One of my favorite scenes from Little House on the Prairie is captured below. In this episode, bullies come to town and begin to accost the townspeople while playing on "Christian" sympathies such as turn the other cheek, forgive others, and love your enemy. While those principles are good and true, there also comes a time when you have got to treat the devil like the devil that he is.
In pictures, sermons, and song, Jesus is often portrayed as a long-haired, hippie-looking wisp of a man who would barely raise His voice or hurt a fly. Yet the Jesus I serve - while being a magnate of love & hope to repentant sinners - was also one who didn't kowtow to the devil. He went through the temple with a whip, turning over the tables of moneychangers in His fury. He often suffered not demons to even speak, but cast them out in power. He turned religious hypocrites on their heads by shooting down deceitful questions with the straightforward truths of God. He addressed Satan directly when needed, taking authority over him and commanding him to get behind Him.
What if the Body of Christ would take such a stand against Satan and his demonic hordes? Instead of complaining about what "da devil" is doing in our lives, what if we determined not to take it a day longer but to exercise the spiritual authority God has given us? What if we didn't try to define Christianity by worldly standards of tolerance & love so that we can be accepted by the masses, but truly sought to be led by the Spirit? If we really follow Christ then some folks are not going to like us and we are going to have to deal with some devils...just like Jesus.
God desires a people who reflect His character and the nature of His Son; who seeks to do what the Father commands as faithful soldiers. Are we really eaten up with the zeal of God's house, of His righteousness, and of the glory of His name? Jesus was.
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8
"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." II Timothy 2: 3-4
One of the saddest things to see in the Church today is how it has been gutted from its mission. It is filled with Freudian introspection, motivational speaking, and doctrinal debates...but little power of God.
A false perspective of our calling in God can make us selfish, approaching salvation with the expectation of seeing sunshine & flowers everyday with a "genie god" who will make our every wish come true. We want to be "blessed" and not "stressed", failing to understand how God is growing us up in Him (Romans 5:3-5; II Corinthians 4:17, 12:9-10; Philippians 1:29; James 1:2-3; Hebrew 12:10-11).
Many are therefore unprepared when entering into the spiritual war of which every Christian is a part. They are traumatized to consider that God actually expects them to "endure hardness". As a soldier for God, it is not about going where you want to go, saying what you want to say, doing what you want to do, eating what you want to eat, sleeping where you want to sleep...
That is why I think this message from Bert. H. Clendennen entitled "Soldiers" is so important. It gets our focus as a believer in Christ off of ourselves and back on that which is most important: the Great Commission.
Are you prepared to be a solider? Listen to this message and be encouraged.
commission: an authoritative order, charge, or direction granted for a particular action or function; to give the order that places a warship, military command, etc., in a state of complete readiness for active duty; to send on a mission.
One of the great problems of the church is that we have got the notion that it is a democratic form of government.
The Gospel doesn't need interpretation as much as it does a people who realize that we are under orders. When we join the church we become part of a military organization; and once we do, we are not our own, but have been bought with a price.
In a democracy, you have a choice and can still be right, but in a military order, you don't have any choice.
We are soldiers for Christ and we need to get that in our minds. Throughout the Scriptures, God refers to His Church as an army with banners.
The only hope for the lost is a militant church.
A lot of the theology you hear today is a cheap grace sold on the marketplace of religion.
People say that if you are having problems, then you are outside of the will of God. But I tell you if you are not having problems, then you are outside of the will of God.
It is when you step out onto the front lines for God that you become a threat to the devil.
God is looking for a few good folks who are not afraid to engage in this war with God.
The devil is a defeated foe, but that must become a reality for you! We don't have to win the victory (it is already won), but we must enforce that victory in our lives.
To be a soldier, we must be found faithful. God is looking for faithfulness in His people.
The way to shipwreck the faith of the young is to let them think that the world is not their enemy but a misunderstood friend.
Faithfulness is a commitment to a cause. We must understand that the cause of God is bigger than we are and worth giving our lives for.
Faithfulness is a product of our own will. I commit myself to what I believe in.
A man approached me one day and asked, "Pastor, please pray for me. There is a sin I cannot stop doing." I told him, "Before anyone is going to help you, you've got to stop lying. I don't know what your trouble is, but whatever it is you willfully do it. Just as you will to do it you can will not to do it if you belong to God."
Your problem (whatever it is) is not based on some traumatic experience in your past. You are a product of what you will to do and your will is governed by your devotion or lack of it.
If we love God, then we will be faithful to Him. We will choose His ways over our own. We will obey His commands.
Being a soldier requires courage born out of conviction.
The best sex education a child could get is to know that you don't have sex until you get married.
It takes more moral courage to stand for what is right than to face a war.
Being a soldier requires discipline. Discipline is the difference between an army and a mob.
The love of Christ must strengthen us to do God's work and constrain us from indulging the flesh.
I grew up doing what I wanted to do having and undisciplined attitude. I slept where I wanted to sleep, ate what I wanted to eat, doing what I wanted to do. But the military will change that attitude.
Discipline means instant obedience. The reason why most of the church never receives anything from God is because it takes them 3 days to decide to do what He told them to do.
You cannot be afraid to be alone or afraid of the dark to be a soldier for God. Fear only comes in when you are committed to something other than Christ.
Jesus was a root out of dry ground. He took nothing from this world and nothing of the world was in Him.
We don't owe this world anything but the Gospel.
All you have to do to go to Hell is do what is right in your own eyes.
There are three things you can expect as a soldier of God:
Hardships - There are going to be some trials, some tough times, and not everybody is going to love you! But you can endure knowing that you have the best thing anyone could offer: Jesus Christ. Happiness is Jesus!
To Face the Enemy - Don't divulge information to the enemy, just tell him who you are in God. Be ready to die before you bow to him.
Be Part of the Greatest Victory This World Ever Knew Anything About - We must prepare our children to engage in the battle so that they will be able to stand.
The ones on the front line are the first ones to make it home.
"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." Hebrews 10:38-39
In the last post, I wrote how John 6:66 indicates a line of demarcation between those who continue on with the Lord and those who depart from Him. The difference? Faith in God's words.
