Heb 12:5-6 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
It is interesting that these scriptures come in the context of the race of faith. Discipline and obedience are part and parcel of what it means to be sons and how God treats us. How we react to such scourging seems to be the difference between those who are sons and those who are illegitimate. Gods sons and daughters see all things in the light of Calvary. We know we have not suffered like the Lord in the garden, we have not sweated great drops of blood under extreme pressure. Neither have we had to suffer for the sins of a guilty world. We have not been rejected like Jesus nor have we suffered as He did physically. In all these things Jesus was obedient to His Father’s voice.
The peaceable fruit of righteousness is produced in those who have been disciplined and chastened. When a piece of land is purchased, first the trees and the shrubs must be cut down. Then the back-breaking work of removing the stumps takes place. Stones are removed one by one and the clods of the ground are broken down into soil. Then the ground is ready to be tilled. We are the purchased ground. If we do not yield to the process then we produce no fruit and God only deals with potential fruitfulness. As we know, vines that do not produce fruit are cut down and burned in the fire. It is a similar concept here in chapter 12. There are two kinds of sons, one is good, the other is illegitimate. One honors is father no matter what, the other rebels against His discipline and disqualifies himself.
The son of God pursues peace, the other pursues war. The son of God lives in holiness, the other lives defiled by sin. The son lives in the grace of God, in the full knowledge that his favor is unmerited, the other believes himself to have position and has an entitled attitude. The son lives without bitterness, the other allows bitterness to take root in his unkempt field. The son stands upon an unshakable foundation that is Christ Himself, the other stands upon a foundation of his own making so that when the shaking comes everything that he has falls. The son knows and understands that His God is a consuming fire and that everything of this world shall be burned up, therefore he lives for the next world. They await their place in the city to come, the city of the living God. He knows that he is registered in heaven to God and that his company shall be that of innumerable angels and the general assembly of the Church. This is his reward.
(Php 4:6-7) Be anxious for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
How many times have you read that brothers and sisters? Many years ago, for the better part of many months, the Lord laid this Scripture on my heart. Fear had been such a part of my life since childhood. On the outside it would never seem this way, yet my fears were my secret chains. Fears of death. Fears of life, multiple insecurities about myself and my surroundings. The old Frank drank and did drugs to quiet these noisy perpetually clanging chains. The new Frank who had been born again no longer had the crutches of old to lean upon. And yet, time and time again the words “be anxious nothing,” would rise up to be counted in my soul. This peace of God that surpasses all understanding seemed like some our of reach utopia, yet there it was. Would we be told not to be anxious if it were not possible? My head knew if must be possible if God commanded us not to be anxious, but how to attain such a peace?
After many months of being stuck on this Scripture and bringing it before the Lord, I realized the Lord was showing me that it was sin. To fear was sin. To be anxious was a lack of trust. I realized that I was offending my Lord. It changed everything for me. I didn’t suddenly overnight stop being anxious or walk in a peace that surpassed understanding, but I now had identified the root cause of my problem and so from then on was determined to “work this out,” just as we were told to work out our salvation. It was part of the sanctification process. And a key phrase for me was found in this very same chapter.
“For I have learned, in whatever state, to be content.” (v 11) There was a learning process. If you look back at your lives brothers and sisters, how many times has the Lord been with you and kept you? Hundreds? Thousands? Multiple thousands? Yes, and every-time He has taken us through. All through those times we are learning. Learning what? About His faithfulness. And as we understand and recognize His continual faithfulness, even when so many times we ourselves were not trusting, then we grow in our own faith because of witnessing His. And this produces thanksgiving in our hearts. This thankful heart is a sweet aroma to God and a powerful salve to our many trials.
And the way forward is to take our thoughts captive. This is our work but the tools have been given to us by the Lord. Whatever we focus our minds on, we magnify. Sin is magnified as we continually gaze upon it. Fear is also magnified as we feed it with our thoughts. And so we have been instructed to meditate on these things……..what is true, what is noble, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely. Concentrate on good reports and what is virtuous. Consider all things that are worthy of praise and meditate on them. In this way we are focusing the mind on the goodness of God and rejoicing in that. No matter if we are full or hungry, rich or poor, sick or in health, we rejoice in God whether hungry, poor or sick. And in that rejoicing and coming into His presence, anxiousness flees away like the vacuous shadow that it is.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
What things were previously gain to Paul? Paul had just laid out his religious qualifications. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. No one among the group he was describing, the Christian ministers from Jerusalem, was more qualified than he was. And yet these qualifications merely led to “the righteousness of the law.” These men who boasted of their qualifications in order to elevate themselves had their mind set on the things of the world. They desired to be elevated in the eyes of men. They boasted. Yet, Paul says that their God was their belly and their glory was actually their shame.
