|
47 The plan to number every person in the world, and to
invisibly “tattoo” IDENTI-FICATION NUMBERS on the hands or
foreheads of every individual worldwide. Implantable
biochips which
will no doubt be part
of the new international economic order, have been
developed over the past several decades and are now being
used.
(Revelation 13:14-18)
48 The GULF WARS, the most powerful, concentrated wars
of all
times.
The most significant goal
of
the wars
was
to establish a NEW WORLD ORDER in the Middle East,
including a
PALESTINIAN STATE.
(Zechariah 9:5-7)
49 The MILITANCY
of ISLAM, with Persia (IRAN), Hizb’allah, al-Qaida, the
Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, and Hamas, as the main enemies
of Israel and the non-Islamic world.
(Ezekiel 38:5-8)
50 The MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS which aims at solving
the multiple problems between Israel
and
its Arab neighbors. Behind this process could be
the “hidden
master,” the Antichrist, who will arbitrate the treaty
(covenant) prophesied by Daniel.
(9:24-27).
The signing of
that covenant
by “many,” will initiate the 7-year Tribulation.
And these 50 are not
the
only
signs.
There are many other
conditions of
which you read in your local newspapers and journals, or
see on TV, every day, that indicate the endtimes are
upon
us.
All these signs are
signs
of
the
endtimes, the Tribulation, and the climax of the age.
They are not actually signs of
the Rapture,
because there is nothing in particular that we are
looking for, as a sign of the Rapture. There is no
specific
thing that we can say,
MUST
take place before the Rapture. Here are just general
signs. The specific signs will take in the Tribulation. But
as the Master will call His people away before
the Tribulation begins, it means the Rapture could
take place any day now!
Reader, are the treacherous and evil signs and
conditions we see in the nations today, not a
clear
enough indication that God MUST judge the world soon?
True,
God
is
patient
and
long-suffering, not
willing
that any should perish. But there is a limit! God says
He will not strive with men forever.
(Genesis 6:3).
His
justice
will permit His
patience
to extend only so far. If Yahweh,
the
Ruler
of
the Universe, continued to tolerate the gross wickedness
indefinitely, would He Himself
not
become a party
to
the evil? But that cannot be! For His own righteousness’
sake,
God must act.
Indeed . . .
“The Judge is standing right at the door.”
(James 5:9)
Another sign that the Master’s return
is
indeed imminent, is that throughout the world, God has
raised up preachers and teachers who have a
great
burden to give a warning of the impending judgment, and
to proclaim to the world, in no uncertain terms, that
Jesus Christ is coming
very soon.
The Maranatha Revival Crusade is just one
of
many
ministries
that are devoted to
this
message. God is not leaving the world without a
warning. He is shouting, as it were, from the heavens
...
“THE JUDGE IS RIGHT AT THE DOOR!”
Many a prophet’s voice goes unheeded - but that itself
is a
sign of the endtimes. The indifference of the multitudes
to the warnings of coming judgment, was one of
the
conditions of Noah’s day. It was,
and
still
is
the fruit of
scepticism,
unbelief and recklessness.
But God keeps on warning; the Spirit of God continues to
strive with the lost; and the preachers keep
on
warning while waiting for the trumpet to
sound,
when
they,
along with all born
again
believers, will be caught away.
Some
people
listen, believe, repent, and flee from the wrath to
come. Others - the majority, evidently
-
will call on the Lord only when it is too late! But for
the sake of those who
will
heed the call, God is holding back the wrath, not
willing that any should perish. But the time of striving
with
souls may be almost over!
In the last chapter of the Bible the Heavenly Master
says:
“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this
scroll, for the time is near. He who is unrighteous -
an evildoer, let him continue to be unrighteous; he
who is vile and filthy, let him continue to be vile.
And let the one who is righteous, continue to practice
righteousness; and the one who is holy, let him continue to
be holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with
Me, to give to everyone according to what he has done ...
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have
the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter by the gates
into the (heavenly) city.”
(Revelation
22:10-12,14)
The expression
“wash their robes”
here, has more or less the same meaning as the
expression, “Set
your house in order”
It
means
to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. It is to have
“oil in our lamps, and the wicks trimmed.” It is to be
“walking
in
the light as He is
in
the light.”
The words, “Set your house in order,” come from the
Bible.
(2
Kings 20:1).
King Hezekiah was mortally ill, and Isaiah, the prophet
came to him and told him to set his house in order, for he
was soon to die.
Whatever he could do, he was to do immediately. If he
had not made
a
“last will and testament,” he was to do it quickly. If
he hadn’t asked forgiveness of his wife and family, and more
important, of God, then he must do it immediately. If he had
outstanding bills, he should settle them right away. If
he
had failed to make provision for his family, he had
better do what he could now. In
short,
whatever was out of order in his home, he
was to put
right, for this was his last opportunity, and very soon
he
was
to stand in the Presence of God, to give account of his
stewardship.
And, my beloved reader, each one
of
us must give an account of our stewardship when
our
Master returns. How imperative it is then, that
our “houses”
are maintained in good order.
There are two important questions that we must ask
ourselves.
First; when Y’shua, the Lord Jesus, calls His people, and
catches them up to meet Him in the
air
and takes them to the glorious mansions He has prepared
in the Father’s House,
will I be included in that blessed company?
Or, will I be left behind, to suffer and probably
to die in the Great Tribulation?
Second; if I am caught up to meet the Master in the air,
will I receive His commendation,
“Well done, good and faithful
servant,”
or
will I be ashamed
at that time?
We should make sure of just where we stand. Let’s look
at these two important questions.
1.
HOW CAN WE BE SURE OF BEING INCLUDED IN THE SAVED
COMPANY?
Tragically, there will be millions left behind! Those
who are caught away may be a small minority of the world’s
population.
There will be a few surprises, though, at the Rapture.
There will be some who may be generally considered unworthy
to be caught up, who
will
be
caught up. And there will be many who thought they
should
be taken up, who will be
left behind.
Many bearing the label, “Christian,” will be left
behind; they had profession, but not possession. There will
be good living people left behind; those who trusted in
their good works, but
not
in the Saviour and His atoning sacrifice. False prophets
and all non-believers will be left
behind.
What about you, my reader?
If you are
not
sure that you are saved; if you are not
sure
whether you will be
caught
up to meet the Lord,
or
if
you will
be
left
behind, now
is
the time to make sure. The only
condition
or requirement
needed
to qualify
you
for inclusion in the saved company is that Y’shua,
Jesus, is your personal Saviour and Master - that you
actually
belong
to Him.
The
Master was
talking
to
His people
when He promised;
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to Myself, so that you also may be
where I am.”
(John
14:3)
And the apostle Paul
was
writing to
believers
when he
said,
“For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet
call of God. Then the dead in Christ -
those who have died with faith in the Messiah -
shall rise first. Then we, the living believers
who remain, will simultaneously be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Master in the
air. And so we will be with the Master for ever.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Yes, every one of the Lord’s people
will be caught
up
to meet Him. It is not
a
question of how
good or
bad we are, or whether we
feel
we
are
worthy to be caught up. It is a matter of whether we
belong
to
Saviour, or
not!