Some believed that Jesus' words were truth (even if they didn't fully understand them), while others rejected Jesus' words as truth because they didn't understand them. In fact, they were offended by them.
When you read through the Chapter, you can see that their defection was no surprise of course to Jesus. One thing that becomes clear is that belief in Jesus is synonymous with belief in His words. In other words, Jesus had stated in John 6:40 that it is the will of the Father for everyone who sees Jesus to believe on Him and receive eternal life. Yet, when many disciples began to question and get offended at Jesus' words, He said it was because they did not believe (John 6:64).
Jesus equated belief in Him with belief in His words. Although many professing Christians do this today, Jesus knew that one could not claim to believe in Him, yet not believe God's words.
Some may look at that and say, "But I am a believer. This is not relevant to me because I do believe." Yet look at what God has said to His people:
"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Isaiah 6:9-10
"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." Matthew 13:15
"For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." Acts 28:27
"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; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." Hebrews 5:8-12
Belief is not merely an intellectual decision of the mind. Faith in the Word is evidenced by obedience to the word. If we deny His words, then we are on the road to getting a hardened heart.
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of youan evilheart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." Hebrews 3:12
Really take a look at this verse, for on its surface it seems to be an oxymoron. Paul calls these individuals "brethren". How can a brother or sister in Christ have an "evil heart of unbelief" which would cause them to depart from the Lord? Indeed, some will tell you that such is impossible. Yet that is not what the Scriptures say.
The following message entitled "Hard Hearts in the House of God!" is from David Wilkerson as he discusses the potential for God's people to become hard-hearted towards Him.
What I am about to say may shock you - but I believe it with all my heart: The hardest hearts in this world are not among the ungodly - but among God's people!
When we think of hardhearted people, most of us tend to think of avowed atheists such as Madalyn Murray O'Hair - the woman who was instrumental in removing prayer from public schools. Atheists like O'Hair ridicule the very idea of God. Whenever they refer to Christians, their words have a harsh, biting edge. Other atheists flaunt their hatred for God - such as the rock performer Marilyn Manson, who rips up Bibles during his stage show. Whenever we hear about such people, we think, "Those are the most hardhearted people in the world!"
Or, we may think of militant gay activists, such as those who marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City several weeks ago. Many of those marching homosexuals mocked Christianity and blasphemed God's name. One man carried a sign reading, "Jesus Is Gay." Whenever we hear of such people, we think, "Their hearts have become hardened because of sin. They're impossible to reach!"
Or, we may think of the communist nations that for decades persecuted Christians. In Cuba, for instance, just miles off the Florida coast, Fidel Castro's communist regime closed all churches and began turning cathedrals into training centers for communism. Cuba's leaders boasted, "We have wiped out all religion!" And at the time, many Christians thought, "No one could be more hardhearted than these God haters!"
I could go on and on, describing all kinds of scoffers, mockers, blasphemers, rejecters of Christ. And, indeed, each of these could accurately be described as being hardhearted. But if you want to discover the hardest hearts of all - the ones the Lord most despises - you have to look in God's house. The hardest hearts are always found among his people!
According to the Bible, The Hardness of Heart That God Most Despises Has to Do With the Hearing and Rejecting of His Word.
"He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Proverbs 29:1).
The Hebrew word for "reproved" in this verse refers to corrective teaching. And the word for "without remedy" here is "marpe" - meaning, "without a cure," "without any possibility of deliverance." This verse first tells us that hardness of heart comes as a result of rejecting repeated warnings - of pushing aside all wooings of the truth. And, second, it tells us that over time such hardness becomes impossible to cure. So, who are the people that most often hear these warnings? They are supposedly Christians - those who sit in God's house each week listening to sermons of reproof!
The tragic truth is that in spite of hearing fiery messages sent from heaven, multitudes of Christians do not practice what they hear. They refuse to allow God's entry into certain areas of their lives. And as they continue to hear without heeding, a hardness begins to set in. In the end, they will be cut off without hope of ever being cured!
In contrast, there are some gay activists whose hardness of heart has been cured. At first they cursed Christ and shook an angry fist in God's face. But when they heard the gospel and felt the pure, loving reproof of the Holy Ghost, their hearts melted. They repented and turned to Jesus, their hardness being cured.
Now, you may be thinking, "Wait a minute. Are you saying that a sin-hardened, radical homosexual has the hope of being cured of his hardness - but a sin-hardened Christian has no such hope? How could this be?" The difference is, the homosexual referred to hasn't heard message after message of reproof and continually hardened himself to it. But the Christian has!
The life of Madalyn Murray O'Hair's son illustrates this. He had been raised in probably the most atheistic household in America. And he later worked for his mother, crusading against God and religion. But when he heard the gospel, he got gloriously saved - and he later became a minister, preaching Christ instead of cursing him. This man's hardness was curable also - because he hadn't sat under sermons of reproof and continually rejected them.
The same is true of many people who lived for years under communist rule. When the Iron Curtain fell, the gospel immediately flooded those formerly communist countries, and thousands accepted Jesus. Red Army troops converted left and right, and even some top generals became powerful witnesses for Christ. Within a matter of days, government officials, schoolteachers and even the KGB were asking for Bibles and preaching Christ to those under their influence.
Our ministry held crusades in Poland just before the collapse of communism in that country. It was one of the few times officials had allowed anyone in to openly hold religious meetings. Each night as I preached, hundreds of young people literally ran to the altar - weeping, brokenhearted, hungry for Christ. They all had been brainwashed against religion. But their hardness was curable - because they had not sat under continual reproof and hardened themselves to God's word.
In my experience, the hardest hearts - the incurable kind - have always been found within earshot of Holy Ghost-anointed preaching. Such hardness doesn't exist in cold, dead, formal churches, where the gospel has been corrupted for generations. No - it is always found where a pure word is preached from the pulpit - and rejected in the pews!
You may ask, "What exactly is a hard heart?" A hard heart is one that is determined to resist obeying God's word. It has become impossible to stir, immune to the convictions and warnings of the Holy Spirit.