Brothers and sisters, we are either heavenly minded or earthly minded. You cannot be both, its a mind set. Its the seat of your affections. It will determine the words that come out of your mouth and the way that you live your life before the world. Paul is having the same problem in this chapter as he had in 1 Cor 12. There he spoke of the dangers of talking about your spiritual revelations, calling himself a fool, but having been once again compelled to put a certain group of people in their place and call them out. Both in 1 Cor 12 and in this chapter he boasts about first, his infirmities and secondly his losses. For in speaking in this manner, he is humbled and Christ is elevated.
And so what is the key teaching of this chapter three? It is the dichotomy between having a “righteousness,” that comes from the law, and having a righteousness “which is from God by faith.” The first puffs you up. It seeks to elevate you. It causes you to become “enemies of the cross of Christ.” It shall destroy you. It shall cause you to worship worldly things. Your god shall be “your belly, meaning your lifestyle, gains made by merchandising the things of God, thus enriching yourself. You will seek and often attain fame and that fame, in the spiritual realm, is your very shame. The second righteousness , that which is from God by faith enables you “to know Him and the power of His resurrection.”
To know Him intimately it to gain the everlasting life, resurrection life! To have this kind of righteousness causes you to walk in resurrection power, the power of the risen Christ. This righteousness grants you the right, yes that’s right, the right and the privilege to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. In this way we are conformed to His death, even the death of the cross and to His life, yes even the life of His resurrection. All of this leads to eternal life. Might I suggest you refrain from boasting in anything other than the cross of Christ and your infirmities and loss, that the power of Christ may rest upon you. What kind of righteousness do you have?
Years ago I saw a documentary of a certain part of Africa. For 10 long months it sees no rain. First the mighty river dries up and then it becomes pools.Then the pools slowly shrink until they are nothing more than wet mud-holes. In this particular documentary, it showed a giant crocodile that had taken up residence right in the middle of a mud-hole. Despite its presence, deer and other animals risked their very lives in order to partake in the last of the water. A small number of animals, rather than taking up residence with the crocodile,undertook a long migration in search of water. Yet almost all the animals that were indigenous to this geographic location, refused to go in search of water and died before the rains came. Animals that in normal circumstances would never come within 100 yards of a crocodile, came right up beside him in a desperate attempt to get some satisfaction, from this drying mud-hole.
When God withdraws the rain of His presence from the church we see many strange things. The majority stay where they are and slowly die as they throw their lot in with their former predators.Others, like the deer that panteth for the water-brooks, are driven to make journeys they would otherwise never make. Driven out into the deserts and dry places in their desperate desire to find living waters. The tragedy for many in the “church” today is that they can live a life, devoid of His presence, and not even know that they are dying. Imagine that this ten months without rain is a season or seasons in Christendom. Generation after generation sucking on mud, barely surviving on the moisture that remains in the mud hole. Getting down and dirty in the mud, and being dangerously close to the world as they try to survive in the dry season. To try and operate in this world as a church without the Holy Spirit and the presence of the living God is to be reliant upon a mud-hole. Vestige of some by- gone days where once the river flowed. Talk of past victories but no present life. Living on memories and manna from a bygone age.
As someone who now lives in Kansas, a place that only gets about 33 inches of rain a year, I know how dry the ground can become and how deep that dryness is. At first when it rains the rain merely flows over the top surface. The ground is so hard it does not penetrate. It needs to consistently rain over several days for the ground to become saturated,to be thoroughly penetrated. Flash floods come and go very quickly and when it is gone, it is like it has never rained because it never penetrated. Yet, when it rains consistently over time, the effects are deep and lasting.There is a deep penetrating rain coming for Gods people. He has taken His people into the wilderness, the valley of death, the valley of decision. Because of the intensity of the battle that lies just ahead of us, it was and is necessary for the Lord to take His people into the desert place of testing. They have left the mud-holes of the world and the crocodiles behind. They refused to stay and die in a place of compromise. They have been driven into the desert and there they will find the Church, in a place where it seems impossible for anything to live, never mind thrive. Survival here does not depend upon traditions or past victories or the dusty heritage of religion. No, rather it depends upon the hand of God alone., A place where we once again cry out to the Living God for Him and Him only. Those who truly desire Him will stay in this place of testing. The Remnant of Gods people will prevail for our God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Yes there is an intensity of persecution for Gods people just appearing on the horizon. There are storm clouds gathering even as you read this. There is coming a time such as has never been seen before for Gods people. Yet with huge storm clouds come great rain falls. God will pour out His Spirit in a such a way that His children will stand in the pouring saturating rain of His presence. And despite the intense persecution and all out war that the old serpent will wage on us, we will rejoice and glorify and lift our hands on high. We will praise God for the rain that falls. The persecution will seem light in comparison to the eternal weight of glory that is to be experienced in His presence. God will inhabit the praises of His people who worship Him with their whole hearts. Gods people will only care that His presence is with them. As long as He goes before them, they will follow. They will follow Him right into the valley of the shadow of death. For they know that He will lead them to the pure waters of life.They will allow nothing to separate them from their God. Stay the course brothers and sisters, the rain is coming, and then comes the King.
