Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.(Joh 14:6)

There are many earth shattering moments when Jesus spoke. Moments and words that changed everything. This scripture is among the most profound truth ever written. This is why in the end of end days it will become the most infamous of all Scriptures. This will be banned and become illegal to share in our life time. It will be deemed as hate speech and once that occurs, almost all of what Jesus spoke will be considered detrimental to the spiritual health of the population at large. His words will then be cherry picked and the rest will simply not be spoken about, much like the Jewsih people who ignore Isaiah 53.

Let us affirm this truth. Jesus is the only way to heaven and every other road leads directly to hell, whether that be the Islamic road or the Judaic road or the Hindu road or the Buddhist road. The only way to God is through His son Jesus. He is the way. And in the depths of that meaning we are shown that it is not good enough to say that you are His or that you believe in Him, there must be fruits of your salvation. We will know a saint by the way that he or she walks. In the days of the inquisitions, many saints were identified for persecution because it was said of then that they lived “exemplary,” lives. This is the way of Christ. We live and we strive to live as He did and taught. The truth is the word of God. It is not open for debate among saints, starting with the above Scripture. Jesus is the Truth and Jesus is the word made flesh and we stand upon it, even with our very lives. It burns at the center of our souls, it is a fire in our bones and flames upon our lips. The truth spoken in love scorches a Godless earth. To the ungodly it is a fire that must be extinguished.

Finally He is the life and no man truly follows Him without having His life in Him. His life in us is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. It is peace when all around us is turmoil. It is joy even in the depths of despair. It is love when we should hate. It is self control and meekness. It is a giving of ourselves and a crucified life. In all of this we are long suffering and the very least those around us will say is that we are good people. And so saint even in these ever darkening days let us stand upon the fundamental truth of our Lord and never waver even as the inevitable assaults come flooding in. He is true and let all men be liars.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 

What a great tragedy that all men sinned and had fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus our Lord is the glory of God. When men fall short of God’s glory they fall short of Jesus. He is our prophet, our priest and our King. The prophets had longed to see the day that the Messiah walked the earth, and now, here He was. Yet He had come not to bring righteousness to men through the law, but by grace through faith. The unmerited favor of God would be extended to all men, the Jew and the Gentile, for all had fallen short of the glory that was manifested in Christ the King. Yet now all the world would be extended this righteousness of God by faith. Trust in God and believe in Him and you shall be saved. Saved from sin, saved from death, saved from darkness saved from eternal darkness.

And now we who know Him, do not fall short of His glory. We stand amazed in it. We revel in it. We children of the living God are one with the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:(Joh 17:22) We are one in Him and we have beheld His glory. We no longer fall short of it, we are immersed in it. This is our destiny, that the world will see Christ in us, that they will see His glory from afar, and be drawn to it so that they too may behold His glory and not fall short of it. If He be lifted up, the Christ, our Lord, the name of Jesus on the lips lips of sanctified saints baptized by fire, then they that are drawn to Him shall also be engulfed in the fire of His glory.

God has no pleasure in those who draw back from the glory. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.(Heb 10:38) The saints of God ever want to please their Father in heaven. God’s overcoming saints are not those who draw back. They are those who with boldness enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ our Lord. By a new and living way we draw near, through the veil, into the presence of our High priest; with true hearts and holding fast the full assurance of our faith. Men who profess His name may draw back and fall short of His glory, but we saints shall draw near and stand amazed in the glory. And the world will know that Jesus and all His glory was sent from heaven as the manifest expression of God’s great love.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith, what an incredible word. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Not the hope of man that comes out of the abundance of his worldly desires. Faith is a foundation, its a complete reliance upon the the Word of God whether written or spoken. Jesus told us that He was the Son of the Living God. Peter believed it, we believe it. Not in our heads but in the very depths of our hearts. The world tells us to put our money where our mouths are. They mean to say ” show us how much you believe in something.” Jesus says that if a man tries to save his life he loses it, but if he loses his life for the sake of the King of Kings then that man has put his life where his mouth is.

