Basic Facts

#1768

The master deception of Satan! 

(Arthur Pink, "The Doctrine of Sanctification" 1937)

"I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." Leviticus 11:44 

We do greatly deceive ourselves, if we imagine that we are drawing nearer to Heaven--while only following those courses which lead to Hell. 

We are woefully deluded, if we suppose that we are journeying towards glory--and yet are living in sin. 

Christ died to procure holiness--not to secure an indulgence for sin. 

To live in known and allowed sin, and yet expect to be saved by Christ--is the master deception of Satan! 

My reader, a faith which does not transform character and reform conduct, is worthless. 

Saving faith is only proved to be genuine by bearing the blossoms of experimental godliness and the fruits of personal piety.

Great multitudes of ignorant people who live under the Gospel, harden their hearts in sin and ruin their souls forever, by trusting on Christ for such an 'imaginary salvation' as consists not at all in holiness--but only in forgiveness of sin and deliverance from everlasting torments. They would be free from the punishments due to sin--but they love their lusts so well that they hate holiness and do not desire to be saved from the service of sin. If they do not desire to be made holy and righteous in their hearts and lives--then they do not heartily desire true salvation.

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          The shepherd smells like his sheep. He carries them on his shoulder. Drinks from the same spring from which they drink. There is a companionship between shepherd and sheep, they trust one another.

          One of the unanswered questions of my life, WHY those who claim to love god, put their redemption in the shed blood of his son, envy often imitate, those who despise God. I have associates, family members, neighbors, who say they are Christian, "Christ-like," and yet, in language, dress, habits, personal interests... can not be distinguished from those who are basically unbelievers-atheists. When you are in their company, they talk about the world, flesh, devil. THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE DIFFERENT. Those of us who love Gods word, love the Gospel, love Gospel music, have an aching hunger to associate-talk-visit with those who have a small knowledge of the holiness of God. We know that God has forgiven our sins, past, present and future. That we are in daily warfare against our flaws, but even the child recognizes hypocrisy.

          I shutter, even panic, when I think of the many times that I have failed my blessed Lord. This I know, from everything I have read in his word, from everything I have experienced in life... He has mercy to spare and although I have failed him, He will never fail me.  

Squirrel Cage

#1766

Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top.

            The most important fact in this life, a sin in which I have been caught many times... knowing the gospel, knowing the forgiveness of God, I still get enslaved by the troubles and trials, problems encountered on each new day. Were slaves to sin, often try to keep Gods laws even though we have been given liberty from law. Abandoned freedom, returning to the law, abandon our freedom, lust of the flesh. We want relationships of law, rather than relationships of love.

            Christians of maturity, Christians of age, become dismayed  from the electronic media and even from the pul pit, by those who have exchanged their liberty through Christ, their freedom through redemption with entanglement by those who mix and confuse law and grace.

            I so remember my confusion-consignation as a young person studying the gospel. There were poorly educated preachers at the country church who had never been able to separate law and grace. There were older women in the church who would not build a fire in their cook stove on Sunday, very few would cook on the Lord's day. It was much as I experienced on my travels through Israel, the holy land, which according to Jewish law, observed at hotels, you ate cold food on the Sabbath... no maid service, orthodox Jews in their costumes walking everywhere.

            And then I was in Muslim countries (there are 42 Muslim countries in Africa) on a bus, the driver would get out of the bus and kneel in prayer on his prayer rug. Called to prayer from the mosque, men rushing to their place of worship... hand washing spigot outside the mosques.

            As this writers approaches the problems, aggravations, pains, trials, which are certain on every day of my life, I just pray that God will have an excess of mercy to see me through "it all." 

            "Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to trust in Jesus,
            I've learned to trust in God;
            Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to depend upon His Word."

            I have stated it from the pul pit, before many groups of veterans and I might as well state it here... "Sightless, wrought by pain, the victim of every aggravations and crime that employees can exact against me, knowing full well that most healthcare individuals and agencies are just going through the motions. IF NOT FOR MY FAITH WHO WOULD CONTINUE IN THIS LIFE? Do you actually blame any unbeliever for ending it all and knowing that God knows all, would he really hold suicide against the salvation of a believer?"

            And yet the two thieves on the cross of Calvary, who died with him, one on either side, never having experienced anything as far as grace... evidently, both were believers. One wanted belief on his own terms, like most modernists in the religiosity of today's world. "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." (Luke 23:39) The other thief, humble, promised heaven that day, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." (Luke 23:42)

            As today's churches wither, most members depending on Christ to save his church and them, little humility by most of us to simply depend on grace. We get into the squirrel cage and just keep running, attempting to solve everything ourselves. It is too great an undertaking, it is truly remarkable that Jesus lived during the slavery and tyranny of Roman rule, perhaps the worst tyranny known to man. IF the saints who have gone on before us, IF my ancestors could survive through the horror story of their existence in the early years of this nation... SURELY I can bare up in this rat race, squirrel chase, anti-Christian, politically correct, broken culture in which God has chosen me to live.

            Our senses are besieged by sin that surrounds us. Our senses are bombarded by our fellow human beings. Lies are always used in direct proportion to their use. Almost, without exception, you evaluate the person-hood of EVERYONE with whom you come in contact. "How honest is this person, how far can I trust this person, what is this person attempting to get out of me?" This is not just the quandary of skepticism. Someone has said that a man is truly fortunate if he has enough friends to number on one hand. If he has two friends to whom he can go and borrow money without them asking any questions. As you age, you find that you have fewer and fewer friends... either outlived them or become so disappointed with them. Most do not want to indulge you, show any interest to your squirrel cage. Even our family members, our "so called" friends, neighbors, even those we pay to work for us, want nothing but a smooth road. Most of our friends are not concerned with the horror story of Planned Parenthood, GMO's in food, a nation mired in debt which it can never repay.