Php 2:12b … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Oh the trouble this little portion of Scripture has caused! The word “work,” tends to have caused the most trouble. Of course its not the word work but rather the phrase “work out.” Which simply means to finish. When you were born again by the grace of God through faith, and not of works, lest any man should boast, a work was begun in you. Begun mind you. Something had been initiated, and that something was new life. God gave you something that He had promised, just like when God gave the promised land to the Israelites. And just as they had to possess the land then you too must possess that which was given to you. There remains the battle between the flesh and the spirit, actually its a war.
Will you fight the good fight? Will you resist the devil? Will you humble yourself? Will you forgive? Will you love your enemies? Will you draw near to God? Will you turn the other cheek? Will you refuse to seek revenge? Obedience versus disobedience. That is your work and God will not do it for you. No one can do it for you. And for those who have encountered God, you know that the greatest love story ever told was unleashed into your very being. Imagine disappointing the one who is your grand obsession? Are you not fearful of that? Does that not make you tremble? Fear and trembling not because of any dread or any fear of hell or what will happen to you, bur rather a very real fear that you would disappoint the lover of your soul. It is our lives work to be “imitators of God as dear children.” And we strive towards that place by obedience and yielding. No genuine saint willy nilly disobeys his or her Lord. Therein lies our “working out.” The lazy disobedient scoundrel who says that God has done it all and there is no part for us to play will sink down into the morass of dead orthodoxy and be left with nothing more than a mental assent to an abstract truth.
Eph 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love.
How astonishing that we have been called to imitate God and walk in love as Christ also loved us. We are to love as we are loved. God never calls His children to do what they cannot. He has empowered us, enabled us and equipped us to imitate Him in being a sweet sacrifice to God, a sweet smelling aroma. The Love of Jesus was measured by His sacrifice. Calvary is the measure of Gods love. If God called His Son to sacrifice for us, then He is calling His children to imitate Jesus. Not that we are saviors of the world but rather we represent and manifest the living Christ in us to a dark and broken world. When you measure yourself, you must measure yourself against the Lord. Not your pastor or your dear Godly grand father, no, you must measure yourself and your faith against that which is perfect. It is a high calling no doubt. He is our High calling. He is our North star, and just because popular culture would say “what would Jesus do,’ does not make that wrong. Only remember this, we do not have to wonder what Jesus would do, for Jesus dwells within us by the power of the Holy Spirit and has given us His word to lead us and guide us.
And so we are called to walk in love with the same love that Christ loves us with. Walking in love empowered with the truth causes us to walk in light, the very light that shatters the darkness. We know that darkness very well, for we once walked in it. The fruit of the Spirit in us is grounded in goodness and righteousness and truth. These are our weapons, this is the armor we are called to put on. No longer can we walk according to the unfruitful works of darkness, they must have no place in us. We are to put away the former things and rather, put on the fruitful works of the new man. He has filled us with the treasures of heaven in these earthen vessels. He has commanded light to shine out of what was formerly darkness. And the very first place we see the fruits of this light is in our relationships with our wives and husbands. Wives shall submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord and husbands shall love their wives as Jesus loved the Church. Both of these positions are almost always an anathema to the flesh. Whether it is submitting to or loving someone to the point o sacrifice and death, only in Christ and by the power of the Spirit can these attitudes be “put on.” And by the same power the old attitudes must be put away. In all things saints, imitate God and walk in the love of Christ and all its many manifestations.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
It is always surprising to me just how many within the confines of Christendom deny that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. And yet here in the scriptures, very plainly, we are told not to grieve the blessed Holy Spirit. The Greek word here for grieve means to make sorrowful or to distress. Can we make God sorrowful? Can we cause Him distress? Yes indeed we can and it is the knowing of this and the proper understanding of this that creates the lines within which we walk the narrow path. Stray across the lines and we cause our Father grief. He is grieved when we do not act according to the nature He has given us but rather we act as the old man would have acted. ” Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” This is the pleas of David in his great penitent psalm 51. Now, had God abandoned David? No. Yet David had fallen from His good graces and it was required of him to come to His Lord and make confession. And there is no doubt that the joy of His salvation was restored to David.
And so we find in this chapter 4 of Ephesians two sets of instructions. We are to “put of,” all manner of conduct of the old man. And we are to “put on,” all the characteristics of the new man. It is entirely clear that the putting on and putting off is our part. This is how we cooperate with the Lord. We have been delivered from the power of the old man and we have be transformed by the renewing of our minds as the new man. Examples given for the the conduct of the old man are lying, anger, stealing corrupt words, bitterness, wrath, outcry’s and speaking evil of men with malice. Conduct of the new man are truth, forgiveness and peace, honesty, hard work, imparting grace to those who hear us, kindness and being tenderhearted. This shall be our walk until the day of our redemption when this corrupt body is raised in in-corruption. In all tender relationships there is the fear of offending the one that we love and so it is, more completely, with our relationship with the Lord. In fact, it is this tenderheartedness and love that “keeps us.” The power of law was replaced with relationship. In this the law is fulfilled. Our motivation to walk in the Spirit of God is love. Religious men know nothing of this. They are kept by the rule of the law which they fail, without redemption. We the saints are kept by our love relationship with Jesus, which we never want to grieve, but when we inevitably do, He has made provision for us before the throne of grace.
