Chapter III: Counterfeit Christianity
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“And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:3-6). |
Christmas is a Feast of False Christianity |
Is Satan’s elusive scheme Xmas alone? Xmas is the tip of the iceberg. Only the tip of an iceberg breaks forth above the surface of the water while underneath there is an incredible mass of ice. A wise sailor in icy seas perceives the danger of a lingering tip of ice. He recognizes there is an enormous mass of ice below the surface of water. What breaks forth to our attention is the Xmas celebration, however, there is so great a mass of further rebellion against God that took place before Xmas did even break forth. There is a Trojan Horse of Satan that has long since been received by the once fortified walls of Christianity. Though a remnant remains, professing Christianity was sacked and conquered ages ago, and she now bears the festival and fruit of Xmas.
In Exodus 32 Aaron proclaims a feast saying, “To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:5-6). Does this sound right to you? The Israelites kept this feast by eating and drinking, arising and playing. The thrice-holy God of the universe has never given a commandment to keep a feast by playing. Likewise God has never given the commandment to keep a feast, festival, holy day, or holiday wherein children play with toys, men play with their gifts like boys, families sing songs with idolatrous joys, and fables drown godliness with incessant, extravagant noise. Xmas is a feast of rebellion, yet still this is the tip of the iceberg.
“Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Corinthians 10:7).
Aaron proclaimed this feast in Exodus 32:5-6 and it was even called a “feast to the LORD” but this was after masses of the people had already fallen into blatant idolatry. This feast was proclaimed after the people had made a golden calf. Likewise, Xmas is called a “feast to the LORD,” and this feast is after the masses did make for themselves a counterfeit Christianity. The Israelites called the golden calf their God. Not just any God, they called the calf the God of Israel, the God of their fathers, the same God that delivered them from Egyptian bondage! “And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:3-6). This feast was called as a result of their complete rebellion against the true God. Likewise it is today! False Christianity has proclaimed an Xmas feast which is a fruit of counterfeit Christianity.
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This horrendous revelry of playing in Exodus 32 was eventually interrupted by Moses. The idolatry happened in Moses’ absence on the Mount of God (Ex. 32:1). He was receiving instructions of all the holy precautions that must be taken to survive the grave and supreme privilege of God dwelling among them. The Tabernacle was like the Temple, and concerning this awesome and fearful privilege, King Solomon said it well: “But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built” (2 Chron. 6:18)! Moses, in a similar position as Solomon, surely was filled with wonder, thoughts that would gasp, “what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him” (Psalm 8:4)? And, “who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath” (Psalm 90:11).
This privilege is a responsibility, and for God to be near there is immediate, holy accountability. Moses, being so near to God, personally understood the immediate consequences of sin and the Lord’s reactions to rebellious men. Moses came to know the power of God’s anger when, as the people fell into idolatry, they scarcely escaped it. The Lord intended to consume the whole congregation and begin a line starting with Moses alone. Doubtlessly the Israelites reached a population of over a million, and not all the Israelites participated in this reveling; nevertheless, justice did tempt God to kill every one of them! This was the purity of righteous anger against evil men that God alone does possess. God told Moses, “let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Ex. 32:10).
At the words, “let me alone.” With possible destruction seconds from descending upon the Israelites because of the “wrath waxed hot,” no one would dare to stand in the gap except the Holy Ghost constrained it. In such a time, nothing but Holy Ghost inspired, loving, and earnest intercession could avail. Under this seal Moses pled for forgiveness, he cried to God for pardon, “and the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people” (Ex. 32:14). Even Elijah did not go out at the sound of the fire (1 Kings 19:11-12), but Moses in the grace of God did stand against this fire, to God be the glory. God did provide for us a window of revelation to understand the mysteries of justice, wrath, and the scarcity of salvation. As it is written, “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (1 Peter 4:18)?
Moses came down from the Mount with the fire of God’s wrath engraved in his mind. Moses was surely preparing his mind to do the stern requirement of righteous reproof, successfully overcome the difficulty of dealing with the unrepentant, and have the stedfastness to see obedience completed in full by dispensing mercy and mercilessness where necessary. With a heavy heart he approached the congregation. Their wickedness was so boisterously sounded abroad that it reached the ears of Moses while the Israelites were still out of sight. There was so much noise that Joshua thought there was “war in the camp” (Ex. 32:17). Moses corrected him saying, it is “the noise of them that sing do I hear” (Ex. 32:18).
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“And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:5-6). |
Are You Playing in Aaron’s Feast? |
It was the imagination of their own heart to eat, drink, and rise up to play. Carnality crosses culture and religion, and in all are like imaginations, thus Xmas has become a day of remembrance for all religions (Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism) and cultures (Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western) with a remnant excluded in the USA. If Xmas is so precious to the carnal mind, and the carnal mind is at enmity against God, then God is the enemy of Xmas whether it bears his name or not. If the world could build an altar of worship to gain the blessing of a false god, the sacrifice would be outward and the blessing would be prosperity. Covetous Christianity worships by playing with presents; such is the joy of Satan Santa, not the Lord Jesus. The baby child Jesus will remember such blasphemy on the day of his vengeance, returning in flaming abhorrence of this present world (2 Thess. 1:7-9).
Santa’s ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’ will be suffocated with breathless fear and woe when the Lord Christ makes his skyline entrance in flaming fire. Cool, painless coal and a naughty toddler’s frown will not be the gravity of his wrath. The kings of the earth will burn hotter than fossil fuels in the fires of Jesus’ vengeance. No eyes will trace the skyline for some idolatrous Santa sleigh; a True Holy Night will be made known when every eye will see Jesus.
In the very celebration of Xmas men celebrate life through materialism and physical prosperity. Physical prosperity is one of the greatest hindrances to spiritual prosperity. Christ’s birth makes impossible the former and establishes the latter. On Xmas “the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.” (Psalm 10:3). It is the day of blessings to the covetous, but the Lord abhors the covetous. It is the day of wicked men boasting of their heart’s desire, but Jesus commanded:
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It is no wonder most of America has graduated from Santa to a prosperity gospel “jesus,” who is not Jesus. Woe to the American dream! December 25th has become a covetous celebration of covetous Christianity. This Santa brings people into the bondage of storing up treasures on earth, and this is the center piece of laughter on “the day of their lord’s birth.”
Men love to celebrate their birthdays, but saints love their death days. Mothers rejoice in a child born in the flesh while holy angels rejoice in children born again in the Spirit. If God were to celebrate when his Son was born, it would be in a manner that advances the cause of men recognizing they must die and be born again! We are born friends of this world and must be born-again friends of God, for, “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Is it a marvel to you that this world is so wicked, so anti-God and anti-righteousness, that if you are a friend of this world you are an enemy of God? Jesus said, “marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
We are born into a sinful nature but God recreates into a “divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). Jesus Christ lives, and “as many as received him, to them gave he power to be come the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). True belief has the benefits of the second birth, and God turns the fleshly into spiritual, replacing self-will with God’s will. Why a spiritual birth? “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7-8). Has God put his love within thine heart? Is this your song?
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought.
I have light in my soul for which long I have sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I have ceased from my wandering and going astray.
And my sins, which were many, are all washed away,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
(Since Jesus Came into My Heart)
If the love of God is in your heart, the world is not! As it is written, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
It is apparent that the world and God define and consider life to be two different things. The only entrance into the Kingdom of God is a complete and total death to all that is considered life in this world. Simultaneously one is born again into all that is considered life according to Heaven. Did you know Satan is called “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4)? If God were to celebrate the birth of his Son he would commemorate the death of this world, Satan’s Kingdom, and you (your flesh). Therefore the gospel is presented in a manner that makes evident the poignant necessity of death. Xmas is anti-death, anti-gospel, and anti-cross, therefore it is anti-Christ. Xmas is a planting of thorns choking out the truth that men must die to live. Such thorns are deceitful riches, destructive lusts of covetous play, and the cares of this life (Mark 4:19). God curses the covetous and Xmas blesses them. Xmas is a feast of Satan that entangles men from attending the feast of the Lord (Luke 14:16-24). A love and attachment to this present life is rebellion against God, a love of sin, and even a love of Satan.
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Eternal life is an utter death to this present life. Attachments to this present life are chains of the devil, a prison of iniquity, and hellish lusts of spiritual death. It is easy for a man to consider his life to consist of the things he possess’. Jesus said, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment” (Matt. 6:25)? And again, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:15-21). The cross is a symbol of utter crucifixion of all that is considered life to the world, and that is “in the abundance of things he possesseth.” Xmas is a reveling in a false perception of life, a multiplying of possessions, wicked obsessions. It is ease and merrymaking provoking God to suddenly require your soul!
Read of another rich man, whom sincerely sought eternal life but was hindered because of what he owned “for he had great possessions.” This man sought out Jesus Christ with the earnestness that he came running, threw himself on his knees, and asked the question “what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” An amazing scene! It is a wonder that men think they can get eternal life today with no cost but kneeling and prayer. O, let us learn from this rich man.
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This rich man loved his life, his possessions, and his way instead of God. But how can a man cease from loving all of this? The gospel is that you must have such a revelation of Jesus Christ that you come to hate your life, finding Christ a worthy treasure, wherein, “for joy thereof” you forsake all to follow and have him.
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Costless and cross-less Christianity tramples the pearls of God’s grace and love, which is in Jesus; it is false Christianity and spiritual idolatry. We are born into the Kingdom of Satan who has his reign of power and darkness in our flesh, we must be reborn into the Kingdom of God through a crucifixion of our flesh, and this is freedom from our Egypt (Ephesians 2:1-3). “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24).
There is no excuse for cross-less Christianity. There is no excuse or substitute besides losing your life, forsaking all in your heart, and utter whole-hearted surrender. It is not a coincidence that when God gives a parable in Luke 14 it is covetousness and an attachment to morally neutral things, the things that a man would consider his life, that hinder men from the “Great Supper” of eternal life. Please read of their excuses: Luke 14:15-24 “And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse.
The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” If you will not see the treasure of God’s way, salvation, and Son, others of a more humble stature than you will surely respond without excuse. Perhaps it is the others who are not so blinded by great possessions, joys, and temporary gladness in this present Satanic Kingdom. As well, those not so blinded with Xmas Christianity. Xmas is the sabbath of Satan, a day of rest for reprobation.
Is not God worthy to be loved infinitely beyond all? In the same chapter Jesus says, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). What is your life, unconverted man? To be saved you must hate it, lose it, and it must be utterly crucified! “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Galatians 5:24). Eternal life is by a cross, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13).
Professing Christian, faith is to forsake all fleshly value and kin, to be born of Another, eternal life to win. Repentance is a hating of your life because faith reveals the vanity and gross enmity of fleshly life. Jesus said to the “great multitudes” in Luke 14:25-26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Men love these morally neutral things at the expense and transgression of righteousness. Christ was never seeking unity of family, prosperity, or even comfort at the expense of righteousness. It is no coincidence that Xmas has taken these morally neutral things and often made them the pinnacle importance in Xmas. The family is said to be the chief concern for those who celebrate Xmas. They say it is just about the family, and if you cease from celebrating Xmas you are forsaking the most important family time of the year. Even the family is a snare to following Christ. All that consists of your life as an unconverted, once-born man is a snare. The gospel is best given by the invitation of the cross, all mankind sharing in Jesus’ crucifixion. Again I say, Xmas is anti-cross and therefore anti-Christ. Any spirituality that is totally ignorant of these truths or any celebration that is not congruent with them is no day of worship to God. Xmas conveniently strengthens the bands that must be broken. Naturally all of society gravitates in this same effort for the world is Satan’s Kingdom.
