1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Fiery trials, suffering and tribulations. In certain circles of Christianity you wont even hear it spoken of. Its almost as taboo as death. Yet in the very next breath Peter tells us to rejoice. Why should we rejoice? We are to rejoice because we are partakers in Christ’s sufferings. We actually enter into something very mystical, very holy, the sufferings of our Lord. When the glory of Christ is revealed we shall be glad indeed that we entered into His sufferings. And in verse 14 we are told that when we are reproached for the sake of Christ that the, “Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us.” In 2 Cor we see another Apostle use almost the exact same language “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” We can be sure that His grace is sufficient for us and when we are in great need of grace, in the midst of sufferings, then the spirit of glory and of God shall rest upon us.
This word “rest,” is the Greek word, “episkēnoō.” It means to “tent,” or to “encamp,” or to “tabernacle.” God Himself will come to you in your distress. He will encamp around you. He will tabernacle with you. His glory, His manifest glory will fall upon you like the morning dew upon the mountains. His sun shall rise above you and His power rain down upon you and envelope you. This is a faithful God whose grace will be more than enough for you to rise up in your spirit above the flesh that is momentary and passing away. Yet your spirit, in the very heart of His, shall remain forever and great will be your joy in that day that you indeed were counted worthy to enter into the sufferings of Jesus. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. (1Pe 4:19)
Your spirit is the most excellent part of who you are and the Lord has called for us to commit the keeping of it into His hands. The phrase “commit the keeping of,” means a deliberate act, like kneeling down or giving over to. We have to do it by an act of our wills, we must give our situations and our sufferings over to Him and not try to keep our souls by our own strength in the midst of it, we shall not succeed. Only in His hands are we safe, only as His power rests upon us can we rejoice in the midst of it all. And only then shall we be glad in that day. Will you carry your soul today to God and commit it to Him in the days of your sore trial? You must do it saints or the trial may just carry you away. Let us do our part, the commiting, and let the Lord do His part, the carrying. He will carry you by His grace and His power shall rest upon you.
The desire of my soul is for your name
And with my soul I have desired you in the night
With my whole heart I have longed for you
For the one who restored my very sight
Just one single touch and I fall down
One word from your precious lips sustains me
I am whole and complete when you are near
Your perfect love in me casts out every fear.
For when I stand in the shadow of my King
My heart bursts into flames and begins to sing
Of your glory and your majesty that makes me whole
I remember the very moment that you took my soul.
Oh take me now and forever Lord I pray
Every day with you is a brand new day
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forevermore
No eye has seen nor ear heard what thou has in store
Cast me upon the ocean of thy great love
Where I am consumed by the one from up above
Adrift forever on thy eternal endless sea
I who once was captive now sings, for I am free
I shall sing of all thy glories until time comes to an end
And then I'll sing again the eternal song that thou has penned
The song of love that forever changed my heart
That carries me to that place where we shall never part.
You are our majesty, this and so much more
You are our bright and morning star, to us an open door
An open door to glory that leads us to your throne
So as we walk this lonely road we are never quite alone
You are our refuge from the storm,
A shade from the searing heat
And if the world had spiritual eyes
They would see us at your feet
For we have been forgiven much
So we love you all the more
You to us who are our King
Forever an open door
Let us step into Your glory
For you are high and lifted up
And in this place of glory
No man can interrupt.
No matter the darkness the light prevails
Just as we saw in the thorns and the nails
Victory in Jesus as the darkness drew near
Victory over hell and death and fear
The world may languish and be spiraling down
Yet victory belongs to the one with the crown
Glory and majesty with the dawns early light
Filled with His strength and ready to fight
The proud shall fall never more to rise
His glory shall be revealed in magnificent skies
The sun shall flee and the moon disgraced
The stars in the heavens are violently displaced
The King of kings, the Lord of all ages
Steps down once more as the devil rages
The victory is complete, the darkness no more
The ravenous lion has given his last roar
Mat 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Due to my still healing hip, my wife helped me this weekend with painting the deck. It occurred to me in the process that there are two broad categories of people. There are those who only believe that there is a job to be finished. And there are those who believe there is a job to be done. It may seem that these two statements represent the same thing, but they do not. Oswald Chambers writes “The test that Jesus gives us is not the truth of our manner, but the temper of our mind. Many of us are wonderfully truthful in manner yet our temper of mind is rotten in God’s sight.The thing Jesus alters is the temper of the mind.” Lets say you sin against someone and you know that you must ask forgiveness from that person. You believe you have to finish the job. The purpose is to do what you know you have to do, And you do it. Yet, your heart in the matter was not changed, you merely did what you knew you had to do. It is very likely that you will sin again against this person and others. This is the flesh. It is not altogether different from Catholic confession.
