How to Receive And Keep A clear Conscience |
| Which Road Are You
On? And Where Are You Going? |
This message is made up of three different tracts each complimenting the other. Please read each one in the order they are
presented.
Today we
have many Churches and people claiming to be the "True" Church, and knowing the
right way to God. You will be told to do and believe many things. More often than not one
group or organization will contradict the other. Where can we find the truth? And how can
we know that we are on the "right road"? Good questions! Lets turn to Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, for the answers.
Matthew 7:13 -
14 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.
There are two gates, one is wide and opens up to a road that is broad, but it
leads us to hell and after that, the lake of fire, the other gate is strait and narrow,
and opens up to a road that leads to Heaven, the Lord Jesus, and our Heavenly Father.
Take
note of the fact that it is easy to end up in hell, it is difficult to end up on the right
road! We have many things working against our being on the right road. I personally
believe that modern religious denominations are, and will be the main vehicle that the
Devil will continue to use to that end! For example, the Lord, John the Baptist, and all
of the apostles, John, Peter, James and Paul, just to name a few, taught that a man must repent
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive the forgiveness of sin and be
restored to our heavenly Father. Today the word repentance is played down or not used at ALL
in modern evangelism. Without repenting, we will not get anywhere with God! Almost all modern evangelism has stopped using this word
"repentance." (I think that the Devil has done his job well,) getting the
various denominations to stop using the very act that God demands, REPENTANCE.
Modern evangelism has also tired of preaching the law of God.
Today the focus is on everything, except the one thing God designed to use in order to
show us our transgressions "The Law." It seems today that even mentioning the
"law" is going against the grace of God! The greatest preacher of all times,
Jesus Christ, preached the LAW, Jesus wasn't afraid to preach the
law of God, He preached nothing else to get sinners to see their sin. Only the light of
God's law will allow us to see the wrong in our life. We don't need a
Savior until we see ourselves as sinners! And we never will see
ourselves aright until the light of God's holy law is put before our face. Read Galatians
3:24 "Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Now observe, modern evangelism has eliminated this, it refuses to
use the very thing God designed to lead us to Christ. Allow me to illustrate; Before I
repented, a man came to me and told me I was a sinner and needed Jesus! I told him that he
didn't know what he was talking about, I thought that I was not just a nice guy, but one
of the BEST! You see the preacher was trying to sell me on my need of a Savior, before I
was convicted of sin, before I saw just how lost and in danger I was. He tried to lead me
to Christ, but without teaching or showing me my SIN!
What a victory for the Devil, convincing preachers that this
"new way" of Modern evangelism is better than the way God intended. Friend, if
you have been "talked into being saved" and have not seen the sin in your life,
and have not repented, then you need to be saved. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew
5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
This is God's standard for Christians, quite different from the standard the worldly
Churches advocate. One day I met a black man by the name of Charles, I saw my sin by
beholding the very image of Jesus, that shown forth in his face continually, for he walked
continually with the fruit of God's Spirit evident in his life, the way he lived his life
convicted me of SIN. He did not have to preach to me, for his very life was the best
sermon that I have ever heard!
The easy
road to follow has but few rules, you can be yourself! You can do as you please, you deny
yourself nothing. On this road you are the most important person in the universe. All
others are less important than you.
T
he road that Jesus traveled, the one that leads to Heaven, is a
difficult road, and as He said in Matthew 7:14 "Because
strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it." You must love your
neighbor as you love yourself, you need to realize that God loves others as much as He
loves you. He is interested in them as much as He is interested in you. So God expects us
to live for our neighbor's good, as much as for our own. Focus on the way Jesus lived,
that is the way God expects us to live. Not repeating the same ministry as Jesus, for only
He could do that, and it is done! We are to have the same mind as Christ; 1 Peter 4:1-2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath
ceased from sin. That he no longer should live the rest of [his] time in the flesh to the
lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Something of
importance that Jesus said |
Reading in Luke 10:27 "And he
answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."
What is it to love the Lord with all of our heart?