The
question is; Do you belong to Jesus?
Is He your personal Saviour?
Do you have this basic relationship with Him? If you are
not sure whether you belong to the Saviour or not, then
ask
yourself these two questions.
A.
HAVE MY SINS BEEN FORGIVEN?
B.
HAVE I RECEIVED JESUS AS MY MASTER?
If you can give a definite “Yes”
to
both questions, you can be sure that you have been
saved. If your answers are “no,”
or “not
sure,” then my dear reader, let me show you in the next
couple of pages, just how you may receive Jesus the Messiah
as your Saviour and Master. Let’s look
at
these two questions.
A.
THE SIN QUESTION
We all must admit that we have sinned. We have sinned a
million times
-
in thought, word and deed. But
the
sad
fact
is that we are all “born
sinners” -
born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam. We were
condemned from our birth, and separated from God! It is
because we are “born sinners,” that we sin.
It is, firstly, because of
the
condemnation that came through Adam’s sin, that we need
a
Saviour.
Secondly, because of our own sin, we find
ourselves
under the penalty of sin -
“for the wages of sin is death.”
(Romans 6:23)
This is not merely physical death, but spiritual death -
separation from God.
This separation, unless we are redeemed, results in
eternal Hell!
The Messiah, the Anointed One, is the only Person who
can save us from that eternal
fate.
How can He save us?
He died in our place.
We, the sinners, should die for our sins, but Y’shua,
Jesus, took our place and willingly embracing the cross at
Calvary,
and
paid the penalty of our sin. The Son of God, became “the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the
world.”
(John 1:29)
This is the truth revealed throughout the Scriptures;
“Surely He has taken up our griefs, and carried our
sorrows; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. But He was wounded - pierced through -
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by
His stripes we are healed ... My Servant, will justify many,
as He will bear their iniquities ... Because He poured out
His life unto death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For He Himself bore the sin of many, and
interceded for the transgressors.”
(Isaiah 53:4-5, 11-12)
“For indeed the Messiah died for sins once for all,
the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, so that
He might bring us to God. He was put to death in the
body, but was brought to life by the Spirit.”
(1 Peter 3:18)
Now some may ask, “Why should Jesus die as a substitute
for us. Why shouldn’t each one of us pay the penalty for our
own sins?”
The problem is that if we paid the penalty of our sins,
there would be no salvation, for
our own death would not redeem us.
We would still be separated from God for eternity.
The Scriptures make it clear; from the beginning, redemption
has required the shedding of the blood of an unblemished
sacrifice.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission –
no release or forgiveness of sins.”
(Hebrews 9:22)
Before Calvary, animals were sacrificed to make
atonement; but only spotless animals were acceptable. God
accepted those sacrifices as a “temporary, provisional
measure,” to cover the people’s sins until the Messiah came
and paid, once and for all, the penalty for the sins of the
whole world.
“For you know that it was not with perishable things
like silver of gold that you were redeemed from the futile
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but
with the precious blood of the Messiah, a Lamb without
blemish or defect.”
(1 Peter 2:18-19)
One sinner cannot redeem another sinner. And look as you
will, you will never find a spotless Person on this planet,
except the Son of God. Y’shua the Messiah, because of His
virgin birth, was born without sin. (He did not inherit
Adam’s sinful nature.) And He also lived a sinless life.
Therefore He was qualified to become the spotless sacrifice
for our sins. The death of the Messiah is the provision -
the only provision -God has made for our redemption.
Y’shua’s death paid the penalty of men’s sins, and therefore
all sinners who believe and accept this provision are freed
from the condemnation of their sins.
On the cross, Y’shua, the perfect Man, carried our sins.
He endured the pain, and the wrath. He was separated from
God
(“My God, why have You forsaken Me?”),
and died.
Y’shua did not go to Hell
as
some have taught. He went to Paradise which
is
in the spiritual, Heavenly realm.
Y’shua did not need to go to Hell. He did not die for
His personal sin, for He had none! And when He bore our
sins, He did not participate in our sins. He
paid
the full penalty for them when He suffered and died on
the cross. By His sacrificial death,
He provided redemption for all who would believe. The
work of redemption
was
completed on the cross.
“Then,” some will argue, “when an unbeliever pays the
penalty of his sin and dies, he should be free of the
penalty, and then be able
to go
to Heaven!”
No! Even though a sinner pays the penalty, he cannot be
redeemed by his own death. He can only be saved by receiving
the provision God has made - redemption through the
sacrifice of the Messiah. “Redeemed” means to be “bought
back,” and “set
free
from sin and its penalty.” The moment a person
believes
and receives the Saviour, he is redeemed -
his
sins are forgiven, he
is
reconciled to God, he is justified, he is placed “in
Christ,” he becomes a child of God, he indwelt by the Holy
Spirit, he receives Eternal Life, and Heaven becomes his
home. The unbeliever has no such redemption and destiny.
When a believer dies physically, he
goes
to Heaven, and
is
never again separated from God. As Y’shua said.
“I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in
Me, even though he dies, he will live; and whoever is living
and believing in Me will never die.”
(John
11:25-26)
But when an unbeliever dies physically, he finds himself
totally separated from God. Hell is the outcome because
he
did not receive the provision, the salvation of God.
WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF Y’SHUA THE
MASTER WILL BE SAVED !
(Romans 10:
The Messiah’s death becomes effective for everyone who
turns from his sin to God, and confesses Y’shua as his
personal Saviour and Heavenly Master.
“God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
(Luke 18:13)
It is God’s grace that enables us to turn from
our
crooked way, and
by
faith, receive Y’shua as our personal Saviour.
“If you confess with your mouth Y’shua as LORD, (the
Heavenly Master), and believe in your heart that God
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
(Romans 10:9)
On the basis of the death
of
Christ (the spotless and anointed Messiah), God
pardons
the sinner and
gives
him new life - the gift of eternal life. And
it
is through faith in the living Saviour,
that a
person is saved.
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith - and
this is
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
(Ephesians 2:8)
B.
THE LORDSHIP QUESTION
When one receives Y’shua as his Saviour, he also
receives Him
as
his new Master. “Lordship” means the Messiah is the
Master
or Head of
one’s
life. Our need is not only to be forgiven for
past sins,
but to have
a new life and a new Master
-
One who will deliver us from
our
present
sins
and failures.
Only a living Saviour can save and sanctify us. This is
why
the
resurrection of Christ is such an important part of
our
faith.
After His sacrificial death at
Calvary, and
the
three
days when His body lay in the tomb, the Messiah rose
victoriously from the dead. If Y’shua had stayed in the
tomb, bound by death, He would have been
a
false prophet,
for
He had prophesied that He would
rise
again on the third day.