Please don't mistake me: Hardening one's heart is not just a matter of turning against God, or rejecting Christ, or refusing to go to church. The fact is, your heart can become hard even if you're at church every time the doors are open. You can become hard while listening to teaching tapes...singing God's praises...serving as an usher, a teacher, a member of the worship team. Indeed, you can become so hard to God's word while performing acts of service that even if Jesus himself were to preach from the pulpit, you would turn a deaf ear to him!
Right now, you may be saying to yourself, "Whoa! This all sounds a little too scary for me." Rest assured, I don't want to frighten anyone into contrition of heart. But the truth is, if you regularly ignore the warnings of God's word, you'd better start attending the deadest church you can find. That way you won't be judged as severely as you would by continuing to sit in a Holy Ghost church and reject the anointed word you hear. If you keep doing that, your heart will harden beyond any cure!
Let Me Hold Up the Plumb Line, and Measure You According to the Gospel Truth You Have Heard.
I want to give you a test, to see whether you have already taken the first steps toward hardness of heart. Let me ask you the following questions:
How many times have you heard or read messages about the danger of neglecting daily prayer and Bible reading?
I have many written messages on this subject, knowing that hard times are about to fall upon our society. And yet many readers still refuse to pick up their Bibles or spend just five minutes speaking to their heavenly father. Beloved, if you neglect your secret closet at home - if you think praying at church takes care of all your needs - you will never survive the troubled days ahead. Think about it: If you won't heed the word that is meant to heal and strengthen you in good times, how will you ever find power to overcome during the difficult days to come?
If you have ignored the Holy Spirit's wooings to draw you to the secret closet for intimacy, then you have taken the first step toward hardness of heart. You may fill all your time doing good works, blessing people and pouring your heart out in Christian service. But if you neglect time with the Lord - refusing to seek his face or heed his word - you will become weak, fearful, depressed, and finally a prey for the devil. Having a personal knowledge of your heavenly father is the only way to prepare for what is coming!
How many times have you been warned of the awful consequences of gossip?
At times, my warnings on the subject of gossip have been like soft, gentle rain - and at other times, they've been like rolling thunder. I have written about how gossip and murmuring cost Israel everything. Time after time, the Israelites were warned of the dangers of this sin. But they persisted in disobeying the Lord - and it brought them a lifetime of misery in a snake-infested desert!
Now, let me again hold up the plumb line to your life: Have you said something against a brother or a sister during the past week - something you had no business repeating? Or have you listened to any gossip about that person? If so, did you allow a seed of doubt about him or her to be planted in your soul?
I ask you - how could you continue to gossip, in light of all the warnings you've heard? The only answer is that you've already started down the path toward hardness of heart!
How many warnings have you heard against harboring a secret sin?
What about that besetting sin in your heart - the one that God's Spirit has continually spoken to you about? Over the years I have written many warnings about the dangers of flirting with a pet sin. Yet not only have I preached against sin, but I have taught of God's resurrection power. I have preached that the Lord both endues us with overcoming power through his Spirit, and puts a will in our hearts to do right.
Yet I know people who have sat under my teaching at Times Square Church for years - and they still drink, smoke, curse and carouse. Beloved, that is a hard heart! Who dares to sit under loving reproof week after week and yet go on sinning, never allowing conviction to sink in? It is someone who's heading down the path toward hardness of heart!
It Is Possible to Love Hearing God's Word - to Appreciate And Approve of What Is Preached - and Yet Grow Incurably Hard While Listening!
You can sincerely believe you have accepted a sermon simply because you have heard it, thought about it and discussed it over Sunday dinner. Yet you can do all that and still be a hearer only - and not a doer of God's word!
The children of Israel loved to hear the powerful preaching of Ezekiel - but they never obeyed it: "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice...for they hear thy words, but they do them not" (Ezekiel 33:31-32).
Many people in our congregation have approached me after a service, hugged me and said, "Pastor, that was a powerful word you preached." But as they walked away, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "They didn't hear a word you said!"
The book of Hebrews gives us a powerful warning: "As the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness" (Hebrews 3:7-8). "For some, when they had heard, did provoke [rebel]..." (verse 16). These passages clearly show that hardness is not connected to atheism, communism or any other "ism" - but, rather, to hearing and not doing God's word.
I know many people in Times Square Church who are kindhearted, gentle, sacrificial - and yet they are in danger of becoming hardhearted! I have sought the Lord about this, asking, "Father, how can these dedicated, hardworking people hear sermon after sermon of reproof, and yet never change? They come to your house week after week, worshiping you, praising you - but they're not growing into maturity. I know this, because I hear them gossiping, and I know about the other sins in their lives. They love to hear your word preached - but they simply don't obey it. Lord, what keeps them from obeying your word?"
God showed me that it all goes back to their conversion. These neglectful people were never converted in the first place! You see, the Bible speaks of two types of conversions: First, there is a conversion that leads to healing and deliverance from all sins. This is the kind most Christians have experienced. But there is also a conversion that leads to hardness and blindness. Let me give you an illustration.
Israel gladly listened to the powerful preaching of the prophet Isaiah - yet they continually justified their sins, calling evil good and good evil. So, God instructed Isaiah: "...Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:9-10).
God knew the Israelites were not willing to lay down their besetting sins. They loved their fleshly pleasures and ungodly companions too much. So the Lord told Isaiah, "These people are never going to change their hearts. And from now on, I won't speak a word to them. Instead, I want you to hurry them into their hardness, Isaiah. That way, perhaps some will listen before it's too late!"
Simply put, God was calling for a full surrender from his people. He was saying, "If you're going to be called by my name - if your heart is going to be converted - then it has to happen in a way that delivers you from your sins, heals you and sets you free from all bondage!"
I thank God for the multitudes of Christians who started their walk with Jesus the right way - by loving truth and obeying God's word. They had godly sorrow over their sins, and their repentance was wholehearted. When they forsook the ways of their flesh, they fell in love with the Lord, and his word became to them a guiding lamp. And today they give themselves unreservedly to obeying his word.
