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.
The name Diotrephes means “nourished by Jupiter.” Jupiter was the Roman God, the most important of all their gods and was worshiped across the Roman empire. He symbolizes everything Rome was. And the Diotrephes that we meet in 3rd John is a man who loved to have the preeminence. Many believe that the dagger that was struck at the heart of the Church was Constantine, but in reality it was this man as early as the 80s ad. I discovered over my 20 years participation in the system, that fellowship with mere professors was harmful to my own walk and was met, for the most part, by indifference from those who at best, were perpetual babes as opposed to sons and daughters. This perpetual state of infancy( and I’m being generous) is perpetuated by the very system itself. Clergy/laity divide is the main symptom of the Diotrophes syndrome. Diotrophes replaced Jesus by putting himself in His place. This is why he was such an enemy to John. He would be upstaged by John and for men who love the preeminence, there is nothing worse than being upstaged.
There can be no spiritual progress in a system where Jesus has been usurped. We are called to be sons and daughters, not perpetual babes being taught the same rudimentary things week in and week out by a system that is, for the most part, devoid of the Holy Spirit. Who can grow unless they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit? Could Diotrephes replace Jesus? What would become of the people who sat under him? Would they not slowly die on the vine if they stayed there? I believe this situation is what kept Paul up at night. This was the reason for his prayers, tears and warnings, night and day for three years. Jesus addresses it through John in 3rd John and then again the first chapters of Revelations. So serious was the charge from Jesus that it came with a dire warning, the removal of the Lampstand. Jesus does not make idle threats. There is nothing to suggest that repentance came. So, a religion began to form without a Lampstand, and culminated in throwing in its lot in with Rome and Constantine.
Thankfully God always has a remnant and throughout all of those times they stood fast. Millions were killed as they were hunted down by the hordes of Diotrephes. Men, so loving and desirous of power and influence and authority and most of all the preeminence, that they were willing to hunt down every challenger to their position and kill them. And yet, of course, this only made the genuine Church all the more stronger as they stood against hell itself. In the end, the devil settled for clergy/laity divide. He knows this guts any gathering of its power because by its very system, Jesus is usurped. And when Jesus is usurped, nothing grows. And so we have fig tress that have no figs. From a distance it promises much but on closer inspection it has no fruit. How can it have fruit when it is overtaken by the Diotrephes syndrome?
“We can attach our name to a city, a tower, a temple, a religious movement, a ministry— to beautiful things we do in the name of the Lord and set upon a pedestal for all to admire. But we can attach no name to ashes on the altar.” (Kalli Womack Cook) When Jesus is preeminent there are no names. There is no posterity, there is no position. There is only Him and Him lifted up. This is the source of all spiritual power, it starts and ends with Jesus being elevated. When man elevates himself then God vanishes. “It’s not just the pastors on the stages of modern churches. It’s everyone involved: the worship leaders, the band members… all that goes into a “worship service” – everyone who has a title/position in these church systems. I would say even the congregation because they approve, affirm and encourage it. Actors on a stage. It’s all a show. They love the “preeminence “. I’ve been a part of that scene in the past. The feeling of preeminence is a real thing, a feeling of superiority. Our traditions are more comforting than a real relationship with the Living God. We continue to build our own kingdoms in this world. (Jennifer Dietrich Warren)
Actors on a stage. The Greek word for actor is “hypokrites,” where we get the English word hypocrite. Someone who pretends to have something they do not actually possess. The actual Greek word is a compound noun, its made up of two Greek words that literally translate “an interpreter from underneath.” Underneath what? Underneath the mask, as ancient Greek actors wore masks. In the case of clergy, what they are pretending to have, which they do not, is the preeminence. Unless Jesus has the preeminence, everything is just acting on a stage with a mask on. Diotrephes was deadly afraid of being exposed by John, so he banned him from coming to their gathering and expelled anyone who agreed with John. He knew he would be “upstaged,’ and this of course, lies at the very heart of the Diotrephes syndrome. Its about power and ego and prestige and authority and under no circumstances will the Diotrphes man ever allow himself to be usurped. He has already usurped Jesus in his desire to be preeminent. In effect he has sold his soul in a desire to be recognized and to be worshiped.
Brothers and sisters, this system is heading towards its zenith. The coming climax is the great whore church. This is where those who have sold their souls for preeminence will get everything their hearts have ever desired. They will take this new found authority as a sign from God of His pleasure and of course, will be merciless towards all who stand in their way. They will be given the authority to hunt down all those “who oppose God,” meaning those who oppose them. Authority. It is always what the devil has desired. He demanded that Jesus fall down and worship him. He would give Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down to him. The clergy system will be given all the power they ever desired by bowing down to the evil one. And every true and genuine saint will represent the Apostle John, rejected by the ones who seek the preeminence. And the Diotrephes syndrome will have its glorious moment, and then, of course, Christ the Lord, the preeminent one shall return in all His glory.