My answer is this: when we love someone, we will find ourselves thinking on the goodness
and loveliness of the one we love at all times. We will resist being distracted from the
one we love. Just as a young man, when he is in love with a young woman wants to be with
her whenever possible, so it is with the person who truly loves the Lord with all of his
heart. We will pray to Him at all times, and when we are not being distracted by our work,
we will think on the Lord.
The big
difference between a Christian and a sinner is, selfishness. The Christian
is converted from a state of being consecrated to selfishness, to a state of being
unselfish. The sinner is selfish, but often times, does not see himself as such. The sin
problem in mankind finds it's very root in selfishness. We always choose for
self, our motives are always wrong until we yield to the Holy Spirit's persuasion and our
motives are changed, from selfishness to unselfishness or love. In other
words we are "born again."
We can not deliver or save ourselves. We didn't call on God first, He
called to us! Let us read Ephesians 2:1- 9 And
you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that
is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the
lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing
riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of
works, that no one should boast.
W
e
need to see just how wrong our motives are, even when we are in the process of doing
something we think is good! Yes, when selfishness is in our hearts we never do anything
from proper or pure motives. Have you ever given something to someone, but didn't feel
good about it until others found out about it! When we are loving our
neighbor, and give him something that he needs, we have a very warm feeling just seeing
his need satisfied. We need not have others even know about what we did!
The solution only comes when we find out this one very important fact, we
can't save ourselves, we don't even want to until God's precious Holy Spirit pays a call
on us. The Holy Spirit will show us our sin by means of revealing to our minds the
holiness and goodness of God's law. By showing us Jesus Christ! When our minds fasten on
the goodness and wonder of Christ, we see ourselves as undone, unclean, and all-together
filthy. At this point we will try to reform, we will try "not to sin" we will
try to be like Jesus, to follow His example. And when we apply all of our mind and
strength to this task we make a startling discovery, Romans 7:19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil
that I do not wish. We find that sin is our master, the
more we struggle against it, the stronger it's grip on our life becomes, and we become more
aware of our bondage. Now we are ready for a Savior!
We
discover that we are wretched. (Romans 7:24 O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?) We begin to look for some power outside of ourselves! The name
of this power, this power that can overcome the bondage of sin in us, that can deliver us
to the uttermost, is Jesus Christ!
How can we receive
this power over sin? |
By repenting of the sin attitude and all of the sin in our lives,
when we repent, we can then believe that Jesus WILL save us from our SIN. And don't miss
this, the very thing Jesus was sent to save us from, was sin; Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His
name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins. John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
The Bible tells us to deny ourselves (read Luke 9:23) And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. The very root of all sin is selfishness! The fact that we deny
ourselves is the proof that we have truly been born again to a new life, the very life of
Jesus.
How To Live in
Constant Victory |
Romans 6:12 Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
What is
God trying to tell us? |
It is commonly taught that a believer, even after being born
again, will continue in s
in and not be able to always obey God! Sin we are told is a fact
of life, "as long as you are living, you will be sinning!" If this be true then
what did the apostle mean by "Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body" I believe
the answer can be found in Romans chapter 6, God starts off this chapter with a question
from the apostle Paul, Romans 6:1: What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? This
is a rhetorical question, Paul, often uses this approach in his writings.
In Romans chapters four and five, God went to great lengths to
advance the fact that our salvation can not be earned or granted by our effort at obeying
the law! Paul had said in Romans 5:20 And
the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace
abounded. After writing this, the Apostle Paul
didn’t want anyone to think that he was saying that sin was normal, or that God
didn’t mind sin now! So in order to let everyone that reads his letter to the Romans
know that the grace of God was not a license to sin, the apostle asks a rhetorical
question "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound?"
Let’s look at his answer to this very important question.
Romans 6:2 "God forbid, How shall we,
that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" This
is preposterous! How is it possible for anyone born of God’s Spirit to even consider
continuing on in sin? Is this not the very thing that God demands from us in order to
forgive our sins, "REPENTANCE". What is repentance? A sorrow about
sin? NO! Repentance is turning from sin. In the Aramaic the word repentance means simply
"Stop sinning."