The Lord did not come to teach us how to live with good manners, He came to change our very hearts and minds. By the power of the Holy Spirit, and only by the power of the Holy Spirit, can we live out the changed life. The changed life is not doing things right, doing things right is the consequence of a changed life. We live our lives not in order to achieve something, to get the job finished, no, we live our lives as unto the Lord, daily. The job to be done is to follow the Lord. We are the project. There is no finish line so to speak, there is only being rightly shaped. Now does that mean we cannot have an eternal perspective, not at all, we must have an eternal perspective, but eternity must be lived out daily in our lives and this should be our perspective. Doing the job for the jobs sake is very different from doing the job just to get it finished. It’s a subtle twist that can change the very nature of how we live. Living in the moment is living in eternity. The job is still going to get finished yet getting to heaven is the furthest thing from the saints mind because getting to heaven is not and end in and of itself, its just the outcome of the work of the Lord and those who take up their crosses daily and follow Him.
1Sa 27:1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
Let’s be very honest here, David is just wrong. We have the advantage of time on our side to look back and know that he is wrong. He would not perish by the hand of Saul. David said in his heart or to his heart that he was going to die. How many of us have come to the wrong conclusions based on how we feel? Our emotions begin to drive us, like a mighty wind drives a sailing ship in a storm onto the rocks. Fear is the low depression that builds in the atmosphere. Low depressions in the natural lead to storms and high winds. When we speak to ourselves and not to God we convince ourselves of a bad outcome, or perhaps even a good outcome, but rash actions based on unhinged emotions leads to storms and failures.
David knew that he was anointed. David knew that God had delivered him time and time again. David let exhaustion and depression and fear lead him. He came to the wrong conclusions. In John chapter 6 the disciples went down to the sea. Jesus was nowhere to be found. Yet these fishermen knew that the light was fading fast and decided to head of into the open sea where they would find themselves in the darkness, and now, of course, a storm blows up. When we head into anything without Jesus, when we are led by our state, whether physical or emotional, we are heading towards a storm. Much better to wait where we are, on the Lord and pray. David would have better off to stay where he was. This anointed man of God was not going to die, that was a lie he told to himself undoubtedly embellished by the enemy of his soul.
Where are you right now saint? Are you ready to rush of into something? Is that something motivated by God? Have you heard from the Lord? Are you keeping in step with the Spirit, meaning, is He walking with you in this? The disciples should never have left the shore, David should not have tried to escape. David would find himself in Ziklag. This town will not be remembered well by David. This is the place where he lost everything and he cried “until there were no tears left to cry.” Yes, the Lord came to him in the storm so to speak, yes he took back all that was stolen by the power of the Spirit of God. How much better to have never found himself in that position in the first place? Wait upon the Lord brothers and sisters, lest you find yourself in urgent need of rescue. Move when you are told to move. Silence the voice of fear that urges you to act right now. Just because others have went a certain way, does not mean that you should follow. Follow the Lord and His word rather, and the still small voice. Following your heart is the way of the world.
I will shake the heavens and the earth shall move out of its place
For fear shall fall upon the world as they begin to see my face
Wail O inhabitants of the earth for the day is soon at hand
You will see my unfolding judgment and know that it was planned.
The sanctified ones who greatly rejoiced in my exaltation
Shall march across the earth, there will be trembling in every nation
Behold the day of the Lord comes, the end of all the ages
And sin shall be no more as it collects its final wages.
