the cross of Christ to the desires of the flesh.
The Charismatic Movement became a Trojan horse. It infiltrated Pentecostal churches across the globe, not with persecution, but with promises. And it worked, brilliantly, tragically. The smoke from the fire of true revival has been replaced by the smoke machines of performance and entertainment. The altars were replaced by stages, the message by motivational speaking, and the Spirit by self-help and “self,” seeking
What followed was the tearing down of the very pillars upon which the early Pentecostal movement had stood. The purity of the Gospel was traded for a gospel of gain. Faith, once the precious link to Christ Himself, was twisted into a tool to manipulate blessings. Prosperity or tge lack of it, once counted as rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ, became the goal.Christ had become but a means to a materialistic end.
It was a disaster for the Church, and a stunning success for the enemy. The people rose up and played, just as they did before the golden calf in the wilderness. Think of “holy laughter,” and roaring like animals. And today, we stand in the shadow of that fall, in the ruins of what once was a mighty move of God.
These false ideologies, health and wealth, Name It and Claim It, the separation of faith from Christ Himself, have infected almost every corner of the modern Pentecostal and non-denominational world. Rare is the church untouched. Subtle or blatant, this taint remains, and it must be recognized for what it is.
Now, in this late hour, a remnant is rising, a people who are returning to the simplicity and the power of the cross, who walk not in the counsel of the world but in the fear of the Lord. Let us not be seduced by the glitter of gain or the lure of comfort. Let us remember the foundation laid in tears and prayer and holy fire. It is time to leave the circus behind, with all its many forms of entertainment, and “come out from among her.”
Our small house church, though modest in number, stands as a precious testimony to a deeper reality, a reality that transcends the glittering edifices and booming stages of modern Christendom.
Over a decade ago I made the conscious, Spirit-led shift, joining countless others across the globe who have heard the still small voice calling them out of spiritual Babylon. For in every generation, God reserves for Himself a remnant, a people who will not bow the knee to Baal, no matter how cunningly he reinvents himself through culture, compromise, or counterfeit religion.
Before our very eyes unfolds the tragic convergence of the harlot church, a synthesis of worldliness and religion, dressed in finery but inwardly defiled. Its heartbeat is not the cross, but the stage; not the Spirit, but spectacle. As it was in Rome, so it is today. The Coliseum, once the epicenter of Roman life, rose from the gold and silver plundered by Titus during the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. One temple fell, another was built. Worship of the Holy was replaced by worship of self, veiled in the opiate of entertainment. Bread and circuses—tools of distraction, tools of dominion.
Yet the martyr Stephen, in his final breath, echoed the words of our Lord: “The Most High does not dwell in temples made by human hands.” Jesus, speaking to the Samaritan woman, dismantled the geography of worship and pointed to its essence—Spirit and truth. When asked, “Where should we worship?” Christ responded not with a location, but with a mandate: how we are to worship.
It is vital—indeed, imperative—that the true saints gather not around programs, performances, or personalities, but around the presence of God. In Spirit. In truth. And as the great Day of the Lord draws ever nearer, this calling becomes all the more urgent. For history has shown: men gather to entertain themselves. But few gather to worship God as He has ordained.
Let us, then, be counted among the few—those walking the narrow path that leads to life. Let us not be swept away by the many, whose feet tread the broad road of destruction. Let our assemblies be small, but pure; hidden, but radiant. May our worship rise not from stages, but from sanctified hearts. For the time is short, and the Bride must make herself ready.
There remains a remnant—a people set apart, standing in the wilderness to proclaim God’s truth. They are anchored in His Word, separate from the systems of religion, for they understand that Christ did not come to establish another religion but to restore relationship.
To be outside the camp carries risk. When Israel fell into idolatry with the golden calf, a separation was established between the people and God. The Tent of Meeting, set outside the camp, became a place where Moses, Joshua, and the priests entered into His presence, while the people could only watch from their tents. This same idolatry persists today, creating a divide between God and those entangled in religious systems.
The camp represents the churches and religious institutions of our time, while the priests—God’s remnant—have left the camp in pursuit of the true dwelling place of His presence. To enter the Tent of Meeting, one must first “come out from among her.” When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Tent was replaced by the temple, but in time, the temple itself became a stronghold of religion, ultimately torn down stone by stone. And yet, the Tent returns, a place of worship in the wilderness—a place called Spirit and Truth.
As Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.“(John 4:20-24)
True worship is not bound to temples built by human hands but is found where God dwells—outside the camp, beyond the gate. The Lord, who was crucified at Calvary, stands in contrast to the Holy of Holies within the temple. While religious men seek their refuge in structures and traditions, the Lord calls His people to meet Him in Spirit and truth.
The call goes forth: Come out of the camp. Come to the Tent of Meeting. Come and tabernacle with the Lord.