In Mark 8, Satan and Peter did not want Christ to lose his life. Today, Satan and “saint Santa” do not want you to lose the day of jubilee in Counterfeit Christianity, namely XMAS. There is no unity between the desires of men and God. God can be a friend with men when they are crucified men, but until then they are satanic men. “The things that be of men” are the means of Satan to work through sin. In this state Peter did hear the sharpness of the Savior when he said: “Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men” (Mark 8:33). The Lord then preached a sermon to solidify this event – do you understand it yet?
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Satan loves the things of men, even the prosperity of men, to the end that their souls would be damned. You must keep an unregretful love to God in heaven (your treasure must be in heaven) and because of this, you mustn’t look back to the Sodom of this world as God is coming to destroy it with fires of judgment. In so doing you will take heed to your soul and fulfill the commandment of Jesus to the saving of your life. As it is written, and I ask you, do you “Remember Lot’s wife?” Jesus spoke this in the context of Luke 17:24-36. Herein are the earthly events in oblivion as Christ returns, with a strong exhortation to be among the saved that don’t make the mistake of Lot’s wife. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and if your heart is in heaven then you are looking thereto for Christ, for righteousness, for relationship, and for present/future resurrection power.
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Here is the account of Lot’s escape and the terrible demise of Lot’s wife, likewise is the coming judgment against this world:
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Behold this world will burn in a similar sense, and all men will undergo a similar spiritual trial:
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Do you love God? …then don’t look back!
This Xmas feast of Aaron is playing, yet still there is a golden calf intact and glaring, and it is the dictator of this rebellious “worship.”
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“And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it” (Ex. 32:19-20). |
Grind the Golden Calf |
“And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf!” Is Xmas wicked? Yes! Truly, we must cease from dancing, playing in a false feast, and this noisy adultery and revelry, but how much more must we cease from idolatry! This is my plea, the dancing don’t merely see, look to the calf which wrought the feast for thee, it must be ground else thou wilt perpetually be bound, for its dictations are all around. Yea, there would be no Aaron-ic feast without the golden calf. As Moses “took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire,” even so, let it be for us today! Upon the wings of the Spirit our lamentations do fly, and if the reader caught a glimpse with his eye, this petition is the record of our cry, that God would expose false Christianity as a lie, for this we plead and are willing to die. This burden and plight has pressed pen to write, in this paper contains my burdens and reins, that God would light a fire a-blaze, and burn this calf to men’s amaze!
Though there is physical idolatry in Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, I am writing to Protestants, Evangelicals, Anabaptists, and the like. I write to all those who profess to believe in Christ. You hypocrites! It is easy to disdain a golden calf, but an unbiblical, self-created, self-defined, and self-suited god is an idol in your heart. It is a god that does not exist! This is a graven image formed by the fires of opinion and misinterpretation.
Those who are physical idolaters have a spiritual appetite and diet that is consistent with spiritual idolaters. Number the lusts that cause a people to reject God for physical idolatry, and you can count on the same lusts as motivators to reject God for spiritual idolatry. The westernized, modern man commonly deems physical idolatry to be savage, tribal, and expired. Most judge themselves to be totally untouchable by it. In the name of education or civilization they excuse themselves from the savage inferiority of physical idolatry. Such men may not worship a golden calf, yet all the while perfectly follow all the tenants, ways, and deeds of the physical idolaters. You can be a scholar in their religion only you deem your eye to be clean because you have no golden calf. Truly, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits” (Proverbs 16:2).
In Exodus 32 the Israelites rejected God and worshiped a golden calf. One in our generation, who does not know the content of this historical event, may think the Israelites returned to the Egyptian religion or some other major religion in the area. Perhaps they were following an Egyptian calf worshipping religion and the calf’s name was one of the Egyptian gods. Perhaps the calf’s name was one of the surrounding lands’ idolatrous gods. This was not the form of the Israelite rebellion. They made a golden calf and called it the Lord. Not only this, it was the lord calf that was worshiped for bringing them out of Egyptian bondage by a great deliverance through the Red Sea. It had the name and famous deeds of the Lord. Not just any famous deeds, but the very deeds that are synonymous with their salvation. These very deeds are a type and shadow of our salvation today (1 Cor. 10). It was the name and fame of God linked with their gospel! Why this is significant, I will soon tell.
God made a name for himself and the people quickly took his Great Name and gave it to a golden calf that was created by the hands of man. Surely, knowing the anti-God nature of man, their created god would not have the righteous laws of the true Lord. They are happy to keep the merciful redemptive salvation of Egypt, his name and his fame, only they will replace all God’s laws to be according to their pleasures in sin. Coincidently this idol gave credence to their sins as a form of worship to the lord; therefore they ate, drank, and arose to play. Likewise this is the subtle form of spiritual idolatry that false Christianity has adopted. Xmas is but a proclaimed feast and worship festival of this false religion, and furthermore, this golden calf dictates laws, commands, and obedience according to self-willed evil lusts. The holy Lord God of the bible is worshiped after the manner of the heathen; the way of the calf-lord is entertainment, luxury, and possessions, or perhaps family, friends, and respect. This false god gives credence to their own desires and lusts, and all the while they worship this idol for bringing them out of the bondage of sin (our Egypt). They have left Egypt, yet all the while Egypt is in their hearts, and they wish to live as Egyptians in the Promised Land. If there is a false god of Christianity, then it is worshipped in the name of Jesus for bringing men out of the bondage and penalty of sin, he is called the God of ancient godly men, but in religion they celebrate salvation by living in sin. They proclaim freedom as forgiveness giving excuse to live in self will and pleasure. Freedom because Jesus died unto sin for men, that they might live in sin the world to win. They glory in a lie! Oh, with tears I write, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal. 6:14). Blessed be God, he has forbidden it!
The golden calf religion of the west is Christian idolatry, though Christ’s name they do confess. They wear a kind of religious dress but their faith is an un-saving, counterfeit kind. False faith and counterfeit Christianity are evidenced by their fruits. Jesus said, “ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:16-20). What fruits? Many people think saving fruit of true faith is an open confession that Jesus is Lord. Is it possible that Jesus could be the Lord of a corrupt tree, the seed, stem, and vine of evil fruits? No, he is not the worker, owner, and possessor of such a man or religion. That is a self-defeating confession. If he is Lord then his will is done! The fruits of the Spirit are God-defined, and they are: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” “goodness, righteousness, and truth” (Gal. 5:22-23, Eph. 5:9). Fruits are evidences of the faith, and Jesus defined the boundaries of his Lordship, hear ye him when he said: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say” (Luke 6:46)? This “Lord, Lord,” is a contradiction, a lie, and an insincere confession!
As the Israelites made a golden calf, and called it the Lord, so people today say to Christ, “Lord, Lord,” but what fruits do they have? Do you do what he says? You may believe Jesus exists, you may call him Lord, but Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
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“Lord, Lord, I am sorry I got caught, I am sorry my deeds are wrong,
But Jesus’ atonement is my Sunday song and to him I know I do belong.”
NO! Repent, for regeneration the Son of God was sent!
Such Sunday singers and tithe bringers,
Church members of all ages and genders,
Examine your fruits not your Sunday suits.
At the altar you plead, the bible you daily read,
And you thank God for food and shelter – but do you know your need?
Jesus purchased sinners and pronounced them freed,
Therefore obeying the Word of God is a Christian’s minute by minute deed!
This hour may be a cloudless sky, men may now have a sunny time, but judgment can come in a single hour. A sandy foundation renders the most protective, luxurious, and profitable house useless. Two men, like two houses, will be tried at Judgment Day. Both men hear the sayings of Jesus, but only one does them. This one characteristic separates the two men. Thus, whatever your faith or confession, though you abide under an illusion of safety, though you may think you will be sheltered from the storm of Judgment Day, if you do not obey the word of God you will perish. You may confess Jesus as your Lord and have an earnest assurance that you have faith, but if your faith does not move you to hear the sayings of Christ [the bible] and do them, your faith is not of the saving, counterfeit kind. Is your faith and Christianity genuine? O readers, in this chapter please “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates [or fail the test]? Study the scriptures presented, and test your faith by the word of God. A stubborn unwillingness to be introspective will be your greatest evil. A man can be so bound in pride that, though they are deceived, they cannot even entertain the possibility of deception. False assurance is their damnable regression, and they find repentance to be a depression. On the contrary, “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10).
Come now, you who judge yourself innocent because you follow the masses, do you know that the majority is usually wrong? The most who say “Lord, Lord” are a satanic throng. Few find, and ever found life in every generation through time. Eight were saved in the days of Noah, while (arguably) millions perished at the worldwide flood? Therefore Jesus said, “enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). Don’t trust in numbers! Multitudes are always in deception marching in a broad-way band of procession, waving a banner of Christian profession and following generations past who had a sinful religious obsession. False prophets did always beguile the masses, therefore “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15).
Languish in your sin you’re a rotting soul, and you will be covered in carnivorous fowls to feast on your rottenness like ravening wolves. As corpses attract vultures, so sinners attract false prophets. False prophets feed on the flesh of men in their false religion. You must understand that they are commissioned by Satan to make you a deceptive, counterfeit religion, and God will judge you as a spiritual idolater, a golden calf worshipper, and one worthy of eternal torture. A man of God, beholding this madness, would surely be staggered in emotion and pressed to make some kind of interruptive commotion, and so scare these feverish, feasting false prophet carnivorous fowls.
Moses succeeded in intercession to stay the fire of God’s wrath and came down from Mount Sinai with the Old Covenant in hand. Christ, for the purpose of intercession, came down from heaven with the New Covenant to establish and demand. Christ is the Prophet like unto Moses who is wholly in between the fire of his almighty wrath bearing the good news of an able escape. Moses went back up into the Mount to obtain a pardon for the people with an attempted self-sacrificial atonement. Jesus ascended back to heaven in atoning success. Moses found the people at his first coming in utter deception and idolatry, Christ found his people in terrible spiritual idolatry. Pharisaical Judaism is the golden calf of spiritual idolatry that the Prophet like unto Moses exposed, condemned, and grinded to powder when he came down from heaven. Let us search the scriptures to behold the attributes of this golden calf that we may have eyes to see the Sermon on the Mount for you and me.
“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:10-11).
Have you ever imagined what it would have been like in Jesus’ generation where Satan’s crafty devices were ruling and governing the established religion of Judaism? Satan did not merely disguise himself as an angel of light to deceive one individual, but he clothed himself in the entire religion of Judaism. It was as if the hands and feet of Satan were Jewish “pastors.” Furthermore, upon their lips and as a seeming justification of their actions was the Holy Scriptures. How hardly would one be able to escape such a widespread delusion when these “pastors” season their teachings with “scriptural” justification?