And when its said and done joy shall come in the morning
Peace and love and joy shall replace tears and fears and mourning
Prepare your hearts O saints for the day of the Lord is at hand
And only the righteous, covered by His Blood, shall stand
A banner is set on high for all the world to see
It flutters in the wind above the ones that He set free
An army of Gods righteous saints, there they stand as one
And at the head of this mighty army rides the only begotten Son.
Thank you for inexhaustible fountains That flow down from the highest mountains Higher still and then again We find the source of the falling rain
Living waters whose source is the King By their refreshing we hear angels sing Sing to the Lord for He has done excellent things Cry out ye saints for He is greatly to be praised
Deep in unfathomable mines there is treasure And at His right hand forevermore there is pleasure Refreshed by the waters that flow down on me They carry me onward towards an eternal sea
We shall draw water from the wells of salvation Upon the Rock we shall stand, our eternal foundation We shall raise our sails high and be carried along By the breath of the Spirit and a heavenly song.
Those who hear His still small voice Lie down in the night in peace and rejoice Even in the midst of the midnight hour There is glory in His praises and with them brings power
He leads us beside the eternal still waters into lush green pastures He has surely brought us Goodness and mercy follow all the days of our lives To a banqueting table we can barely describe.
His table to us is His manifest presence By the Spirit of God we speak with great eloquence Words that flow from the Kingdom within From the beauty of Holiness that lies therein
Evergreen trees give their fruit in all seasons There are a million ways to praise Him and a million reasons To rise up and with the morning sun and cry holy To walk in humility, to be contrite and lowly
He has planted us beside His holy river He has established us in His heart forever And forever and a day and forever it shall be be For into our very hearts He has placed eternity.
Fire from heaven rain down upon me now
Open the eyes of our hearts that might see and bow
Go forth before me Lord with your fire and you're rain
Burning all the dross and breaking every chain.
By your presence let all the mountains tremble
And rain down glory from above, from your eternal temple
Let the skies break forth that they may split asunder
When the lightening flashes and the earth shakes with thunder
The clouds are His chariots and He walks upon the wind
He broke the chains of hell and death and delivers those who sinned
His glory endures forever and He fractures the sky above
As the whole earth is filled with His eternal love.
He is our shelter from the storm, our precious strong high tower
He has filled us with His love and His everlasting power
Though worlds may fall to pieces and begin to crumble
We follow Him who walked before, and never did He stumble.
Take hold of His precious truth in a world that's full of lies
Raise your hands and lift them up, lift them up unto the skies
Look up and testify that our Redeemer lives
And that His mercy is still flowing and He surely still forgives
1 Sam 4:3 Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh to us, that, when it comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies.
Just for some context, this scripture occurs about halfway through a 40 year oppression by the Philistines. It had not been that long ago that Samson had been killed. How far they had fallen since his demise. And yet, in the midst of a corrupt priesthood, and perhaps because of it, they go to battle with the Philistines and they are roundly defeated. They do not learn from their defeat as they should but rather they are somewhat angry at God that He had not given them the victory they seemed to believe they deserved. So, they doubled down. Without leadership the people are now doing what seems right to them and the priests do nothing to stop them. How loudly they shouted when the Ark came into their camp. This is men trying to force the hand of God, its not going to end well. In their first defeat they lost 4000 men, in the next defeat they lost 30,000 men and the rest fled for their lives and the Ark was taken.What absolute chaos unfolds when we treat God lightly and try and use Him as some kind of talisman.
Now we may be temped to think how foolish these people were. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever “pleaded the blood,” over something? Have you ever commanded anything in the name of Jesus? Have you heard His voice in the matters that you speak to? When we put God before our troubles as some kind of talisman, usually in the midst of frightening circumstances, did we take a moment and step back and think? What is God saying to us in our troubles? Even in the earthquake and the loud storm there is a still small voice that speaks. Have you searched it out? The circumstances must never determine a quick response. In the end its not about our circumstances, its always about the glory of God. We do not use Him to alleviate our troubles, we use our troubles to draw closer to Him. Trusting in God, whether we live or whether we die, puts trust/faith in its proper context. In this context, glorifying God is the chief end of man. When our circumstances are our chief end, then faith is perverted into a “force,” which can either save us or condemn us depending on how much of the “force,” we have or have not. In simple terms, God is displaced.