The Second Kind of Conversion Is What the Army Calls "Foxhole" Religion.
This second type of conversion is what happens to some soldiers when they go into battle. Once they hear the bullets whizzing by and see the bombs dropping all around them, they look death in the face - and they quickly cry out to God!
This is the type of conversion Pharaoh had. At one point he'd heard seven reproofs from the Holy Ghost, but he still wouldn't obey the Lord's command to free Israel. And now God sent Moses to Pharaoh for an eighth time, with this message: "...Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me" (Exodus 10:3).
God had already warned Moses about what Pharaoh's reaction would be: "...Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart..." (verse 1). You may ask, "What chance did Pharaoh have? After all, the Lord had hardened his heart." No! The wording here can appear misleading. Pharaoh's hardening did not happen by eternal decree; rather, scripture tells us in an earlier passage: "But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said" (8:15).
Each time Pharaoh refused to obey the Lord's command, God visited Egypt with a severe plague. And each time Pharaoh would cry, "Okay, Lord - I'll do anything you want. Just get me out of this mess!" Yet once he was delivered, he always went back to his rebellion.
The Bible says the same thing about Israel's fathers: "But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks..." (Nehemiah 9:16-17).
God always knows what's in a person's heart. And he knows when someone will listen but not obey, choosing instead to go his own way. He knew this about Pharaoh - because after seven reproofs and plagues of judgment, Pharaoh's heart had grown steadily harder.
Now an eighth plague was about to fall upon the Egyptians, and it was something they greatly feared: locusts. Throughout the Bible, locusts signify ruin and destruction. In many instances they represent God's retribution upon a people. Indeed, the prophet Joel likens a particular invading army to a swarm of locusts: "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten...my great army which I sent among you...that executeth his word..." (Joel 2:25, 11).
God didn't always send such plagues merely to punish, but rather to bring about his divine order and will. Many residents of our Timothy House and Sarah House ministries know this firsthand. They've lost jobs, finances, health, marriages, families - all because the locusts of alcohol and drugs devoured everything in their lives. Yet, it was through such plagues that these men and women turned to Jesus.
In Egypt, swarms of locusts descended on the land overnight, devouring everything in sight - crops, plants, new growth, even the bark on trees. By the time these bugs were finished, not even a blade of grass remained:
"The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they...for they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees...and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt" (Exodus 10:14-15).
The massive swarms filled the Egyptians' houses. Everywhere the people turned, they saw locusts - on the floor, in the kneading trough, in the milk, in their clothes, in their beds. These locusts buzzed their wings with a terrifying sound and chomped and chewed everything in sight. Within days, Egypt lay in total ruin.
At this point, a small but very important word appears in scripture - the word "then." "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you" (verse 16).
Pharaoh confessed his sin, admitting his wrongdoing. And it sounded like his repentance was full and complete. But what was his motive in repenting? Scripture spells it out clearly in Pharaoh's own words: "Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only" (verse 17). Pharaoh was saying, "Yes, I sinned - and I'm sorry. Now, hurry up, Moses, and get me out of this mess. Pray to your God for me. I'm in trouble, and I have to have relief!"
Pharaoh saw that he was about to lose everything - so he repented in hopes that God would deliver him from the mess he'd brought on himself. All he wanted was relief from his trouble!
What First Brought You to the Lord?
Did you first come to the Lord as Pharaoh did - only because you wanted something from God? Did you turn to him in order to kick a drug habit, to have your marriage restored, to be delivered from financial trouble? Did you say to yourself, "If I come to Jesus, maybe he'll work things out."
The truth is, Christ will work miracles for you. He will do the impossible in your life. But if you come to him only to get something from him - only to be delivered from your problems - you will never grow an inch in maturity. On the contrary, you will only grow hard!
Think back to the time of your conversion. Did it happen after some locust had eaten everything away? Was your health debilitated in some way? Was one of your children in trouble? Did you end up in devastation, with death and ruin hovering over you?
Please don't misunderstand me. Of course, God loves to save people who end up in ruin. When all is lost, he is always near - and he is faithful to deliver. But, beloved, you cannot come to Jesus just to get relief! You must come to him because he is God - and because he deserves your life, your worship, your obedience.
It is a dangerous thing to come into God's house and go through the motions of worship. You may teach, you may usher, you may sing in the choir - and you may tell yourself, "I remember my conversion well. I asked Jesus into my heart five years ago." But if your heart truly had been converted at that time, it would show in your life today.
You would be growing spiritually - reading the Bible often, taking all your needs and problems to God, spending precious time with him in your secret closet. And whenever you heard warnings about coming locusts, you would take heed - because you know your father's commands issue out of his love for you.
Right now you may be saying, "Yes, Brother Dave - I admit I've been neglecting God's word. And I'm still bound by a besetting sin. Am I too hardened - too far gone - to receive the Lord's healing touch?"
No - not at all! If you will begin to call on the Lord today, in the midst of your need, he will bring you times of refreshing. Whenever you bring to him a truly repentant heart, he will act not as your judge, but as your mediator and intercessor. Right now he is saying to you, "Just call on me, and I will do it for you. I will come to you, supplying all you need to keep your heart tender and broken before me."
Do you want to grow into maturity in Christ? Do you want the Lord to keep reproving you in love and guiding you toward life and godliness? Then call on him today. Nothing will keep you on his intended path for you more than a broken and contrite heart!
The following message message from Min. David Wilkerson is entitled, "Are You Developing A Hard Heart?"
Please listen to this sermon. It is a powerful and important message. The audio unfortunately is not the best quality, but I pray that if you can get in a quiet place and ask the Lord to make the message clear, He will do so. He did so for me. May it speak to your hearts today and bring renewal and refreshing in Jesus Christ.
Hardness of heart is not the sin of the world, it is a sin of the Church. It is the sin of believers, of those who sit most often under the word of God and have seen His power in action.
The word of God coming forth in truth is either going to break us and soften our hearts or harden us.
Hardness of heart is not a rejection of hearing the word of God or the condition of God-haters.
Hardness comes because we embrace the message or doctrine of holiness without a vision of Christ's utter holiness in our own hearts.