It is significant that Jesus and John the Baptist were not educated in the Pharisaical “Seminaries;” they had a much different school of God. Their curriculum included the wilderness and their graduating class was one in number. The book of study was so simple a babe may know it, but too deep solely the Spirit can show it (1 Cor. 2:10). God’s Prophets were not the pride of the Jewish proselytes nor the prime pupil of their Rabbinic riddles, these men were strangers from the wilderness whose school was so humble it was a stumbling block and offence. To make manifest a deception that has fastened its death grip on an entire society and generation, one must steadfastly remember what “is written.” You must know what is written well enough to refute the sermons of Satan, whose rhetorical devices are as numerous as a locust plague, whose only appetite is the vineyard and planting of the Lord. All Satan’s fair speeches and scriptural gymnastics can only be resisted by a somber, courageous, unyielding wielding of, “it is written again” (Matthew 4:7)!
In Jesus’ day there were many traditions and denominations of men, yet he wasn’t a Pharisee, Sadducee, Zealot, or Herodian. All of these sects and beliefs were divided against each other, but when Jesus came in the way of righteousness they all united against Him. How did Jesus respond to such contention and perplexity, and how should we respond today? Jesus responded, “it is written” (Mark 9:13), “have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God” (Matt. 22:31), “is it not written” (Mark 11:17), “have ye never read” (Mark 2:25), “ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29), and “it is written again” (Matt. 4:7).
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“Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.” |
Salvation by a Sword |
The Lord Jesus was the prophet like unto Moses. Jesus came to the Jews like Moses came down from Mount Sinai. They came with judgment and a call to salvation. Look at the nature of their call to salvation, the cry of mercy before judgment, the ark of escape before wrath. Look how Moses contradicted this wave of idolatry when he came down from the Mount and ponder this: if Moses had such a contradiction, and likewise Christ had such a contradiction, what of your witness of Christ to this adulterous, wicked, playing generation? Moses barely pacified the wrath of God through intercession…
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Will you, like Aaron, proclaim a feast of the Lord? Or will you rather be like Moses: bold as a lion and valiant for the truth in name of God? Be a true witness of Christ even if it costs you the life of your family! If you have no boldness at all in this matter you are unrighteous, as it is written in Proverbs 28:1, “the righteous are bold as a lion.”
Matthew Henry does notably comment:
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“Now Moses clad himself with zeal as with a robe, and summoned all those to appear forthwith that were on God’s side, against the golden calf. He does not proclaim, as Jehu, "Who is on my side (2 Ki. 9:32), to avenge the indignity done to me?’’ but, Who is on the Lord’s side? It was God’s cause that he espoused against the evil-doers, Ps. 94:16. Note, First, There are two great interests on foot in the world, with the one or the other of which all the children of men are siding. The interest of sin and wickedness is the devil’s interest, and all wicked people side with that interest; the interest of truth and holiness is God’s interest, with which all godly people side; and it is a case that will not admit a neutrality. Secondly, It concerns us all to enquire whether we are on the Lord’s side or not. Thirdly, Those who are on his side are comparatively but few, and sometimes seem fewer than really they are. Fourthly, God does sometimes call out those that are on his side to appear for him, as witnesses, as soldiers, as intercessors. [2.] How they were commissioned for this service (v. 27): Slay every man his brother, that is, "Slay all those that you know to have been active for the making and worshipping of the golden calf, though they were your own nearest relations, or dearest friends.’’ The crime was committed publicly, the Levites saw who of their acquaintance were concerned in it, and therefore needed no other direction than their own knowledge whom to slay. And probably the greatest part of those that were guilty were known, and known to be so, by some or other of the Levites who were employed in the execution. Yet, it should seem, they were to slay those only whom they found abroad in the streets of the camp; for it might be hoped that those who had retired into their tents were ashamed of what they had done, and were upon their knees, repenting. Those are marked for ruin who persist in sin, and are not ashamed of the abominations they have committed, Jer. 8:12. But how durst the Levites encounter so great a body, who probably were much enraged by the burning of their calf? It is easy to account for this; a sense of guilt disheartened the delinquents, and a divine commission animated the executioners. And one thing that put life into them was that Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, that he may bestow a blessing upon you, thereby intimating to them that they now stood fair for preferment and that, if they would but signalize themselves upon this occasion, it would be construed into such a consecration of themselves to God, and to his service, as would put upon their tribe a perpetual honour. Those that consecrate themselves to the Lord he will set apart for himself. Those that do the duty shall have the dignity; and, if we do signal services for God, he will bestow especial blessings upon us.” (Matthew Henry Commentary) |
“Who is on the Lord’s side,” was cried aloud,
From the reveling masses the meek left the proud.
Those who had ears to hear did hear salvation’s calling sound,
The Levites did leave their sin and gather around.
They came to the Lord and forgiveness was granted,
Their revelry was over-passed, though for the golden calf they had chanted.
Christ came preaching “come,” he left preaching “go,”
Likewise this divine commission did apprehend these saints to count their family a foe.
Their sword was taken from their side; it was raised for God as their family tearfully cried.
Blood was mercilessly shed and wrath was pacified in those who died.
For justice the impenitent bled, and the streets of sin did run red.
Idolatry had an enemy, it was the intercessor Moses who had no unrighteous affinity. His Captain was the Lord, the all Consuming Trinity, whom justly saves or burns his enemies even for a timeless infinity. Moses did conquer rebellion; he brought a sword to the unrighteous, impenitent battalion. Those who found mercy by repentance were sent to do merciless judgment against the impenitent. Their family members did cry, likewise ours don’t want to die, but we are soldiers in arms already crucified, doing the commands of our Master who hath brought forth the sword. If Moses declared a consecration and salvation by a sword of vengeance, therefore what saith the Prophet like unto Moses to his generation? God said of Jesus, while speaking to Moses:
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Truly, those who did not hear Moses died without mercy under the commissioned Levite sword. As it is written, “he that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses” (Hebrews 10:28). What can be said of Jesus Christ, and those that resist his words? They of whom are included in, “whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name,” they will surely undergo the gauntlet which God spoke of, saying, “I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:19). Therefore, “to day, if ye will hear his voice” through God’s written word, “harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7). “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25). “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord” (Hebrews 2:1-3)?
Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, not dwell peacefully by them. “He that committeth sin is of the devil,” scripture says, “for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus, the Prophet like unto Moses, called a line of allegiance against the prating fools and Pharisaical parties. Hear ye his words: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36).
Enmity, War, and a Sword!
Christ Jesus brought enmity in deed that sinners might be freed.
He testified with valiant opposition, the loving expression of a truthful, sword-wielding disposition.
A Christian must reconcile himself with the tribulations of truth. The word of God brings a sword of division, and if you speak it in love it will happen to you as it is written: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth” (Gal. 4:16)? Thus it can be said, “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love” (Psalm 109:4-5). Nevertheless, in Christ we partake of so great a love for others we verily can say in response to all the affliction and repercussions of righteousness, in first person, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. 12:15).
Pick up sword in hand and follow your Lord; either that, or recognize you are of the world. If Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil,” and “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” what great enmity will the followers of Christ have with the carnally minded (1 John 3:8, Rom. 8:7)? The sword brings division, sharp separation, a contrast as light to darkness. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:19-20). Light is distinct in that it is bright, yea, it scatters the night by effectual reproof against the works of darkness!
Today Christ lives, he hath brought many sons to glory, and his light still shines. This sharp sword is still dividing, the word of God is still living and active, the only question is: Which side are you on? Today, nothing new under the sun from yesterday, we are at enmity as darkness is to light, and whosoever is on the Lord’s side is in the Light! Many “beasts” have made a religious fort and they do on every person “creep forth” while darkness has shrouded the land. But Christ is “for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles,” that the declaration of salvation would metaphorically and spiritually be, “the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Isaiah 42:6, Matthew 4:16). Verily, they which are saved are awakened by this light, as it is written, “awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). However, citywide night through cultural and religious darkness pollutes the earth in perpetual days of spiritual darkness. In such a case the multitudes do sit in darkness under the “rulers of the darkness of this world” that are “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The devils are the authors of these religious faces and they steal the light of true graces. However, we must not forget the forewarned Sovereign plan that is now manifest in man: Firstly, that “Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth” (Psalm 104:20). Secondarily, “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen. 1:4). Therefore it is true today: “But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21).
“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? Let him come unto me.”
To the unbelieving Jesus said, “the world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). This was the Prophet like unto Moses, and he says to you today, “who is on the Lord’s side?” Will you come, and then will you go? Will you come to the Light, will you walk in the Light, and will you become a light? If you come to the Light you will pass from death to life, for “in him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). “Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). Bask in this Light, for it makes all the dead “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:12-13). If you have this Light that is life, it shines with a brightness that is righteousness, “and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10). This light is a righteous effect of reproving evil deeds, “and all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light” (Eph. 5:13).
Can you say to God, “my soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalm 63:8). If so, and your words are true, it will be as the Lord said of such a man, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Moses and Jesus Christ grinded the golden calf in their day, and now we must follow them. As Christ was a light so art thou regenerate Christian, hear your commission:
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Salvific light is a sin remover and a righteous intruder. This light is righteously bright, and therefore an expeller of sin; it is not relatively defined by men. It is no candle in a devil’s den, to give a warmness of light to help them sin. Costly hugs and kisses are the harlot’s love and wishes (Prov. 7:6-27). Feasts of peace on the eve of judgment are no banquet of the Lord (1 Sam. 28:22-25). They extinguish the fervency and every possibility of fasting; they replace the need of mourning with meat. This is the devil’s method of madness; he is a master builder making prisons of gladness. If there is no repentance, there is no life; therefore, preach repentance that they may have life! The comforts of this life are the witch’s love and harlot’s ways to steal repentance from sinners all throughout their days.
Nevertheless, blessed be God! Rays from Thy countenance are shed abroad; they circle, astound, and clothe Thy saints with armour shod. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Rom. 13:12). “There be many that say, who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us,” and he has, therefore we are victory bound!
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie.
All o’er those wide extended plains shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away.
I am bound for the Promised Land, I am bound for the Promised Land;
O who will come and go with me? I am bound for the Promised Land.”
(I Am Bound For the Promised Land)
It is a fatally dangerous thing to seek fellowship and unity with the darkness of Satan, even if it is done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or because of his birth, cross, or resurrection; this is golden calf Christianity. It is equally as dangerous to seek friendship or fellowship with any snare of Satan that is done in the name of family, unity, prosperity, or covetous revelry. Our salvation was accomplished by the birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and so, the Exodus through the Red Sea is the type of our salvation. Egypt was their bondage, and we were in bondage to sin. The Israelites celebrated their liberty from bondage in an unholy way and God called a call of salvation that was an utter separation, like the amputation of a poisoned limb, and the sword drew blood (Exodus 32:26-29). Those who were to escape death had to take sword in hand and kill their family members. Such is the cost today, in more ways than one (spiritually applied) but our sword is “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17).