            Up until recent years, there was decency in all of us. We had rather work than take a hand out. My parents, ancestors, never thought about vacations/retirements. My grandfather was the last farmer to sign up for federal crop controls. My parents resented their parity check. "The doctrine of parity was used to justify agricultural price controls in the United States beginning in the 1920s-1930s." This writer was honored to work his way through eight years of university education. Now, every college student, regardless of the home from which they come, think that they must have a grant or surely a government subsidized loan AND from the bottomless ocean of knowledge and technology, has come several generations of Americans and even many in foreign countries who are tap dancing-running as hard as possible to keep up. Most are glancing at flowers they did not plant, certainly no time to smell a rose.

            I wish I had the ability to "re-gift" to my young grandsons and friends, the overwhelming desire of my youth for knowledge and success. We know that no man can come to Christ unless god "draws him." You could walk the isle of every Church, sign cards, but only the holy spirit of Christ re-birthing you will change you.

            In India, I saw water buffalo walking round and round, pumping water. The buffalo did not go anywhere except in a large circle. Only accomplished what the pole connected to him and mechanized pump desired. Water flowed because of the buffalo's work. In our lives, with all our activity, work, grief, we just may accomplish something, but life is for living. Jesus came to give us liberty, to set the captives free. This writer is in a cocoon of blackness, sightlessness, and I get exasperated with myself for letting the world, flesh, devil, re-enslave me. One who has spiritual freedom-liberty in Christ. 

The Gardener and Easter

In simple humility, let our gardener God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

(James 1:21)

Christianity is not turning over a new leaf, its starting a new life. The goodness of the gospel at Easter and every other day of our life, is not what we can do for Jesus but what Jesus has already done for us. What is the greater threat to the Gospel? The self righteousness of good people? Or the unrighteousness of bad people?

When this writer was younger and more energetic, I would walk the five blocks from my townhouse in the city where I lived to the church where I was a member. One beautiful Sunday morning on my walk down Front Street, a girl was sitting on a stoop across from the notorious bar called The Barbary Coast. Now there was no doubt that I was on my way to church, suited, carrying my bible. It is unusual for anyone to ask a blind man about anything, but this girl asked me if I could give her a dollar. I said: "Of course I can, here is a dollar for you and I want God to bless you." Of course I knew she was planning to go across the street and spend the money at the bar.

Later, at lunch with some members of the First Baptist Church, I relayed the incident. They felt that I should not have given her money for a drink. Perhaps not, but as I said to them, "This girl knew her condition, today in the church house we had people sitting all around us who I honestly believe, are deceived about theirs." We simply have no idea how much baggage most people carry around, both inside the church and out.

It is at Easter that we share our blessed Lord's agony, the wrath of his father-- sin of the world, which he carried to the cross. Easter is a time of new beginnings. Hidden foliage, coming forth in full bloom. In my city, we have beautiful azaleas, lilacs, dogwood.

The thrill of springtime, Easter; always brings the memory of my grandmother working in her garden, An old lady, Miss.Ida, working in her garden. Like my mother, grandmothers and most of the worlds population, people love the beauty of flowers as well as vegetables growing. How better could God show his love for beauty to us?

There are two Gardens mentioned in the bible. Of course, this world traveler has seen beautiful gardens all over the world; but just think of the beauty of the Garden of Eden: everything perfect there... Every thorn-less flower, beautiful in color and smell. I imagine just miles of God tending to flawless landscaped beauty. You know that when he looked over it and called it good, it was beautiful. (Gen 1:31)

The problem that still exists: God showed us that he is boss, that he has certain parameters. There was just one tree in that beautiful garden, "don't touch that tree." In the garden of Eden, Adam failed, chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life. In that other garden, Garden of Gethsemane, ugly-nasty-flies-stray dogs, Christ was crushed. The first man Adam failed, the second man Jesus triumphed; both in a garden... God the gardener.

The Romans crucified thousands of human beings every year. At the time of Jesus, a large percentage of the worlds population were slaves. He delivered us from our slavery and took on all of our rotten sins. The second Adam gave humanity the spirit of life... a free gift.

The best memory I have of my maternal grandmother, returning from her garden carrying a hoe... always with her large apron carrying vegetables which she had picked from her garden. In God's marvelous grace and mercy, he created on this earth every chemical we would ever need for anything. There is no excuse for the multiplicity of sicknesses which afflict our population. There is no excuse for the epidemics involving food intake such as diabetes. When I was in school, cancer and diabetes were rare diseases. It is all a matter of treatment from the Supreme Gardener... The great position. What better time than Easter to center our thoughts on self control? God has supplied our every need, Jesus has supplied our every escape.

Just as 16.4% of our population between the ages 16-64 has sexually transmitted diseases, life is a matter of liberty in Christ, but recognizing that we "wrestle" against the power of evil.(Ephisians 6:12)

The two greatest events in the Gospel message, have been so distorted... Christmas with its spending, spreeing, tinsel and decorated trees. Easter with its rabbits laying colored eggs. The greatest sound in the history of the world was a baby's cry in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. The greatest event in the history of the world was the resurrected grown body, having been crucified for the sins of the world on that first Easter. All history-beauty-intelligence revolves around this one solitary life, God putting on a tent of flesh and dwelling among us. Jesus must have enjoyed, although God, living on this earth with his friends (It give this writer joy to think that Jesus enjoyed good food with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, fishing with his disciples). After suffering cruelty beyond belief, he was still willing to ask his Father to forgive them, for they didn't know what they were doing. (Luke 23:34)

On this Easter and everyday, those of us who bear his name, who have a personal relationship with him, should rejoice in our knowledge of what happened in these two gardens supervised by the gardener who created the world and everything in it.

#1717