(John 2:19)
The Messiah
Himself rose
from the dead, and at the same time,
He was raised
from the dead.
(Acts 2:24, 32. Luke 24:6-7, 34).
By the resurrection, Y’shua proved, and God the Father
also proved, that the Messiah was indeed the
Son
of God, and the One who is able to save all who come
to
Him in
faith.
The
Scriptures declare that God has made
Y’shua
both Master (Lord) and Messiah (the Anointed One,
Christ).
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain
that God has made this Y’shua whom you crucified, both
Master and Messiah.”
(Acts 2:36)
“Therefore (because He stooped so low), God
exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the Name that
is above every name, that at the Name of Y’shua every knee
should bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth -
and every tongue confess that Y’shua the Messiah is the
Heavenly Master, to the glory of
YHWH, God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:9-11)
When one comes to the Saviour, there is a change of
ownership, a change of status. We are no longer slaves of
Satan, but children of God. We’re no longer in darkness but
are in the Light. We now belong to the Messiah, who calls us
His friends, His own, His Bride.
To accomplish God’s will in our lives, Y’shua requires
us to surrender the reins of our life to His control, and to
walk in fellowship with Him. He wants to take over “the
steering wheel,” so that, as the living Saviour, He is able
to deliver us. Do you see then, the necessity of making Him
the Master
of your life? This is why He says:
“If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”
(John 14:15)
And in Romans we read:
“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and
spiritual act of worship. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what the will of God is - His good, acceptable
and perfect will.”
(Romans 12:1-2)
When we receive Jesus as our MASTER, we become His
disciples.
We are called to follow Him, and to obey Him.
There will be times when the disciple makes mistakes - when
he fails or falls; but having received Jesus Christ as his
Master, he will always have the mighty Deliverer with him.
My friend, these two points, the Sin Question, and the
Lordship Question, show what
is
involved in receiving and following Christ. When Y’shua
is received by faith, a miracle takes place in the believer
- the miracle known as “the
new
birth.” This is the implanting of the
life of God
within us. God’s Holy Spirit accomplishes this miracle
in us, and from that moment, He permanently indwells us.
Dear reader, this matter is very vital and real!
Salvation is not a matter
of feeling.
It is not a matter of religion, or merely believing
all
the
facts
concerning Christ. It is not a matter of
how
good
or
bad you
are;
it is a
vital miracle
that takes place, when we receive Jesus the Messiah
as
Saviour
and
Master.
WHY DON’T YOU RECEIVE THE SAVIOUR RIGHT NOW ?
If you have not yet
received Jesus
Christ, will you do so, right now, wherever you are?
Kneel and tell God that you believe and are trusting in His
Son for salvation. Make your covenant, your commitment to
Him now.
Confess your faith that Christ died for your
sin and rose again to be your Saviour. Trust
the Lord Jesus to save you. The Father will
forgive your sins, cleanse your life, pardon
you, and give you His gift of eternal life. Then yield
yourself to the Master and become His faithful disciple from
this day on.
This may sound simple. Indeed it is, but
it
will change the whole course of your life. It will mean,
if you are genuine in
this
matter, a miracle, and eternal salvation. It will mean
you will be secure “in Christ.”
“To all who received Him, to those who believe in His
Name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
(John
1:12)
This
is the way to make
sure
you will be included in the company that will meet the
Master in the air. Will you do it right now?
The following
Decision Prayer
may help you to express your heart,
and
to receive Y’shua, Jesus,
as
your personal Saviour.
DECISION PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I come to You just as I am, a sinner
needing Your grace, forgiveness, and salvation.
I believe that the Messiah, Jesus, died on the cross to
pay the penalty for my sins; and I believe He rose again
from the dead; I believe He is the living Saviour who saves
all who call upon His Name.
Lord Jesus, I yield my life to You and receive You as my
Saviour and Master from this day on. I trust You to deliver
me from all my sinful habits, and by Your grace, to make me
Your faithful follower and witness throughout my life.
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for hearing my prayer. Thank
You for Your forgiveness and eternal life. Thank You, Lord
Jesus, for Your love for me, and for Your sacrifice at
Calvary to redeem me from my sin and hopeless condition.
Thank You, Master, for Your salvation. Thank You, Father
for making me Your child. Thank You.
Thank You. Amen.
Signed ………………….................. Date …………….
PLEASE KEEP YOUR
SIGNED PRAYER WITH YOU AS A REMEMBRANCE OF THIS WONDERFUL
DAY IN YOUR LIFE.
If this has been your decision prayer today, would you
write a note to us to let us know. We will rejoice with you
and pray for you. Write to ...
Maranatha Revival Crusade at one of our addresses on the
contact page.
2.
HOW CAN WE LIVE SO THAT WE WILL NOT BE ASHAMED AT THE
RAPTURE?
From the words of John, it is evident
that
some believers may be ashamed when the Master
comes:
“And now, little children, abide and
stay
in Him, so that when
He appears,
we may have confidence and
not be ashamed
before Him at His coming.”
(1 John 2:28)
Evidently
there
will be many believers who, although caught up to
meet
the Master, will be
ashamed
at
that time;
ashamed
because
they have not lived faithfully for Him, and
to
their commitment to Him; ashamed because they have
wasted opportunities, time and talents; ashamed because they
have laid up treasure on earth, and not in heaven; ashamed
because they have been
so
half-hearted,
so
small in faith, so careless in
service,
so
slow
in obedience, and so
selfish in living.
Yes,
many will be ashamed at that time! But my dear reader;
I, for
one,
do not want to be ashamed. I
want
to gaze into my Saviour’s Face when I meet Him, and not
hang my head in shame.
Sure, there are things in my life of which I am ashamed.
And now there’s no way I can change the past. But I can make
the most of the available time still before me, to live in,
and for my beloved Master!
My reader, we don’t want “easy answers” to our question,
“How can we live
so
that we will not be ashamed at the Rapture?” We need
Scriptural instructions!
ABIDING IN CHRIST
To put your house in order
is
not
a
matter
of
giving the house a whitewash. We need to look into the
Scriptures and examine our relationship with our Master. And
this is what we will seek to do in the rest of this book.
In John’s epistle, we are exhorted to
abide in Christ.
The word “abide” is a key word for the believer’s spiritual
life. Abide means to
“live in and remain in.”
Y’shua said:
“Live and remain in Me, and I will live
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
unless it remains in the vine, so neither can
you, unless you live and remain in Me. I am the
Vine, you are the branches. If anyone lives in Me, and I in
him, he bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing
... If you live and remain in union with Me,
and My words live and remain in you, you will ask
whatever you will, and it will be given to you.”
(John 15:4, 5, 7)
We know that the Messiah abides in
us,
for His Holy Spirit indwells every believer, and He has
made
each one
of them a temple of God. Moreover, the Sh’khinah
Glory - the manifest Presence of God in the Person of
Jesus Christ, resides in our spirit, our innermost
sanctuary.
The Messiah
abides
permanently in us, but do
we
constantly abide in
Him?