The Israelites had bypassed God and used what was supposedly most precious to them to go and engage in an unsanctioned war. They were attempting to determine their own fate by using God in ways that made sense to them. How foolish to believe that God is ever confined by an Ark or a temple or a certain prayer or the so called faith of men. God is never confined by anything, period. If He were He would not be God. It is we, His servants, who are confined and contained by His will and the moment we step outside of His will then we have strayed off the narrow path. No good thing comes to pass when we wander away from His will. In all things we cry out to God. If for one moment the Isrealites had cried out to God and sought Him our before the battle or after the defeat they would not have lost 30,000 men or indeed the Ark itself. The Ark represented the presence of God. What can we do without His presence brothers and sisters? Where would we be without the Lord? He goes before us, certainly. Yet we cannot put Him before us. We cannot do it by a talisman, icons or chanting certain words. He is with us in relationship and only in right relationship. He is God and we are His bond-servants. He alone determines our battles and He alone is to be glorified at all times and sought after and waited upon. Everything else ends in disaster.
The gifts of the Spirit in the church today are not only desirable but absolutely imperative. It is extremely necessary that we should have the gifts of the Spirit in the church and let me show you why…….Un-gifted men can do religious work, but it is only the human mind doing a human work. Mortality is written all over the church of Christ today because men are trying to do in the power of their own genius , what only the Holy Spirit can do. Genius cannot do immortal work, genius can only do mortal work…often talent alone runs the church today not the gifts of the Holy Spirit as intended (A,W.Tozer)
When we have a corrupted priesthood, it leads to the birth of Ichabod. If indeed God has departed then what do men do? They keep on going in their own strength. They cannot acknowledge their own corruptions, they cannot give up the power and the prestige they so desire but at the same time they cannot have God in their midst. So, the anointed is replaced by the appointed. In the absence of God we appoint men and women of talent. We try to recreate the giftings and the moving of the Holy Spirit. It never occurs to men to simply fall back on the Word of God. We are several generations into appointed men in leadership, men who are appointed by other men and not anointed of God. Men and women of talent. They have the gift or oratory, in fact it was a required qualification. They can sing like angels, in fact it was required of them before they were appointed. They can take the Word of God and teach it, for they were taught how to do this very thing in their Bible schools and seminaries.
All day long the Sauls of this world rise in our churches and the Davids are left in the fields. They are tall and handsome, they are beautiful and talented just like the world and that is what they wanted. They are appointed men and they have not the anointing of God. And without the anointing it can only ever be a house of talent and not a house of victory. The giants of this world are left to roar at us and mock us and come against us for we lack the David spirit. The appointed try to figure out how to survive with the least amount of damage as the Philistines roar. The anointed run to the battle and care not whether they live or die for they are full of the Spirit of God. The appointed worry about offending the people because they were appointed by the people and in order to keep their position they must please the people. The anointed speak as they are moved to speak by the Holy Spirit. They are not hirelings and they do not run from the wolves and the bears.
The appointed employ all the ways of the world in order to “build,” their own kingdoms. What else could they do? They use talented people, they use pop psychology and business methods. They employ sales techniques. And the latest addition to the appointed is technology. Dimmed lights, blackened walls, smoke machines, theatre seating and concert style worship. The anointed may not have any oratory skills at all. They may not be able to fit into skinny jeans. They may not be the most confident people. They may not desire to have any position at all. Yet it is God who does the anointing. He chooses whom He will use and He builds His church not on methods of the world but by the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit and upon the Word of God. The appointed must rip out whole chapters of the Bible in order to survive and the anointed simply stand upon the Word, even if it means a congregation of twelve.