Your enmity with the world
Is defined by a drawn and bloody sword
If you are a friend of God, your body is armor shod
Protection is needful against the surrounding innumerable foes
That rage in sin under impending woes
This day is a fight, there are endless days after night
At the Son split sky all saints will fly
O what bliss there will be, in the great By and By
Is defined by a drawn and bloody sword
If you are a friend of God, your body is armor shod
Protection is needful against the surrounding innumerable foes
That rage in sin under impending woes
This day is a fight, there are endless days after night
At the Son split sky all saints will fly
O what bliss there will be, in the great By and By
It is of particular trial when one must take the sword of truth to the family. You become the enemy of false Christianity’s creeds which dictate uncompromising family unity and goodly, comfortable, inoffensive morality. God desires family unity, but not at the expense of righteousness and truth; Christ declared a sword and disunity. The trial of keeping your eyes fixed on the Lord, not looking back to the cursed Sodom of this world, is undergone by every saint that sees the godly call to take the sword of truth to the family’s zeal in Xmas. This false Christianity must be exposed and how will this conquest prosper if Xmas is not opposed? How will your family have hope to see the blindness of their idolatry if you do not grind this golden calf to powder like war against a Satanic tower? “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood” (Jeremiah 48:10).
When you climb the cliffs of heaven’s sky to meet the King of heaven and Sinai, how will you look him in the eye having failed to stand in the gap against the impending fire that was well nigh to destroy the people? How will you gain salvation without the people’s sanctification? Make them holy from idolatry, grinding to powder Golden Calf Christianity! What kind of witness are you if you’re worshipping with Golden Calf Christianity and have beheld the truth of his judgments and the anger of his fire? Have you not seen the fire? God says, “Is not my word like as a fire? Saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29)? Does not the word of God unequivocally reveal the divine purpose of wrath against counterfeit Christianity and its banquet of Xmas, and in like manner say, “now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them” (Exodus 32:10).
God is against the prophets and preachers who advocate sitting on the bleachers to watch the festival of Aaron and the joy of false teachers. Moses and Jesus have come with a commission, the fight is costly, but it’s a worthy mission. “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour” (Jeremiah 23:30). GO TEACH THE PEOPLE WHAT HE HAS COMMANDED, baptizing them in death, not presents; righteousness, not wrath; true love, not deceitful kisses; salvation, not Santa and Xmas wishes. Preach the cross brethren, and go unto Him from this Pharisaical Golden Calf Christianity that stumbles at the cost of the cross. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:13-14). Don’t seek sword-less unity at the expense of True Christianity, a bloodless sword is satanic affinity, a peaceful Adamic family is a Christ-less community. This world is not your city, your salvation is to slay without pity, though the family will cry insanity, go unto Him to an Eternal City. If you are worthy for the Kingdom of God you must be, or have been, rejected from the Kingdom of Satan.
Our Master Jesus Christ has given us an example and he was forsaken and cast out of the camp of false Judaism. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb 13:13-14). We are commanded, “go forth therefore unto him,” therefore what happened to him must happen to us; as he was hated we must be hated. Christianity is not merely imitating Christ; no, rather walking in him. Thus as he was, we are. For, “he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). Will you come to the Lord’s side? The honour of men is a path of wickedness, truly, “how can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only” (Jn. 5:44)? Jesus said, “I receive not honour from men,” and knowing this, will you come to him? Don’t let this be your indictment from Christ, the one he gave to the Pharisees: “search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40). Will you come to the Lord? Do you follow Christ already? Hear now the test. Do you believe, and therefore seek the honour of God? To this man God shows his honour: Jesus said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26).
In a real degree, go where Jesus went on earth and you will be with him in heaven. Jesus said, “the disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Lk. 6:40). “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (Jn. 15:18-20).
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And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf (Exodus 32:21-24). |
The Prophet Like unto Moses And the Aaronic Pharisees |
Moses said to Aaron the chilling words, “What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?” (Ex. 32:21).
Aarons hands did craft it, the gold in the fire he casted, while Moses on the Mount long lasted.
The mischief of the people then had religion as a mask, this gave boldness for their sinful task.
Their guilty conscience given peace, a new god now and Aaron calls a feast.
The mischief of the people then had religion as a mask, this gave boldness for their sinful task.
Their guilty conscience given peace, a new god now and Aaron calls a feast.
False prophets do “strengthen the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness” (Jer. 23:14). God says, “they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace” (Ezk. 13:10). Again, “with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life” (Ezk. 13:22).
Aaron is twice guilty; he crafted a religion for the filthy.
He justified the fall making a calf for them all.
In secret places Moses pled for graces,
While religion gave license to their stedfast, sinful faces.
In the midst of it all the fire did almost fall,
But when Moses came down he rebuked Aaron for it all!
He justified the fall making a calf for them all.
In secret places Moses pled for graces,
While religion gave license to their stedfast, sinful faces.
In the midst of it all the fire did almost fall,
But when Moses came down he rebuked Aaron for it all!
Many would expect Jesus to have showered the Pharisees with soft reproofs and gentle corrections. You might expect he served them as the least of all men, not overturning their spiritual concessions. Or, perhaps, he honored them with entreaty not judging their professions. Some people witness by presents and vain physical possessions, but not the Lord of glory. He came to give himself, and he is the Everlasting Bread, Living Water, Imperishable Treasures, and Manifold Mansions. Do you love Him? He is that Bread (John 6:32), Water (John 7:38), Treasure (Matt 13:44), and all measure of blessing is given by a reconciliation to Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17-21) – a single-eyed consuming love to God alone. A salvation of indwelling love (1 John 2:5), that “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” – having nothing instead. “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2:5).
In unfeigned love, the Lord, the Prophet like unto Moses, did rebuke the Pharisees more fiercely than Moses rebuked Aaron. The most loving person who ever walked this earth preached a sermon of woes to the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 with no appeal for mercy, forgiveness, or hope, even proclaiming their state horrifyingly hopeless by the words: “ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell” (Matt 23:33)?
Spiritual idolatry was running rampant and the Savior of the world grinded the golden calf of Pharisaical religion by uprooting the blind guides which, he said, “my heavenly Father hath not planted” (Matt 15:13). He said, “let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt 15:14). Jesus was offensive, he was merciless to defend the blind and defenseless, and he was the perfection of love that did cry aloud, calling the blind to a righteous attention. At one point his disciples said to him, “knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying (Matt 15:12)?
Reader listen, Christ was “set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against,” and it was even spoken to Mary, “(yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35). Jesus “was the Word,” “His name is called the Word of God,” and “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (John 1:1, Rev. 19:13, Hebrews 4:12). Reader, I preach to you today: Be born of the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, and you will find it Pharisaical in our day.
Many claim to walk in the Spirit, many love the saying ‘what would Jesus do,’ but “he that saith he abideth in him [in Jesus] ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). The Holy Ghost was not sent for world peace but spiritual war, and “when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). He is “the Comforter” that reproves in judgment “because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:11). The Holy Ghost is a comfort to the saints, but gnashing disturbance to the lost (Acts 7:54). He is an incense of pleasure and life to the saints, but a stench of death to the wicked (2 Cor. 2:14-16). Henceforth to be a son of God you become an alien to the world, as it is written, we “should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not” (1 John 3:1). Is it any marvel that if you are a Christian the world will hate you? As it is written, “marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). Walk in the Spirit of Jesus and you will see that this is the calling for you and me: “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach” (Heb. 13:12-13).
Aaron was a great man of God esteemed by millions of Israelites who passed through the Red Sea under his prophetic ministry. Aaron was used of God to be a chief prophet and speaker for Moses. The people were accustomed to listen to Aaron’s word as the word of God. What convinced the people that God was with Aaron? Aaron, by the side of Moses, was able to humble the pride of Egypt and all the glory of the world’s pinnacle society. Given such credibility and esteem that Aaron had, do you think the Israelites ever expected him to be wrong, that all of a sudden the Lord was not with his words, and he was a false prophet? Given all the incredible exploits and miracles done in Egypt, the common Israelite would fearfully attend to Moses’ and Aaron’s every word as to the Lord. With this Israelite mind, think of when Aaron proclaimed the “feast of the LORD” after making a golden calf.
The esteem of the Pharisees was similar to the esteem Aaron had; they are Aaronic. As Aaron was the mouthpiece of Moses, so the Pharisees had “Moses’ seat,” and therefore from them came the issues of truth, the gospel, and God’s word (Matthew 23:1-3). Before the public preaching of Jesus the Jewish religion was comparatively at rest. At this time the faithful remnant was mingled with all the spiritually idolatrous Jews. They were true Jews among the false. They still attended the synagogues and Moses’ Seat. John the Baptist is an exception to this situation. John burned with the fire of his Lord. John’s faithfulness to bring the sword of the word of God cost him his life in perhaps three months. Satan’s golden calf came from the preachers and teachers of God’s word. I remind you again of this sweeping work of the devil: Satan did not take the common public to a wilderness and give them three temptations. Rather, he took over the whole religious system, preaching sermons of subtle deceit from the word of God. There is much that is spoken that is true, a great deal is to be attended to, while there is just enough corruption that can damn you to hell. In the mouth of the esteemed “pastors,” Satan preached his sermons and how will you escape unless you can say “it is written again” if this is happening in our day? Indeed, the righteous have a great need to “study” (2 Timothy 2:15 & Proverbs 15:28)!
When Christ now tarries the short while of forty days to come down, some “Aarons” that were of God have turned to the idolatry of the Pharisees. They have not made a physical golden calf, but Satan has created a carnal religion. Calf worship in the days of Moses was not considered savage. The most sophisticated societies on earth with great power and intellectual prestige worshiped idols. In Jesus’ day the most sophisticated preachers, pastors, doctors, and the most educated, honourable, successful, and influential religious men were children of the devil; children of the calf. Aaron crafted the golden calf and the Pharisees crafted a religion making it look like it was exactly what was biblically and truthfully written.
I contend that the professing Christian Church is almost completely carried away in damnable transgressions of truth in the Pharisaical craft. This calamity is so subtle and elusive I believe only a small remnant is escaping, and most who read this book are utterly snared and taken away. Furthermore, there is a remnant remaining, but they are utterly mingled in the Pharisaical system of false Christianity. When Jesus came he exposed the true witness of God and truth, and so much so that those who were of God had to come out of the religion of false Judaism and follow the remnant cult, “the Jesus followers.” Jesus was a true Jew in the midst of counterfeit Judaism. He called those that were of God to separate from the Pharisees, saying, “let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14). Still attending the synagogues became impossible for some because “if any man did confess that he [Jesus] was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue” (John 9:22). Sadly, many “feared the Jews” and therefore did not confess the truth (John 9:22), but will you confess the truth? We better start proclaiming among the multitudes the truth, exposing the Pharisees with a cry, “LET THEM ALONE,” or I fear God will soon say to us as he said to Moses, “LET ME ALONE” (Matt 15:14, Exodus 32:10). “Let them alone” Jesus said, “they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14).