When we are born again, we are set free from sin. No one would
want to go back into bondage. Romans 6:3: Know ye
not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
When we follow the Lord Jesus Christ into baptism, we are giving
testimony to the world that we have died to sin (self will). We are saying to the world
"our old self (man) will not rule us anymore, Jesus is the Lord of our life now!
Jesus will now rule us! Why are we buried with Jesus? Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. God
expects us to walk in newness of life, not continue in sin! If we follow Jesus
in dying to ourselves (not letting our old self (man) to rule us anymore) we will walk
in newness of life. Here is the promise: Romans 6:5 For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection: Now remember I didn't say
this, God did.
When God promises something He will do It! No longer do we need to
be in bondage to sin or anything, "Whom the Son sets free, is free in deed"!
Romans 6:6 Knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. Read this
carefully, do you know this about yourself? Is your old man crucified with Christ? If
so, you no longer have to serve sin. Look at what the Lord wants us to do instead, we
are to "walk in newness of life." Are you "walking in newness of life?" Romans 6:7 For he that is dead
is freed from sin. Have you died to self? Is self-will and stubbornness absent
from your life? Romans 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with Him.
It is important that you do not miss this very important
experience. Have you died with Christ? (meaning "to self") Romans
6:9-11 Knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto
God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This word "reckon" is important, it means to
consider it done. We are talking faith here, you must believe God and "reckon"
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. When you do, you allow God to perform a mighty
miracle in you! Let me add this comment: for many years I searched for a way to be "dead
indeed unto sin" only to find that I was very much alive to sin the next day!
Self-will was alive and well in me, the one who wished to be "dead indeed unto
sin."
The answer to this dilemma is simply to see the folly of man, to find out
for yourself that all of your effort at being a "Christian" will end in
failure! That in order to live the Christian life you must be a Christian! In
other words, Christ must truly be alive in you! He must be leading your life, He must
be your life! All of the above statements seem simple, and they are, but until you
discover that your best efforts at obeying God and living a right life will always fail,
that nothing good dwells in you until Christ dwells in you, you are not fit for
"buzzard bait" when it comes to living a righteous life!
Right here is a good place to allow Bro. William Law to say something on
the subject of "self" -- "Our memory is the faithful repository of all the
fine things that self has ever done; and lest anything should be lost or forgotten,
"self" is continually setting them before our eyes. Our will, though it has all
the world before it, yet goes after nothing, but as self sends it. Self's understanding is
ever looking for new projects to enlarge the dominions of self; and if
this fails, imagination comes in, as the last and truest support of self, she makes him a
King and mighty lord of castles in the air. This is that full-born natural self, that must
be pulled out of the heart, and totally denied, or we can not be a disciple of
Christ; which is only saying this plain truth, that the apostate self-idolatrous nature of the old man must be put off, or there can
be no new Creature in Christ. " Until you are born again of the Spirit of God, you
only have self to look to, you will only yield to self-will. You must see yourself as not
just needing a little help from God, but needing the grave, and then you can be born
again. You must give up trying to be a Christian with your Flesh or "old man",
and only when you realize that your best effort is a stench in the nostrils of God, will
you cry out "O wretched man that I am, Who
will deliver me from this body of death!" (Romans 7)
Now, and only now, when you have come to know yourself, will you be
willing, nay in wholehearted agreement with Christ being the master of your life, with
full desire of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you. After you have submitted yourself to
God, you are ready for God’s next commandment. Don’t forget, when God commands
you to do something He will move heaven and earth to help you do it! Who can stop God? NO
ONE! Now here is the commandment, Romans 6:12 Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Here it is God has commanded us to "not allow sin to rule our
lives", and we can do just that God said it, I believe It, and that settles
it.. Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Now that God has set you free, stand in the freedom wherewith God has
made you free! Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness What
is meant by members? Your EYES; don’t look at anything that is filthy. Your
EARS: Don’t listen to anything that is filthy or wrong. Your HANDS: Don’t do any
thing wrong, steal, or hit people, etc. Your FEET: Don’t walk into a wrong place.
