Dying in the Lord...

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There is coming a time of moral corruption and darkness. This situation can be seen already in the United States. The Apostle Paul warned of the coming darkness, saying, "People will be lovers of themselves." The Lord Jesus spoke concerning the darkness, warning that no man could work during this period. We need to prepare ourselves to stand and help others to stand during the days to come.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (II Timothy 3:1,2)

(12/1/2010) The Book of Revelation has much to say about Antichrist, the False Prophet, Babylon, and Laodicea. We are entering such an hour at the present time.

Notice carefully these dark days:

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name." This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Revelation 14:9-12)

Now, notice the admonition directed toward the saints who are living at that time:

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." (Revelation 14:13)

Dying in the Lord has nothing to do with physical death. Physical death is the sleeping of the body. The inward nature still is dead or still is alive, depending on its state prior to physical sleep (death).

"From now on." From the time that wickedness comes to maturity in the earth, it is as the Lord said: "Night is coming when no one can work." But the Lord Himself can work in that day. Therefore, if we are to continue to do good deeds during the hour of darkness we must "die in the Lord."

What does it mean to "die" in the Lord. It means to give over our will to the Lord. This does not mean we become passive, or an "empty vessel," as some have said. Rather it means that at every point of decision during the day we keep looking to Jesus for His wisdom and enablement.

How is this a "death"? Try doing this, and you will find out. It means that instead of charging about according to our own desires and reasoning we look to Jesus instead. And we do this at all times and in every circumstance. Another way of expressing this is we place all our treasures in Heaven. We may or may not see them before we pass into the spirit world.

This is the exhortation to God's people in the present hour. In light of what we are approaching we must cease living according to our own will. We must become subject in every aspect of our being and doing to the will of Christ. This is the kind of relationship Christ had and yet has with the Father in Heaven.

I admit, it takes a while before we become accustomed to looking to the Lord Jesus for all that we are and do. But it is the only condition that can survive the shaking that is coming. The heavens themselves shall be shaken, and all who are not living by the life of Christ shall be removed from their position.

All of our religious activities that have not been wrought in Christ will be brought down to the dust so that we may start over in Christ.

The twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation tells of the great rejoicing in Heaven when Satan and his angels are thrown down into the earth.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:10,11)

The inhabitants of Heaven are rejoicing because Satan had access to God and was accusing the saints day and night. This situation is true today. It is time now for Satan to be hurled down from his access to God in Heaven. In order for Satan to be so weakened that he can be forced down, he must be overcome by God's saints.

You and I today must meet the qualifications required if we are to triumph over Satan, thus enabling Michael and his angels to prevail.

The qualifications are threefold: First, our faith must be anchored in the blood atonement made by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

Second, our testimony of God, His Person, His will, His way, and His eternal purpose in Christ, must be true. Today we use the term "testify" to mean telling others what we know about Christ and His salvation. This can be fruitful, but it is not the fullness of the testimony that will triumph over Satan.

Remember, God is Truth. Satan is a lie. Only the truth of God is able to overthrow Satan.

In order to bear a true testimony of God, His Person, His will, His way, and His eternal purpose in Jesus Christ, we must spend our life coming to know God as He leads us through the fire and the water. All of our experiences bring us to a further knowledge of God if we continue in obedience, prayer, and Bible study.

There is a great deal of preaching in the United States. How much of it is bearing a true testimony of God? Certainly the current emphasis on Heaven, grace, and an unscriptural "pre-tribulation rapture" of every individual who professes to believe in Christ, is not the word of our testimony that is adequate to overcome Satan; to weaken him to the point that Michael and his angels are able to drive him from his position in Heaven.

What do people conclude about me and you after they come to know us? Are they seeing God, His Person, His will, His way, and His eternal purpose in Christ?

If we are to strengthen Michael and his angels to the point they can overcome Satan and his angels, we must have our faith anchored in the blood atonement, and we must be bearing a true witness of God.

If I am not mistaken, the emphasis today is on the third prerequisite: loving not our life to the point of death. Again, this is not the death of the body but the death of our willingness to pursue our own ideas and pleasures.

I believe there have been outstanding saints in time past who have pressed forth into this third realm with God. Certainly the faithful Abraham is an inspiration to all of us. Can you imagine how Abraham felt during that hike up to Mount Moriah with Isaac by his side, picturing in his mind what he could say to Sarah when he told her he had offered Isaac as a burnt offering to God? This is what it means to "die in the Lord." A physical death would be much easier, wouldn't it?

It is obedience that is the watchword in our day, an obedience that will enable Michael and his angels to prevail. Christ learned obedience through the things He suffered, and thus was made perfect. If the sufferings of Christ were required to bring Him to total obedience, when His nature, having been born of God, was not filled with rebellion as ours is, what will it take to perfect obedience in us?

Of course, Christ's agony in Gethsemane goes far beyond what Abraham suffered and what we shall suffer. Nevertheless, the principle remains the same.

So the Spirit of God is going through the Christian churches today to find out who is willing to take this final step with God–final after we have placed our faith in the atonement; have been born again; and have learned somewhat of the Life of the Spirit of God. Will we do it? Will we tell God with our mouth that He may use us as He will; when He will; how He will; where He will?

Every Christian who will make this consecration, and there may not be many who will, shall serve Christ in a maximum way. This opportunity for service most likely will never come again. Can you and I rise to this supreme challenge?

Let's do it. Then we will have all of eternity to realize that in the hour of supreme testing we chose to honor Christ and God with our life instead of serving our own needs and pleasures.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19,20)

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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