2Pe 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
We live in a day and age of false prophets and false teachers. They speak great swelling words from high and lofty pulpits. The Word of God represents the waters of life, yet these men are described as wells without water. Can you imagine something as useless as wells without water? They promise much but can deliver nothing. They are clouds carried on the wind. They are driven by their own passions and not the wind of the Spirit. Not only are they in error, but they spread error for their own dishonest gain. They are followed by people of like minded passions. Imagine a man who stands up and rebukes a virus and then has no shame when the virus continued on unabated? Great swelling words, devoid of all truth and life. Imagine a man who would tell “his people,” that a certain President would win and then has no shame when it does not come to pass?
The man or woman of God are wells with water. They are humble because they have been humbled. They reach the broken because they themselves were broken. They are tenderhearted because they have been the recipient of a great Love that they did not deserve. They are carried by the wind of the Holy Spirit. He drives them, He leads them, He guides them into all truth. He fills these broken vessels with living water and if flows through them. He fills them with the glory of God and it shines through every broken part of their humbled hearts. They comfort one another with the very comfort that they themselves were comforted with. Their words are not empty but rather they are full of life, the life of God. For the false teacher there is prepared the eternal blackness of darkness forever. For the child of God there is the eternal light and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Keep sharing the truth brothers and sister.
The ultimate judgement of God and the ruin of man is when God gives a person or nations up to their own uncleanness that flows from the lusts of their own hearts. They are consumed by their vile affections, so we are told in Romans chapter one. The morning has come for the nations and the day shall have its end. The rising sun of the morning casts a light upon their corruption. It is clearly seen. No longer is it hidden in the shadows. It does not skulk in the dark recesses of the alleyways. Rather, it marches boldly down Main St. It celebrates its sin openly and brazenly and not content with that, compels others to bow before it and acknowledge it as their own.
A disaster, a singular disaster is at the door (Ezek 7:5) and it will effect all of the nations. It is the beginning of the end when this disaster strikes. God will not spare, the nations shall know that He is the God who strikes. Pride budded on the rod and now it has come into full bloom. There is no longer any pretense. God is wholly and fully rejected by the nations. Once they had for a pretense an honor of God but now the halls of their power, their institutions and all their ways have become corrupted. It is one thing to conspire in the shadows, it is quite another to break into open rebellion and raise an angry mocking fist at God. And therefore God will strike, He will rob the rebels of hope and they will be overtaken with fear. Their legs will not work under them for fear and they will not be able to run or stand and fight.
Men have always sought solace in the usual hiding places. They hide within the confines of their own bravery. In their pride they hide. In rebellion and hope for tomorrow they find their last stand,but they cannot stand from the God that can and will strip them of all of these things. They have put much stock in their wealth and their prosperity. They have built castle after castle with them. Yet one by one these castles will fall as the sanctuary of their wealth is taken from them. Up to this point it has been the solid ground upon which they stood, now the very ground beneath them shall give way. In that day it will be better to have “fields of corn rather than mines of gold.” Their gold will be useless to them.
Men seek no messenger to rebuke them of their sin rather they seek council from lying prophets who will tell them what they want to hear, for a price. And these prophets promise them peace but peace shall not come. Men have despised God with rebellion and mixture, mixture being a thing that God despises. Therefore in the coming days of their calamity there shall be no help from God for He is the author of that very calamity and those who speak against it speak against God. The kings of the world shall mourn and its princes shall be dismayed but they will not repent. Rather they shall turn on God’s remnant saints. This singular disaster shall usher in the days of the great tribulation. There shall be no pre-tribulation rapture. They shall make war on the saints and the saints shall be overcome as they fall into their hands (Rev 13:7)
Yet take comfort in this brothers and sisters, the Lord Himself shall be with us in the midst of the fire. Our tormentors shall look and see and know that Christ is in us and with us. The whole world shall look and see that Christ is in us. As we are martyred then we shall be a witness to the whole world. Those who endure to the end shall be saved. The world will witness Christ in us and their guilt shall be sealed. The Kingdom shall be demonstrated to all the world as a witness and then the end shall come (Matt 24:14)
For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:(Col 2:9-10)
You are complete in Him. In Jesus we find fulfillment. We find everything that we need to live this life. In Jesus dwells the fullness of God and that fullness dwells in us. Circumcision was the sign of the Old covenant, and in the new our hearts are circumcised. The proof of this circumcision of the heart is found in verse seven. It says that those who are in Him are rooted and grounded in Him and established in Him. And it says that they are abounding in thanksgiving. That word abounding in the Greek means to “superabound.’ Its an excess, filled to overflowing, flooded. If you are complete in Him one of the major signs of this will be a life lived in extravagant thankfulness.