If we preach holiness apart from this vision of Christ's utter holiness, then our preaching will come across as hard and without mercy.
Paul addressed those who preach about holiness, but do not deal with their own sin. Nothing can harden the heart quicker than dealing with the sins of others while holding on to secret sins yourself.
The only way you can preach holiness is with a broken heart because you have seen the true condition of your own heart in the face of Jesus & the presence of His holiness.
God has revealed His unspeakable wrath at this lip service without heart surrender. He is not talking to the world or to Sodom. He is talking to the believer, to His church, His children.
People want to hear that God is love, God is mercy, God is longsuffering...but they don't want to hear that God has a wrath against mixture, against hidden sin.
Is your heart really God's or is it pulled away to some business or pleasure? God will not stand by and let us destroy ourselves, but will send the Holy Spirit to slam against those idols in our souls which prevent us from growing in Him.
God's ultimate desire for us is freedom!
It is life and death how we respond to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit.
You cannot afford to be offended by God's words! Submit, be cleansed, have that hardened heart broken, and be set free!!!
True ministers of God are not here to be your buddies, but to be faithful to the Holy Ghost, to send a word from Heaven, to manifest the life of God and to preach sin out of the church!
Harden not your heart in this message, but receive it in hope so that you can be set free.
During prayer yesterday morning, the image of a parent and child at the mall came to mind.
The parent tells the young child to stay with them and the child readily agrees. The parent starts walking and the child begins to follow closely behind. As they continue through the mall, the child's attention is occasionally drawn away from the parent as he looks around at all of the shiny & noisy distractions.
Pretty soon, the child's steps become slower as more of their attention is captured by the things around them. If they are not careful, soon the child may find that the parent is no longer in view; that the gap between them has gotten so large he will be unable to hear even if the parent calls out for him.
What must the child do? Adjust his vision, forget about what is going on around him, return his focus to the parent, and get back in lockstep with the parent again. And if he doesn't? He might very well find himself lost.
While not a perfect analogy, my point is that Jesus is moving...and I don't mean in the soulish way where people might say how the "Holy Spirit was mooooving in Church this morning." I mean that Jesus is always about the Father's business. Even now, the reason He has a Body still on the earth is because there is work yet to do (John 14:12).
There are places Jesus wants to take you...but will you follow?
Jesus said to take up our cross and "follow" Him. That means Jesus must be going somewhere. Now some might say, "Ahhh, you are just being too literal." Yet He could have just said, "Take up your cross." or, "Take up your cross and follow my example." But He didn't. He desires, by the power of His Spirit, to lead us through life in accomplishing the will of the Father.
As a Catholic, I used to perform a ritual every year called the Stations of the Cross. While most RCC services would last no more than an hour, this one was always assured to be longer as the congregation read through depictions of Jesus steps toward crucifixion (often walking around to different paintings/sculptures depicting the same). In true Catholic fashion however, these rituals were filled with religious sentiment but very little truth. Many of these moments of the crucifixion had no basis in Scripture and merely served to embellish that institution's idolatrous traditions.
A number of professing Christians today are walking out the Stations of the Cross, but they are not even Catholic. They are going through the motions of following Jesus, making every outward appearance of doing so, but are really just living for themselves; according to their own ways and their own understanding.
Yet, there is a path we are expected to take as Christians in following Jesus. Not in a superficial or merely symbolic way, but in spirit and in truth.
The Way of the Cross
When Jesus took up His cross, He began an arduous journey towards crucifixion. Although He had family & friends, they could not walk that road with Him. Indeed, some were so concerned about being associated with Him that they scattered and were no where to be found. The ones most prominent in those moments were the ones striking Him, taunting Him, and spitting in His face.
It can often feel that way as a Christian. You can feel alone as even family members and close acquaintances separate from you because of the Gospel. The loudest voice can seem to be that of the mockers. However, it is important that we not be ashamed of God's words (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; Romans 1:16, 9:23; II Corinthians 7:14; II Thessalonians 3:14; II Timothy 1:8). We must stand not only for the word of truth, but stand for the truthof the word.
What is the difference? Many people claim to stand for God's word, but do not actually believe what it says; rejecting what they do not like or do not understand in order to suit their own souls. Standing for the truthof God's word means not trying to dismiss it, diminish its power, or deny its divine inspiration. The truth of God's word is a sword and will cause division (Matthew 10:34; Hebrews 4:12). We should expect that.
In going to the cross, Jesus suffered crucifixion by this world. Likewise, we must be crucified and dead to the world (Galatians 6:14), no longer seduced by its lustful allures and defiled attractions. This is why we must take up our cross every day. Each day we must deaden this flesh because the world's job is to stimulate it, and as long as we live in these bodies, we will need to buffet them (I Corinthians 9:27).
So is that it? We just have to follow Jesus to the cross? Yes, and no. Jesus did go to the cross, but his vision was on something else. There was a joy which lay beyondthe cross upon which He focused and it even gave Him strength to endure the cross (Hebrews 12:2). What joy? The joy in knowing that He was fulfilling the purposes His Father had set before him (John 19:30). I can do this Father, because it is your will for me and I desire to please you more than I desire to please my own self.
"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." John 15:10-11
When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He struggled to prepare Himself for the way of the cross because it would bring a separation between Him and the Father for the first time ever as He took upon Himself the sin of the world (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Jesus looked forward to the joy of having done the Father's will, having honored His words, and having His fellowship with the Father restored (Luke 23:46; John 4:34, 19:30).
This joy Jesus had is also available to us today. This is the joy of the resurrected life; being in right fellowship with the Father and doing His will. This same joy will even give us the strength to endure the trials of the cross, knowing that in such we can walk in resurrection (Romans 6:4, 8:11-17, 12:2; Colossians 2:12-13, 3:1-3; I Peter 3:21).
While it is the cross which makes resurrection possible, it is the resurrection which manifests the power of God in our lives. We need this power to walk out the Christian life and to be a witness to others in the midst of darkness. As Paul stated, if there had been no resurrection, then our faith would be in vain (I Corinthians 15:13-14).