Remember, God never commands us to do something that we can not do. The fact that God
commanded it, is the proof that we can do it!
Romans 6:14 For sin
shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. Many people say that this verse means our sin is not counted against us
because we are under grace. But, this line of reasoning is ridiculous! Listen to the
apostle Paul as he explains what he meant by this verse. Paul begins with another
rhetorical question: Romans 6:15 What then? shall we sin,
because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid! God never meant for us to think of grace as a "license to sin"
but rather a "license to be FREE FROM SIN"! Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness? Now listen to God carefully here,
If you yield to sin (self will) you will die. But if you yield to
God you will gain righteousness. Look at the choice that the people at Rome made. Romans
6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin,
but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Romans 6:18 Being then made free from
sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Notice that
the Bible doesn’t even hint at us continuing in sin, but rather becoming servants of
righteousness. Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness. Romans 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Romans 6:21 What fruit had ye then in
those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. Romans 6:22
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life. Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Are You
A Saint Or Sinner? |
The Bible tells us
to deny ourselves, read Luke 9:23, And he
said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and follow me. Now here is a
command from Jesus Christ, the One that was sent to save us! What happens when a fireman
in the process of saving us out of the burning fire, tells us to do something, like
"stay low to the ground and follow me" If we spurn his instructions will he be
able to save us? Or will we perish in the fire? If we are willing to follow the advice of
mere men, how much more should we follow the advice of the Son of God! Jesus is attempting
to save us from a much bigger fire than any we shall ever encounter here on earth. And I
am compelled to add, a fire that will never go out!
Now Let Us
listen To His Instruction |
If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily,
and follow me. First of all, if we want
to "come after Him" we must deny ourselves! What did Jesus mean
when He said we must "deny ourselves." A preacher of old once said,
"Denying ourselves and taking up our cross isn't a little side issue, it is absolutely
necessary to becoming or continuing to be a disciple of Jesus. If we don't practice
self-denial, we aren't His disciples. It's useless to try to follow the One who was
crucified without taking up our own cross daily. Unless we deny ourselves, it will be
impossible not to deny the Lord. But so many who have written about self-denial, don't
seem to have an understanding of the subject. Either they couldn't explain it to others,
or they didn't know how far to take it, or they didn't sense the absolute necessity of it.
Others speak of it in such a dark, mystical way that the average man can't understand what
it's supposed to mean."
Here are some of the
aspects of denying ourselves |
This doctrine of "denying ourselves and picking up our
cross" is the very heart of Christianity, without this being true in the practice of
our lives, we are but hypocrites! This very attitude was the central theme in the life of
Jesus, and He has instructed us to follow Him in this example.
What
stands in our way of obeying Our Savior in this important Command? Three things
|
The World:
this doctrine of self-denial is the very opposite of the spirit that is in the world. The
world says, "get all the traffic will bear." The Lord said, "do unto others
as you would have them do to you." Worldly-minded professors HATE this
doctrine. They want the dignity of being called a good person, a Christian, but do
not want anything to do with the very thing that makes others admire the Christian, his or
her love for others, that is daily demonstrated by their self-denial!
The Flesh:
our "old man" our "flesh" our "old nature" (many ways of
describing the self life that we all had before we were born again.) The flesh wants to
rule again. The very last thing the flesh wants us to do is deny IT! We must not
yield to the flesh, Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the
dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:16 Know ye
not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
The
Devil hates the very thought of our denying ourselves. Satan appeals to the selfish
nature. Satan knows that when we follow Jesus down the path of self-denial that he has
lost his power over us. The "strings" have been cut! Others will see that the
Christianity we possess is real. By living this way, we demonstrate every day of our lives
that we believe the reward in Heaven is truly worth more to us than all this world has to
offer. Yes, the Devil doesn't like us to deny ourselves, for when we deny ourselves we are
denying the Devil, also.
How do we gain the
victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil? |
It is given to us by our Savior, Jesus Christ. The very thing
Jesus was sent to save us from, was sin. Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His
name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins. The
very root of all sin is selfishness! The fact that we deny ourselves is the proof that we
have truly been born again to a new life, the very life of Jesus.