Or do we often take
“time out”?
Let me illustrate. Take some
modern homes.
There
are
two types of people. These days, some people have
apartments, but they hardly live in
them.
They go home to sleep, and to have a bite to eat. Their
home is a place where they can keep their possessions, but
they seldom
live
in
their
homes. They are out all day - come home late at night.
Saturday they are out, Sunday also. They are hardly ever at
home.
By contrast, other people
live
in their homes. Their home is their kingdom. The wife
works to
make
the home a lovely place. The husband returns
home
early from work, to enjoy his family and the blessings
of the home. He likes to bring his friends home; and so do
the children.
They
take an interest in the
garden
and in making the
premises comfortable,
pleasant and enjoyable. Their whole attitude is
different to the first type
of
“home” which I have described.
This
second home is not just a place, but a dwelling
-
an abiding place.
So it should be with the believer ... he is to
live in Christ,
not like the first type of person, who is content with a
casual use of his home. The believer cannot be casual about
his relationship to his Master. He
is
to abide, to live, to dwell deeply in his beloved
Master. It is only as one abides in Christ, that he is
prepared for the Master’s return.
IS JESUS, LORD OF YOUR WHOLE HOUSE?
From another angle, please consider your spiritual house
- your life. Is Y’shua enthroned in your house, or do you
try to keep Him in a back room, or in a corner?
Some people pray “Lord Jesus, come into my heart,” but
their attitude seems to say, “Now Lord, please stay in this
one room and please don’t enter or interfere with the other
rooms.”
They want to keep the Saviour in the “religious room,”
and don’t want Him in the living room, the bedroom, the
kitchen, the sports room, the entertainment room, the social
room or in the business room.
Why? Maybe those rooms are not in order. If the Master
comes into your life, He comes in to be
Master of all your life.
But He will move only into the places that we open and
prepare for Him.
Reader, is your whole house in order?
CLEANSE THE HOUSE
The apostle John writes of a purifying expectation of
the Master’s return.
“Every one who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies
himself, just as He is pure.”
(1 John 3:3)
Certainly, if the Second Coming is a hope at all, it
must be a
purifying hope.
This is the constant emphasis of the apostles’ teaching
concerning the imminent return of Christ.
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared
to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live sensible
(self-controlled), upright and godly lives in
this present age, awaiting and looking for the
blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and
Saviour, Y’shua the Messiah; who gave Himself for us, that
He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for
Himself a people who are uniquely His own, people
zealous to do good works.”
(Titus 2.11-14)
“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way,
what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy
and godly lives as you look forward to and earnestly desire
the Day of God (the Day of YHWH) ...
Therefore, beloved, since you are looking forward to
these things, be diligent to be found by Him, without spot,
blameless, and at peace.”
(2 Peter
3:11-12,14)
To “purify ourselves,”
of
course, does not mean that
we
are able to cleanse, remove or atone for our sins. It
means that we confess our sins; we forsake them, and receive
continuous cleansing from all unrighteousness. Daily we
bring ourselves to the Saviour, to have fellowship with Him.
Thus we are able to walk in the light, and the blood of
Y’shua cleanses us from all sin.
(1 John 1:7, 9)
To “cleanse our house” means to get rid of those things
that sully our lives. We are to lay aside every weight and
the sin which
so
easily entangles or besets us, fixing our eyes on
Jesus, the Author
and
Perfecter of our faith.
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
Now, if we are going to set our house in order, we must
“turn the light on.” We must allow the searchlight of the
Holy Spirit to penetrate into every corner of our “house,”
so that not a speck of dirt remains. In the words of David,
we should pray:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my
thoughts; see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead
me in the everlasting way.”
(Psalm
139:23-24)
We cannot be content to “let things sort themselves
out.” We cannot be complacent about our responsibility to
live purified, God-honoring, Christ-exalting lives. Reader,
does
your
house need to be swept and cleansed?
THE PERFECTION
OF THE BRIDE
The need
for
purity, for spotlessness, is very evident and urgent
when
we
remember that
as
believers, we
are the
“Bride of Christ” - His beautiful, corporate
Companion.
We have been chosen and called to share the life of
the Eternal
Son. And He, the Son, is working for the perfection of
His Bride.
Yes,
Y’shua
is doing this, right now!
“And He gifted and gave some disciples as
apostles, some as prophets, some as
evangelists, and
some
as
shepherd-pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the
set-apart believers, for the work of service, for the
building up of the body of Messiah;
until we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown, mature,
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Messiah.”
(Ephesians 4:11-13)
“The Messiah also loved the Ekklesia (His universal
Bride) and gave Himself up for her, so that He might
sanctify her, cleansing her
by
the
washing
of water with the Word, and
that He might present the Ekklesia to Himself, a
glorious Bride, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing - but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
(Ephesians 5:25-27)
The apostles, and especially Paul, had this goal
of
perfecting believers constantly before them.
“We proclaim Him, warning every man and teaching every
man with all
wisdom,
so that we may present every man perfect, mature and
complete in the Messiah.
For this reason also I toil, striving according to
His power which mightily works within me.”
(Colossians 1:28-29)
The Bride must be perfected, for she is soon to be
presented to the Heavenly Bridegroom to be His eternal
companion.
When He comes to receive His Bride, dear reader, how
will the Bridegroom find us, individually? Spotless,
and in order? Or neglected and in disorder?
Once I had an unscriptural dream. There was a knock at
my door. I knew instinctively who
it
was. “It’s the Lord, He’s come!” I cried. I flung the
door open,
expecting
to be caught
up
to heaven. The Lord was standing there, and He said to
me;
“You have to put
some things
right! I’ll be back after half an hour.”
Well, in my dream I can’t remember the Lord coming back.
Anyway, the dream is unscriptural, because when
the
Master comes, He won’t say, “You
have
half
an
hour to put things
right.” But the dream was a warning! I
must be
ready,
every moment. Reader,
is
your house in order, this very moment?
As the glorious marriage is drawing near, how urgent it
is for us, each one, as individual members of the Bride, to
reach on to perfection
in Christ!
Some believers, sadly, do
not
like the idea of perfection. Some are afraid of the
word. Some feel that perfection
is
beyond the reach of the believer while on earth, and so
they treat the subject with extreme caution, or avoid it
altogether.
Others
have gone to
the
other extreme, bringing in false teachings such as the
“sinless perfection” idea
- a
teaching which says a believer, on earth, can reach a
state where he does not sin any more. This teaching
says
that the “old man,” the sinful nature in man,
is
gradually eradicated in the believer, so that he does
not sin any more.
This
idea is contradicted by the apostle John who, while
warning that “the one who practices sin is of the devil” (1
John 3:8), also says:
“If we claim that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
(1 John 1:8)
Another wrong teaching
says
that the believer’s “old man,” his sinful nature, was
crucified with Christ at Calvary, and
therefore
he cannot sin.