The Mark of the Beast
"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." John 6:66
Anyone who reads the blog will know that numbers are not my thing. However, I do find it very interesting that this book and chapter of John is "666" (Revelation 13:18).
What we see in this text is a dividing line. A distinguishing mark between those who continue on with the Lord and those who do not. What is this line in the sand? Faith in God's words.
In this text, we are told that many of Jesus' disciples departed from Him and walked no more with Him. Why did they turn back from Him? They were offended by His words (John 6:60-61). What did they go "back" to? The vomit and the mire of the world (II Peter 2:22). Why did the other disciples continue on with the Lord? Because they believed in His words (John 6:68).
It is interesting to note that the disciples who continued with Jesus didn't profess any greater understanding of what Jesus had said than those who left. It is entirely possible that the disciples who remained were just as confused by Jesus' words, "Eat my flesh and drink my blood." Yet they stayed because - regardless of their level of understanding - they believed that Jesus' words were the words of eternal life. They believed that His words were the truth. If we use our own understanding as the barometer for which of God's words are truth, then we will find ourselves like the disciples who departed.
Let me say this plainly. When a 'professing' Christian casts dispersions on the validity of God's words, you are looking at someone in the throes ofapostasy. When people deny that certain parts of Scripture are God-breathed, they are being prepared by God to fall for a great delusion so that they will be damned (II Thessalonians 2:10-12). God does not take the dismissal of His words lightly. There are those who will quibble over the "name" of Jesus, yet think nothing of trampling on His holy word. I tell you that He holds His words higher than His name (Psalm 138:2). People, you cannot walk away from truth of God's word and still claim to be a member of God's Church (I John 1:6, 2:21).
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." I Thessalonians 2:13
Why is it that many are moving away from the word of God as His standard of truth? They are not going where Jesus is going. The word of God offends them and they are choosing to walk with Him no more.
When Pontious Pilate stood before Jesus, he asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). He was staring truth right in the face, but could not receive it. This is what many Christians are doing with God. Instead of receiving all that is truth - His word, His Spirit, His Church, His Son - they pick and choose what is comfortable for their flesh, not understanding that the spirit and the word agree (I Timothy 3:15-16; II Timothy 2:15; II Peter 3:16; II Thessalonians 2:15).
At some point - and indeed each day and every moment - we all have to decide whether we will follow Jesus. Will we go where He is going? Will we "keep" (believe & obey) His words until the end or will we be offended by them and thus turn away from Him?
We may have chosen to do so yesterday, but will we do so today? We may have decided to follow Him an hour ago, but will we do so now?
"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD:..." Hosea 6:3a
Since the CD player in our car is broken, we have been listening to Christian radio stations. As I did so today, it dawned on me how many songs are about God's love for us.
Song after song spoke of how God loves us anyway in spite of our sin. How God's love lifts me up when I am down. How God's love catches me when I fall. How God's love carries me when I am weak...
Don't get me wrong, God's love is an absolutely wonderful thing! It is beyond comprehension and I am ever grateful for it. And while I noted the recurring theme of the songs, I sang right along with most of them.
Yet, how many realize that God's love is not the problem with mankind? The issue is not whether God loves us, but whether we love Him.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:16-19
We can sing about and bask in the fact that God loves us, but if we in turn never love Him then we will still be damned to Hell.
Some might say, "Oh, here they go again." However, I am serious. So many times, when people are doing what they know they should not or when they have become complacent in their walk with God, they start speaking of how God loves them. Yet, does God love those He sends to Hell?
If you answer, "Yes", then God's love alone will not keep you from Hell unless you respond to that love.
If you answer, "No", then there must be some criteria or condition to receiving God's love and it would behoove us to understand what that is.
The point of this post is not to get into some theological or philisophical debate. It is to remind us that God has already proven His love for all mankind by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die as a payment for our sins so that we could be reconciled to Him and experience His love in our lives.
However, He also has the expectation that we will respond to His love as demonstrated by obedience to His words (John 14:15-23, 15:10; I John 2:5, 5:2-3).
In an effort to prove that God gives us eternal, unconditional security, a Christian once asked me, "Name just one thing in the New Testament that God says obedience is a requirement to receive?" So, I pointed Him to Acts 5:32:
"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."
I also pointed out that only those led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God (Romans 8:14).
An atheist once asked me, "How can a loving God send people to Hell?" And I stated, "Because after all of His wooing and warning, He loves you enough to give you exactly what you insist upon having: an eternity apart from Him."
God's love is not a protection against Him being a Just & Righteous Judge when we stand before Him, giving an accounting of our lives. The next time you contemplate the greatness of God's love for us, consider as well your love for Him.
Are you able to confess to Him with a pure heart that you love Him or have you in all honesty departed from your first love due to the cares of this life (Revelation 2:4)? I am not speaking of being without sin or even no longer struggling against sin. I am asking are you seeking to have your consciences purged so that you can stand before Him in sincerity (Hebrews 10:2)?
"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, ifour heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." I John 3:18-24
How can we assure our hearts before God? How can we know that we are of the truth? It is not with our many words and verbal professions. It is by being sincere with God (Psalm 51:6). "Is there anything in my life displeasing to God? Any part of my life I am trying to keep from Him? Any area that I know He has out His finger on, but that I have not yet submitted to Him?"
sincere: free of deceit, hypocrisy, or falseness; earnest: genuine; real:pure; unmixed; unadulterated; frank, candid, honest, open, guileless; unaffected.
Every day God gives us is an opportunity to grow in Him and love Him more. Don't take it for granted or let it pass idly by. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Let's be real with God. If we truly love Him, then we will seek to obey Him and not find excuses about why we have not done so.
I pray that God gives us an appreciation for His love that is coupled with proper reverence of Him. While glorying in His love, let's also understand the transformative work His love aims to accomplish in our lives by making us reflections of that love in a dying world.
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." II Corinthians 5:14-15
A fellowship is starting in the Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. area called the Warriors Temple which I highly recommend for those seeking believers of a like, precious faith. We had the opportunity to meet the pastor and his wife this month.