We are warned in the Scriptures that the times would come when men and women will not put up with sound doctrine, instead, in order to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears desire to hear. They will turn away from the truth. (2 Tim 4:2-5) We are warned that there are whole groups of “teachers,” ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain ( Titus 1:11)
We are instructed by Paul, therefore by God, to watch and remember. Remember what? Watch for what? Remember that for three years he did not cease to warn us, night and day….with tears. Warn of us what? What would disturb the Apostle so greatly that it was his daily warning for years? Savage wolves that will (not might) come in among you and scatter the flock. Also, from among our own ranks, men would rise up and draw away disciples for themselves. False representatives of Jesus, stealing His preeminence and all for the sake of “dishonest gain.” Their gods would be money and reputations, power and prestige (Acts 20:28-31)
Part of the problem is that these hirelings, these wolves in sheep clothing, preach to willing dupes. The people, for their part, have embraced a system not found in the Scriptures. They wanted a king and they got a king.This is not the first time God has been rejected in favor of a king. Think about King Saul or even Moses, where the people would rather have Moses talk to God then to them, as opposed to them talking to God themselves. Jesus was rejected for a man of the people, Barabbas then the crowd cried out that they have to king but Caesar.
The very heart of man always wants an intermediary rather than deal directly with God through Jesus. A priest, a prophet, a minister, a senior pastor. Each of those positions not only come with finances but come with power and authority and position. They love to pray publicly to be seen, they love the best seat at the table , they want men to call them teachers, or worse, fathers.All of this appeals to the Lucifer in them, to the Diotrophes in them, to that part of the soul that wants, desires, craves for, the preeminence. It’s truly the original sin, the sin that caused Lucifer to fall, and it beats at the heart of every human in their flesh. It should never be elevated, it should be crucified.
It’s an erroneous idea that justification is an imparted robe of righteousness put over a dirty, filthy fellow who terribly needs a bath and is filled with cooties and the accumulation of the dirt of a lifetime, who stands boldly in God Almighty’s holy heaven, among seraphim and cherubim and archangels and the spirits of just men made perfect, and blithely and flippantly says “I belong in hell. I’m a filthy man, but what are you going to do about it? I have on me the robe of Christ’s righteousness and that’s enough.
God only saves sinners who know they are sinners. He saves only sinners who admit they are sinners, but He saves sinners and turns them from being sinners to being good men and full of the Holy Spirit. When we teach anything else, we are teaching heresy. John Newton was a Puritan and would have been horrified if he heard the doctrines we are hearing now. (A.W.Tozer The dangers of a shallow Faith pg 73-74)
Can you hear what Tozer is saying? He is identifying a teaching that has become a common doctrine taught across the board in Christendom. At best it’s a shallow faith, at worse it is no faith at all. A faith that is without transformation. A faith that seeks to hide from the fact that true faith transforms the bad man to a son of the Living God. A man who formally walked in darkness but who now walks in the light. A man whose righteousness in Christ and Christ in him reflects upon the unrighteousness of the world. A city set on a hill for all to see. He washes us by His very own Blood. And we are washed whiter than snow. We are indeed regenerated and only the regenerated can be sanctified.
In a desperate desire to please the world and not offend them, we have taken the stigma of sin from them. We have done the world no favors. Those of the shallow faith, born out of fear, say to the world that the Christian and them are both the same, the only difference being is that we have a technicality. That is a lie and, and Tozer calls it heresy. A cross-less Christianity has risen up in the ranks of Christendom and at the very same pace as it has risen up, the world has sunk down deeper into the mire of darkness and self delusion. A Christ-less Christianity, a whole generation of those who desire no Lord but only a Savior, is falling into the same dark pit of hell as the world is.
Thank the Lord for His own chosen generation. His own Royal Priesthood. His own, specific purchased people. A people intentionally called out of darkness, not to dwell there any more but to dwell in His marvelous light. A people who have indeed been regenerated, indeed been washed in the Blood of the Lamb, a people who fear God and not man. A people who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the world and if need be, using the same word, a martyr for the cause of Christ. This is the true history of the Church. A people not ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus and not just the parts that are convenient to our own well being. Tell the world all day long that God loves them and the world will either like you or ignore you. Quote them the mostly unquoted portion of John chapter 3 and they will hate you.
Joh 3:18 He that believes in him is not condemned: but he that does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Probably the most damaging feature of Calvin’s liturgy is that he led most of the service himself from the pulpit. Christianity has not yet recovered from this. Today the pastor is the MC, and CEO of the Sunday morning service-just as the priest is the MC and the CEO of the Catholic mass. This is in stark contrast to the church meeting envisioned in Scripture. According to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is the leader, director and CEO of the church meeting. In 1 Cor 12, Paul tells us that Christ speaks through His entire Body, not just one member. In such a meeting, His Body freely functions under His headship (direct leadership) through the working of the Holy Spirit. First Cor 14 gives us a picture of such a gathering. This kind of meeting is vital for the spiritual growth of God’s people and the full expression of His Son in the earth. ( George Barna, Frank Viola-Pagan Christianity-pg 59)
The liturgy or order of service is almost exactly the same in the vast majority of churches throughout the land, whatever denomination it is. Over the last several decades, some have flirted with allowing the Holy Spirit to move among them, but have inevitably fallen back on the order of service. To follow the instructions laid down by Scripture, almost all of the so called clergy would render themselves surplus to requirements. So the clergy have always been the keepers of the status quo. A union of hirelings who have usurped the actual workings of the Holy Spirit among the Body of Christ. I would think that the vast majority of them down through the centuries have been somewhat ignorant of the fact that there is simply no clergy in the Body of Christ, and that the Priesthood of all believers cannot function and be led by the Holy Spirit where the bondage of this system exists. We can have the clergy/laity system or we can have the Holy Spirit operate among us, but we cannot have both.