Men always appoint men who will serve their purposes. God anoints those who will serve His purposes. In order not to share His glory with anyone He raises up paupers to walk with princes. He takes the teenage shepherd boy to replace the peoples choice. He takes the weak and the lowly, the contrite and the broken and He raises them up to high and lofty places to dwell and to fellowship with Him. The anointed walk, not in their human talents and genius, rather they walk in the anointing. In the power of the Holy Spirit. In the giftings of God that do not come through natural birth but rather come from the second birth. And by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How can we tell an anointed church from an appointed church? You will see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation in Gods anointed. Could it be that simple? Is the word of God difficult to understand? Does it all come down to that in the end, obedience to the Word? It always does, whether in our personal lives or our corporate gatherings. There is life in the anointing. There is activity in the appointed. While there can be activity in the anointed, there can never be life in the merely appointed when the appointment is of men.
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.
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Having heard all the magnificent stories of the faithful saints down through the ages, the author then turns to us and says, “what about you?” Are you not part of this precious group of faith? And if you are then shall you not lay aside “every weight.” What is this weight? Every burden, every hindrance, everything external that would keep you from your reasonable service to God and your reasonable service to God is everything. Your life is not your own, it was bought with a price. It is no longer you that live but rather it is Christ that lives in you. You are a special person, a called out one, a royal priest. You have a duty that is higher than any other duty, that is to serve the King. This you must pursue no matter the cost.
Internally you have the sin that so easily captures you. It might be your temperament, crucify it. It might be your politics, leave that to the world. It might be the personal bias that you grew up with, kill it by the cross upon your back.You would train night and day if you were an Olympic athlete. While others slept, you would be up before the sun. When others were eating anyway they pleased, you would be following a strict diet. You would not be smoking or drinking and in some cases just prior to your race you would refrain from lying with your spouse.The sacrifices we are willing to make in order to get a gold medal, to get fame and fortune in this world are without limit. Isn’t your calling to God so much higher than any athlete?
Are you not running the race of eternal life for a crown that will not perish? A crown that you will cast down before the Lord’s feet because He deserves all the glory!How can we do all of this brothers and sisters? How can we be sold out to God in our lives? “Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.” His testimony was that for the joy of serving His Father and fulfilling His will, He willingly endured the cross, despising the shame and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Are we willing to endure? Are we willing to accept the discipline of the Lord? Jesus shall be our strength, the Holy Spirit shall be our guide. He shall be the lifter of our heads. He shall convict us and He shall give us the strength to follow Him, if it is our heart to follow Him. If it is our heart to run the race. If it is our heart to endure. If it is our heart to overcome. If these are our desires, He shall give them to us.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
This scripture is where two worlds collide. You have heard of the many paradoxes that are found in the New Testament. One has to die to live. One has to be a servant to lead. The heart has to be hungry or it can never be full. The paradoxes are many and it is because the Kingdom of God operates in an entirely different way than this world does. We as saints walk physically through this world but we already exist in the world that was and is and is to come. The Kingdom clashes with this world where flesh meets spirit. I live in Kansas and the jet stream is often right above us. The warm air from the south clashes with the cold air from the north. Canadian cold air verses warm gulf air. It creates violence. Dramatic storm systems that produce tornadoes that have such destructive power that literally no structure can stand against a direct hit.
The substance and the evidence of faith only exists in the Kingdom of God but it supernaturally manifests itself in our world. And when it does, all hell can break loose. Whether it is in the mind, as the flesh battles against the spirit, or whether it is actions we take directed by our faith, they are violently opposed by those who know nothing of it. Our blessed hope in Christ is only substance to those who have been born again. Only we can see it. The unsaved cannot see it and it cannot be explained to them, only demonstrated, and even then it is beyond them. It may draw them into the Kingdom and they can see it for themselves or it may cause them to violently follow after their flesh and everything they know to be real. We have faith in Jesus. He is our blessed hope. We cannot see Him with our human eyes but we can see the substance of Him through the eyes of our faith. We can come before the throne of God and see God high and lifted up and the Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of glory.
And so, what is most real to us, the saints, and what we would die for because it is so real is the substance and the evidence of our faith. It is directly contradicted by a world ruled by what they can see with their physical eyes, what they can observe, measure and replicate. The evidence of things seen. The substances that can be observed. We saints are entirely different and should never be ashamed of that or make apology for it. Men of science are very much limited by what they can see. We see what they see but we also see beyond what they see. And so by believing we see Gods Kingdom. And by seeing we are convinced. Convinced of the invisible God who frequently violates the natural order of this world by the supernatural order of the Kingdom.