I very rarely give the premise of a poem. Poems should speak for themselves. Poems can say a thousand different things to a thousand different people. A poet reaches into his heart and speaks of what he knows and presents a piece of his heart to others. What is common to him is common to humanity. When he expresses this, it touches others for they recognize that joy and pain and even agony that is common to all of us to one degree or another. Yet I would like to say a few words about this poem that I have written. It is my testimony of being saved. It is where I was. I had come out of my childhood a thoroughly broken human being. And long before my 21st birthday I had buried a son, been homeless, held my second son in my arms who had just been burned over 60% of his body with third degree burns, and suddenly I was gone. I had slipped away beneath the darkness. Into the depths of wrecked humanity. I “knew,” I would not leave this place.
And it was this “knowing,” that was the atmosphere of my own personal hell. It is impossible to convey this place of lost souls. I had walked out of the fire of my childhood and onto broken glass. And suddenly the mind is overwhelmed and you slip away. And so the poem describes a shaft of light that doggedly pursued me. I knew it was there, I ran from it. It was, of course, my Jesus. And he pursued me to the gates of hell. I cannot really describe my encounter with Him. It was an agony, for I could see myself. I, who would have destroyed every mirror in the world had to face what I had become in the incredible light of Christ. And right there I wanted Jesus to look away from me, I did not want this magnificent majestic perfect beauty of Holiness to look on something so deformed by sin. And yet He looked, despite my sin. “I love you.” And in a single moment, I was free. And so, the poem is about my journey to the light. If you know someone who is lost in the depths of darkness, maybe you could share this with them. There is but a single hope in Christ.
If my heart cries out, Lord will you hear me?
If I come to you, Lord will you see me?
What could be worse than the darkness where I stand?
To reach out through the darkness and discover there's no hand
The greater terror than the darkness of the night
Is to consider the possibility that there really is no light
To be so consumed by darkness that there is no way ahead
Is to walk in lockstep with the lost, to walk with the walking dead
Yet all along there was but a single shaft of light
That followed through the fire and was with me in the night
I ran and ran and ran from this but yet it followed me
Even to the ends of the earth and to the depths of the bottomless sea.
I had taken the wings of the morning and fled into the night
I had plunged to the very gates of hell, yet it kept me in its sight
Even in this darkness it still was light to me
I could sense that somewhere in this light I could yet be free
And so with trembling agony I stumbled to the light
I had ran with the forces of chaos and now I had no fight
So my heart cried out to Jesus "Is it true can I be free."
And in a single moment He was standing there with me.
And oh what an agony to to be this near to Him
I could see my lost humanity, that I was drowning in my sin.
And with my very last breath, He had indeed heard me
The light had come to take me home, the light had set me free.
To be known by you sets my troubled heart at ease
It lifts me high above the waves, above the stormy seas
To be known by you fills me with such great desire
It overflows my flooded heart and puts out every fire
To be known by you means that I have been redeemed
Delivered from the guilt and shame and every voice that screamed
To be known by you puts a sword into my hand
To be lifted up from the battle-field that I once more might stand
To be known by you sets all my enemies to flight
And with the Word of God helps me navigate the night
To be known by you it is manna to my soul
For that which once was broken, you have now made whole
To be known by you will hold me in that hour
When all the world is crumbling, I'll be standing in your power
This I know in the depths of my heart to be true
That I am overwhelmed that I am known by you.
I want to share a personal testimony. Many of you, my brothers and sisters in the Lord, over the years, have prayed for my family. I praise the Lord for that. Prayers for youngest son Daniel who has Down Syndrome, and prayers for my oldest son Christopher, who had, to say the least, a very challenging life due to sin and breaking the law. He is 38 now, but all of his troubles really began back in high school. The police were at our door a lot. After he left high school he just kept on going. Alcohol and drugs and crimes related to that. Violence and lies. It broke me as a father and I threw myself at the feet of Jesus. If I tried to get up on my own two feet, I would quickly be knocked back down. I was in over my head and I had no idea how to handle that. The old Frank was constantly screaming for control. It was really an exhausting battle. I was being thoroughly broken. I cried out to God from the depths of my heart, on my knees, more times than I can remember. In the quiet of the night, walking the floor, many many tears. In the morning getting up, and being strong again for the family.