George and Frank say that this kind of meeting is vital for Spiritual growth, I would agree. How can we say that we have no need of the manna that falls from heaven, but rather we have our own means of feeding ourselves? It is delusional. Spiritual growth only comes from edification. A group can grow religiously under our present system, but they cannot grow spiritually. Stagnation, with occasional bursts of energy from fires of our own making is the best that we can expect when man is in charge of the service. The numbers attending “church,” are now in free-fall all over the world. Is this the inevitable end of a system that is collapsing under the weight of its own works? I would say yes. The church system worked in a mostly religious world. We no longer live in such a world. The paradoxical difference is that while the weight of men’s works crush people spiritually, the weight of Gods presence, His Holy presence liberates them and elevates them to high and lofty places and changes them. It exhorts them, it edifies them, it humbles them.
The Lord, in His manifest presence, always speaks to the whole. If a saint needs to be encouraged, then he is encouraged. If another needs to be humbled then he is humbled. If another needs to be lifted up from the valley floor of depression and discouragement then he will find himself flying where the eagles fly and his joy shall be complete. The sinner shall find conviction that he will have to bend to, or he will have to run into the night screaming. All of this and so much more comes when the Body operates as it is instructed to operate and where the CEO is the Lord Jesus Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus must be preeminent. We must follow the dictates of the word of God or we shall simply be taken by the tide of this world and religion and be lost at sea. I would argue that for the most part, that which calls itself Christianity is lost as sea and the only way back is a strict adherence to the revealed word of God. It would not be a revival, nor would it be a reformation. It would be a revolution!!!, where the powers that be are upturned and the Lord Jesus takes His rightful place.
Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
Are we modern day Christians really any different from our Galatians brothers and sisters of old? Paul says to the Galatians that they have fallen from Grace, those who desire to be under anything other than the Gospel that he himself had presented to them, but now he was an enemy to them for telling them the truth. This word “bewitched,” means to be “fascinated by a false presentation.” In the Galatians case it was the law they were fascinated with and men, who should have known better, who seem to be something in Christian circles from Jerusalem, had enticed them away from the truth, away from the Spirit and away from freedom. A fall from grace is a tragedy for it is by grace through faith that we are saved and not of works, including the works of the law, less we should boast and then the free gift is not free indeed but rather debt.
We have so many in our day who are “fascinated by a false presentation.” Consider the Charismatics and their prosperity gospel? How about men like Benny Hinn with a singular obsession with healings? MacArthur and his denial of the sign gifts of the Spirit? Catholics and every other denomination who are fascinated by their own dogmas and decrees which are quite apart from Scriptures. One man rodeo shows in the non denominational systems who promote themselves. What is the one thing they all have in common with each other and the Galatians? “They zealously court you, but not for good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.”(Gal 4:17) Think about the horror of that statement. Men and systems of men set up to promote themselves and in doing so, exclude those who follow them from entering into the freedom that Christ brought for them. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. It is for bondage that men would have you zealous for them and their systems that elevate them. Jesus has been usurped.
Who is hindering you from following the Word? This is not from God. Who elevates themselves rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In the third epistle of John he writes to “the church,” in Asia Minor. He runs headlong into a man called Diotrephes. A man who had zeaously courted the church in that region to elevate himself. A man who loved the preeminence and just like Paul, John had become their enemy because he spoke the truth. Yet there were still men like Gaius and Demetrius. Good men. Men who followed after Jesus and who “walked in the truth.” There are good men and women today who still walk in the truth. God has His remnant. They are few and far between. And there are is a scourge of men like Diotrephes who would hinder you from walking according to the truth because when we do that, Jesus, and only Jesus is elevated.
There is an inevitable clash between God’s people and men who promote themselves. John would clash with Diotrephes if he traveled there. Paul clashed with the Christian religious men of his day, and even with Paul and Barnabas over what was right and what would cause men to fall from grace. If one were in MacArthur’s church and criticized him openly, the same fate would befall them as those who criticized Diotrephes. They would be removed from the church, with violence if need be. To criticize the Catholic church over 1500 years would cause one to be excommunicated and most likely burned at the stake. To criticize the reformers would have resulted in certain banishment and oftentimes imprisonment and burnings too. It is the mark of insecure men who have set up their own systems in direct violation of God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And then of course there is the genuine Body of Christ to be found everywhere. Oftentimes isolated perhaps. Lonely and without a church home to call their own, but always part of the Body of Christ and the family of God. Sons and daughters scattered to the four winds but not abandoned. Faithful to the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit. Illuminated by the light of Christ and the freedom that dwells within them. At liberty to speak the truth in love despite the consequences. Seeking no office and seeking no titles. Only willing to wash the feet of their brothers and sisters and feed them spiritually. Discipling everywhere they go whether to the one or the two or the two hundred. The number is not important. I encourage you this day my brothers and sisters. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled by the religious systems of men which causes you to become entangled by a yoke of bondage.