We are not of this world but we must be in it. And while we are in it the storm shall rage. It must rage for two entirely different forces are at work and something must give. Any man made structure, whether its an invention of his mind or a physical invention will fall when it meets it meets the supernatural. We who walk with God cannot be overcome even by the worse excesses of this word for we walk in the Kingdom reality. The most violent storm, the most violent clash of two elements the world has ever seen was when Christ Jesus stepped down into it. The vain imagination of their big bang theory pales in comparison to the collision of the seen and unseen world. Everything changed.
(Heb 10:19-20) Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Jesus is our new and living way. He made a way for us to enter into the actual holy of holies. Now we all know that, we have read it a thousand times, but I want to ask you this. When was the last time you entered the holy of holies? Have you ever? The veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom thus revealing the shadow, the room within the temple. Jesus flesh was ripped and torn and sacrificed for us on the cross, outside of the temple, outside of the city, outside of the walls and by His death and resurrection He made a way for you and me to come before the throne of the Living God and cry our “Abba Father.’ So therefore, since the cost was so great, it is not an impertinent question to ask the question “have you come before the throne?” Have you entered the holiest? Have you drawn near to God with a true heart and in full assurance of faith?
In coming into this place, this place of glory and of majesty and of holiness we are reminded just who we are in comparison to who God is. Outside of the Blood of Jesus we could never come into this place. Outside of His sacrifice we could never come and fall upon our face. And cry holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty! Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We here on earth are the Church militant and in heaven we see the Church triumphant. Yet I am afraid that much of the Church has lost its militancy. Our boldness. Our unwavering faith in the face of increasing hostility seems to be wavering. There is a reason we come before the throne, first and foremost Jesus made the way there and secondly we are emboldened in the presence of God, of His glory and His majesty and that translates directly in how we walk our walk. The Church used to talk in military terms all the time, they knew they were in a battle, and yet just as the greatest battle is looming, we waver. We do not want to offend the world. Some old hymns…………….
Stand up , stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross, lift high His royal banner it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army He shall lead, till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Onward Christians soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the Royal Master leads against the foe, forward into battle see His banners go. Soldiers of the cross arise and put your armor on. A mighty fortress is our God, the battle belongs to the Lord. There is power, power wonder working power in the Blood of the Lamb and the Blood will never lose its power for it reaches to the highest mountains and it flows to the lowest valley, this Blood , this precious Blood of Christ gives me strength for each new day. Like a mighty army, moves the Church of God, brothers we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one Body be, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. So I’ll sing of the cross, that old rugged cross where I first saw the light, where the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there, right there, where Christ died for us it was there that He made the way.
Heb 8:13 In that he says, “A new covenant.” He has made the first old. Now that which is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
A new covenant! And in this new covenant He puts His laws in our minds and writes them on our hearts. We are infused by His desires for us and His commandments for our lives, the Word made flesh. We are now taught by the Holy Spirit for we know Him. We do not need an earthly priest to know Him. We do not need a teacher in order to know Him, we know Him because He knows us. We are known by God and in the knowing we walk in the beauty of His Holiness by the guidance and the direction of the Holy Spirit. Our hearts and our minds are illuminated by the power of God. Our knowing does not reside within the realms of our heads, rather we know Him in the innermost depths of our heart. In our unrighteous state we found mercy and our sins and unrighteous deeds? He forgave us of them all, praise Jesus.
Jesus became our mediator of a better covenant. The old covenant was fatally flawed and we were the flaw. The old covenant could never bring a man or woman righteousness, it could only show us how helpless we really were and how we were in desperate need of a Savior. And Jesus became our High Priest. He offered up Himself once, and for all time. His perfection became our salvation. We are saved by the perfect Son of God and by the Blood He willingly spilled for us. He is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. The true tabernacle. And so brothers and sisters we became a Royal priesthood and Jesus is our High Priest. We are His special people. A called out people. A chosen generation. We have no clergy/laity divide, that is purely a religious construct. It stands in defiance of the Word of God and the reality of our High Priest, Jesus. It is but a vestige of an old religious system that was swept away 2000 years ago. Let us fulfill our priestly roles as we minister to one another.