The Pharisaical counterfeit clothing was like the miracles of Egypt. Such miracles were like God’s, they reached far enough to be deceptive to the hard-hearted, but they were not worthy enough to be called the “finger of God” (Ex. 8:19). Would you have discerned the Pharisees as sons of the devil if you were in Jesus’ generation? The Pharisees were the preachers, the scholars, the teachers, and pastors. They were the respected, the seminary professors, and the leaders of the established religion with walls and all. Their outward appearance was a blameless fulfilling of the law. They would tithe, have teachings on swearing and holiness (Matt. 23:16-22), compass land and sea in evangelism (Matt. 23:15), and make long prayers (Matt. 23:14). They wear the clothing of the religious (Matt. 23:5), attend the church services of the religious, fast (Mark 2:18), attend the feasts of the religious, obeyed the traditions of their day, and were zealous for “righteous” deeds (23:1-13). The only way to behold the unrighteous damnable ways of the Pharisees is if one knew what was truly written in God’s word.
May preachers today say that they follow Jesus, the apostles, and the truth. They esteem men of history like Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Booth, Murray, and Brainerd. Is this evidence that they are men of God? This can mean absolutely nothing! The Pharisees loved the true prophets from biblical history but they rejected and killed the true prophets in their day. They professed to be like the true prophets of the past, but were the false prophets of the present. Henceforth it matters not if a man professes to love and be like these men of old. The question remains: does he live, preach, and do the deeds of these men? Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets” (Matthew 23:29-30).
Furthermore, in the Pharisees hand they had the unadulterated perfect word of God which they read and taught from Moses’ Seat. Jesus said “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matthew 23:1-3). The bible in hand, alongside true men of old they professed to stand. The Pharisees were the fundamentalists! They were so influential that the common people followed them in the masses. The Pharisees seemingly backed up what they believed, taught, and practiced with scripture, but they were blind to the salvific content of the Scripture. The Pharisees believed they were following the Lord, as the Israelites of Moses’ day believed they were following the Lord through their golden calf. They professed to be recipients of the gospel, believed it, and quoted it. How did Jesus expose such men like this? These men certainly believe in the lord, yet it is not the Lord. They believe in so much truth, but don’t do the truth.
Jesus addresses these “believers” in John 8:31-47. Beginning in verse 31 he addresses those of the Jews that believed on him. Since it says they “believed on him,” what do you think Jesus will say? Will Jesus commend their faith? Many today profess to believe in Jesus Christ and God, many commend any individual who professes faith, but read what Jesus said to these men that believed:
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These Jews believed on him (vs. 30), yet were not free from the bondage of sin (vs. 31-32). They were utterly unable to understand Jesus because they had not the help of the Spirit of God (vs. 33). They had a form of the gospel for the Jews, they remembered it, and had it in their heart. Their gospel was that salvation would come through the seed of Abraham, and thus they professed, “we be Abraham’s seed” (vs. 33). The scripture says, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made” (Gal 3:16). This is the Pharisaical craft, their golden calf, remember of Aaron that, “he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Deliverance from Egypt and being Abraham’s seed was the gospel praises of both generations yet their leaders crafted a religion of idolatry. Jesus knows the Pharisees are Abraham’s seed according to the flesh, but shows them how they are not the spiritual children of Abraham, but the spiritual children of Satan (vs. 36-47).
Moses “took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder.” Likewise, Christ took a hammer as his grinding weapon and unashamedly burned the Pharisees golden calf in the fire: God says, “Is not my word like a fire? Saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23:29)? As formerly mentioned, the Lord was a light, he did wield a sword, he did oppose the multitudes calling for sides, and herein he did grind and burn. God did in Christ a work spoken of before, saying, “I will make my words in thy mouth fire” (Jer. 5:14). The fire went forth as Jesus preached, “it is written” (Mark 9:13), “have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God” (Matt. 22:31), “is it not written” (Mark 11:17), “have ye never read” (Mark 2:25), “ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29), and “it is written again” (Matt. 4:7). Jesus said “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Lk 12:49-51).
Jesus said the truth makes men free (John 8:32). The Pharisees were carnal therefore they received not the words of Jesus. Jesus said “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 8:63). The Pharisees professed to be the children of Abraham and God (John 8:33, 41). Jesus said, “If God were your Father, ye would love me” (John 8:42). Jesus said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:43-44). Jesus declares a pattern of deeds whereby we may judge all spiritual offspring, saying, “ye do the deeds of your father” (John 8:41).
Many today claim to be a child of God yet live nothing like him. As for the term “Abraham’s seed,” a true Christian has become Abraham’s seed, as it is written, “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). The question is not what you profess, it is not whom you confess merely by mouth, but what are the deeds that you do? Do you do the works of Abraham, the works of God, or the works of men and the devil? The deeds you do will determine the validity, and evidence the reality of, your salvation, your father, and your birth. As the saying goes, many talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? And if you don’t walk the walk you will be damned! You will go to hell! It is written, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).
The Pharisees constantly studied the scriptures! Jesus said to them, “Search the scripture; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40). They knew so much truth but never came to Jesus who is “the Truth” (John 14:6). Have you come to Jesus Christ, have you met him in person, do you walk with him today? Many “Christians” today, “they profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). Many say they believe, but seek the honor of men instead of God. Jesus denounced the faith of men by what fruit they bore (John 5:44).
The most suppose the gospel to be but a profession and mental assent. They make it into a repeatable creed instead of a livable, active, life-giving seed. Like Jesus, John the Baptist fought for the true gospel, and it was radically revealed by his no-name wilderness cry. This burning man was no men pleaser but was valiant for truth like his Master to come. He was not deluded with the counterfeit cover of the Pharisees, but knew the true gospel. He knew holy methodology on how to oppose the subtle damnable heresies. He knew the rhetoric to expose lies, and he knew just how to seal the people in the deep, reviving truths of God.
Have you considered the cultural equivalent of the Pharisees of our generation and religion? Have you tested your preacher who has the Pulpit of God as the Pharisees had Moses’ Seat? Remember, “the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat,” they spoke so much truth that Jesus said “all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matt. 23:2-3). Have you ever considered that a son of the devil is in your pulpit and he preaches enough truth for you to righteously do what he says? Have you considered the stature of the Pharisees works? I say again, the Pharisees were the preachers, the scholars, the teachers, and pastors. They were the respected, the seminary professors, and the established religion with walls and all. Their outward appearance was blameless in the righteousness of their tradition. I repeat, they would tithe, have teachings on swearing and holiness (Matt 23:16-22), compass land and sea in evangelism (Matt 23:15), and make long prayers (Matt 23:14). They would wear the clothing of the religious (Matt 23:5), attend the church services of the religious, fast (Mark 2:18), attend the feasts of the religious, abide by the traditions of their day, and were zealous for “righteous works” (Matt 23:1-13). Do these seem like fruits to you? John the Baptist was a man after God’s own heart and preached to expose the flagrant abuses of the Israelites concerning truth and the gospel. Would you have believed the Pharisees were of the Devil? Do you judge your preacher based upon the same characteristics that the Pharisees had and so you deem him as a man of God? You could be a blind follower of the blind.
Sure, the Pharisees were outwardly beautiful, but Jesus cried “WOE” (Matt 23:27). “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:27-28).
Moses “took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder.” Likewise, Christ took a hammer as his grinding weapon and unashamedly burned the Pharisees golden calf in the fire: God says, “Is not my word like a fire? Saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23:29)? As formerly mentioned, the Lord was a light, he did wield a sword, he did oppose the multitudes calling for sides, and herein he did grind and burn. God did in Christ a work spoken of before, saying, “I will make my words in thy mouth fire” (Jer. 5:14). The fire went forth as Jesus preached, “it is written” (Mark 9:13), “have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God” (Matt. 22:31), “is it not written” (Mark 11:17), “have ye never read” (Mark 2:25), “ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29), and “it is written again” (Matt. 4:7). Jesus said “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Lk 12:49-51).
Jesus said the truth makes men free (John 8:32). The Pharisees were carnal therefore they received not the words of Jesus. Jesus said “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 8:63). The Pharisees professed to be the children of Abraham and God (John 8:33, 41). Jesus said, “If God were your Father, ye would love me” (John 8:42). Jesus said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:43-44). Jesus declares a pattern of deeds whereby we may judge all spiritual offspring, saying, “ye do the deeds of your father” (John 8:41).
Many today claim to be a child of God yet live nothing like him. As for the term “Abraham’s seed,” a true Christian has become Abraham’s seed, as it is written, “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). The question is not what you profess, it is not whom you confess merely by mouth, but what are the deeds that you do? Do you do the works of Abraham, the works of God, or the works of men and the devil? The deeds you do will determine the validity, and evidence the reality of, your salvation, your father, and your birth. As the saying goes, many talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? And if you don’t walk the walk you will be damned! You will go to hell! It is written, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).
The Pharisees constantly studied the scriptures! Jesus said to them, “Search the scripture; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40). They knew so much truth but never came to Jesus who is “the Truth” (John 14:6). Have you come to Jesus Christ, have you met him in person, do you walk with him today? Many “Christians” today, “they profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). Many say they believe, but seek the honor of men instead of God. Jesus denounced the faith of men by what fruit they bore (John 5:44).
The most suppose the gospel to be but a profession and mental assent. They make it into a repeatable creed instead of a livable, active, life-giving seed. Like Jesus, John the Baptist fought for the true gospel, and it was radically revealed by his no-name wilderness cry. This burning man was no men pleaser but was valiant for truth like his Master to come. He was not deluded with the counterfeit cover of the Pharisees, but knew the true gospel. He knew holy methodology on how to oppose the subtle damnable heresies. He knew the rhetoric to expose lies, and he knew just how to seal the people in the deep, reviving truths of God.
Have you considered the cultural equivalent of the Pharisees of our generation and religion? Have you tested your preacher who has the Pulpit of God as the Pharisees had Moses’ Seat? Remember, “the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat,” they spoke so much truth that Jesus said “all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matt. 23:2-3). Have you ever considered that a son of the devil is in your pulpit and he preaches enough truth for you to righteously do what he says? Have you considered the stature of the Pharisees works? I say again, the Pharisees were the preachers, the scholars, the teachers, and pastors. They were the respected, the seminary professors, and the established religion with walls and all. Their outward appearance was blameless in the righteousness of their tradition. I repeat, they would tithe, have teachings on swearing and holiness (Matt 23:16-22), compass land and sea in evangelism (Matt 23:15), and make long prayers (Matt 23:14). They would wear the clothing of the religious (Matt 23:5), attend the church services of the religious, fast (Mark 2:18), attend the feasts of the religious, abide by the traditions of their day, and were zealous for “righteous works” (Matt 23:1-13). Do these seem like fruits to you? John the Baptist was a man after God’s own heart and preached to expose the flagrant abuses of the Israelites concerning truth and the gospel. Would you have believed the Pharisees were of the Devil? Do you judge your preacher based upon the same characteristics that the Pharisees had and so you deem him as a man of God? You could be a blind follower of the blind.
Sure, the Pharisees were outwardly beautiful, but Jesus cried “WOE” (Matt 23:27). “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matt. 23:27-28).
