Difference between revisions of "Judging the Living and the Dead 12"

Latest revision as of 00:17, 10 February 2011

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev 3:1-NIV)

We are entering an age of moral horrors. Our traditions will be burned away by the frightful events of the future. But the Word of God, the written Word, will stand. We need to go back and test every one of our traditions against the Word.

If we cannot find what we believe stated clearly in context, and in more than one place in the Bible, without having to cut and paste verses to support our axioms, if we cannot read a chapter or two and just let truth stand in plain sight, then we need to think carefully about the wisdom of clinging to our traditions.

I think the most damaging tradition of all is the concept that God sees us through Christ. The inference is that God does not observe our behaviour because the righteousness of Christ clothes us in such a manner as to make our actual conduct invisible to God

.Perhaps this concept came from the idea that when we place our faith in Christ and follow the Spirit of God the righteousness of Christ is ascribed to us.

This is true, but it does not mean if we turn away from the Spirit and walk in the flesh, as is the custom in the American churches it appears, that the righteousness of Christ is still ascribed to us.

There is no verse in the New Testament that states or implies God does not see our behaviour. In fact, numerous passages warn us that if we continue to sin we will kill our new spiritual life. "I know your deeds!"

It would be impossible to even estimate the damage that has been done to the work of God by the erroneous teaching that Divine grace covers the believer who is living according to his bodily passions, that grace is an apology for his misbehaviour and an alternative to righteous conduct.

Christianity is not, however, a set of beliefs that we embrace. Our beliefs are useful only as they bring us to the living Lord Jesus. God is looking for righteous, holy, obedient conduct on the part of His people. Such conduct is produced as we abide in Christ.

So the answer to all we have written in this brief article, and all we have written in other places, is union with the Lord Jesus Christ in all that He is. If we strive to really know Christ, forgetting all else, we will live in God's Presence now and after we die.

To continue in union with Jesus we must be absolutely obedient in all we know to be God's will for us. Also we must make our physical body our slave. If we do not, our body will make us its slave.

It is time for the Christians in America to repent, to turn from our wicked ways, to humble ourselves before the Lord. If we do this God will heal our land.

But if we continue in our grace-rapture-Heaven, grace-rapture-Heaven, foolishness, not laying down our life, not denying ourselves, not taking up our cross and following the Lord Jesus, not remaining patiently in the prison where God has placed us, then we can be certain we are looking forward to weeping and gnashing of teeth, whether in this present life or in the life to come.

(from Judging the Living and the Dead)

Back to Start

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Later the others also came. "Sir! Sir!" they said. "Open the door for us!"
+To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev 3:1-NIV)
-But he replied, "I tell you the truth, I don't know you." (Matthew 25:11-12-NIV)
-It seems to me that numerous American Christians are not candidates to be raised from the dead when the Lord appears. They have never, in obedience to Jesus Christ, denied themselves and taken up their cross.
+We are entering an age of moral horrors. Our traditions will be burned away by the frightful events of the future. But the Word of God, the written Word, will stand.
+We need to go back and test every one of our traditions against the Word.
-They have to be happy.
+If we cannot find what we believe stated clearly in context, and in more than one place in the Bible, without having to cut and paste verses to support our axioms, if we cannot read a chapter or two and just let truth stand in plain sight, then we need to think carefully about the wisdom of clinging to our traditions.
-When they are not happy they wrench themselves from the Lord's prison and pursue their own pleasure. Such have no chance at all of rising to meet the Lord when He appears, unless they repent of their disobedience and carelessness toward their great salvation.
+I think the most damaging tradition of all is the concept that God sees us through Christ. The inference is that God does not observe our behaviour because the righteousness of Christ clothes us in such a manner as to make our actual conduct invisible to God
-The door will be shut in the face of the foolish virgins.
+.Perhaps this concept came from the idea that when we place our faith in Christ and follow the Spirit of God the righteousness of Christ is ascribed to us.
-In the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel we are told how the little horn will be permitted to reach up and tear down part of the host of the saints.
+This is true, but it does not mean if we turn away from the Spirit and walk in the flesh, as is the custom in the American churches it appears, that the righteousness of Christ is still ascribed to us.
-How can this be?
+There is no verse in the New Testament that states or implies God does not see our behaviour. In fact, numerous passages warn us that if we continue to sin we will kill our new spiritual life. "I know your deeds!"
-It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.
+It would be impossible to even estimate the damage that has been done to the work of God by the erroneous teaching that Divine grace covers the believer who is living according to his bodily passions, that grace is an apology for his misbehaviour and an alternative to righteous conduct.
-Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:10-12-NIV)
+Christianity is not, however, a set of beliefs that we embrace. Our beliefs are useful only as they bring us to the living Lord Jesus. God is looking for righteous, holy, obedient conduct on the part of His people. Such conduct is produced as we abide in Christ.
-I don't know what you get out of the above passage, but to me it means when God shakes the heavens and the earth in the last days the saints are going to be challenged to get rid of their rebellion, their self-will.
+So the answer to all we have written in this brief article, and all we have written in other places, is union with the Lord Jesus Christ in all that He is. If we strive to really know Christ, forgetting all else, we will live in God's Presence now and after we die.
-Those who maintain their own way, even though they have received the blood atonement and the Holy Spirit of God, will be torn down from their position at the right hand of God and will be trampled on by Satan.
+To continue in union with Jesus we must be absolutely obedient in all we know to be God's will for us. Also we must make our physical body our slave. If we do not, our body will make us its slave.
-We have seen in our own day some exalted Christian leaders torn down from their heavenly position and trampled on.
+It is time for the Christians in America to repent, to turn from our wicked ways, to humble ourselves before the Lord. If we do this God will heal our land.
-Some have repented marvellously.
+But if we continue in our grace-rapture-Heaven, grace-rapture-Heaven, foolishness, not laying down our life, not denying ourselves, not taking up our cross and following the Lord Jesus, not remaining patiently in the prison where God has placed us, then we can be certain we are looking forward to weeping and gnashing of teeth, whether in this present life or in the life to come.
-What else can we get from the passage? It is pretty plain. It may not conform to our traditions, but what does that matter?
+(from Judging the Living and the Dead)
-When I was first saved I came under the influence of the Navigators. I even heard Dawson Trotman himself speak over in Hawaii during World War Two.
+[[Judging the Living and the Dead|Back to Start]]
-What was impressed on me by the Navigators was the inviolability of the Word of God. We are to trust the Word of God implicitly, memorizing it and standing on it.
-I have tried to do this to the present hour. But I find that Christians sometimes refuse to believe what the Bible clearly states, so wedded are they to their traditions.
-This certainly is the case with the so-called "pre-tribulation rapture."
-This doctrine is so manifestly unscriptural that one would suppose it would never be accepted by God's people. Yet multitudes of believers cling to the hope any moment now the Lord is going to catch them up to Heaven to live in their mansions.
-I am glad to hear that David Wilkerson is warning the American believers to prepare themselves for the trouble that is coming. Maybe they will forget about the unscriptural "rapture" for now and prepare themselves to stand in the evil day, as the Bible exhorts us to do.
-I think all of us Evangelical Christians had better get back to the teaching of the Navigators-that we are to trust in the written Word of God and memorize passages of it as we are able.
-[[Judging the Living and the Dead 13|Next Page]]