That is how much he believes it. With everything that is in him. Whether in riches or in poverty, whether in sickness or in health whether clothed or naked, hungry or full, it matters not for we have cast our all upon the altar of God. That right there destroys the so called word of faith movement. It utterly shatters the health and wealth movement. True faith, like the love between one man and one woman, is for ever, no matter what comes our way. What God has joined together, our hearts with His, let nothing separate it. Job, having lost everything and sitting atop a pile of broken pottery scraping the boils that covered his whole body refused to give up on his God, would not curse him. He says that even if God slays him, yet will he trust him.

Trust, faith, belief. The Holy Spirit has given His saints a love of the truth. The things that we hope for are eternal. The things that we hope for, the desires of our hearts are His hope and His desires, that is why we know. This knowing that has been given to us, is the evidence of the things to come. The evidence of things not seen, that sentence absolutely runs counter to everything man is and knows. There in enmity between the heads of men and the hearts of the saints and never the twain can meet. There is a vast gulf between the two and it is impassable. One reasoning belongs to the world, what they can see, and the other “knowing,” belongs to the Kingdom. Do you know?

Mar 8:33 But when He had turned around and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind Me, Satan! For you do not mind the things of God, but of the things of men.

How many times have you heard people say “There there, everything will be okay.” Having lived long enough, I know that not to be true, yet still people somehow cling to that notion and draw comfort from it. When Peter , hearing Jesus talk about the things that He must suffer, rebukes Jesus and tells Him these things shall never be, Jesus uses the same rebuke that He used with Satan when Satan tempted Him. And so, those who mind the things of the world will always be offended at the notion that we have been called to suffer. We know that all who live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer, yet we also know that there are many who would rebuke us for these thoughts. And why? Because they mind the things of this world and do not mind the things of God. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.(James 1:2-4)

Here we see the connection between our various trials and our sanctification. Trials are the testing of our faith and our grade is measured by the joy that we experience in the midst of it. Many many things can be counterfeited in the Christian walk, but joy in the midst of suffering is not one of them. It is not natural, it is supernatural. I have a brother in Christ in hospital right now, he is very sick and has had tests and is waiting to see if he has cancer. One of the nurses requested him as a patient because of his wonderful attitude as a patient compared to others in the same situation. He told me that whether he lives or whether he dies he wants to glorify God. He wants to finish strong. You see, patience is working in my brother because he is able to count it all joy. He is lacking in nothing for Christ is his all in all. When we surrender to the things that we have no control over and we determine in the midst of it to glorify God and revel in His presence then we are as a light that shines forth from darkness. Witnesses to an astonished world that there is something more important than our lives and the circumstances of them. It is God and His Glory. To know that and to walk in it is the key to our lives as saints. It is also the key to joy and peace by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 

The heart of those who receive the word with gladness, in whom the seed finds a ready and deep soil, is the tree planted by the rivers of water. The good tree is good in any season by virtue of its closeness to the eternal resource of the river of the living God. Dear saint, do you meditate on the Word of God every day? Do you hide it away in your heart and absorb it into your very soul until it becomes a very part of you? Are you like the branch abiding in the vine? Jesus tells us in John chapter eight that if we continue in the Word, which means to abide in it, remain in it, stand on it, endure with it, dwell in it, then you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.

The word “know,” here is of particular interest. In order to be free we must daily walk in and with the Word, and when we do that we shall “know.” To know Christ is to be free. It does not say to know about Him or to know off Him, it says to know the Truth. We must be intimate with the Lord if we are to walk in the freedom that He had gained for us on Calvary. Jesus gave us many instructions. We were to take up our cross daily if we were to be His disciples. We were to abide in His word daily if we were to be His disciples. And so, when we do these tings we begin to grow in maturity. We are able to draw from an inexhaustible source of power and love and mercy and forgiveness given our proximity to this power for we are like a tree planted by the rivers of life.