Walk in and according to the Spirit and men shall know you by the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentlesness, and self control. They shall also know you by your fierce loyalty to the Lord and to the Gospel of the Kingdom and to the Word of God. Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and you shall avoid jealousies pride and envy. Those who sow these things shall reap everlasting life. We shall run and not grow weary, we shall walk and not faint. We shall not lose heart when we pay due attention to the condition of our heart and walk in the aforementioned fruit of the Spirit. Love the Body of Christ with a lavish and reckless love. Let us boast in nothing other than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross upon our own backs. Let us rejoice in infirmities that God may be glorified by the excess grace He pours upon us. The world has been crucified to us, it no longer courts us. We have been crucified to the world and we no longer have any taste for its pleasures. Let the peace and the mercy and grace of God fall apon the genuine saints today and let all who read this be encouraged.
1Sa 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
Samuel, although a child of promise, did not know the Lord “yet.” In the previous chapter we read that the sons of Eli did not know God. “Now the sons of Eli were corrupt, they did not know the Lord.” Yet God was now calling to Samuel. Three times He calls to him in the night. What fear must have struck Eli when he realized that while God was not talking to him, the priest, he was engaging the child, Samuel. It must have been clear to him that his time had passed and that certainly his sons were passed over and under judgement. In fact we are told that the Lord desired to kill his sons and sure enough they would be killed. In order to know God we must encounter God. Samuel would have known the word and would have been taught the word even as a child, yet it was not until God encountered him that he “knew,” him. This concept of “knowing God is so important. God says to many in that day, who claim to know Him and who have done many works in His name “depart from me ye workers of iniquity for…..I never knew you.”
And what was the word that came to Samuel? A frightening word indeed in regard to the corrupt priesthood and those who refused to do anything about it.God says “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them.” God says that the word is frightening, so frightening indeed that it would make the ears “tingle,’ which is akin to the teeth chattering with fear. Now how did Eli know? In the previous chapter we see that ” a man of God,” came to Eli. A nameless man of God. not another prophet or a king, a nameless man of God. No doubt Eli might have had little difficulty dismissing this nameless man of God. Eli’s greatest crime? “Why do you kick at My sacrifice which I have commanded in My dwelling place and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourself fat with the best of the offerings of Israel my people.” Eli honored his sons more than he honored God. Eli made himself fat with the offerings that were for God. His sons had made themselves fat.
Can I put it to you that there are a lot of fat men in the land of Christendom. They have fattened their hearts on the offerings they take in the name of God. They honor their own more than they honor God. They go to great lengths to elevate themselves and their own and yet in order to do this they must dishonor God. If you love anything more than God then you are not worthy to be His disciples. If you cause His name to be dishonored in the public square, if the name of God is mocked because you rob and you steal from the people ( you are actually stealing from God) then God will cause something to come upon you that you could never see coming. The very first thing that shall happen is they He will not talk to you. You will not hear the Word of God. He will speak to others, others you may actually despise, and it will make you angry and jealous and fearful, but He will not speak to you. What you have so meticulously built up over the years and decades, in one night God will tear down. Eli was warned by an unnamed man of God and he chose to ignore it. We ignore God at our great peril.
1Sa 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
Another way of saying this was that the sons of Eli were corrupt, wicked and worthless. They represented God but by their actions they misrepresented God. According to the Scriptures (Lev 7:34) they were entitled to the “wave breast and the heave shoulder.” Yet, they sent their servants along to the sacrifice with flesh hooks that would be plunged in and whatever it hooked would be taken. This was entirely un-biblical, yet they had made a ritual out of it and enforced this ritual with violence if need be. In other words “they had their hooks into the people.” Can I suggest that people have not changed very much. How many so called ministers or priests have their hooks into people, taking what does not belong to them. Enriching themselves by the fat of the land, the very fat that belonged to God. It has to be noted that the Scriptures tell us that these priests, the sons of Eli “did not know the Lord.”
Just because one calls himself a priest, a minister, a pastor, this has no bearing on whether they actually know God or not. How do we identify those who pass themselves off as pastors but do not know the Lord? Let us look at the sins of Eli’s sons . We are told the sins were covetousness, sensuality, arrogance, authoritarian and gluttonous. They desired to have what was not theirs. They slept with women who had come to seek God. They made rituals out of their sins. They enforced their sin with violence if need be and they were very fat because of their lazy ravenous appetites. This might well describe religion down through the last 2000 years and many denominations. What are the opposing attributes of the men of God? Contentment, faithfulness to their spouses and to their God, humlity, meekness and moderate in all their ways. They give to God what is His and they serve God first. Their God is not their belly nor their lusts but rather their God is the one who enables them to put to death the lusts of the flesh.
There is no doubt we live in an age of a fallen priesthood with all the same excesses on display as we see in the family of Eli. Yet God did not permit that state to go on forever. The corrupted house of so called priests would fall and would fall at the hand of God. There are Hannah’s among us. There are faithful men like her husband and their household among us. God always has a Samuel. He always has a people who have not bowed the knee to the Baals or Belial or to the gods of this world. He is faithful to raise them up and also faithful to tear down men and women who bring dishonor and disgrace to His name. There are those who use God to enrich themselves and fatten themselves by the sacrifices of others and there are those who faithfully serve Him and Him alone and desire to see Him glorified. Those who rejoice in His salvation. Let us rejoice in His salvation today and rejoice in the fact that He has raised up a Royal priesthood, priests who know Him and are known by Him.