Teachers of both of these false ideas will tend to
regard only the most grievous things as
sins,
and make allowances for faults such as a bitter spirit,
a harsh word, failure to obey the Holy Spirit’s prompting,
dwelling on
wrong
thoughts, criticism, etc. - all of which
are sins indeed.
The truth is that in
POSITION,
the believer was crucified with Christ at Calvary.
“I
have been crucified with the Messiah; and I no longer live,
but it is the Messiah who
lives in me;
and
the
life
which I now live in the flesh I
live
by faith in the Son of God who loved me and
gave
Himself for me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
The believer
is
counted as though he, personally, was crucified, and the
“old man” died. And now, after receiving Christ, he is
justified, born again, and has a “new man” created within
him. He is now looked upon as though he had never sinned.
And in his life, there is a very real change, for he is a
new creation
in Christ. He no longer follows his former sinful
course; he no longer lives “in sin,” for now he lives
“in Christ.”
But no honest believer will claim to be
sinless.
No honest believer will claim that there
is
no trace of a sinful nature still within him. (I heard a
preacher say once, that when we feel anything of a sinful
nature within us, it is only our feelings, and not actually
the sinful nature – for the old man is dead.)
Oh no! This
is
not a matter of feelings. The believer unfortunately
still has the “old man.” He is still very prone to sin, and
in fact, as the work of God goes deeper within him, he often
becomes more conscious of his sin.
Romans chapter seven presents the two natures of the
believer in conflict. At times the battle is fierce, for the
believer has three main enemies - the flesh (the old man),
the world, and the devil. It is the risen Saviour, however,
who gives victory to the
new man.
And the believer must learn to appropriate this victory
in his life.
The
“old man” will not be destroyed until we leave this
world. But it can be, and does need to be
rendered inoperative
by the Spirit-filled “new man.” The apostle Paul said,
“I die daily.”
(l Corinthians 15:31).
And
Y’shua
said to His disciples,
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
(Matthew 16:24)
It is the “new man” who takes up the cross. The “new
man” embraces the
cross principle,
which means, “Not my will but Your will be done.” The
“new man” says, “No!” to
self,
considers itself dead to sin, and yields
his
body, soul and spirit - his whole being to the Master.
The believer then becomes a
living sacrifice unto God,
(Romans 12:1),
and by the power of the Holy Spirit, renders the “old
man”
inoperative.
“Brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, with an
obligation to live according to the flesh. For if you
live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.”
(Romans 8:12-14)
“So you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but
alive to God in Messiah, Y’shua our Master. Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its
lusts, and do not present the members of your
body as instruments of unrighteousness to sin;
but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to
God.”
(Romans 6:11-13)
It is when we so
present
ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, that the
experience
which Paul speaks about, becomes real and effective in
our lives:
“I have been crucified with the Messiah; and I no longer
live, but it is the Messiah who lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for
me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
This does not mean that one is now sinless. It means the
Master is producing a greater maturity in believers’ lives,
and living out His life in them. And we are enabled to
press on
to the goal of ultimate perfection. Here is a paradox.
The
believer
is justified, and reckoned righteous, and yet he is
to press on
to righteousness. He
is
sanctified, but he must progress
to
sanctification. He is called a
saint,
but he must progress to saintliness. He is cleansed, but
he
must grow in holiness. The believer’s
experience
must develop, and line up with his
position
in Christ.
“Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Matthew 5:48)
Now
some
believers will throw up their hands and say; “However
could we be perfect like the Father while we are still on
the earth? That’s impossible!”
Then why did the Master
give
that command? Because the
Father
is our goal –and He will bring about out ultimate
perfection. But we begin to partake
of
His divine nature here and now.
“He has given us His precious and
magnificent promises
in order that through them you might become partakers of
the divine nature.”
(2
Peter 1:4).
So we reach on to perfection!
There
is no room for complacency, or self-satisfaction.
Whatever degree of perfection the Holy Spirit has already
achieved in our lives, we must press on towards that
ultimate perfection which we attain after the Rapture and
the Bema Seat - the Master’s throne where we give account of
our stewardship. It’s true! We will never attain total
perfection here on earth. But there
are degrees
that we can attain to, by yielding ourselves to the
gracious working of God. Or, to put it like this: You could
be more perfect than you are today, couldn’t you? And you
should be more perfect now than you were one year ago!
Once we were in the realm of darkness, the kingdom of
Satan; now we are in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of
God’s Son. And now that we are justified, the Father
is
seeking to conform us to the image of His perfect Son.
We each one can afford to ask, how far along this road
of being conformed
to
the image of Christ, am
I?
Many
believers
may be
ashamed at the
coming
of
the Messiah, because they have made so
little progress
along this road. So let’s look at areas in our
lives
that need to be perfected.
1. PERFECTING HOLINESS
Did you realize that holiness needs to be pursued and
perfected? That is what Paul taught:
“Therefore, beloved, since we
have
these promises,
let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of body and
spirit, perfecting holiness
in reverence, standing in awe of God.”
(2 Corinthians 7:1)
Some believers are afraid of
the
term
holiness
as though
it was the property of some extreme group. But it is
unholiness
that we should be afraid of! Holiness is a Bible
doctrine
-
but it is much more than a doctrine. Holiness is the
awesome nature
of
God. And it must become the
experience and nature
of the people of God. The basic meaning of the Biblical
word holy, is “set-apart.” Purity proceeds from
set-apartness.
“He who called you is set-apart and holy; you
also be set-apart and holy in all your
behavior; because it is written,
YOU SHALL BE HOLY (SET-APART), FOR I AM HOLY (SET-APART).”
(1 Peter 1:15-16)
We know that
because of
their position
“in Christ,”
born again believers
are
counted righteous and are set-apart by God. It is
because of this imputed righteousness, this set-apartness,
that we read in
1
Peter 2:9 (speaking of the Body of Messiah): “You are a
set-apart (holy) nation.”
There is therefore a need for the
practice
of personal holiness, as Peter also says:
“Be set-apart and holy in all your
behavior.”
(1 Peter 1:15)
Remember, the Holy One
is
working in us to set us apart from all darkness, and to
perfect holiness
in
our lives: “May the Master cause
you
to increase and overflow in
love
for one another, and
for
all people, just
as
we
also
do
for
you; so that He
may
establish your hearts
without blame in holiness
before our God and Father at the coming of our Master,
Y’shua, with all His set-apart people.”
(1 Thess. 3:12-13)
And the Father “disciplines us for our
good, that we may
share His holiness.”
(Hebrew 12:10)
Now here is the
paradox
again. We are
already
set-apart
people, but we must
become
set-apart in our experience.
Do you agree that
we
could be more holy than we are? Right! And we should be
more holy today than we were a year ago. We should be more
holy in
one
year from now, than we are at
present. So
let us press on to
perfect
holiness standing in awe of God.
HOLINESS IS MORE THAN MORALITY
Some people think of
holiness
in terms of
morality,
but holiness is much more
than
morality. There are good, moral people all around us who
live within the old-time moral code. They do not swindle
or
trespass, but although they are good-living people, they
may not be one bit
holy.