Because of this, we become a source of blessing for others in season and out of season, for we are evergreen trees. In the darkest coldest winters we still retain our foliage. We saints whose delight is in the Lord and His Word and His commands, become vessels that hold and retain grace and love and mercy and forgiveness because it is flowing in and through us directly from Christ Himself. He waters us that we may water others. He comforts us so that we may comfort others with that very comfort He comforted us with. It is the cycle of our Spiritual life in the Kingdom. He invests in us all these things, not to bury them or greedily keep them to ourselves, but to gladly and with great joy share them with others. Freely you have been given and now freely you must give.

Psa 147:3  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

In every trial, in every fall from grace, there comes a moment when we lose sight of the larger picture of our walk with God. We believe that we have blown it, we believe that God has abandoned us. Even the Lord and Saviour Jesus cries out from the cross “My God, My God why has thou forsaken me.” Note that in the previous verse that a great darkness had come across the land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. Three full hours of what I can only assume was a satanic darkness. A gross satanic darkness had covered the land when the Father gave His Son over into the hands of His enemies.

Some time later the Lord Jesus speaks His final words from the cross “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Now He was referring to His Father, an intimate term. Praise the Lord. He had went from a time of despair to a time of intimacy. And with His last breath He commended His Spirit into the hands of His Father.

There is no doubt at all as we journey through this life along the narrow path that we will have many such moments. Moments of doubts and despair. We wonder if we have been forgotten and then suddenly we are back in the arms of our Father in heaven, glory to God. Maybe you are having doubts today about your walk? Perhaps you feel abandoned? Yet the Lord has promised His own, that no matter what kind of situation that we find ourselves in that He would restore us and heal our wounds.

He is making promises to His children that have been taken captive. He does not want them to lose hope, but to trust in Him. He will bind up your wounds and restore unto you the joy of your salvation. He makes these promises to those who wait upon the Lord and trust Him. Wait on Him today saints and trust Him, He has not forgotten you nor has He forsaken you.

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 

This verse is one of the high water marks of our walk with the Lord. Paul says that he had “learned,” to be content no matter what situation he found himself in. This learning did not come from his studies at the feet of human teachers. This learning came from having experienced everything that life had to throw at him, or better stated, everything that he had to suffer for the cause of Christ. Whether it was being hungry or without proper clothing, having a lot of money or having no money at all, Paul had learned. Whether he was popular or whether he was rejected, he had learned. When he was shipwrecked and adrift in the sea, he had learned. Whether he had the skin torn from his back or stoned to within an inch of his life, he had learned. Whether he was a free man in this world or whether he found himself at the bottom of a dungeon, he had learned.

What had he learned? What had a multitude of afflictions taught him? He has learned, however slowly or speedily, God knows, that His Lord and Savior was always with him and would take him through. When you can look back at your own life and see what the Lord has brought you through, how He walked with you through a multitude of trials and afflictions, you should “know.” Can you imagine how different the Israelites experience in the desert would have been if they had “learned,” to trust in God by looking back and seeing what He had brought them through and the power of that learning would have carried them forward in power and love and a sound mind.

One has to desire to learn. It is a deliberate act of the will to trust in the Lord your God and here is the best part, He will help you to trust Him and to be content. Simply look back. Look back and see where He has brought you from. See what He has delivered you from. See how He has provided for you. Looking back is very rarely healthy, consider Lot’s wife who by looking back was holding on to something that the Lord was delivering her from. Looking back for the Israelites was for the most part not healthy for they were looking back at Egypt and rather than trust in a God who delivers, they longed to have the security of their bondage. At least as slaves they knew what tomorrow would bring. The looking back that is healthy is when we deliberately bring to mind the God of our salvation and His great deliverance of our souls.

The old children’s chorus “count your blessings,” says “count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Indeed, there is power in this kind of reflection, this kind of looking back. This contentment that Paul had learned (aren’t you glad he uses the word learned) is learned not in a classroom nor by anointed preachers, this contentment comes by walking through the fires and passing through the waters with Jesus. If we can learn to rejoice when our teachers are the bread of afflictions and the waters of adversity then we can say with Paul that we have learned to be content in every situation. Bread and water is the diet of prisoners, it is designed to barely keep them alive. Yet our life comes not from bread alone but from every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. A word from God is life to us. Water is the most basic need of man, but we drink from the eternal wells of living water that flow from heaven above.