Over many many years Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel. You see, Absalom wanted what his father had. He wanted the exalted place among the people. He would rise up early and stand beside the gate and those who came looking for the king, he intercepted them and spoke to them. They were not his people, they were his fathers people but Absalom, falling foul to that most ancient of sins that caused Lucifer to fall down from the heavens, desired to have what was not his to have. And so he wooed the hearts of the people away from their King.
Is that not the very essence of religion? There is one mediator between man and God and His name is Jesus. How many men and religious institutions have sought to replace Jesus over all the centuries? One pretender after another, rising early in the morning, slowly and deceptively seeking to displace God and stealing the hearts of the people away from their rightful King. And all the worse is the fact that so many of these men and institutions knew something of the mercy of God, had been blessed in many ways by His goodness and His forgiveness. They had been touched by His love and by His word which only serves to make their deception and their desire to have what He alone has all the more treacherous.
And so finally David hears of this rebellion against him. Oh what a dagger must have penetrated his heart, to know that his very own had turned on him. One that he loved and had forgiven and had showed mercy too, and he repaid all of that with hatred and animosity and a heart bent on taking what was not his. It is hard to imagine the anguish of David, now no longer a young man, having suffered so much in his life and so much of it undeserved, now as an older man, having to flee from everything that had been his. The city of David, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant would all be left behind and he and a remnant few would flee the jealous forces that were arraigned against him. They would flee into the wilderness.
Today there is a remnant few who have fled into the wilderness. They have left the city behind with all of its religious trappings. No walls, no tabernacle, no ark of the covenant. Stripped of all the religious trappings, they have something that David had. He had the presence of God with Him. Not that which represents the presence, but the actual presence of God. While religious men hung onto the trappings and rituals and icons, for that is all they have, David goes into the wilderness, the remnant go into the wilderness with God Himself. And as he ascended Gods holy hill he wept, he and the people with him wept. With tears the seed is sown brothers and sisters, tears of sorrow for what has become of something that should have been so beautiful and brought glory to God, but has been so thoroughly corrupted by men who desire to steal the glory of God and steal the hearts of the people.
Do not despair in the wilderness brothers and sisters. In God we have peace no matter what men think about us. In God we can rejoice despite the fact that the forces of Absalom are arrayed against the remnant few. Listen to some of the things that David says in this time and be comforted…… Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice…… because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee……….I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches……….From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I……………………. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
There is an inevitable end to the forces of Absalom, those who would attempt steal the glory of God and from His King. David speaks to this very thing and to those very forces in psalm 63……But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Glory to God saints! Is the end we shall come out of the wilderness by the power of God. The soul that weeps, the soul that thirsts after God in the wilderness shall find joy and inexhaustible waters of life even in the driest deserts and when He comes again into His rightful place then all of God saints will rise up and cry Holy.
1Ti 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of sincere faith.
Love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:8-10) The whole purpose and fulfillment of the law was found in Christ! So why then was there so much trouble at Ephesus? Why would young Timothy be under pressure and from whom? The same old suspects, the Judaizers and those who desired to be teachers. Teaching their own ideas of what the Law was and what it meant and what its purpose was. A myriad of teachings that were from their own vain imaginations, causing disputes rather than causing unity in Christ. Desiring to be a class of teachers, priests, rabbis. A clergy class. Desiring to be supported because of their “knowledge.” And yet this desire to be teachers of the law, when they had no real understanding of the fulfillment of the law (if they did they would desire to be servants, as Paul was, working with his own hands)
We know from Scripture that those who knew Jesus, the fulfillment of the law, walked in love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from a sincere faith. And those who did not know Jesus in this way, turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers and lacking understanding. In America today, there are roughly 30,000 salaried “pastors.” That is 15,000 “pastors for every state. My brothers, let there not be many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation (Jas 3:1) The clergy/laity divide has only served to increase the desire to be teachers. There is not the same desire to be servants of all. Jesus washed the feet of servants, do clergy, for the main part wash feet? Ever notice in the sacramental systems of denominations, there is no feet washing? You will not find it in non-denominations either.
Timothy is exhorted by Paul to fight the good fight. Paul knew, from sore experience, just how difficult it was to deal with those who considered themselves teachers. This is why he prayed so fervently for Timothy. He likened it to waging warfare. The same warfare has been waged by the remnant saints down through the ages. The Hymenaeus’s and Alexanders have always been entrenched in religious activities much like Diotrephes. Men who love the preeminence. Men who know nothing of the fulfillment of the Law but rather became laws unto themselves, passing themselves of as teachers of the law and becoming the deadliest enemies of the twice born man. Brothers and sisters let us walk in love with a pure heart from a good conscience and from a sincere faith. Trusting in God and His Word and having discernment to identify those who simply desire to be teachers, who desire to be kept, who will not work with their own hands. We shall know men by their fruit. Do men serve or do men desire to be served?