Holiness
is
the inherent
essence
of the
nature
of God. And believers are called
to
share that holiness, as we have read above. Holiness is
partaking of God’s life; it’s imbibing His holy nature
(qualities) so that our lives become Godly; so that our
thinking and our actions become Godly. Holiness is
Godliness. Reader, can you not see the need to perfect
holiness; to become
Godly;
to become
like our Master?
With God, holiness is
absolute.
With us, it is a matter of
progress
-
we are to
progress
from holiness to holiness.
To prepare for the coming of the Master, we need to
pursue holiness
in
the fear of God. And
to
do this, we need to live in the fullness of
the
Spirit, to take hold of the promises and Word of God,
and to apply Bible doctrine – principles - in our lives by
faith.
“May grace and peace
be
multiplied to you
by a full knowledge of God and of Y’shua our Master;
for His
divine
power has given us everything needed
for
life
and
reverence, through the true, personal knowledge
of Him who has called
us
by and to His own glory, virtue and
excellence. For by these He has given us His precious
and
magnificent promises
in order that through them
you
might become partakers of the divine nature and escape
the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
(2
Peter
1:2-4)
Reader, is your “house filled” with God’s Life and
Holiness?
2. PERFECTING LOVE
Another room of our
house
that may need to be set in order is “relationships.” If
Paul and Peter were concerned that believers perfected
holiness, John’s great concern was that they perfected love.
Perfected love also means Godliness.
“God is love, and the one who lives in love, lives in
God, and God lives and remains in him. By this, love
has been perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in
this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts
out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who
fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first
loved us.”
(1 John 4:16-19)
Is love being perfected in our relationships? Will we be
ashamed at the coming
of
the Master, because of failure to perfect love
-
love for God Himself, and love for those around us?
First, our
LOVE FOR GOD.
What does the Scripture say?
“And Y’shua said to him,
‘You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is
the
first and great command.”
(Matthew 22:37-38)
Are we learning to love Yahweh our God with all our
hearts? Or do we say, “That’s impossible!” and tacitly
ignore the first and great command? Is our love for God a
vague emotion? Are we recipients only,
of God’s
love? Is our love relationship to Him a one-sided
affair?
Or
is
it developing day by day? Do we love God more
this
year than we did last year?
What about our love for our Master? Is it
developing,
or are we content with a casual relationship to Him? God
forbid! A casual relationship! Who is this One that we
should be casual about Him?
Yes, who is this One whom we are commanded to love Him
with all our hearts?
He is our Beloved!
God has planned that we should
live
with the
Messiah
- as His closest companion
-
throughout eternity. What type of a Bride
are
we, if our love for Him is not
growing
day by day? As a member of the Bride, I must
cultivate love
for my Bridegroom. But how do we cultivate this love?
By abiding, living in Christ
-
by dwelling in His presence, walking with Him, getting
to know Him ever more deeply, and thus developing a profound
appreciation of Him.
Secondly, what about our
LOVE FOR OTHERS?
How does
the
Scripture exhort us?
IN THE MARRIAGE
“Husbands,
love your wives, just as the Messiah also loved the
Ekklesia and gave Himself up for her
...
let each individual among you also
love
his wife even
as
himself; and
let
each
wife
see that she respects her husband.”
(Ephesians 5:25, 33)
God intended that every marriage relationship should
be
a love relationship. Most marriages start off well, but
after some time, love may decline. In a
Christian
marriage, love can, and should be perfected. It
is not
merely
human
love, but divine love
that
needs to be perfected. This love is God’s answer for the
strains
that
come
into
the home and family relationships.
Divine love perfected,
is the answer for the husband/wife relationship, and
also for the parent/child relationship.
In a letter I received, a brother explained how he and
his wife were
always
fighting, and
the
fault was always on his side. Then Jesus stepped into
his
life
and changed him, and now they are loving each other more
and more. HalleluYah!
When our lives are not in harmony with our Heavenly
Master, they will be out of tune with others.
Is love being perfected in our home? Is there a need
to
prepare our family circle for the coming
of
the Lord? To perfect love, we need
to
abide in Christ.
IN THE FAMILY OF GOD
“If someone
says,
‘I love
God,’
and
hates
his brother, he is a liar; for how can
the
one who does not love his brother whom he has
seen,
love
God
whom he
has
not
seen.
And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God
should love his brother also.”
(1 John 4:20-21)
“We
know love by this, that He, Y’shua, laid down His
life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.
But whoever has the world’s resources for living, and
sees
his brother in need and
closes his
heart of compassion
to
him, how does the love of God live and remain in
him? My little children, let us not love with word or with
tongue, but in deed and truth.”
(1 John 3:16-18)
Here,
“love the brethren”
is a command. Love amongst believers is a sign that they
are
true
disciples
of the Messiah.
“By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:35)
Love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, needs to be
perfected. Oh, the regret there will be in the hearts of
many
believers,
at the coming of the Master, because they have let
bitterness, criticism, indifference and unlove towards other
believers continue in their lives. They did not forgive, nor
seek
to
perfect love towards other members of the Bride!
Oh, the tragedy when believers
hold
grudges against other believers; when saints prefer to
avoid saints; when the saved gather and yet barely talk to
brethren;
when
lovers of the Master don’t love each other; and when the
redeemed act little better than heathen!
“Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and
purify your hearts, you double-minded!”
(James 4:8)
Are we prepared
for
the coming of the Master? How
can
we say we’re ready if we don’t love
the
brethren?
IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
“Love your neighbour
as yourself.”
(Matthew 22:39)
What about those around us? Is our love for neighbours
and our fellowmen being perfected? How are we to love them?
As ourselves! I suspect that there is room for perfection in
this department.
What about the people next door - the ones down the
street that you don’t care for very much? What about those
you work with, and those who are in regular contact with you
in your daily routine and business? What about that rude
postman, that gossiping woman next door, or the difficult
labourers and the businessmen you deal with?
Is our love for our neighbors being perfected, or are we
constantly defeated when we meet some of them? Divine love
is the answer for our attitude towards our neighbours.
IN SOCIETY AND THE WORLD
“Love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you.”
(Matthew 5:44)
Believers are not supposed to be ordinary people, you
know! We are the people of the Anointed One. Y’shua was no
ordinary person. And we are to walk as He walked.
We
are to be
as He is,
in this present world.
(1 John 4:17)
It
is
not difficult to make
enemies;
especially if we are faithful to the Master:
“If the world hates you, you know it has hated Me before
it hated you. If you were of the world, the world
would love its own; but because you are not of the world,
and because I chose you out of the world, the world hates
you.”
(John 15:18-19)
Our response to hatred must be love. Our response to
persecution must be love. Our response to those who gossip
about us, who slander us, who despise us, who are malicious
towards us,
must always be love!