It all came to a head when he was arrested for a very serious crime. The police had been watching him for many months and they had turned one of the guys who bought from him and sent him in to make a purchase and that is when they swooped in and arrested him. They wanted him to turn on the guy above him, but he refused to. And so he was under house arrest awaiting trial. He had to blow into a machine which also takes your picture. Unbeknownst to me, he had a bottle of Whiskey in the basement. A surprise call on the machine at 2am in the morning caught him of guard. He was to turn himself in immediately to be incarcerated. Rather than doing that, he cut the GPS unit of his ankle ( a felony in and of itself) and went on the run for well over a year. We had the US Marshals at out door. He ended up in Scotland and then finally he was caught by the Federales in Mexico. Extradited to Florida and then extradited to Kansas. He was finally home. I agreed to get him a “good,” lawyer, but only if he pleaded guilty to his charges. He reluctantly agreed.
He was remanded in jail and was eventually sentenced to three years in Lansing state prison in Kansas. For the first time in our whole lives, we really began to establish a relationship. I would visit him most Saturdays. In the middle of all of this we faced two horrible court battles in order just to see our grandson. Through every moment in this story there was miracle after miracle, not least the miracle of our sanity. My wife and I grew much closer together and a few times we would just look at pictures of Christoper and Mason and cry together. It was “our pain.” It is hard to explain God’s favor sometimes but every step of the way, He was one step ahead of us. When I was down and thought I could not get back up, He picked me up. When my mind was like a violent sea with mountainous waves, He came to me and whispered that He was jealous for my thoughts and suddenly the waters were still.
It has been around eight years now since Christopher has been released. He committed his life to Jesus and has been out of trouble. A few months ago he came to me and told me he was going to apply to have his three felonies expunged. I was delighted with that idea. Myself and a dear brother prayed about this, as did Christopher’s Godly grandma. Two of the three records were expunged but the most serious of the crimes, the drug dealing was not. When he was sentenced he was put on a drug dealing registry. Very few States have them but Kansas did. For 15 years he has to register with the local Sheriff every three months and pay a fee. If he traveled anywhere in the county, the local Sheriff of where he was going had to be notified. The Judges hands were tied, by law, he could not expunge it. We thanked and praised the Lord for the two that were expunged and committed the other one to His will. About three weeks ago Christopher got a letter from the prosecutors office. The law had just been changed. If you had stayed out of trouble for five years after your probation was over, then the judge now has the discretion to expunge. Yesterday Christopher was in front of the judge and this final part of his history was erased.
I thought about the world expungement. In practical terms it means that if you look up Christopher’s record now, he does not have one. It is like he never had this past. How many of us have been Spiritually expunged? No matter our past, the forgiveness and mercy and grace of the Lord wipes it all away, born again. Renewed. I want to take a minute today to publicly thank my Heavenly Father! And my Lord Jesus Christ who sticks closer to us than a brother. And the power of the Holy Spirit to move over and over again. No matter how many waves threaten to drown us, His hand kept our heads above water. We stand, because of His great love. An incredibly broken situation that seemed to be irreparable, has been put back together by the magnificent Hand of God. Maybe you think your own situation or your family situation is broken beyond repair? Its a lie. There is nothing that God cannot put back together. Take your pieces and bring them before the throne. It is there alone that an all powerful, loving God can take the ashes of your situation and make something beautiful out of it. There is a history of rebellion in my family, but there is a greater history of redemption.
To be broken and contrite we have to actually be broken. It is not an abstract truth but a living reality. God does the breaking. He fellowships with the lowly and the contrite in high and lofty places. He does indeed love us and He does indeed have a plan for each of His children, His plan is to completely dismantle our lives. To be broken is the only true acceptable sacrifice. We see an example of true brokenness in David in psalm 51. David was perhaps one of the most broken men to have ever walked the earth. And then comes Jesus.
The most anguished cry ever uttered, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the true horror for any saint. David “wakes up,” at the sound of the prophets voice and discovers he is far far away from God. The joy of his salvation was gone. His heart was despoiled, and the Holy Spirit was silent in the depths of His heart. And in the midst of that pressing reality he cries out to God, in the depths of his personal darkness, his hands are raised towards the light, he cries out this great eternal truth ” against thee alone oh God have I sinned.” Broken, humbled and contrite and in the midst of that he finds total restoration. This is what God loves. This is the acceptable sacrifice.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
There is a great gulf that exists, a divide that cannot be bridged. Much like the divide between the beggar Lazarus and the unnamed rich man. This divide exists between the those who are genuinely saved, and all the rest of the world. What divides us is not the fact that one set of people will be saved eternally and the other set will perish, although that is certainly true. What truly divide us is fellowship, first and foremost, with God. In verse nine we are told that “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” The saint has an intimate and genuine fellowship with Jesus. And this is primary and it is a calling, we were called into it. This is the gateway into the Body, the Church. All things pass through Jesus. We cannot have spiritual, eternal, edifying fellowship, true fellowship, unless we have fellowship with Jesus. This is the primary reason why there is so little genuine fellowship in Christendom.