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.(Eph 4:4-6)
There is one Body and one Spirit and that’s the plain truth of it. Whoever attempts to divide the Body is on a fools errand. The catastrophic failure of denominationalism flows from the root failure to understand our calling. To walk as one in Christ, this is the hope of our calling. We endeavor to keep the unity of Christ which means we diligently work to tear down walls of separation just as the walls that separated the Jews from the Gentiles were torn down on the bloody battle-field of Calvary. The Body of Christ spans the world and churches and denominations. Christendom, all that calls itself after Christ is not the Body, but for the most part the Body dwells within the confines of Christendom. Christendom needs them but they do not need Christendom. For by our new birth we were born into Christ, into the Body and it is one. One faith, one baptism and one God the Father who is in us. If the Father is not in you then you are not in the Body of Christ, no matter what “church,” you belong to. If the Father is in you then you belong to the Body of Christ no matter what “church,” you belong to.
Being a member or an attendee of a “church,” is of no consequence to those in whom the Father does not dwell. Circumcised or uncircumcised has no spiritual value. Church goer or non church goer has no spiritual value outside of the Spirit of God that dwells with us. Among the true Body of Christ there are some apostles and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Their purpose is to bring the saints to maturity and to edify the true Body of Christ until Christ comes again. They are not for the amusement or the hiring of the unsaved or the religious. No one outside of the Body can be edified by those whom the Lord calls, for the calling is to the one true Church. In Christendom we see “the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Eph 4:14) The plotting is always in association with self-serving. Every wind of doctrine is employed by the trickery of men to build themselves up, and build for themselves a kingdom. Yet God will always have those of the Body who shall speak the truth in love, seeking only to edify and protect the Body. It is incumbent upon you, O saint, to discern these things by the Word of God and His Spirit.
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
In Galatians we see a real encounter. Paul faces them head on. How often do we see this nowadays? A traveling “apostle,” or “prophet,” will come to your church and tell everyone how good they are and how blessed they are going to be in the coming year. They will not be invited to visit near the end of the year, for that is when the resident senior pastor encourages everyone to give in order to get a tax break. An end of year giving. Yet when that year is over, here comes the wolves. Its bonus time. They invite each other to each others churches to come and “speak a word.” Listen to the word Paul speaks to the churches in Galatia, people that he had brought to the Lord himself. 1. O foolish Galatians who has bewitched you? 2. How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage. You observe days and months and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. 3. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. 4. I have doubts about you. 5. You have become estranged from Christ (let that sink in) you who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. 6. You ran well, who has hindered you from obeying the truth.
That’s the diagnosis and it is a devastating one. Now here is the remedy. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. It seems incredible that this has to be restated. And there is no doubt that Paul is somewhat astonished at how far they have fallen, in fact, they had fallen from grace. The unmerited favor of God had been replaced by their own attempts to create merit and standing before God. This is not only a refutation of the truth, this is a denial of Christ Himself and Him crucified. Had they suffered so many things… in vain? Was it all for nothing? Were they merely dogs that had returned to their vomit? No, but they were in great danger of that. They must now repent and remember that it was the liberty that Christ gained for them on Calvary that had set them free and He whom the Son sets free is free indeed. The flesh wars against the Spirit brothers and sisters. It would rather rule over itself in bondage than to be vanquished and the spirit set free. We must decide these things. Shall we not trust in the finished work of the Lord? Shall we not consider this established fact that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh? That we have been called to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us?
Nothing that we can do can establish our righteousness in Christ. Our call is simply obedience to the Word of God and the Spirit of God and this shall produce love and joy and peace and long-suffering. Goodness and faithfulness and gentleness shall be our mark. Self control shall be our way. For those of us in Christ have crucified the flesh with all of its passions and desires. The world will see something of Christ in us. They will see a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God’s special possession called out specifically to declare the praises of Jesus who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. Sons and daughters who move and breathe and have our being in His grace and in His mercy. We live by His grace and in this are justified by faith. If we indeed live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit brothers and sisters. Let us not deceive ourselves for God is not mocked. What a man sows he reaps. If we sow to the Spirit we shall reap everlasting life as opposed to the flesh which reaps corruption and death. Let us not boast in anything other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to us and we to the world. Stand fast brothers and sisters.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
We are living in a day where the Gospel is under more threat than it ever has been in the last 2000 years. Quite an incredible statement when you consider the history of martyrs and persecution that took place century after century. We seem to believe that we must not condemn anyone who preaches “the gospel,’ and that the motivation must not be questioned, rather as long as the message is preached then we simply leave the motivation of the preacher to God. I agree with this. Let the Word go forth and let the Lord be the judge. Yet in the scripture we see something entirely different in regard to “another gospel.” If “another,” gospel is preached other than that which was delivered, then the one who engages in this is cursed. And unless we did not get it, Paul repeats himself ” I say again, if anyone preaches any gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” We should let that sink in for a moment. Paul pronounces a curse over those who preach a false gospel.
In the immediate context Paul is talking about legalizers or Judiazers. People who professed faith in Jesus but still were under the law and desired to see others under the law. Yet this curse is more than appropriate to ascribe to the “cheap grace” or the “prosperity gospel,” and the myriad of other so called gospels that exists today. We hear so many say “well as long as Jesus is being preached.” Jesus was being preached by those whom Paul was speaking of. In the end brothers and sisters, the Gospel is something that we receive through the Holy Spirit. And those who receive it recognize it in others. Paul did not receive it from anyone. In fact, after his salvation he was gone for three years into Arabia. And when he finally came to Jerusalem he only stayed for fifteen days where he conferred with Peter and James only, and then he was gone again for fourteen years. No one knew him personally in Judea, they had only heard of him. This “training,” that Paul received from God himself would mean that Paul would show no personal favoritism to any man, no matter what that man was perceived to be by others.