How does this victory come to us, through our trying very hard to be
"Good"? NO! Our best efforts are a stench in the nostril of
the living God! Jesus was sent to save us because God knew we could not, and would not
save ourselves! Salvation begins with God calling us; it is a demonstration of His grace.
All of our efforts always fail.
Something of interest is the fact that the reason for our failure is not that we
physically can't obey God, but rather because the sin problem in mankind is selfishness.
We always choose for self, our motives are always wrong until we yield to the Holy
Spirit's persuasion and our motives are changed, from selfishness to unselfishness or love.
Look at what Paul said. Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but
in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work
reprobate. Hypocrisy is the result. And the world recognizes hypocrisy! Have you been
born again? Have you been raised to newness of life? Or are you still living the
"self" life, denying the Lord almost daily?
Remember
that we will deny someone. We will either deny the Lord or ourselves! Who will you deny?
Will you ask, "how can I live consistently, a life where self is denied, instead of
the Lord of glory?" The answer to this question is simple, you can't! But
Jesus can do it for you, if you will but allow Him to. Some may ask "How"? Let
me tell you how this greatest of all miracles was accomplished in my life.
First of all I came to a place of hating my life, I could see that what the Lord
asked, I rarely did. I began making excuses to the Lord, "next time Lord I'll do
it." Then I saw a pattern in my life, I seemed to always please myself and never the
Lord! And that brought me to a place of misery. You see I read my Bible and therefore knew
better. When I read my Bible it condemned me, for my life didn't line up with the examples
of other believers, left to us in God's word.
I came to a place of despair, one night as I laid my head on my pillow, I asked
the Lord to put me in HELL, I saw that hell was where I belonged. I began to see
myself as one of the most wicked persons that had ever lived! (This too is the grace of
God. If we never see our sin as God sees it, we will never truly repent with that
repentance caused by a Godly sorrow.) When I awoke the next morning I wasn't in
hell, but still alive and in my bed! I didn't know it, but for the first time in my life I
had repented with a repentance that I would never repent of.
Having
begun this new life in Christ, I wanted to finish my course, with the new and pure
conscience, that God had given me. I had tried to please God before, but never did. The
one thing I had learned, is that my best efforts would always end in failure. And so I
stopped trying to live the Christian life, and left the job of my salvation, and the way I
walked, to the living God. This is the way of faith.
Remember; Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Let us look at the progression of steps the sinner will follow as he starts
out to respond to God.
- You find out that the way you have been living your life is wrong,
you have been living a life of sin. You have lived your life as if God didn't exist! You
may learn this from the Bible, an evangelist, or from the example of the unselfish life of
a Christian you have come to know.
- From now on you know you are a sinner, God
is not happy with the way you are living your life.
- As a result of this knowledge, you tell the Lord that you will try
hard to follow Him, you will reform. This is where the fun begins, now, for the first time
in your life you discover the bondage you are in, when you try to do right, sin raises
it's ugly head. When you try the hardest to do right, wrong results, even faster. The
harder you try, the greater the failure!
- As the feeling of wretchedness sets in, you realize the need of
help from the outside, someone to save you from this body of death. Now and only now will
you be ready to look up. No one needs a Savior until they realize that they are indeed
"lost." Let me make an observation here, many times people try to
"Talk" someone into "accepting the Lord" before they are convicted of
sin. We are proud critters, and we think we are just about as nice as anybody else. But
when the Holy Spirit does His job of conviction, we are ready for a Savior!
- We learn that God will forgive our sin, all of our sin, if we
repent.
a) It is not
simply being sorry. The drunkard, after waking up the next morning in the gutter, smelly,
cold and hungry is very sorry about his plight. He is sorry about being broke and hungry,
but before the sun is very high in the sky, he is trying to figure out how he will gather
enough money to buy wine and get drunk all over again!
b) Sorrow is a part of repentance, but the Bible
tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that a Godly sorrow will lead us into a repentance
that we will not repent of! But the sorrow of the world works death. The sorrow of our
plight does not lead to repentance. Our sorrow should be about our treatment of a Holy God
who paid a precious price for our redemption!