Those who have intimate fellowship with Jesus are greatly affected by His suffering, His death and His resurrection. It forms the core of their very being. They see the victory where others see defeat. They see the King high and lifted up because He was lifted up. The Jews were looking for an earthly King who would liberate them from Rome and establish them on this earth in power and glory. The Greeks were looking for a philosopher who by strength of intellect would also rule and dominate. Jesus was utter foolishness to both. God has chosen the things that are despised, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. He hides Himself in the midst of what men consider to be foolishness. He raises up the weak things of this world to confound the wise. Men who are drawn to strength and their own abilities are blind to the God who hides Himself among the broken and the contrite.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus came to call and to heal the broken-hearted. He did not come to the high and the mighty, but rather He came to set at liberty the captive. He came to raise up the pauper and to fellowship with those whom He would deliver. I thank God that we are enriched by the mercies and the grace of God and not the titles and the riches of men. I thank God that the testimony of Jesus is confirmed in His own and that He gives us gifts in order to edify us and establish us in Himself. The greatest gift being that of fellowship with God. The world and the wise may despise us, yet they do not fellowship with God. The mighty and the noble and the wisest of men are but fools to God so therefore God has taken the foolish things of this world and raised them up in Himself. Without education or riches, we, the foolish ones, are recipients of the wisdom of God and the world marvels. We are in Christ, who became for us wisdom from God, and not only wisdom but righteousness and sanctification and redemption and now we glory, not in ourselves, but we glorify the Lord.
Isa 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Imagine the overwhelming feelings of liberty and glory the Jewish people felt when they were released from captivity from Babylon to return home after seventy long years. Arise and shine for the light of liberty has risen above you and is calling you home. And the glory of God rests upon you. Now imagine if you will, a people not held captive for seventy years, but the whole world held captive from the day that Adam bit the apple. Thousands of years have past. Heaven itself closed, the way is barred. And onto this stage, from the glories of Heaven, steps Jesus. The light has come!!! The glory of God walks the earth. He proclaims liberty to those held captive all of their lives. The chains that held them are broken. The door that was locked is wide open. The grave has been rendered powerless.
We are that people brothers and sisters. We must arise and shine for the light has come into our lives and has set us free! We must arise and shine for all the world to see. Those who dwell in darkness and in prison, must now see that the glory of the Living God has risen. There may be a great darkness that has settled over this world but the Lord will arise over you and His glory shall be seen upon you. God has glorified the house of His Glory, we are that house. The gates of heaven are continually open to you, they shall not shut day or night. God has made you an eternal excellence, never forget that brothers and sisters, you are His excellent ones despite what that old liar may whisper in your ear. The walls of His temple are salvation and the gates of the temple are praise. We neither need the sun by day nor the moon by night, for He is an everlasting light to us. We walk by the light of the eternal sun. And the power of darkness is eternally undone. Now rise and shine brothers and sisters, for the glory of the Lord s risen and it has risen over you.
You have to establish a non petitioning heart before you can truly petition the Lord. What do I mean by that? Does your prayer life consist mostly of petitions, meaning, is it just about you asking for things? Take a moment and reflect upon your prayers. I want to give you some examples. In Acts 16 we see Paul and Silas in a terrible situation. They were hungry and thirsty. They were seriously injured. They were held captive. They could well be killed. And here is what we know about their communications with God. ” At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” There is nothing to indicate they were praying for their personal needs, no, rather they were praising God in the midnight hour. That very same hour, the jailer, after crying out “what must I do to be saved,” got saved, his family got saved, Paul and Silas were delivered from their bonds, the stripes upon their backs were tended to and food was set before them.
In Acts chapter seven we see Stephen in a terrible situation. He had just spoken mightily by the power of the Holy Spirit and the crowd were riled up and they had murder in their heart. Did Stephen cry out for deliverance? Did He petition God to shield him in that moment? Here is what happened “He, being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God…..then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. That day a young man called Saul witnessed what had happened and the seeds of his own salvation was planted.
Brothers and sisters, there is much power in not giving heed to the situation you find yourself in. The Kingdom of God transcends all situations, if only we had eyes to see the glory of God through the darkest nights, the good news is that we do. Every night is like the noonday sun to those with eyes fixed upon Jesus. Now, is it right and proper to petition the Lord? Yes, of course. Yet, we all know someone who only ever talks to us when they want something, is that not right? How do you feel when you see that person approach? Does your heart not sink? Does it not sink even deeper when they pretend to be nice to you? We have names for people like that. Hypocrites? Fair weather fans? People who only come around to get what they want or to be part of a success.
First and fore-most in our lives we have been called to glorify God. No matter what our situations are, no matter what chaos the enemy might have caused, we need to stand in the power that comes from glorifying God in our prayers. We need to lift up the name of Jesus. We need to glorify the Lord our God. We need to see Him high and lifted up and then we need to lift up our eyes to that vision of Him. He is with us and He is preeminent not just in our hearts but in every aspect of our lives. Glorifying God and praising His holy name causes the foundations of our captivity to begin to shake. God is not in the business of building prisons, He is in the business of tearing them down. He does not throw people behind prison cells, He throws open the doors. He breaks the bars of captivity. He is worthy to be praised and He has given us the way. Establish the proper order. Love Him, praise Him, give Him honor and glory. Let the principalities and powers know that no matter what, The Lord Jesus Christ will be praised, before any mention of our needs.