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.(Rom 1:16) The Gospel is simply the good news about Christ and His Kingdom. It is personified in the fact that He has set you free from the bondage of sin and death. He came to set the captive free.He came to restore the broken. He has redeemed our fallen souls. He has made a way for us to the Father and it comes only through Him. He loved you while you were yet in your sin. He who the Son sets free is free indeed, he is completely liberated from the curse of the law. And that last point is why he was so hated by many of the legalizers and why he would confront Peter to his face. Brothers and sisters, if we want to be friends with the world then never confront anyone about anything. Stay hiding in your silence. Peep out from behind your twitching curtains and watch as false gospels are taught everywhere and do and say nothing. Doing that will make you the exact opposite of Paul. There is nothing loving about fearful silence wrapped up in virtuous overtones. Its the truth that sets men free, not your love. Your love only makes a difference when it is aligned with truth. Jesus alone and His gospel is the way the truth and the life.
1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love , I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
In the previous sentence Paul tells us that we have to earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet, even above and beyond the best gifts, which we have indeed to earnestly desire, we must pursue love. It is not one or the other, God forbid. That’s a lie. Not only must the man or woman display the manifestation of the Spirit, above and beyond even that, He must walk in the greatest gift of all, love. Not human love, supernatural love. The kind of love that can only belong to the born again man or woman. The kind of love that shatters the gates of hell. The kind of love that inspired God to create us in the first place. The love that sent His only Son to die for the whole world. The kind of love that pursues us even when we are yet in our sin. The love that confounds hell itself. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do. What kind of love motivated Jesus to cry this out in the midst of the greatest agony ever suffered? What kind of love would motivate Stephen to cry out the same thing even as those cruel merciless stones rained down upon his mortal body? Supernatural love. If one is truly endued with power from on high, that power will be first and foremost manifested in love in his or her life, the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Paul begins with what love does not do or what it isn’t. It does not envy. It is not boastful. It is not full of pride. It does not behave in a deliberately offensive manner. It is not selfish. It is not easily provoked. It does not think the worse of people. It does not rejoice when others fall. Love, instead, revels in the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love, indeed, never fails. It never fails. For this love is the manifestation of God Himself, in His own and through His own. It can never fail because God never fails. It is eternal for God is eternal. When the end comes, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and the Kingdom of God rules and reigns for all eternity then of course we wont have to hope any more, for all hope is fulfilled. We will no longer have to trust in the God that we cannot see, for now we shall see Him face to face.
Knowledge will vanish because we shall know as we are known. When all things are fulfilled in this manner, then love still stands forever. We are yet in this world, but the world to come is coming soon. Now we are like children, then we shall be complete in Him. Now we see in a mirror dimly, then face to face. Imagine it saints!!! There is now and there is then, we still exist in the now. And now we have the manifestation of the Spirit, then, all things are complete, perfect. And when that perfect has come, then all these other things, besides love, shall fall away. Do not let anyone fool you, do not be ignorant about these things brothers and sisters. For certain men have a form of Godliness, nevertheless they deny the power of God and say that it has ceased. From such men turn away.
1Co 9:25 And every one who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown; but we an imperishable.
We have to run this race in such a way that we are trying to win. An athlete is totally committed to his or her sport. They will not do anything that would undermine their ability to be in the best shape that they could be. This is a fairly simple truth which has been preached on a lot and few would disagree with the truth of it. Yet, the context of chapter nine is money. It seems like Paul is complaining about not being supported financially. He then lays out the reasoned argument as to why he should be just like some of the the other Apostles. He says things like “who plants a vineyard and does not eat of the fruit?” And again “you shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain.” And then he uses the always interesting word “nevertheless.” This adverb is used in a sentence after a concession. He concedes that the rule is that he should be supported “but.” And it is the but that is interesting.
“We have not used this but endure all things lest we hinder the Gospel.” “That when I preach the Gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.” It follows that just because you can do a thing, does not mean you should. An athlete does not have to train every day. He or she does not have to rigidly watch their diets. They have the freedom to do such things, but would it be wise? Would it hinder their ability to run the race properly? And of course, it would. This is what Paul is saying in chapter nine, which is so often used in defense of countless ministries being supported. Paul disciplines himself and refrains from what could be lawfully his “lest when I have preached to others I myself should not be disqualified.” The gospel is central to everything that Paul does. He lives and breathes the Gospel. He even goes as far as to say that “it would be better for me to die than anyone should make his boasting void.” Death would be more appealing to Paul than anyone accuse him of preaching the Gospel for money’s sake.
This passion that causes us to run the race is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! The genuine saint is horrified if he or she would do anything that would bring their Lord and His gospel into disrepute. They would rather suffer the loss. Saints, how then do we run this race? In some kind of half heart-ed measure? Shall we not run this race of life like the top athletes who disciplines their body in order to win the price? And that price is but for a perishable crown, something that can never last. Yet we for an imperishable crown! For holiness sake! For glories sake! For righteousness sake? For Christ’s sake! These are all eternal. With our eyes firmly set upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel, we run, not like those of the world who run for money and for fame and for fortune. Our treasure lies in heaven above. We store up our treasure by running the race with everything that we have, holding nothing back. Laying down every single thing that would hinder us and the Gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom. This is our calling brothers and sisters, to lay it all down, starting with our rights. Paul was laying down his right.The only right we really have is the right to suffer and die for the cause of Christ! And we know that those who suffer with Christ shall reign with Him. That is our reward, that is our “imperishable crown.”