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It should carefully be noted that, a profession of true doctrine does not always testify to the reality of true deliverance. Lip service cannot be truthfully known to show heart worship. Most are not inwardly transformed, but outwardly conformed. John was no wise man to the Greek or the Jew, but his wisdom was from above. The Greatest of the Prophets stood against the
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John the Baptist and Understanding Repentance |
most. John was a light that shed double-edged rays of truth into the hearts of the multitudes. I wonder at what Jesus said of John, saying, “what went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee” (Matthew 11:7-10).
Many modern preachers “build the sepulchre” of John the Baptist in the sense that they honor such a man by profession, but they preach wholly nothing like him! These preachers preach nothing like him, but truly, we need no preachers but they who incessantly preach like him. Repetitious preachers are effectual teachers, therefore the Holy Ghost did inspire the apology: “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things” (2 Peter 1:12). Modern preachers may say, ‘O how we need another John the Baptist,’ but if he were here they would reject him. My reader, see the clarity, transparency, and rhetoric of John’s preaching. See that in an hour of such a wide-sweeping deception there is only one remedy, and that is, sharp, truthful confrontation! John allowed no damnable deeds with truthful gospel creeds, he grinded the golden calf!
When John the Baptist came after having received the word of God in the wilderness, he came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3). Multitudes came for the remission of sins that many a modern preacher would have gladly baptized. What does your preacher say and do to candidates for baptism? Does he simply hear for a profession of faith in the doctrinal truth of the message of the gospel? Is there anything wrong with this? Take heed to the wise prophet John as he attends the flocking multitudes coming for baptism and forgiveness. “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Luke 3:7-9).
Preach fruits, preacher, preach fruits! And you will draw their minds to the necessity of truth. Will you have your people understand repentance? Preach the deeds of faith and be relentless. Show them the exemplification of a worthy entrance, describing the straightness of the gate as worthy repentance. Walk them down the narrow way. Teach them to seek God by the means of grace that they may abide therein from day to day. They need to know practically what it is to be “made free from sin, and become the servants to God.” What fruits there are in serving God, and how we might have “grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). Tell them of holiness therein, tell them as it is written, that “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22). The end of a fruitful, holy life is everlasting life! And preach it all as a gift of God lest any man should boast (Romans 6:23).
John the Baptist discerned the hypocritical faith in the gospel truth that was common in the heart of the Jewish religion at his time. Is there a false faith in the truth of the gospel of your time? He opposed their baptism, seeing that they perceive not the truth; he calls them a generation of vipers. They were snakes, the seed of Satan, the planting of the religious Pharisees, and yet they had the gospel truth that the seed of Christ would come through Abraham’s seed. John the Baptist attacked the very faith that they had in the truth. They had faith, but he proved it a counterfeit, un-saving, unworthy kind. Worthy repentance demonstrates itself through deeds. They might have had religion, church attendance, and tradition, but they had no inward deliverance from sinful self-will and ambition. You must die and Christ must live!
John went about preaching repentance, and in response to this they flocked to him for baptism. At the hearing of repentance they understood it not! They were too deluded. Not until the boldness and fervency of Baptist awoke them to consider what they must do. Not until they understood what they must do could they have comprehended what repentance is. John the Baptist warned at the threat of an axe and fire what men must DO. This pressed them to the true meaning of faith by comprehending what are the works of faith. Works of faith were exemplified by Father Abraham, who was “justified by works” and showed his faith “with his works, and by works was faith made perfect” (James 2:21-22). The multitude coming to John the Baptist may have all the professions of faith and church attendance but they are still only comparing themselves to their church body, their preacher, or such like people instead of the scripture. Since “they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves,” they just do after the works of the Pharisees instead of the works commanded in scripture (2 Cor. 10:12).
Do you judge your acceptance and worthiness of faith by your conformity to the characteristics of your church body? Have you ever even introspectively and healthily examined yourself to see if you have worthy saving faith as opposed to a false counterfeit kind? Have you ever heard your preacher plead with your congregation, saying “EXAMINE YOURSELVES?” 2 Corinthians 13:5, “ examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove [test] your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates [unsaved]?”
Those of you who mindlessly say, “we are saved by grace” and it is “the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” I urge you, have you ever tested yourself to see if you have saving faith (Eph 2:8-9)? There is a false faith with Pharisaical Christianity. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?… Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:14, 17). God’s Judgment is according to DEED and on this basis it can and will be done. True preaching that exposes this counterfeit Christianity will always cause the people to look at the validity of their faith based upon what they DO. True preaching of truth will accurately expose what to DO. True reception of the gospel through fear and faith will conclude in the people saying, as they said to John the Baptist, “What shall we do then?” When the unworthiness of their faith is exposed, true worthiness of faith takes its place at the time a man sees the relevance of the truth affecting and transforming what he DOES. John the Baptist taught them what true worthy fruits/deeds are, which is an evidence of the true saving repentance:
Many modern preachers “build the sepulchre” of John the Baptist in the sense that they honor such a man by profession, but they preach wholly nothing like him! These preachers preach nothing like him, but truly, we need no preachers but they who incessantly preach like him. Repetitious preachers are effectual teachers, therefore the Holy Ghost did inspire the apology: “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things” (2 Peter 1:12). Modern preachers may say, ‘O how we need another John the Baptist,’ but if he were here they would reject him. My reader, see the clarity, transparency, and rhetoric of John’s preaching. See that in an hour of such a wide-sweeping deception there is only one remedy, and that is, sharp, truthful confrontation! John allowed no damnable deeds with truthful gospel creeds, he grinded the golden calf!
When John the Baptist came after having received the word of God in the wilderness, he came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3). Multitudes came for the remission of sins that many a modern preacher would have gladly baptized. What does your preacher say and do to candidates for baptism? Does he simply hear for a profession of faith in the doctrinal truth of the message of the gospel? Is there anything wrong with this? Take heed to the wise prophet John as he attends the flocking multitudes coming for baptism and forgiveness. “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Luke 3:7-9).
Preach fruits, preacher, preach fruits! And you will draw their minds to the necessity of truth. Will you have your people understand repentance? Preach the deeds of faith and be relentless. Show them the exemplification of a worthy entrance, describing the straightness of the gate as worthy repentance. Walk them down the narrow way. Teach them to seek God by the means of grace that they may abide therein from day to day. They need to know practically what it is to be “made free from sin, and become the servants to God.” What fruits there are in serving God, and how we might have “grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). Tell them of holiness therein, tell them as it is written, that “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22). The end of a fruitful, holy life is everlasting life! And preach it all as a gift of God lest any man should boast (Romans 6:23).
John the Baptist discerned the hypocritical faith in the gospel truth that was common in the heart of the Jewish religion at his time. Is there a false faith in the truth of the gospel of your time? He opposed their baptism, seeing that they perceive not the truth; he calls them a generation of vipers. They were snakes, the seed of Satan, the planting of the religious Pharisees, and yet they had the gospel truth that the seed of Christ would come through Abraham’s seed. John the Baptist attacked the very faith that they had in the truth. They had faith, but he proved it a counterfeit, un-saving, unworthy kind. Worthy repentance demonstrates itself through deeds. They might have had religion, church attendance, and tradition, but they had no inward deliverance from sinful self-will and ambition. You must die and Christ must live!
John went about preaching repentance, and in response to this they flocked to him for baptism. At the hearing of repentance they understood it not! They were too deluded. Not until the boldness and fervency of Baptist awoke them to consider what they must do. Not until they understood what they must do could they have comprehended what repentance is. John the Baptist warned at the threat of an axe and fire what men must DO. This pressed them to the true meaning of faith by comprehending what are the works of faith. Works of faith were exemplified by Father Abraham, who was “justified by works” and showed his faith “with his works, and by works was faith made perfect” (James 2:21-22). The multitude coming to John the Baptist may have all the professions of faith and church attendance but they are still only comparing themselves to their church body, their preacher, or such like people instead of the scripture. Since “they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves,” they just do after the works of the Pharisees instead of the works commanded in scripture (2 Cor. 10:12).
Do you judge your acceptance and worthiness of faith by your conformity to the characteristics of your church body? Have you ever even introspectively and healthily examined yourself to see if you have worthy saving faith as opposed to a false counterfeit kind? Have you ever heard your preacher plead with your congregation, saying “EXAMINE YOURSELVES?” 2 Corinthians 13:5, “ examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove [test] your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates [unsaved]?”
Those of you who mindlessly say, “we are saved by grace” and it is “the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” I urge you, have you ever tested yourself to see if you have saving faith (Eph 2:8-9)? There is a false faith with Pharisaical Christianity. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?… Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:14, 17). God’s Judgment is according to DEED and on this basis it can and will be done. True preaching that exposes this counterfeit Christianity will always cause the people to look at the validity of their faith based upon what they DO. True preaching of truth will accurately expose what to DO. True reception of the gospel through fear and faith will conclude in the people saying, as they said to John the Baptist, “What shall we do then?” When the unworthiness of their faith is exposed, true worthiness of faith takes its place at the time a man sees the relevance of the truth affecting and transforming what he DOES. John the Baptist taught them what true worthy fruits/deeds are, which is an evidence of the true saving repentance:
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To those who had possessions, to the publicans, and the soldiers he told them what to do! Today there are multitudes of professing Christians baptized in the name of Christ, and as they went for baptism they were never hindered with the fearful warning of a preacher telling them what nature they are, namely, VIPERS; what false faith they have, namely, a fruitless one; and what fire awaits the fruitless! Such a call for the remission of sins without this clear articulation is a damnable heresy and fearfully condemned. Does your preacher preach the philosophies of Pharisees or the truthful bruising of Baptist? Stay the crowd, preacher, with an exhaustive articulation of worthy faith and repentance, or you will bear like woes of the Pharisees’ sentence.
Examine your profession of Christ, because Pharisaical Christians “profess that they know God; but in works they deny him” (Titus 1:16). “He that saith, I know him [God], and keepeth not his commandment, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Many say they believe the gospel, but the gospel “is the power of God” which makes a son of the Devil become a child of God. Nicodemus was a fellow Pharisee, and he was confused when Jesus said, “ye must be born again” (John 3:7). There are many religious people who, have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” live a fruitless life. The problem is that most people think they are good people. They are not good; they are darkness, death, enmity, and iniquity! Christianity is not decent to good, but darkness to light; “for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:6-7).
Were you ever dead? The gospel is the power of God bringing life from death, “for to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). The gospel is not bad habits to disciplined people, irresponsible to responsible, unsuccessful to successful, it is salvation by resurrection, “even when we were dead in sins” (Eph. 2:5)! The gospel is a recreation, a new birth, a new creature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Dead carnality, satanic darkness, and bankrupt spirituality is an alienated mind that is worldly, unholy, and sin loving. My readers, were you ever “alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works” (Col 1:21)? For such a man is the gospel, it is not for a culturally good man. So horrifying is a creature of the flesh that they are “shapen in iniquity,” even from birth, “in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5)! This once-born fleshly life which is simply being born of our mothers and fathers is a conception in sinful nature, begetting an offspring of enemies against God: “because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7-8).
Be not weary, for I inculcate.
For such widespread deceptions do necessitate a man of God to inculcate.