Philippians 4:6 Tells us “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We see a very similar text in Matt 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes? And so we see the two sets of instructions from Jesus, be anxious for nothing, or the almost identical phrase “take no thought for your life.” What might be the primary petitions of the saint? And how are these petitions to be framed? Well we see from Phil 4:6 that they are to be framed by, or bathed in, thankfulness. It is the thankful heart that breaks through to the throne-room. And with this thankful heart we pray, we glorify God, and into this heart He pours in His desires. And His greatest desire is that we would be like His Son.
And therefore, having put the cares of this life aside we stand devoid of distractions. We cry out to God that He would help our unbelief. That He would give us wisdom, that He would glorify Himself in whatever situation we find ourselves in. Whether in the depths of a dungeon or kneeling before an angry mob who is about to kill us. Whether we face bankruptcy or the grievous loss of a loved one, how shall we glorify you in this Lord? Job’s prayer was to praise God and acknowledge that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, there is a tremendous power at our disposal if we would only lay down the distractions of this world and lift Jesus us in our minds and hearts and spirits. There are walls to be shaken. There are captives to be set free. Yet we must be free ourselves from the distractions of this world in order to be used in setting at liberty others. Is it possible to live an anxious free life and walk in the power of God? Yes it is. Is it possible to “take no though for your life?” Yes it is. Jesus commanded that we do it and we must decide to do it. It is our decision.
Isa 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near:
There is a time that is called “while He may be found.” It is a mysterious thing, perhaps, “while it is yet day.” No matter, there is no doubt there is a time to seek the Lord while He may yet be found. In the broadest sense and for the most part it is life itself. Almost always while there is yet breath in our lungs, He may be found. Yet in the the very next sentence we are told “let the wicked forsake his way (note the singular nature of the word, it does not say his ways) The wicked are on a wrong path altogether and in order to turn to God they must reverse their course and go in the exact opposite direction. Yet it’s not just his way that has to change, it’s his thoughts too. It is not so much what we are saved out of, for the Lord can deliver us from the gates of hell, it is what we are saved into. The thoughts of a man make up the core of who he is. The true measure of the new man in the new birth is that his very mind has been transformed. And from the depths of who he is, God changes him from the inside out. And now we shall see, glory to God, that out of the abundance of a mans heart the mouth speaks. And it speaks of Jesus.
Now it is certainly true that God will not always strive with a man. A mans heart can be so hardened and his conscience so seared that his time has come and gone, this is a truly terrifying position. If you find yourself coming close to that place, turn and run to God with everything that is in you. He shall still be found. For He will have mercy upon that man and He will abundantly pardon. We as saints may be tempted to think we are living in a world that is beyond redemption, I have thought that thought many times. Yet here is the humility, God says, My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.(Isa 55:8-9) And so just as the rain and the snow falls from the heavens and waters the earth and it brings forth seed for the sower and therefore bread for the hungry, so also does the Word of the God fall down upon the earth. It comes forth from His heart and it always accomplishes what He desires. To the thirsty, behold, water. To the hungry, behold, bread.
And so to those who are watered by the Lord, those who have sought Him out, their thirst is quenched to overflowing. And to those who have been fed by the Lord, they are filled to abundance. They shall stretch out the curtains of their spiritual dwellings for it shall be enlarged. They shall go forth with joy and be led out by peace and the mountains and the hills shall burst into singing before them. And the trees of the field shall clap their hands in delight to see such things. It can clearly be seen that goodness and mercy are following them all the days of their lives. And the thorns and the cares of life are replaced by fruitful trees and evergreens. And they shall always bring forth His fruit in season and they shall never wither for they are as the ones planted by the river, the river of God, the river of life and this river runs with them wherever they go.
Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That scripture is a lovers call not a burdensome command. It calls us and woos us. It beckons us to come like the lover in the night in the song of Solomon. It caresses our hearts and our spirits. Shall we respond? Shall we walk with Him in the cool of the day? Shall we give ourselves to Him? Shall our hearts meet with His heart and shall we feel it burn within us? There are many distractions in this world, so many. Yet we must rise above them all. And we can rise, for we have been given wings that can spread out and catch the updrafts of His presence. He bids us come and it is His very presence that carries upwards, that carries us to the throne room itself. It is there, before the beauty of His Holiness, that we are changed forevermore. There before His glorious majesty that we are transformed. There before His resplendent glory that we are sanctified. It is there where all things are possible. Right there where very soon millions upon millions of saints from every tribe and every tongue and every nation shall cry with all that is within them, Holy, Holy, Holy, is our Lord God Almighty who sits upon the throne, who was, and is and forever shall be. Like a endless wheat field as far as the eye can see, moving as one like the waves of a vast ocean as the wind of the Spirit moves them in unison.