Oh, sure, it is not easy to
love
enemies. But love, we must! And divine love, God’s love
in us, is the answer. This needs to be perfected in us. We
need
to pray
for our enemies until we can genuinely bless them. How
to bless them? Put God’s Name on them.
(See
Numbers 6:24-27)
“Yahweh
bless you
(name your enemy ……),
and keep you; Yahweh make His Face to shine on you, and
be gracious to you. May Yahweh lift up His Countenance
on you, and give you peace.
So they shall put My Name on the children of Israel,
and I,
yes,
I will bless them.”
Have we learned this lesson? Is there any room left for
perfecting love? Let us not be ashamed at the coming of the
Master because, instead of loving our brethren and our
enemies, we have hated them, and have spoken evil
of
them.
My reader, this life on earth is
a
great arena in which we may learn to triumph, to gain
mastery over natural, carnal feelings; an arena in which we
should learn to perfect the Godly characteristic of love.
How to do it? By living in Christ.
3. PERFECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
If
I ask
the question, “How well do you know God?” you may be
hesitant to answer. If I answer the question myself, I must
honestly say, “I’m just
beginning
to know Him.” But, like Paul, I also say:
“I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing
value of knowing the Messiah, Y’shua my Master, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as
rubbish in order that I may gain the Messiah ... I
want to know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death.”
(Philippians 3:8, 10)
I think Paul was one of the greatest Christians ever,
and if he, near the end of his fruitful life, could say he
was pursuing the knowledge of God, then how much more
must
I ...
“... grow in grace and the
knowledge
of
our Master and Saviour, Y’shua the Messiah.”
(2 Peter 3:18)
Now, I’m sure most of
my
readers will agree that the knowledge of God here
referred to, is not merely intellectual knowledge. It is not
simply knowing all the facts
of the
Bible. It is not just knowing all
the
doctrines and explanations about “The Godhead.” It is
getting to know the Almighty Himself. It is the
intimate, personal knowledge
of
the Eternal One.
How do you get to know God
so
intimately, so personally? By
living in Him,
and walking
in His Spirit!
How do you get to know any person? By spending time in
his presence.
So, it is with the
Lord
Jesus. We have to live with Him, to abide in Him,
to move and have our being in Him.
The
more we live in Him, the more we will know Him, and the
more we will appreciate Him; and the more we appreciate Him,
the more we will love Him and praise Him.
The more we
know
Y’shua, the Anointed One,
the more we will know
the Father,
for Y’shua reveals the Father. He who sees the Son, sees
the Father.
All true knowledge of the Eternal One is through the
Eternal Son.
So get
to know Y’shua, your beloved Master, for all the
fullness of Deity dwells
in
Him.
(Colossians 2:9).
Do you see, then, the
need
to
abide in Christ?
The more we know
the Father and the Son,
the
more we will know
the Holy Spirit,
for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the
Son.
Do we have a knowledge
of
the Holy Spirit? I don’t mean, do we know correct
doctrine about the Holy Spirit. I mean, do we know Him
personally, in our experience? Do we know much about walking
in the Spirit - about
being
led by the Spirit? Do we know the reality of being
filled with the Spirit?
How we need to know
the
blessed Comforter who dwells within every one of us, if
we are truly the Lord’s people! And yet He is almost a
stranger to some
believers!
Do you know that the Holy Spirit is very sensitive, and
that believers may often grieve or quench Him? He is grieved
by sin. He is grieved because of what we do to ourselves,
by
our failure to walk in all the provision He has made for
our walk “in the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is
so
loving,
so
patient, so wonderful. He always seeks to impart more of
the life of the Messiah to us, and to build us up
in
our faith. It’s through His indwelling Presence, that
the power, victory, holiness and grace of God becomes a
reality in our lives. It is through His ministry within us
that we are prepared to meet our Heavenly Master when He
calls us from Heaven.
Is our spiritual house permeated by the knowledge of the
Holy One? Or is He mostly contained in
a
set of Bible commentaries in our libraries? When the
Master comes, we
don’t
want to greet Him as though we were
largely
strangers - as though we were distant relatives, do we?
Then let us pursue the knowledge of God.
4. PERFECTING PRAISE AND WORSHIP
Is worship our daily occupation, or are we waiting for
the Rapture to start to worship in earnest? Yes, we are
limited here on earth, but we are exhorted to praise the
LORD with our whole being.
“Let everything that has breath, praise the LORD.”
(Psalm 150:6)
What type of adoration and music fills
our
house - our life? On whom or what do we lavish our
worship? Is our house a “temple of worship,” or
is
it more like a rock concert? Is our house filled with
complaining,
gossip
and irrelevant talk,
or
is it filled with
praise,
rejoicing and melody to
the Lord?
“Be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing and
making songs of praise in your heart to the LORD; always
giving thanks to God our Father for everything, in
the Name of our Master, Y’shua the Anointed.”
(Ephesians
5:19)
There is a wonderful
blessing
that is reserved for those who learn to worship the
Eternal One. And isn’t He so worthy of praise because of who
He is, and what He has done?
Worthy of homage and of praise
Worthy by all to be adored!
When I say we need to perfect praise, I do not mean
merely the ability to string the right words and music
together. Praise and worship is much more than that. Praise
is not mere words!
Praise is adoration from the heart
-
of the heart of one who has been taken up with the Holy
Presence; the one who is full of appreciation for Him.
How to learn to praise the Eternal One? By living in
Him, and getting to know, to appreciate, and to love Him.
5. PERFECTING INTERCESSION AND THE USE OF SPIRITUAL
WEAPONS
Here is another tremendous area we need to work on.
Spiritual warfare is raging all around us, and casualties
are strewn throughout our lands. Are we able to effectively
use the weapons at our disposal? Or do we seek to avoid
being involved in “war” at all?
Some believers imagine
that
the Christian life is more like a carnival or village
fair, with merry-go-rounds, sideshows, stalls, colourful
balloons and fun time, than a training ground for spiritual
war, and a preparation to reign with the Messiah.
Some believers want to learn about spiritual warfare by
sitting in a lounge chair. They learn as much about
spiritual warfare as a sixth class student learns of the
First World War by reading history books. To learn warfare,
you must be on the battlefield. And the spiritual
battlefield is around us.
Some of us are casualties of the battle because we have
not learned to apply the principles of spiritual warfare!
Really! How much do we know about fighting spiritual enemies
on our knees? Or wrestling with principalities and powers?
Do we see victories won through intercession, or do our
prayers seem to avail so little?
What do we know about the
spiritual weapons
of
our warfare, such as the Sword of the Spirit? Not in
theory, but in practice? Many of us may be ashamed at the
coming of the Master because we have been of so little use
to Him, to the Church, and to the unsaved, in the warfare
that rages around us.
Brother, are you asking, “Where
is
the battle that’s all around us”?
Look, dear friend, there are millions of precious lives
being destroyed all around us? Look at the deteriorating
conditions in the world. Look at the moral collapse. Look at
the increase of violence, crime, drugs, wickedness of every
kind. Look at the increase of false cults, of witchcraft and
the worship of Satan! This is all part of the spiritual
warfare.