Turning from sin in shame and disgust, with
a resolve never to do it again.
- A change of mind (heart) not remorse, regret or a feeling of being
sorry.
- Repentance is a hatred for sin, all sin.
N
ow
God bestows a clean, new, pure conscience on the believer. He knows his sin is forgiven
and the result is JOY! A peace that he can't
understand, but enjoys.
Now the new
believer starts to live by God's word the Bible, and to follow Jesus. Things are going
swell now. Selfishness looks like a terrible thing to him now. He has a desire to learn
even more of the Lamb of God. Everything seems at peace. . . But. . .
I
n
order to walk upright before God and man, we need to fight the good fight of faith, daily!
When we first start walking with Jesus, we are like little children. Whatever the Lord
asks we do without questioning. Remember now the three forces that are constantly working
against us, The world, the flesh and the Devil.
The Devil isn't happy about losing his influence with us, and so he goes to work,
(overtime,) at the same time old habits start to call, and as if this weren't enough the
world steps in now to pay a call.
The
world, the flesh and the Devil never sleep. Our victory is always given to us moment by
moment, and maintained by the Holy Ghost! We must be led daily (all day long) by our Lord.
If we take over, we will fail. Next we enter the world of unbelief. When our conscience is
no longer pure, we soon give up. Next on the agenda we will no longer see any reason to
deny ourselves, and so we stop denying ourselves and plunge head-long into sin,
(selfishness)! And so returns, the terrible trio, self-indulgence, self-regard and
self-worship!
Another way to fall from walking with
God!
|
It
depends a great deal on the reason we repented! Observe. If the motive for our repentance
was for our own happiness, it won't last, Christians often encounter persecutions. In
fact, the Bible promises persecutions to all that live Godly in Christ Jesus! And so if
our motive was to be happy, our repentance will be repented of! The world or the Devil
will offer something, that will be tempting. The power of the temptation is in direct
proportion to the desire we have for the thing being offered. We will give in to
selfishness. On the other hand, if the motive for our repentance was our sorrow for our
treatment of a Holy God, for the way we have trampled the commandments of the Lord, we
will weather the storms of the world, the flesh and the Devil! When temptations come we
will have strength in our God. Our love to God is too great for any temptation of this
life, for you see, our God allows us to look into the next life. When this happens nothing
in this life is worth what our God has allowed us to see on the other side!
Remember,
the command of Jesus is this, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Let me remind you of this one fact,
when God commands us to do something, He will move heaven and earth to help us
accomplish the thing He has asked us to do!
Some
Words From Bro. William Law (1686-1761) |
"Every time we find ourselves not ready to do good of all kinds, to all that we can; every unwillingness to
rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with them that weep, and love our neighbor as
ourselves; every aversion to be inwardly all love, and outwardly all meekness, gentleness,
courtesy, and condescension in words and actions towards every creature, for whom Christ
died, makes us schismatic. "Though
we gather together daily into one and the same place, joining in one and the same form of
creeds, prayers and praises offered to God, we are destroying the church unity, which
makes us one with Christ, as our head, and unites us with men as the members of his body.
"That this matter is true; that true church unity consists in our walking as Christ
walked, fully appears, from this Scripture, and many others like this one, the very words
of our Lord himself: "Ye are not of this world, as I am not of this world, but I
have chosen you out of the world." Therefore to be contrary to the world, as was
Christ, is the one necessary and full proof of our being his, of our belonging to him, and
being one with him.
"No man can call Christ Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Therefore nothing is, or can
be a divine service in the Church, which has Christ for its Lord, but what has the Holy
Spirit for its beginner, doer, and finisher. For if it be certain that no one can own
Christ as his Lord, but by the Holy Spirit, then it must be equally certain, that no one
can serve or worship God through Christ his Lord, in any other way, help, power, or means,
but so far as it is done, in, and by the power of that same Holy Spirit. Whatever is born
of the flesh is flesh; that is, whatever proceeds from, or is done by the natural powers
of man, from his birth of flesh and blood, is merely human, earthly, and corrupt, and can
no more do anything that is heavenly, or perform a service or worship that is divine, than
our present flesh and blood can enter into the kingdom of heaven.