Who indeed? We humans love to deify men. We love to lift them up and glorify them. Christians in particular love to do this. It is really an abomination to God and shall not be overlooked. Diotrephes is the logical conclusion of the lifting up of men which is why the apostle Paul tackles this issue head on. If we elevate men, men will love it. If we desire to follow men, and we so often do, the very same men will love it. They will, of course, for decorum’s sake, deny any of this. Even as men lift them aloft above their heads, they will feign giving Jesus the glory, but their actions and the actions they allow in others denies this. Paul smashes into this head on in his typical style and no holds barred words. “Neither he who plants is anything, not he who waters, but God who gives the increase,” is everything. We are nothing without God, even that which we have was given to us. What then can we glory in, other than Christ? How could we ever let stand for one minute anyone who would try and raise us up? God forbid.
He who plants and he who waters are one. One Body. One work here on earth. Nothing rises above the spiritual parapet save Jesus Christ. If you look up and see a man, God help that men. If you look up and try to raise up that man to anything other than what He is in Christ, part of the Body, one in nature, then God help you. All of it robs from God who gives the increase. All of it robs from Christ who is preeminent. Its all robbery, its all theft, its all religion. Diotrephes loved the preeminence and allowed himself to be raised up and encouraged others to raise him up. Men like this make themselves indispensable . This means they steer the sheep towards reliance upon them and not the great Shepherd. Do you know anyone like this? Unless we are forever pointing men towards the Word of God and the risen Christ then we are of the priesthood of Diotrephes. Carnal in nature, carnal in spirit and if it remains so, then lost forever. Jesus Christ first, Jesus last and Jesus forever. The old enemy has caught more men in this trap then any other. More seductive than women, more seductive than money, the greatest seducer of all, power and the desire for it and the lust of it, in all its many manifestations.
My uncle was a dispatch rider in the WW2. He was a private. It was a dangerous mission so the High Command were never going to waste men of higher rank in delivering messages. In the scale of things, in the order of importance, the rider was the least important. You could always replace the rider, but motorbikes were hard to come by. What was important was the message. The one giving it and the one receiving it. It is so in the Kingdom. The one delivering it is can be readily replaced. We brothers and sisters should remember that lest we think too much of ourselves. We are simply one. The message is all important. And whether we ride the bike or maintain the bike then that is all well and good, but the message Giver and the recipient of the message is of vital importance. The message is preeminent and Jesus is the message. Jesus is the author, and by His Blood He came to deliver this message Himself. What general or high ranking officials would ever lower themselves by delivering the message themselves? Yet, the greatest communication ever delivered to men had to be delivered by the greatest one that existed, the One who ever existed, God’s only Begotten Son. Remember this with all of your hearts brothers and sisters, some of us plant, some of us water, but God……but God….but God always has and always will, give the increase by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
Isa 30:10……………………..Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things and prophesy delusions.
In verse eight of Isaiah 30 it was written than the next words are so important that it should be “written on a tablet.” Write it down on a scroll for all to see for all times to come. Not only is the generation here spoken of wicked, and trust in oppression and perversity, but so also shall all proceeding generations fall into their perverse ways. The pattern would, and has, repeated itself over and over again and will do so until the Lord Himself comes back again the second time. In Jesus’ day, He spoke to a wicked and perverse generation. We live today in such a generation. Not any old generation mind you, but the generation that proceeds the coming of the Lord so therefore our generation is akin to the times of Noah.
This generation perhaps more than any other demand “smooth words,” to be spoken to them from the pulpit or anywhere else. They do not desire to hear what is right, they would rather have their ears tickled. God spoke to this situation. ” Because you despise this word (the word of God) and trust in oppression (where the true prophets are muzzled) and perversity, and rely upon them, therefore this iniquity shall be for you.” What iniquity is God speaking of here? He says that this generation is like a bulge in a high wall and the fall will come in an instant. He likens them to lying children who will not be led by the Word of God. They prefer the traditions of their fathers that demand nothing more than an outward show, but have no inner reality. Anyone who dares to point out the glaring discrepancies in the lives of these people are hated and despised and ridiculed and banished. In older days they would be burned at the stake.
The solution the Lord tells us in verse 15 is “In returning and rest you shall be saved and in quietness and confidence you would find your strength.” Come to me says the Lord Jesus all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. There is rest and strength to be found in coming to Jesus. Yet, we see that they would not come to God and be saved. They would have no rest. They would have no strength. They would run from God, they would ride on swift horses to get as far away from God as they could, but you cannot run from God. Their hearts fainted and even at the threat of one, a thousand shall flee we read in Isaiah 30. Contrast that to the saints spoken of in Psalm 91 ” A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but none of it shall come near you.” What a privileged people we are who dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, who abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He is indeed our refuge and our fortress, our God in whom we shall trust.
A Call To The Remnant 