A thankful heart is a healthy heart. One who is abounding in thankfulness is rooted and grounded in the reality of what the Lord has done for them. It dominates their thinking. It directs their emotions. It counteracts self pity. It focuses the mind. It keeps the smile on our faces despite our circumstances. It affect the countenance. A thankful heart shines out from our face and it radiates light into the darkness of every situation. It gives us a youthful spirit. Thankfulness leads to joy. And this joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength. We all know people who are not thankful, who are in fact grumblers. They abound in grumblings. They are self focused. They are miserable. They are fearful. They are angry and discontent.
Brothers and sisters, beware lest anyone steal away your thankful heart. In verse eight we are warned where this theft could come from. Philosophy. We get out word sophistry from this word. And in this case it was Jewish sophistry. Much talking and arguing and debating. This will steal away your thankful heart and draw you away from the simplicity of the faith that was established in you. The traditions of men, whether it was Jewish traditions or whether it is the traditions of religious men who are professors of Christianity today and in the last several centuries and millennia, are nothing more than the basic principals of this world. Only as we find fulfillment in Christ alone shall we walk in thankfulness. It is by revelation and not the clever arguments of religious men. One is supernatural and bound in Christ, and the other is natural and bound in the vain imaginations of men. One is life, the other ids death. Beware brothers and sisters and guard your thankful hearts.
The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of king in a limited constitutional monarchy (think of Great Britain) The king, sometimes depersonalized by the term “the Crown,” is in such a country no more than a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. He is lauded, feted and supported, but his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver the tame, colorless speech put into his mouth by the real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make believe, but is rooted in antiquity, it is a lot of fun and no one wants to give it up (Tozer)
This is a quote from the last piece Tozer ever wrote. It is a confession to being part of a system that had relegated Christ to being no more than a figurehead and that same system had robbed Jesus of His authority within their gatherings. In Great Britain there is a Queen. She and her family survive within what is known as a constitutional monarchy. She has no real power. The power all resides within Parliament and the Prime Minister. These of course are elected positions, the people choose. The Queen’s main role is cutting ribbons, launching ships and drawing tourists. She also is a symbol of stability, but in the end, she could be rejected from even this limited role if the people so chose.
This is Tozer’s argument. The average church in America has relegated Jesus to a limited role. Rather than a Prime Minister, we have a senior pastor or minister. Jesus is acknowledged as Lord, of course, but it practice He has been relegated and man has taken the position. The Holy Spirit, for the most part, has no role within the average American church. The Word of God is readily dismissed in favor of tradition and customs. The Protestant world readily criticizes the Catholic mass (as well they should) as nothing more than the same thing repeated every week. (laying aside the obvious erroneous centerpiece of the Eucharist) And yet, for the most part, you also know exactly what to expect every week at your local church.
Tozer blames the following two reasons for this disaster…..1. The power of custom, precedent and tradition within older religious groups. These, like gravitation, affect every particle of religious practice withing the group, exerting a steady and constant pressure in one direction. Of course direction is toward conformity to the status quo. Not Christ but custom is Lord. And the same thing has passed over into the other groups such as the full gospel tabernacles, the holiness churches, the pentecostal and fundamental churches and the non-denominational churches found everywhere throughout the North American continent.
The second cause is the revival of intellectualism among the evangelicals. This, if I sense the situation correctly, is not so much a thirst for learning, rather a desire for a reputation of being learned. Our Evangelical faith ( which I believe to be the true faith of Christ and His Apostles) is being attacked these days from many different directions. IN the Western world the enemy has forsworn violence. He no longer comes against us with sword and fire, he now comes smiling, bearing gifts. He raises his eyes to heaven and swears that he too believes in the faith of our fathers , but his real purpose is to destroy that faith, or at least modify it to such an extent that it is no longer a supernatural thing it once was. (Tozer-The Waning Authority of Christ in the churches-pages 14-16)
Tozer lays this out almost 70 years ago, on his death bed so to speak. The old prophet saw in one last sweep of history, what had become of the professing churches. Can I say brothers and sisters, it has degraded so much more so in the last 70 years. If the authority of Jesus was waning 70 years ago in the churches, it is all but gone now. So the question becomes “what must we do.” Tozer asks that very question in the last paragraph and I will leave you with his suggestions……….
What, then, are we to do? Each one of us must decide and there are at least three possible choices. One is to rise up in shocked indignation and accuse me of irresponsible reporting. Another is to nod in general agreement with what is written here but take comfort in the fact that there are exceptions and we are among the exceptions. The other is to go down in meek humility and confess that we have grieved the Holy Spirit and dishonored our Lord in failing to give Him the place His Father has given Him as Head and Lord of the Church. Either the first or the second will but confirm the wrong. The third, if carried out to its conclusion, will remove the curse. The decision lies with us.
A Call To The Remnant 