"This is what the apostle has said, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his." And consequently if not his, he can perform no divine
service to him. Nor can any worship cease to be carnal, or become divine, but by its being
all that it is, and doing all that it does, by the power, and presence of Christ dwelling
in our souls, and helping us by his Holy Spirit to cry in truth and reality, Abba Father.
"If it should here be asked, "how we are to become and continue to be
worshippers of the Father in spirit and truth?" It is answered; "all consists in
turning inwards, in attention to that, which is daily and hourly stirring, living, and
working in our hearts." Now though the Scripture nowhere gives this direction in
these very words, yet, since it is said in Scripture, that God dwells not in temples made
with hands, but in the temple of our hearts, since the kingdom of God is said to be within
us, and not to come with outward observation, but to be in us, as a secret, living seed of
the incorruptible Word. Since our heart is our whole life, and we are said to live, and
move, and have our being in God, it is directly telling us that we are to turn inwards, if
we would turn to, and find God. It is directly telling us, that in what manner we are
within, as the worship is done there, so is God in such manner within us. And that he is
no otherwise our God, our life, our rest and happiness, than so far as the working of our
hearts, is a willing and choosing, a hungering and thirsting to find, feel and enjoy the
life giving power of His holy presence in our souls.
"To
be inwardly therefore very attentive to God, showing the good and the evil, distinguishing
the light from the darkness in our own souls. To listen to the voice of his ever speaking
Word, and to watch the moving of his ever sanctifying Spirit within us, waiting and
longing in the spirit of prayer, of faith and hope, of love and resignation, to be
inwardly quickened and revived in the image, and according to the likeness of that Son, in
whom He is well pleased, is the worshipping of God with our whole heart and soul, in
spirit and in truth.
"Every Church distinction is more or less in the corrupt state of
every selfish, carnal, self- willed, worldly minded, partial man. And is what it is, and
acts as it acts, for its own glory, its own interest and advancement, by the same spirit,
which keeps the selfish, partial man solely attached to his own will, his own wisdom,
self-regard, and self-seeking. All of this needs to be removed from every church, or
Christian society, in order for it to be a part of the heavenly Jerusalem. All of this is
that which may be called its own, human will, carnal wisdom, and self-seeking spirit;
which must all be given up. How can this be given up? Only by turning the eyes and hearts
of all its members, to an inward adoration, and total dependence upon the supernatural,
omnipresent God. To the inward teachings of Christ, as the power, the wisdom, and the
light of God, working within them every good, every
blessing, and all purity, which they can ever receive, either on earth, or in heaven.
Under this light, I am neither Protestant, nor papist, I am not Baptist nor Pentecostal.
I cannot consider myself as belonging only to one society of Christians, in
separation and distinction from all others.
"God is always present, and always working towards the life of the soul, and its
deliverance from captivity under flesh and blood. But this inward work of God, though
never ceasing, or altering, is yet always, and only hindered by the activity of our own
nature, and faculties, by bad men through their obedience to earthly passions, and by good
men through their striving to be good in their own way, by their natural strength, and a
multiplicity of seemingly holy labors and contrivances. Both these sorts of people
obstruct the work of God upon their souls. For we can cooperate with God in no other way,
than by submitting to the work of God, and seeking, and leaving ourselves to it. For the
whole nature of the fallen soul, consists in its being fallen from God, into itself, into
a self-government and activity, under its own powers, broken off from God. Therefore dying
to self, as well to our reason, to our passions and desires, is the first and
indispensable step in Christian redemption, and brings forth that conversion to God, by
which Christ becomes formed and revealed in us. And nothing hinders this conversion from
being fruitful in all good, and gaining all that we want from God, but the retaining of
something to dwell in as our own, whether it be earthly satisfactions, or a righteousness
of human endeavors.