The woman with the alabaster flask in Luke’s account is possibly a prostitute. Her alabaster, being very expensive, undoubtedly was paid for by her “work.” It may even have been her life savings, her security, her future, all inside this jar which she would have clutched tightly to herself. Yet, in her encounter with Jesus, she breaks this jar open and pours out everything she has. Now, all her security, her past works, are laid at the feet of Jesus. In laying herself bare before Jesus, she finds forgiveness and enters into true intimacy and actual love, something she”s have been searching her whole life for. Those who are forgiven much, love much. Those who love this much are willing to sacrifice everything they have.
Isa 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places,
This scripture speaks of Cyrus, who would conquer Babylon. Cyrus, it is said, was an outcast, left abandoned by his mother as a child and saved by a herdsman’s wife. From an outcast he would rise by the power of God and one day take Babylon. Consider Babylon. There are estimates that its walls were anywhere between one hundred and fifty to two hundred and twenty five feet tall and between forty five and seventy five feet thick. Six chariots abreast could race along the tops of its walls. Its radius was estimated to be somewhere in the region of forty five mile which is the equivalent of modern day London. Imagine the whole of London ringed by such walls? And the Lord had raised up an outcast that would one day take this city and free the Jewish people. God would open before him gates that would not be shut. He would make the crooked places straight and break in pieces gates of bronze and bars of iron. He would give him the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.
God is in the business of raising up outcasts and those who have been abandoned. To those who find Him He makes straight their paths. He gives us the power to overcome every obstacle. There are no doors that He cannot open. There are no mountains too high that He cannot help us climb. No waters to deep that we cannot navigate by the power of His strength. He gives us the treasures of darkness. The riches that are to be found in the depths of our calamities and in the presence of our enemies. He takes the ashes of our broken lives and the hidden places of our hearts and makes beauty from them. We who were poor and outcast and abandoned He has made rich and whole by His presence. He has transformed us and He uses us to share the glory of God to the captives that they may be set free. To the crushed and broken hearted that they may be made whole. Rain down you heavens from above and let the sky pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring up together for I the Lord have created it. (Isa 45:8)
Isa 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
The Lord our God has made so many promises to His people. He said He would never leave us not forsake us. He said He would endue us with power from on high. He said He would satisfy those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He promised that the meek would inherit the earth and that the pure in heart would see God. He promised the Kingdom of heaven to those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. He promised that the peacemakers shall be called the sons of God. He promised the over-comers, those who endure to the end, that they would eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. To the same over-comers He promised that they shall not be hurt by the second death. To those who are faithful unto death He promised the crown of life. Hidden manna, a new name, the power over nations and the morning star. Finally, He promises to the faithful, that they shall sit down with Him on His throne and rule and reign with Him.
These, you will notice, are not unconditional promises. We have our part to play. Yet for the joy and the glory set before us, we shall gladly lay down our lives for the name and for the sake of Jesus. He will pour water on the thirsty and floods of water on the dry ground. And for those of His who ask He shall pour out His spirit upon them, He shall fill them and fill them and fill them again with power from on High. They shall stand where others fall. They shall love where others hate. They will be peace-makers in a land of division and strife. They will be pure of heart in a world that is horribly corrupt. His blessings shall pour forth on the offspring of His own and they shall spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses. They shall fly like summer larks in the golden hues of a setting sun. They will soar like eagles among the mountaintops. The sons and the daughters of God shall be a manifestation of His presence in the land and the world has yet some hope while they walk this earth.
(Isa 43:18-19) Do not remember the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
The past flows away like a mighty river that rushes onto the sea. Yet the river keeps on flowing. No matter where we go the river keeps on flowing. Even in the wilderness the river flows. Even in the desert the river flows. In the midst of all of your trials and difficult circumstances, still the river flows. It flows in one direction, it flows out from and back to the Father’s hearts. Follow the river brothers and sisters. We can think back about all the mighty things the Lord has done for us. We can remember our salvation, our deliverance from this world with great joy. We can think about how He changed us, how He molded us, how He led us and guided us and how marvelous are these memories. Yet God Almighty is the God of now and what is to come.
He did not just promise to deliver you from your past, He promised to deliver you home. We cannot camp out or put down roots in the past, we are a traveling people. We are pilgrims and sojourners traveling through this world. The mercies of our past only points us to a God who delivers everyday. The cloud that goes before us is still there and it is leading us home. It keeps us from the noonday sun and leads us. The fire by night burns bright still, and still it burns, and will continue to burn with ever greater intensity the closer we get to home. Look up you saints who have been on the road awhile and see the greater glory of your God. You now know just how faithful He is even when you were not. You know that all of His promises have been yes and amen. And as we journey home our spirits begin to catch glimpses of a place that no eye has seen. An eternal home so otherworldly that our hearts have not even contemplated such a place. Our spirits quicken as we approach, the outer-man may be perishing, but the spirit swells in anticipation of the ultimate new thing. Glory to God, draw us home.
A Call To The Remnant 