Please see the following information for more details.
Its time! We’ve lost our Families, Finances, and dignity to the Kingdom of Darkness; we must respond. God has an answer, a “NEW CHURCH ORDER”.
The days of superstar preachers, religious entertainers, and false doctrines are over. The New Church Order makes JESUS CHRIST the Superstar, with you as his CHURCH.
The Warriors Temple is a ministry designed to equip mankind with the truth of God's Word in order that the Church (YOU) will be able to serve God in spirit and in truth, war against Satan and bring other souls to Jesus Christ.
Join us and together we will build an Army of Christian Warriors to fight for our Families, Finances, and most of all for the Souls of Man.
"While they promise themliberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." II Peter 2:19
We have spoken before about the absurdity of the "pro-choice" platform.
However, the following videos have to be some of the hardest to watch that I have ever seen. As difficult as they are to watch, they document a "procedure" that thousands of women undergo each day.
As stated in the video, abortion staying hidden allows it to remain tolerable.
If there is any doubt about what "choice" the people who support abortion want you to choose, this settles that question once and for all.
The following video is the documentary "The Silent Scream" hosted by Dr. Bernard Nathanson (an obstetrician) as he explains the suction abortion procedure, followed by an actual first trimester abortion as seen through ultrasound.
This next video chronicles the stages of life that a baby goes through from conception to birth. It then shows actual results from an abortion in comparison.
I remember growing up and having "best friends". I really didn't think much about it at the time. Yet at its heart, I can remember the depth of feeling that often went along with it.
It was like a claim of ownership & possession was being established in a sense of 'you belong to me'. You were being set apart with and for the other person in an exclusive relationship to which others were not privy. They were the ones to whom you were to share your deepest, darkest secrets. There was even an unspoken pressure to think alike. It was as if we had to have the same mind.
There were also certain obligations associated with being a "best friend". You had to think of them first before any other when it comes to where to go, what to do, and with whom to hang out. It was their opinion you would seek on what to wear and whom to date. You also had to make the status of your relationship obvious to others through public demonstration such as always being seen together, wearing similar clothes and hairstyles, etc.
Overall, the "best friend" was expected to be always on your side, always supportive, and always there for you. They provided a sense of acceptance, validation, and dependability in life when there is so much unknown.
After elementary school however, I just outgrew the need for a "best friend", preferring instead to just float among different groups of friends. For me personally, I found such relationships too restrictive.
These days however, the BFF (best friends forever) craze has taken a life of its own...and I am speaking of primarily girls. Everything evolves around having a BFF or who is your BFF. I was even told last week that it is common for girls to call BFFs their wives; even updating Facebook statuses to indicate that they are married to their "wife" (BFF).
While initially shocked by these things, it makes perfect sense upon reflection. While we didn't call each other wife, that is often what we were setting up in our "best friend" relationships from childhood. What is wrong with just being friends? Even being good friends?
Even older women can have BFFs whom they are closer with than their own husbands. I can remember grown woman BFFs saying to each other, "Men may come and go, but best friends are forever." It is not uncommon for such persons to desire to spend more time with their BFF than with their husband, going out at night, going on vacations together, etc. I am just not sure that the BFF connotation is as innocent, healthy, or normal as it can appear on the surface.
The following article is from a young lady's blog entitled, "Never Too Young For Jesus Christ" as she delves into what God revealed to about BFFs and how our closet friend should be Jesus. This is not just words or religious speak. Can you honestly say that Jesus is your best friend or are you leaning on others in a way you should only lean on Him?
Our earthly friendships say more about us and our affections than we may know. As stated in the video in her post:
"You tell me who your friends are and I will tell you exactly who you are or who you are about to become."
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 1:4
I have written about religion before and if one is speaking about outward conformity & external works to please men over inward conversion & transformation to Christ, then I am dead set against it. However, when some speak of "hating religion", they are not expressing a heartfelt desire to be in relationship with Jesus Christ. Rather, they are speaking of a desire to be free from Rules, Responsibility, and Reproof.
There is a video which has gone "viral" entitled, "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus". This video has lots of people "Amening" it and and saying how much it expresses what they feel. Yet, this young man has another video as well (below), which explains why he made that video.
In a nutshell, he made the video about religion because he believes that religion is not "grace-oriented". What does he mean by that? He is offended by the insistence that sin defiles and he finds such assertions ungrace-like. Folks, this video about "hating religion" is not about freedom in Christ; it is about the fact that this young man is not yet through with sin.
My statement is not one of condemnation. I pray that he turns his whole heart to the Lord so that he may find mercy and grace to help in his times of need. He has not yet understood the truths of the Gospel and even the essence of salvation.
His thoughts about grace are shaped by the following belief: All any of us can be is a dirty sinner in God's eyes. While it is true that we have all sinned, it is not true that God continues to see us as sinners when we turn in faith to Jesus. What is the point of being born again if we remain the same defiled, dirty, sinful creation we were before turning to Christ? Was God just lying when He said that He makes us into a new creation in Him so that old things are passed away and ALL things are made new?
According to his testimony, the difference in his life between pre-conversion and post-conversion is that he is no longerashamed about his sin. See, "religion" made him feel like sin was bad and he should not sin. It convinced him that those who continue in sin will go to Hell. So he became a hypocrite in order to appear righteous to men, while still continuing in sin. Then he realized that everyone sins and it doesn't matter if we sin or not because Jesus loves us. People, that is not salvation! That is not repentance. That is not the Gospel.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?...Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." Romans 6:1-2, 6-7
"We" - who are Christians - are to be dead to sin. We are to be destroying the body of sin through the crucifixion of the old man so that we should not serve sin. It is the mercy of God which extends to man even while he is fallen in sin; yet it is His grace which does not leave us there, but pulls us out of sin so that we are no longer enslaved by it. God is not indifferent to sin, He takes it personally (I Samuel 8:7).
