View source for Actual Righteousness 8

''The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place."'' (Judges 7:7-NIV)

There are three important lessons we can learn from the story of Gideon.

First, the victory gained at the return of the Lord will be accomplished through a remnant of the Church.

Second, how we drink the water is important. All the soldiers drank the same water. Some got down on their knees and drank from the water. Others scooped up the water in their hand and lapped. They were more cautious, not so heedless of their surroundings.

So it is today. Many believers are so starved for the Spirit of God that they readily can be led into foolish actions. Others are more cautious, being on the alert in case the enemy is in the vicinity. The same Holy Spirit but a different response.

Third, the separation of the remnant from the main body of the Church will be temporary.

As we said, the believers are starved for God's Presence and they readily can be led into excesses, picturing themselves as some special segment of the Church quite superior to the rank and file of Christians. 

Their desire to advance in God is commendable, but without sound teaching we soon have groups of people imagining themselves to be spiritual giants. This attitude is unrealistic and unfruitful.

The remnant God is drawing from the churches realize the Lord is looking for those who will accept the increased demands He is making. 

They do not view themselves as being superior to other believers. They remain compassionate toward the weaker, realizing that when God gives a double portion of a desire for righteousness, for God Himself, it is that the individual might be able to build up the entire Body.

The victorious saints are too busy jumping the hurdles God is placing before them to spend time imagining how great they are.

The Gideon's army of today must recognize they are a first fruits of a much larger harvest to come. They are part of the whole house of Israel, not a favoured elite who are to be exalted over the remainder of the Church.

The remnant have been called out to be the first part of the Body to pass from imputed righteousness to actual righteousness. This is an occasion for utmost diligence, not for spiritual pride! We must keep a humble, ever-vigilant attitude toward the Lord in the present hour.

The Christian churches are lurching out in a number of unscriptural, unprofitable directions. In one area of the United States, at the present time, the believers are being taught they do not have to repay money they have borrowed because "we are in the Year of Jubilee." 

This is but one of several different errors being practiced. These wild adventures are occurring because God is ready to move past Pentecost and the people do not understand God's program.

The move of the Lord today has to do with Divine judgment on the sins being practiced by the believers; not a judgment of wrath and destruction but one of instruction concerning the difference between good and evil. 

Sometimes this Divine intervention is accompanied by fiery trials that we might be purged from sin and learn stern obedience to the Father.



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