Many of us live today, however, in what is called the
“affluent society.” This is the age of luxuries, and so
often the affluence mentality is carried over into the
spiritual house. We want our lives to be filled with
comforts; soft, cushy armchairs to relax in; thick carpets
so our knees don’t get sore; TV dinners so we don’t have to
spend time in preparing “Manna from heaven.” We prefer to
“surf the Net” than to “search the Word!” We have our quiet
time
with
one eye on the TV, and one ear in the radio.
We like to have
our
“house” full of electronic gadgets so that we can do
God’s work with the greatest of ease, and so that we still
have plenty of time for fun, and to attend to all our other
pet schemes and ambitions.
When it comes to military service for the Heavenly King,
we file our certificate of unfitness. We’re overweight. And
if we do fight, we do so, not with spiritual stamina, but
with the flabby “flesh.” Some of us say, “We’re
too
old for military service now.” That’s the “old
man” speaking!
But where is the
“new man,”
the one whose youth
is
renewed like the eagle? (Psalm 103:5)
So, what about it? Are we being
perfected
as soldiers of Christ, or are we still in nursery
playing with
toy
guns?
Sound the battle-cry. See! the foe is nigh!
Raise the standard high, for the Lord
Gird your armour on. Stand firm every one.
Rest your cause upon His Holy Word.
Rouse then soldiers, rally round the banner!
(
For more teaching on the subject of Spiritual Warfare ,
 see
my booklet,
CONSTANT COMBAT
6. PERFECTING THE ABILITY TO TRIUMPH IN ALL
CIRCUMSTANCES
Dear reader, when things go wrong, do you go
“flat”?
When adverse
circumstances
come
along,
do you grumble and complain? Do you get upset at all
the
little things that are not in
accordance
with your desires and
convenience?
Have we learned to rejoice in the Lord
always?
Not, rejoicing in the
circumstances,
but
in
the
Lord Himself
- even
during adverse circumstances?
The Master
is
teaching His people to be glad in Him, and to believe
that He is in
control
of
all
that concerns us. We read in Romans 8:28, that …
“God causes
all
things to work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Do we believe it? Have we learned to triumph when things
go
wrong?
It does not take much
power
to praise the Holy One and to rejoice when everything is
going right. But we do need to perfect the ability to
triumph, and to rejoice in
all circumstances.
How do we do this?
By living in Christ and learning His ways;
by growing in
grace
and
the
knowledge of the Holy One; by growing in faith - the
faith that
trusts God at all times.
Believer, this world,
is a
wonderful environment in which we can learn to triumph
... an environment of many adverse circumstances. Let
us
not fail to
learn
the lessons. There
are
some lessons we won’t
be able
to learn
in
eternity where there is a perfect environment. Many will
be ashamed at the coming of the Messiah, because they have
failed to learn this important lesson
- of
triumph!
7. PREPARING OTHERS FOR MESSIAH’S COMING
So far, we have discussed preparing ourselves for the
coming of the Master, and of
course,
if we ourselves are not prepared, we won’t be able to
help prepare others. But we would be miserable,
self-centered people if we were unconcerned for others ...
our
family
members, our friends, and our countrymen. We know that
after
the Bridegroom catches His Bride away from this world,
the Tribulation will begin ... the most fearful time of
trouble,
despair and
judgment to ever come upon this world. It will
be
more fearful than the Flood of Noah’s day. What about
those who will be
left behind,
to suffer and to die in the Tribulation?
My brother and sister, what about your own unsaved
children? You do everything you can to provide physical
support for your young ones. You provide food, clothes and
education. You try to plan and provide for their future. Are
you also
seeking to prepare them for eternity?
Then, there are your relatives who are not saved. Do you
care
for
them
-
whether they
are redeemed
or doomed?
What about your unsaved friends?
You call yourself a friend!
Are you too timid to warn them of the
coming
judgment? Would you rather let them rush along into
destruction?
Do you regularly intercede
for
them? Do you miss
an
hour’s sleep because
of
the lost?
There are thousands
of
unbelievers all around you who are heading for the Great
Tribulation and for Hell. Don’t you
have some
responsibility towards them? “Watchman, what of the
night?” You
can
see it coming! Then don’t slumber! You
see
it coming,
so
be on the alert! Lift up your voice! Yahweh the Eternal
One says:
“Son of Man, I have made you a watchman for the house of
Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them
warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely
die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak out to warn the
wicked from his wicked ways, to save his life, the same
wicked man will die in his iniquity; but his blood I
will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked and
he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way,
he will die in his iniquity; but you will have delivered
your soul.”
(Ezekiel 3:17-19)
Oh, my brothers and sisters, let us not be like
unbelievers! Let us not be unprepared! It is
only a matter of time,
and He that is coming,
will
come!
Many will be ashamed at the coming of the Messiah,
because they have not been faithful to the commission
committed to them. They have not been soul-winners. They
have not been on the alert. They have wasted opportunities,
wasted time, and wasted talents. They have lived largely for
themselves. They have laid up treasures on earth, and not in
heaven. They have given themselves to wealth and worldly
pleasures.
Soon
we
all shall give an account of our stewardship to the
Heavenly Master. Will He put His arm around us and say,
“Well done, good and faithful servant”? Or will we hang our
heads in shame on that day? Now is the time for all of us to
answer that question. Now is the
time,
beloved, to
set our house in order.
Let us examine ourselves and our relationship with the
Master. This is the time to live
like
a Christian ought to live. It is time to obey our
Master. It is time to redeem the time. It is time to “owe no
man anything”; time to pay off our debts. It is time that we
stopped building for
the
world, and built for eternity. It is time churches
stopped building with bricks and mortar, and started
building with living stones. It is time to forget personal
ambitions, and
to
know the will of God. It is time to renounce our
luxuries, and to take up the cross. It is time to stop
talking idle words and to preach the living Word.
This is the time to warn, the
time to
weep, the time to plead, to love, to labour
and
to prevail. This
is
the time to rescue the perishing, to deliver souls
enslaved by Satan, to set the captives free, and to
restore
those fallen by the wayside.
This is the time to complete the things left undone, to
repent and do the
first works,
and to surrender and do the
last works.
It is time to wake up,
to
hold fast, to throw off complacency and lukewarmness,
and to press ahead.
Today is the day of Salvation, Tomorrow is the day of
Judgment. Today is the day of Opportunity, Tomorrow is the
day of Reckoning.
What will I hear my Master say, When I stand before Him
on that judgment day? Will I hear him say, “Well done,” For
the things I've said and done? What will I hear my Master
say?
-
Paul Johnson
IS YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER?
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pornography, perversion, rape, adultery, and “just do it”
and “everyone does it” attitudes. Minds and hearts are
becoming increasingly immune to God-given moral standards.
Modern society is now as sordid as it was in the 