Constant repetitions at a heavenly rate can awaken sinners of their fate.
Let the man of God not hesitate!
Forgetful, blind followers, past feeling need fervent reminders of truthful fears.
“To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” (Philippians 3:1)
Can you imagine such a despicable creature that is always an enemy of God? Both in the most extravagant sin, and when a man is simply in lazy moments doing nearly nothing, he can never please God! Has God shown you your lost condition? Then this is the first step towards faith in Christ. Your inner man must quake, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk 18:13). This world is at war with God, so much so, that to be cool or popular, and “whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Jesus warned against “that which is highly esteemed among men” that it is an “abomination in the sight of God” (Lk 16:15). It is written, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him” (1 John 2:15). God is the antithesis of the world, and Satan is the ruler of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:16-17).
Jesus said “ye shall know them by their fruits,” and that “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matt 7:16-17). “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt 7:19-23). Jesus said many will say, “Lord, Lord,” but “narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt 7:14). There are the many and the few, of which number are you?
Only the few find life because of the cost that must be paid. Christianity is best described as “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). How about you, have you ever died, have you been crucified with Christ? Many desire Jesus Christ to be crucified for them but they don’t want to be crucified with him, therefore they have not part in him. If you don’t want to “become the righteousness of God in him,” then you cannot be saved (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus said, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it,” but how about you (Mark 8:35)? He said, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Have you ever been crucified, denied everything that you are, surrendered your life completely to God, to follow what his word commands no matter what the cost? Many say they have received Jesus Christ, but has he received you? For, “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13).
Henceforth living in Christ is expressed by a daily dying [mortifying] to this world: “Mortify [put to death] therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Col 3:5). What does all this mean? It means that you must live drastically different than everyone else on the earth that is not Christian, or you are hell bound! So drastic, that, it is as if you are not from the earth, but from heaven. The flesh and its works must die – this is the express power of the gospel and work of the Spirit. Henceforth, anyone who still lives in the flesh has no inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Those who live in the flesh are evident by specified fruits or works.
*************** The Works of the Flesh ***************
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21).
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
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The evidence of imputed righteousness is works righteousness. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 condemns those that have no works righteousness, that is, if you are still physically living after your seeming conversion, or, conversion produces works righteousness if you are still living to walk in Christ. What is the assurance of your justification and how much fruit must you have to make your election sure? 2 Peter 1:10 exhorts us, “give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” To guard against any relativity subject to Pharisaical profanity let us define biblically each fruit of the Spirit that are manifest qualities of saving faith. Permit me to be like John the Baptist. Let me be as clear as I can, making my reader know exactly what he must do to be saved, and, by do I mean the works that evidence saving faith, the steps of a recreated life, and daily persevering, reviving grace.
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“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:17). |
Bring Forth Therefore Fruits |
Before the antichrist is revealed to this world there are specific events that must transpire. There must be “strong delusion” and then the world will welcome him with open arms (2 Thess. 2:11). It is written, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:11-12). This delusion causes an orderly, robotic reprobation in worldwide unity. If you have this one mark (pleasure in unrighteousness) you can expect to be a part of this end time antichrist army.
The distinct mark of holiness for saints is that they, overwhelmingly and predominately, have no pleasure in unrighteousness. Pleasure in unrighteousness is reigning in all once-born men. They are captive under “the rulers of the darkness of this world” and even “the prince of the power of the air” (meaning Satan) (Eph. 6:12, 2:2). This great darkness is:
“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12).
Salvation is a creation of holiness! Why? Well truly, “there is none that understandeth,” but in Christ this is not so, for by him “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 13:11). “There are none righteous,” nevertheless, you “become the righteousness of God in him” at salvation (2 Cor. 5:21). Though all the world has “gone out of the way,” the Lord Jesus Christ is our “Way, Truth, and Life” (John 14:6). The Lord makes the seekers of sin seekers of him, and that by the effectual spoken word. Herein is the Christian confession to God, that, “when thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, thy face, LORD, will I seek” (Psalm 27:8). Holiness is the inevitable exclamation of salvation!
If you are a light in the midst of a kingdom of darkness, if you love righteousness in a world dominated by satanic unrighteousness – This is an extraordinary situation. In this extraordinary situation love and righteousness would be active in extraordinary deeds. A Christ dominated, grace-filled, righteousness-loving, wise, seeker of God would be identified as a light of holiness. The darkness that blanketed Egypt, “even darkness which may be felt” (Exodus 10:21), was not in the place where the Israelites dwelt. “There was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Ex. 10:22-23).
Abominations are everywhere in this world, therefore the righteous have no ease. The nations seek paradise and retirement, and at enmity to them, the saints bear the baptism of death. Think of the great contradiction of saints and sinners! The one, a majority, seeks the welfare of life, a promise of many days, the hope of a sustainable environment, and a wealthy retirement. The other, an unhidden, interruptive minority, has visions of judgment burning and energizing their heart, that “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Therefore they number their days, neither trusting nor seeking many, having a heavenly hope to be spent and expended as a bold witness. The one, the majority, seeks to escape every memory and sting of death. Therefore the cinema is filled with the emotion of a life well lived. Movies are haunted with death’s near and untimely touch, and excited with a fantasy of men heroically overcoming an early grave. The other, the minority, is sent to testify to the majority, to turn them from vanity – that they must go to a spiritual grave to be saved, crucify their present days, and all this to escape a second death.
Have you read the commission: “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18)? This peculiar minority is rejected, reviled, and reproved, but they are compelled to sing:
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This world is not my home; I’m just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. (This World Is Not My Home) |
These are the runners of a righteous race (1 Cor. 9:24-27), fighters of a faith-filled fight (1 Tim. 6:12), exercising for everlasting life (1 Tim. 4:7), and wrestling against these rulers of the night (Eph. 6:12). The Spirit does well up a song for this season, and in it you can tell their spiritual endurance and reason:
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O land of rest, for thee I sigh! When will the moment come, When I shall lay my armor by, and dwell at peace at home? No tranquil joys on earth I know, no peaceful sheltering dome. This world’s a wilderness of woe, this world is not my home. I sought at once my Savior’s side, no more my steps shall roam. With him I’ll brave death’s chilling tide, and reach my Heavenly home. We’ll work till Jesus comes, We’ll work till Jesus comes. We’ll work till Jesus comes, And we’ll be gathered home. (We’ll Work Till Jesus Comes) |
Yea, in this hour, in this day of wickedness, it is evil for a man to be full of laughter and glee, with no sorrow. They have blind eyes of ease, callused hearts of careless, cold immorality; they are comfortable with the devil’s spiritual brutality, they agree to his decrees and follow him in actuality. On these terms Jesus separated the saved and the unsaved: The Lord said, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” and “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh” (Matthew 5:4, Luke 6:21). “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). Blessed are the saints, the forerunning messengers that proclaim a new world without end, they are the body of Christ. They walk the steps of their salvation in a Person, and “he is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3). The Lord calls out the contrary with woes because they are reveling in Satan’s jubilee and power. They are partakers of Satan’s commission and he has made them fat and full with the pleasures of unrighteousness, and they do “laugh now!”
The world is Satan’s Egypt that afflicts God’s people. The world is drunk to a stupor of laughing in lawlessness. It is a kingdom of criminal perversion deserving Sodom’s fiery fate. Sobriety and sufferings mark the messengers of the Lord. Grave matters grip the mind of godly men for they bear tidings of a fiery death or everlasting life. They are uninvited, unwelcome, uncalled by men, but sent by God. And, as the Lord said, our Exodus route from this Egyptian, Sodomite world will be as Lot’s. He referenced the crime of Lot’s wife who looked back to Sodom. He has declared a similar fate to this world, commanded you not to look back nor love the world, and if you will be saved it is because you are not like Lot’s wife. Jesus gave the warning: “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32).
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10)
While the whole world is seeking another prosperous day of pleasure, fire will come in a moment. The last testimony of salvation for Sodom was to see the only righteous man (and his family) fleeing outside of the city! The last testimony to the old world was Noah (and his family) getting into the ark. This day came upon the wicked by surprise, yet for this day the righteous did prepare themselves. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:36-39).
“Look not behind thee… lest thou be consumed” (Gen. 19:17).
“But his wife looked back” (Gen. 19:26).
What are you looking for?
Judgment will not come in water, as Noah’s flood, but in an unquenchable fire, and the saints will escape in an escalating ark having the resurrection as their attire! Men seek to hold on to this world, but into the lake of fire they will be cast and hurled, this pleasurable life will be swallowed up by Sodom-like fires. Though “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,” the saints know the season, and are ready for the flight, but what marks of readiness and watching makes them worthy? Think of it, Jesus said, “watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt. 24:42). The saints are “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). It does not slip their memory, for the righteous do “love his appearing (Tim. 4:8).
A looking that saves is the earnest expectation of the gospel message of his return. As mentioned before, the saints do know “the times and seasons,” but not the day of his return (see also Matt. 24:32-38). We are not in darkness that the Lord should come upon us as a thief, unaware and unprepared at his coming. We who are “children of light” live as “children of day.” We do not sleep, are “watchful” and “sober,” and we have put on the “breastplate of faith and love with the helmet of the hope of salvation.”
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“Grace reigns,” the scripture exclaims, “for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:21, Titus 2:11-13). In other words, “saving grace makes one have the earnest expectation of the gospel message which makes you deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. It makes you live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world because you are looking for… the glorious appearing… of Jesus Christ.” If you are not looking for his appearing then you are not living in the manner described. If you are living for his appearing you are living for the world to come, not this present world, “for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14).
The marks of ready watchfulness begin as heart righteousness; heart Christ-likeness. It is written, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). If from your heart there is a “well of water springing,” thy heart will issue righteousness from day to day (John 4:14). “Grace reigns” in a Holy Ghost Geyser, “springing up into everlasting life” (Rom. 5:21, John 4:14), and this is your Noahic Ark of escalation (1 Pet. 3:18-22). Yea, “as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21). “Grace reigns through righteousness,” and “the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 5:21, 8:10). The Spirit of God is not a wellspring of happiness but righteousness, not relative morality but a blistering, holy, righteous mentality. For, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16).
Unbelief is surrender to a godless night, a groping of blindness without arising to fight. All who know the true faith are recipients of a crucified Savior’s cross-bearing commission, they are enduring “hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,” worthy to make this finish and confession: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 2:3, 4:7-8). Such grace did hold Lot captive at heart! That is to say, Sodom and Gomorrah was not in his heart, and these were the first fruits of his worthy escape. All recipients of our eternal escalation must be partakers of those fruits. They must be like unto Lot:
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It is written that God “delivered just Lot,” meaning righteous Lot, because the “Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10). What can be said of Lot’s practical righteousness by deed, what righteousness set him apart and worthy to be saved from the rest? He was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” As he saw and heard their “unlawful deeds,” it “vexed his righteous soul from day to day.” It is apparent that Lot had a love of righteousness that did lead him from day to day, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). This is the heart of God and the heart of his children in Christ.