(Heb 6:19-20) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence within the veil; where the forerunner has for us entered for us, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hebrews chapter six is so dramatic and the contrast it presents could not be more stark. In the end, there is really only two kinds of people. Those who endure to the end and those who walk away. There are promises made by God and these promises are the blessings of God. As saints, we have this promise, we know that Jesus Christ our Lord is the anchor of our soul. Does the anchor hold? Yes He does! Now brothers and sisters, how many know that waiting upon the Lord in the midst of a storm can be very very difficult? We have our hope, we have our faith, we trust in Jesus. Then the wind blows from a category one hurricane to a category three. Then it intensifies again and now its blowing a category five. Anything not anchored down is getting ripped from its moorings and carried away by mountainous waves. Are we still with Him? Do we still trust? Where is our faith? Abraham was promised a son, and this would lead to the blessing of all the nations. There’s a blessing coming. There’s a blessing coming. Twenty years in, how is Abraham doing? Only after twenty five years did the fulfilment come. How about Jospeh and his dreams? Was he still enraptured by his dream at the bottom of the pit? How about when he is falsely accused of rape? How about when he was languishing in prison? Twelve years later comes the fulfilment.
Its easy to love God in the moment, in the first flushes of our relationships. When all is new and we have hopes and dreams and visions for our lives. Then life begins to play out. We have pressures at work, putting a roof over our heads. We have hard times in our relationship with our spouses. Children come along and we have hopes and dreams for them that often do not come to fruition. We suffer losses, disappointments, illnesses, and deaths come knocking at our door. Have we stuck close to Jesus the whole time brothers and sisters? Just in the world and by reason of my gray hair I have lived long enough to see two groups of folks in the world, whether Christian or not. I observed them go through really tough times and one group, by far the larger, begin to crack and to fracture under the pressure. They drink more, they smoke, they take anti-depressants, they begin to isolate themselves, they grow apart from their spouses and they eventually get divorced. It’s sad enough to see it in the world, its tragic when you see it in professing Christians. There is the second group. The ones who pull together. The trial brings them closer to God, it brings them closer to their spouses. Their love grows deeper as they face the battles together, back to back. They become seasoned like fine wine. They grow wise and mature and they empathize greatly with others and they are kind and patient, loving and forgiving.
The fact is, that in every storm, the saint has an anchor and His name is Jesus. We are out there in the roiling seas and He is the forerunner. He goes before us into the harbor and draws us in. In ancient times when the sea was too stormy to enter the harbor and giant waves would crash against the harbor walls and the ships would drag their anchors and be in danger of overturning and being swamped, they would lower a skiff, a forerunner. The anchor would be placed on the small boat and the boat would make its way into the harbor and the anchor would be dropped in calmer waters ,then the boat would be pulled into the harbor. Jesus is our forerunner, Jesus is our anchor and He has went before us and prepared a place for us. A place of peace and stillness, His very presence speaks to the storms, be still! When you flee to Jesus He shall be our Rock, our strong high tower. Come to Me, He says, and I will give your weary souls rest. God and His Word are immutable, that is to say unchanging over time, any time, eternity even. God is unchanging and the Words that He speaks are unchanging. He never lies and this immutability, the Word says, is so that we “might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” There it is, its right there, take a hold of it, grab onto to it, never let it go, let it take you into the still calm harbor of His presence so that you might survive the storm. Take hold of this brothers and sisters, and you shall not drown.
Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost……………….If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
This maybe the most powerful warning in the New Testament to those who follow Jesus. The word impossible leaves very little wriggle room. And to whom is the author speaking ? He is speaking to those who were once enlightened. To those who had tasted of the heavenly gift. To those who were partakers of the Holy Spirit ( an associate or companion) To those who had tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. We, the saints, are clearly being spoken to. And of course these verses in Heb 6 are written in the context of the first five chapters. Take the most earnest heed, lest we drift away. (Heb 2:1) How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (Heb 2:3) But Christ as a Son over His own House, whose house we are “if,” we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Heb 3:6) Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God. (Heb 3:12) For we have become partakers of Christ “if,” we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. (Heb 3:14) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Heb 3:19) Therefore since a promise remains of entering His rest, “let us fear,” lest any of you seem to have come short of it.(Heb 4:1)
Multiple warnings climaxing in Heb chapter six. I would say along with brother Paul that I am confident that most genuine saints would never fall away. That not only are they saved but their lives demonstrate the fruit of the Living God who dwells in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, Christ being magnified in their hearts. They have and do taste of the heavenly gift of Christ their Lord who dwells richly in them. They have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, meaning that they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and endued with power from on High which makes them very bold in their faith. The Word of God is a lamp unto their feet and light unto their narrow path. They rejoice in all things. They forgive as they were forgiven. They love as they are loved. They remain steadfast, they endure, they overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto death. Whether they live or whether they die they know that the main goal of their lives is to glorify God. This brothers and sisters, I would put it to you, is a very great contrast to the people that is spoken of in the first verses of this chapter. Those who crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame by their lives and by their words.
(Heb 5:8-9) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
How can the perfect Son of God be made perfect? How can the perfect one, the one who never was disobedient, learn obedience? Jesus came down from the glories of heaven and took on flesh. Nothing was lost, He has taken on flesh. And in that flesh He would be called to die, not just to die, but to die the death of the cross. None of this would ever happen in the glorious of heaven. There would be no Gethsemane in the realms of eternity. There would be no rejection there. There would be no pain there. There would be no darkness there. And yet the Father called Him to this world where He would have to face all of these things. His will, being fleshed out by His obedience. Brothers and sisters, we have to flesh out His will for our lives and in doing so we learn to be obedient. In suffering we learn to glorify God quite apart from our circumstances. Our faith and trust in God is alive and it breathes. It is no mere philosophy. It is not an abstract construct. It is not a mere mental assent to abstract truth. Faith in God is tested like gold is refined in the crucible.
The crucible of life is the fire of our circumstances. God is looking for gold. We learn eternal lessons in the fires of life. We are schooled, as students, in the classroom of suffering. Most will reject this, which is why many are called but few are chosen. Its the narrow way of the cross as opposed to the broad highway of the world. For as much as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves brothers and sisters with this same mindset and when you do, you will walk in the beauty of holiness. And in doing so we no longer live the rest of our lives in the flesh and by the flesh and for the flesh, and for what it lusts after, but rather we shall live our lives according to the will of God. (I Pet 4:1-2) Is there another way? No, No. Its the way of Jesus. It is the way of the cross. Your sufferings that you are going through brothers and sisters at this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, the gold, that shall be revealed in you. (Rom 8:18) Our afflictions are light and but for a moment in the context of eternity and they add weight to the eternal glory. (2 Cor 4:17) We have been called to suffer for His sake (Phi 1:29) and take up the cross in order to be counted worthy of Jesus (Matt 10:38)
And so brothers and sisters, Jesus is the example for us in His sufferings and we have been called to follow His footsteps. ( 1Pet 2:21) Shall we follow as obedient sons and daughters? Shall we love and forgive those who so terribly mistreat us? Shall we cry out to God to forgive them for they know not what they do? If the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had to walk this path and “learn,’ the things that He learned, surely it must be obvious to you and I that we must walk the same path? We can never suffer as He did. We did not begin perfect. Sin was something common to us all. Yet not the Lord. His suffering was on such a higher plane because of His perfection. And if in that state, the Lord was obedient and learned through the fires of His afflictions, then how about you and me? He is our glorious High Priest who walked through every fire of hell on this earth and therefore is well able to intercede for you before His Fathers throne. Let us walk worthy of our calling, not to live our best lives now but rather to enter into His sufferings and by our obedience to Him we shall become that for which we were empowered to be, a witness to His eternal truth and glory.
A Call To The Remnant 