"It's okay to be a mess because Jesus represents you", this man says. How does he describe being "a mess"? Being addicted to pornography, getting into fornication, being filled with lust, etc. Being a Christian apparently does not mean that we are cleansed from sin, but that we no longer have to hide sin because we have "grace". Our picture of Jesus is just "too clean" and "too moral", he says. Even in his sharing of Hebrews 12:1-2, he quickly skims over the part about us laying aside every sinful way in order to get to what he calls the "good part" of us being Jesus' joy.
However, the truth is that it is not "okay" to continue willfully in sin, for such will lead to spiritual death (Hebrews 6:4-6).
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16
What is the root of his problem? Fatherlessness. As he states in the video, he is not yet whole because he doesn't have the identity of a father; and this is the problem with many people who often rant about what they call "religion". I am not speaking of an earthly father, I am speaking of being reconciled to the Heavenly Father. One of the main attributes we experience with God as our Father is that He chastens us (Hebrews 12:6-8). If we endure that chastening, then we are sons. If we be without that chastening, then we are bastards. Pray for him, that he would truly come to know God as His Father. That he would embrace the chastening of the Lord as an extension of His love, instead of settling into a comfort zone with sin (Proverbs 13:24; Revelation 3:19).
This is not about this young man because the errors he is espousing are what a lot of people believe. Oftentimes, all of this Ranting about Religion is merely Rebellion against the Righteous Rules, Responsibility, and Reproof that exists in the Body of Christ.
My son asked me about a month ago, "Is the song "We fall Down" bad? I said, "Well, it is a lie." The song claims that "a saint is just a sinner who fell down, but got up." The inference then is that as long as you continue to 'get back up' from your sin, you are a saint.
But the word of God says that the difference between a sinner and a saint (in part) is that the sinner is powerless to cease from sinning (II Peter 2:14). Sinners are powerless against sin because they are still under sin and ruled by it, but saints are made overcomers of sin through faith in Christ Jesus and being led by the Spirit so they do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
In God's word is His repeated expectation that we are to "go and sin no more" after turning in faith to Him (John 5:14, 8:11). While provision is made for us should we sin (I John 1:9), the primary command is that we sin not (I John 2:1, 3:8-9; Hebrews 12:1; I Corinthians 15:34; Romans 6:18-20). Why? Precisely because sin defiles. It makes us dirty and puts obstacles between our communion with the Lord (Isaiah 59:2; Jeremiah 5:25; Micah 3:4; Proverbs 15:29; I John 2:4-6; 3:6; 5:18).
Salvation does not change the nature of sin and what sin does to us. Salvation changes us so that we can overcome and be delivered from sin's power. Does that mean we will be sinless? No, but it means that we feel about sin the way that God does: hating it (Psalm 119:104,128). We set our wills to follow God's way and not give in to the lusts of the flesh simply because we love Him. And even should we commit sin, we still hate it and seek to be freed from it (Psalm 97:10, 101:3; Proverbs 8:13; Amos 5:15; Romans 12:9).
NO RULES
"If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15
God is a Commander and His gives commands. The Scriptures are not just a wishlist of what God would like or a collection of His requests He would like us to consider. We cannot just pick and choose which of God's commands we want to obey.
Many confess that they love the Lord, but in their hearts they despise Him because they despise His commands; choosing instead cling to the understanding of men (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6).
The issue is not whether God loves us, but whether we love Him. If we do, then we will honor what He says.
NO RESPONSIBILITY
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish." Luke 14:27-30
What is being crucified on that cross we take up each day? The old man, the flesh, the body of sin (Romans 6:6-7). If we do not do this, then we cannot be Jesus' disciple.
We become responsible before God when we become a Christian. We are responsible for how we live, what we say, even what we think. We are responsible for walking worthy of our calling and making our own calling & election sure. We are responsible for being witnesses to the lost of God's saving power, love, and righteousness.
Indeed, we will have to give an account one day to God of all that has been done in these mortal bodies. There is a cost to salvation.
NO REPROOF
"He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding." Proverbs 15:32
As a demonstration of God's wisdom, He provides for reproof in His Body. In His loving kindness, He uses our brothers and sisters to help us when we fall, including pointing out our error when we are going astray so that we can repent (Galatians 6:1). He says that to refuse to offer such reproof for sin when warranted is to actually hate your brother (Leviticus 19:17). In the Church, we are charged with admonishing one another (Romans 15:14; I Thessalonians 5:14; Titus 1:13; II Timothy 2:25, 4:2).
God has ordained that we be receptive to His correction, even as administered by His Body, for our maturation and protection. If we sincerely desire to be like Christ, then we will.
REBELLION
Don't let the riotous chorus about "religion" lead you into deception. Many of these persons are running away from God as a Father because they do not want to follow His Rules, be Responsible before Him or be subject to His Reproof. Why? They are not yet through with sin.
Those still enjoying the deceitful pleasures of sin (which are only for a season) will not want to be reminded of God's word, held accountable to His word, or corrected by it. God's word becomes an offense, which leads to rebellion and rejection of God as a Father. As a result, aspirit of fatherlessness is being loosed on the masses, which will lead (and is leading) many away from God.
Rules, Responsibility, and Reproof are not examples of Religion, but are part of the purpose and function of the Body of Christ. Condemnation and Conviction are not the same things. While we are not condemned when we fall into sin, there should always be the conviction of the Holy Spirit there to lead us to repentance. Not merely a feeling of sorrow about the sin, but a turning away from it. When we walk away from conviction, rejecting it as condemnation or "religion", we are having our consciences seared.
Grace does not give us a cloak for sin. The true grace of God will lead us to live for Him in all things and call us into fellowship with each other. If you really want to understand what "grace" is, please listen to the following exposition on the Book of I Peter.
If your "freedom from religion" has allowed you to grow more comfortable in your sin, then you are not being freed from bondage, but freed from Christ.
"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12:15-17
UPDATE: I thought the following comment from NealReal should be incorporated into the article:
"I'd like to add one more scripture that pretty much shatters this misunderstanding of grace. Its my favorite one:
Titus 2:11-12 NIV
"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age..."
Grace is the allotted time by which we are taught to say NO to sin and to learn to live upright. Anyone claiming to be walking in grace and not saying NO to sin, has got grace all wrong."