What sins in Sodom did vex Lot? Don’t think that the vexing sins of Sodom were merely of the sexual kind, namely homosexuality. “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). Are these things vexing to you like homosexuality? What of other lawlessness that God has mentioned, for surely we must be vexed over the seeing and hearing of it all, especially those that are particularly the greater of sins. Galatians 5:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, as before written, lists the works of the flesh, which, if anyone continues to do they are wicked enough to go to hell. Among the works listed they can be divided between culturally unacceptable sins and culturally acceptable sins. Many people scorn abortion, but have bloody hands because they don’t share the gospel. Many people help the poor, but neglect the spiritually poor. Many do shun adultery or fornication, but celebrate lust, gossip, idleness, covetousness, envy, and un-forgiveness. If you re-read those two portions of scripture (Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) you will find the murderers condemned alongside the covetous, the adulterers alongside the envious, the fornicators alongside the drunkards, witches alongside liars, and so on (see also Rev. 21:8, Matt 6:15). All these deeds are declared damnable, and therefore are lawless. Righteous Lot was vexed by all the lawlessness, not by culturally or Pharisaically-defined lawlessness.
If Lot was temperate enough to refrain from, or in some sense hate: homosexuality, fornication [sex outside of marriage], adultery, drunkenness, and witchcraft [drugs]; nevertheless, if he did in heart lust for women outside of marriage, was drunken with concern for the cares of this life, and high on the ease and riches of an idle life – this is sure condemnation! (Lk. 21:34, Mk. 4:18-19) If your goodly godliness is caught in a garrison of guile wherein you idly Google your life away, that is, pursuing personal hobbies, interests, knowledge, sports, and gluttony – you are perishing! “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Lk. 21:36). O how beautiful you are on the outside! Innocence of murder, yet you hate, innocent of adultery, yet you lust, innocent of thievery, yet you covet, envy, and are jealous. You are “full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). You may not be crowned a witch, but you love the imagination of magic in Harry Potter-like movies. You may deem yourself not as guilty as a wicked witch, but your sin of self-will is rebellion, anarchy against God, and witchcraft: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee” (1 Sam. 15:23).
You may profess to know the Covenant of grace, but if you are dominated in these sins of lawlessness (as stated in Gal. 5:19-21, 1 Cor. 6:9-10) you are perishing! The culturally acceptable sins are by name and definition:
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Lasciviousness – looseness, unhindered sinful lusts, characteristic in a person who willfully sins. Hatred – being an enemy, intense anger, great dislike, characteristic of the anger or dislike that a person has when he says to another “I hate you.” It is not necessary that the hatred lasts forever but only for a moment. Variance – difference that produces dispute or controversy, disagreement, dissension, discord, argument. Emulations – envious rivalry, a desire of superiority attended with effort to attain to it, striving to be equal or better than others in achievement with sinful motives like self gain. Wrath – unrighteous anger, vengeful anger, characteristic of a person easily angered. Strife – a contest or contention for superiority, sinful competition, self promoting. Seditions – resistance against authority, divisions, in form against divinely distributed rights to the common man it is characteristic in cliques, to look down upon through class, economic status, educational status, sophistication or civilization. Envyings – painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage, an object of envious notice or feeling (his new car made him the envy of his friends). Covetousness – discontent in your life that motivates a fulfillment of that desire through the love of possessions, money, “style,” riches, luxury, laziness, and reputable lifestyles. Revellings – noisy partying and merrymaking commonly associated with drinking parties but are any unrighteous celebrations (that is any celebration that glories in sinful things). (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary) |
All these sins are (if they are characteristic of your life over and against the fruits of the Spirit, done in persistence or perseverance) they are indisputably evidences of a life without saving grace! Those guilty of the latter description, those deeds that many justify with the saying, “I am only human,” these sins are lawless works that the scripture declares damnation. It is convenient for men to justify themselves but if the word of God condemns you its final. You must repent and rather let God justify you. If God justifies you then the word of God will confirm your salvation, if you have given yourself false peace then the word of God will condemn you. God has told us beforehand what will happen on Judgment Day, it is the word of God that judges us, and God has been merciful enough to warn you what will happen then. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Lk. 21:33, Matt. 24:35, Mk. 13:31).
O friend, you must have a hatred for sin! So much so, that, if you are in the presence of these deeds, from day to day, you are vexed over them. If there is no vexation then there is no love for God or righteousness, you are in darkness. These deeds are the American Dream, popular TV shows, and mostly all media streams. It is the world and the merrymaking of the wicked. Thoughts are not harmless, but effectual definitions of the salvation of man: Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” So what about you? When you watch TV, movies, listen to the radio, CDs, and music? When you spend time with family, friends, acquaintances, and co-workers? Is the light of righteousness so pure, so bright, that darkness cannot dim its darling grip on your heart? If you are not daily vexed at the seeing and hearing of these things, as Lot would not have escaped, neither will you. O how quickly you justify yourself simply because you watch it on television, in the secret of your own living room. That room is your cave of covetousness. You love violence and bloodshed, for all manner of sin you restlessly thirst. “How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water” (Job 15:16)? Don’t deny it, repent! You must be born again! “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Turn to righteousness through Christ and don’t look back to this world. The godly man Lot, saw that all of Sodom was being dissolved, by faith he forsook it, and did not look back – in this manner are you looking for the day of God? Are you in like manner, “seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved?”
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If you are “looking for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” you have unregretfully turned away from, and fled from, that place wherein dwelleth unrighteousness! “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Like 9:62). A “looking for,” that saves, is an earnest expectation of the gospel message that makes a man “holy in conversation” and “godliness,” “diligent” in striving, “in peace,” “without spot,” and “blameless.”
A looking that saves is the earnest expectation of the gospel message which makes you “awake out of sleep,” seeking the “salvation” and “day” near at hand that will pierce the dark night of this world. Therefore, in preparation you seek an inheritance of this salvation by being found as one that is not of the night but of the day. You “cast off the works of darkness, put on the armour of light,” and “live in the day,” as one “honest,” not in the night as one who is “rioting, drunken, chambering, wanton, envying,” and entangled in “strife.”
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Sleeping, as you can see, is in a bed of unrighteousness. It is a delusion of snoring sinfulness. We must awake! “Awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Corinthians 15:34)! “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14).
It happened to Lot in like manner, as it is written: “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). To the rest, a kind of delusion was happening, in like manner as it is written, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). Without this light one cannot awake, will always sleep in a bed of iniquity, in nightmares they are wallowing and turning, like a pig in their grave of rottenness and worming. Their life is a spiritual decomposing.
Lot was in vexation, as the blessed are in mourning, because he loved righteousness. If you love righteousness, no matter where you are, you will be affected by abominations. Are you one “of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof,” wherever you are? Lawyer, teacher, professor, waiter, worker, prisoner, youth, elderly, middle-aged, and all – do you have the marks of the righteous? Don’t hypnotize your deceitful heart with ease, thinking God will have mercy on sins he has already written that he will be merciless to. Take heed, there is a day of no more mercy, are you a candidate?
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“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). There is mercy still today if you seek the Lord and repent. Find him today, while he may be found. Tomorrow there could be merciless wrath. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 55:6-8).
If God has separated your heart from this world you will have a separated life.
Christians enjoy the company of Christians, and sinners should think it strange of you that you go not with them to their same merrymaking. You could exclaim in truth, “What do I have in common with unbelievers in their desires and lusts?” It is like the inevitable separation of light from darkness (2 Cor. 6:11-18)! “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead” (1 Peter 4:3-5). Those who are “quick” [alive] fellowship with those who are alive, they contend with those who are dead, that they might repent and be saved: “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them” (Proverbs 28:4). Those who are alive have all things in common and daily seek one another’s presence in some fashion.
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If a man has no commonality with the world, becoming separate from the common man, this is a manifest product he is born of another world. Therefore “old things” have indeed passed away, and evidently, in the sight of all people, “all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is a holiness of heart, action, and life. Holiness is of salvific production, as it is written: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Holiness by imputation is manifest through holiness by deed, and if a man lives after his conversion it will be manifest in this manner:
“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake…Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:22, 26).
I hope you are beginning to see the established Kingdoms, light and darkness, spiritual life and death, Satan and God, heaven and earth, flesh and Spirit. The rhetoric of scripture is bound together with promises; henceforth let us turn to and learn from the faithful Abraham.
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“If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham… Ye do the deeds of your father” (Jn. 8:39, 41). |
Are you Abraham’s Seed? |
The father of the faith and the first of the circumcision is Abraham. Abraham’s call began in the exemplification of salvation by separation. These three characteristics are well noted in the Old and New Covenants. God preached the gospel to Abraham, saying, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1). We see such eternally significant standards of separation brilliantly applied in the New Covenant. That which was typified by shadows in the old is magnified in substance in the new – “For all the promises of God IN HIM are yea, and IN HIM amen, unto the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20), therefore:
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The call to holiness is a conditional command bound with promises. The call is a break of yoke; the gospel content presses the purpose of God in regeneration. Wherefore a man recognizing a “divine nature” segregates fellowship, voids commonality, and establishes enmity with all unbelievers and this world (2 Peter 1:4). Reception of this gospel is a reception of “come out from among them,” and so we become children of Abraham who did obey his gospel, “get thee out.” If you receive this gospel, a gospel of holiness, you are received of God as your new spiritual Father, being born again his son or daughter. This is the unavoidable purpose of God in the gospel, past, present, and perpetually. Such an imputation of holiness, by the indwelling of the regenerating Holy Ghost, begets holy living in deed as the manifest qualities of Abraham’s seed. Are you Abraham’s seed?
Indeed this is a fearful call, a call of “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” It is a springing product of eternal life; “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” (Hebrews 12:14). Abraham was the father of faith, and the seal of his faith was circumcision. Are you circumcised?
“For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). “In whom [Jesus] also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col 2:11-13).
“And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my Covenant” (Genesis 17:14).
Circumcision to Abraham was a mark of holiness which he and all the co-recipients of the Covenant had: “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” (Genesis 17:11). Likewise “Christianity” today is innumerably leavened with false converts and lawless men, that the holy and the unholy has been mingled into what the common man thinks of when he imagines “Christians.” It is a shame, for, ye must be holy as much as “ye must be born again” (John 3). Holy by imputation springs holiness by deed, and spiritual circumcision is a seal of righteousness! If anyone does not have this seal they are cut off from God’s people! Herein are the saints manifest, they are sealed in imputed righteousness which is alive, working in works righteousness: “for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any things, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature,” and if a new creature, that is “the circumcision made without hands,” where the Spirit of God is a wellspring of righteousness! Henceforth “walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham,” “for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Rom. 4:12, James 2:26).
The seal of the Spirit is a seal of solemnity, not sarcasm; sobriety, not a funny personality; a serious, striving, salty, seven-plan man whose sight is set on heaven, “after having done all to stand!” “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:13-17). These are the signs of a saint, signs of the sealing Spirit, and that made manifest in the righteousness of faith!
Thus it was to Abraham, “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith.” (Rom. 4:11). I plead with you to repent and believe the gospel! It is the power of God! Bring forth fruit worthy of the gospel; meet for Christ, worthy of the name of Christ! And whatever you choose, whomever you may confess, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19).