"But we can in no otherwise worship God in spirit and in truth, than as our spirit
in truth and reality, seeks only to, depends only upon, and in all things adores, the
life-giving power of His Holy Spirit; as the creator, upholder, and doer of all that is or
can be good, either in time or eternity. For nothing can be good, but that which is
according to the will of God, and nothing can be according to the will of God, but that
which is done by his own Spirit. This is unchangeable, whether in heaven, or on earth. And
this is the one end of all the dispensations of God, towards fallen man, i.e. to bring man
into union with God. Comply with all the outward modes and institutions of religion,
believe the letter, own the meaning of scripture facts, symbols, figures, representations,
and doctrines, but if you stand in any other use of them, or seek to gain some other good from them, than that of being led out of your own self,
from your own will, and own spirit, that the will of God, and the Spirit of God, may do
all that is willed, and done by you. However fixed, and steadily you may adhere to such a
religion, you stand as fixed and steadily in your own fallen state. For the restoration of
fallen man, is nothing else but the restoration of him to his first state, under the will
and Spirit of God, in and for which he was created."
The Victory! |
The Old Testament
Promise Of the Gospel |
Allow me to share the main Scripture that has always given me hope of what my God
will do, when things seem to be going wrong. When we understand the depth of this promise
given to us by the One who never lies, and never disappoints, Our victory is assured! God
will always give us victory in this life of self-denial. Ezekiel 36:25 - 27 Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from
all your idols, will I cleanse you. What a promise! God will cleanse us from all of
our filthiness! That word filthiness means sin! But that’s not all, God will remove
all of the idols in our life! A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you an heart of flesh. Then God will remove our heart of stone. The Bible uses the
word "heart" to refer to man’s will, the place we make our decisions (the
decision to obey or disobey God.) Notice here that God refers to a stony heart, this means
a stubborn, rebellious will (heart). We won’t stop being rebellious and stubborn on
our own, so the God of love removes this rebellious (heart) from us and replaces it with a
moldable (heart) And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]. And now after heart surgery,
we are ready to receive the most precious gift anyone could possibly receive, God’s
Spirit. (And I will put My spirit within you.) But God knows that this is still not
enough. Look at the next part of this promise. And cause you to walk in My statutes,
and ye shall keep My judgments, and do [them]. Now God has committed Himself to cause
us to obey Him! What more need we ask of Him. This is the faith part, will you believe
God? Will you take Him at His word? Will you place your faith in Him, now, today? Please
take note of the fact that God is the one who does all of these things! This is important,
I will repeat it. And be certain to realize this fact, God is
the one who does all of these things!
After
reading this little booklet, it is easy to see the difference between the saint and
sinner. It is the same difference as between two people, one of which always practices
self-denial, and the other who practices selfishness! Compare this with the statement
Jesus made when asked which is the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37- 40 Jesus
said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets. Can you see, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart,
and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, you must be delivered from all
selfishness? If you will serve the living God, you must be a man or women of prayer,
remember, nothing of importance is accomplished in this world without prevailing prayer.
No blessing on earth can be compared to communing with our heavenly Father in prayer.
Today, we have a Gospel that always works, for the Gospel has not changed, we have
been given but one Gospel. The problem is this, the Gospel that Jesus gave us is not being
preached. What is being preached is a counterfeit Gospel, it is all take, with no
self-denial. It is usually proffered with an appeal made to your selfishness (You will be
happier, you won't end up in hell, so on and so forth.) This Gospel never works!
Do not forget
that all of the good that we may do in the course of our life, will be the
result of our abiding in Christ. All of the fruit that we may bear during our life, is
always the result of our abiding in Christ. If we don't bear fruit, it is only because we
are not abiding in Christ; John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he
bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." Do you know this about
yourself, that, apart from Jesus Christ you can do nothing? If you know this about
yourself, then you realize your need to abide in Jesus Christ
Dear
friend, if you have any questions about any of the Scriptures listed above, or need
further help with your walk before God, please contact me.
I hope this little
tract helps you walk with the Lord, if you have any questions just write.
Charles Wright (615)
758-5436 - 606 Rebel rd. Old Hickory TN 37138
You may contact us by clicking here; 
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