Therefore, even in chains and in the most dire of situations, we have bread from heaven and the living waters of life to revive our soul which causes us to rejoice in the Lord our God just like Paul and Silas in the dungeon. Paul could be content in every situation because he had learned, by actual experience, that God was with him in every situation. Dear saint, He is with you, and in this we rest.

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.(Jer 9:23-24)

In the day of your calamity where is your strength? When the doctor tells you your child shall surely die, where is your wisdom? Can your strength save the child? Can all the money in the world raise up a child from the dead? The man of God’s strength lies in the fact that he knows God and is known by God. To know God and to depend upon Him is true wisdom. To know God and to be found in Him is true strength. To know God and to stand in His presence is riches beyond measure.

In the evil day to come we shall find our wisdom in the Word of God and the power of His Spirit. In the evil day to come when all true saints are brought low and among them there is no distinction, we shall find that in Him we are stronger than we ever could have imagined. We shall discover that it is His strength flowing through us when all our own capabilities have been stripped away. In the evil day to come when the world has taken back from us all of its treasures as a measure of punishment, we shall discover a depths of riches from the treasures of heaven that enrich us with true riches.

God’s wisdom is pure and eternal and His strength knows no bounds. The treasures that He bestows upon His children will stay with them for all eternity. Knowing Him is abundant life even in the midst of death. Knowing Him is light even in the depths of darkness. Knowing Him is rivers of living waters in a dry and dusty wilderness. Knowing Him is heavenly food for a starving soul in the midst of a great famine. Knowing Him is to have access to resources that are without limit, they are are spiritual and not carnal. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that the loss of everything he ever had in this world, including its wisdom and power and riches were as nothing in comparison to the excellency of knowing Christ his Lord and to found in Him and to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

Can we make such a proclamation brothers and sisters? Is knowing Him our all in all? Shall we gladly suffer the loss of all things to be found in Him? This is the mark of the saint down through the ages. Let us take our place with the Body of Christ that went before us , that great cloud of witnesses, and let us proclaim with them and with Paul that to know Him and to be found in Him is the all consuming treasure of our heart.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.(Jer 4:10)

Let all men be liars and let our great and mighty God be true. The people of Jerusalem rested on the promises of God yet ignored the conditions upon which those promises were made. People in general hate conditions, is that not true? For example, did Jesus not tell us by the Scriptures to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving to let your requests be known unto God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hears and minds through the Lord Jesus Christ? What a glorious promise yet it comes with a condition does it not? Be anxious for nothing. Let your prayers be framed by a thankful heart in all that you do and pray, then, and only then will the promise of God come to pass in the heart of the saint. Let not any man or woman expect to know anything of this peace unless they, by a conscious act of their will in obedience to His Word and His command, lay down that anxiousness.

Should those in Jerusalem expect to be surrounded by the peace of God when they willfully and deliberately ignored the commands and the directions of a Holy God? Should Christendom expect to see the promises of God come to pass in their lives when they live in direct violation of God’s word and His warnings? Or should they not rather experience a sword that pierces through their existence and penetrates into the deepest parts of their soul? The prophet Isaiah had the wherewithal to cry out to a Holy God that he was undone, that he was a man of unclean lips who dwelt among a people of unclean lips. Yet in our day and age of once saved always saved, cheap grace for salvation and hyper grace that has replaced sanctification, we expect the peace and the promises of God in our lives. God forbid. We serve a Holy God.

The religious structures and the denominations who have thrown off the truth of God, who walk hand in glove with a Godless generation who gleefully violate Gods word, still expect to walk in and be covered by the peace of God. It shall not be so and they will be pursued by a sword that penetrates their very core. And with a rage and an anger that matches Saul as he tried to pin David to the wall, they will, with their troubled spirits and souls,lash out at those who do walk in the peace of God, who do walk according to His statutes. Who do walk in a peace that surpasses all understanding. The beauty of their holiness will reflect about their enemies wickedness. Their obedience will reflect upon their disobedience. The genuine saint of God is called to be a witness who testifies, by his walk, against the false professor, the religious man and the sons of disobedience.