Do We FEEL Anything for Jesus?

There is an unremitting frustration when it comes to discussing love for Jesus Christ. Not talking about it, but doing it; not parsing Scripture, but feeling it. We seem quite adept in the ministry world at talking all around Jesus, but ill-equipped to experience it. We know we should love him, and are adept at finding verses to prove the point. We are great at sharing what truths we've learned, even truths related to Jesus. But we seem handicapped to speak of intimate love for our Savior. Is such love not CENTRAL to everything else--resisting sin, studying for sermons, reading good books, even enjoying God's Word? So, I ask this question (of myself as well), do we feel anything when we talk of loving Jesus?

Is it really possible for the eternally blessed Son of God to come and take up residence in the newly converted life and it NOT AFFECT HIM??!! How is it that we have become effective at holding even our Savior at arm's distance?

Three times our Lord probed Peter, "Do you love me?" And all three times Peter missed the point (John 21:15ff). But Mary apparently had caught on, for according to Jesus, she desired "the one thing necessary" (Luke 10:42).

And you know what's really deflating? I can write all this and STILL not love Jesus from the heart! Oh, Lord Jesus, how long will you put up with us?

Draw us to yourself, and PLEASE make it so that we can no longer talk all around you.

Amen.

Worse Than Blind

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Samson and Delilah, ca. 1610
London, National Gallery

Sad? No, worse than that. Insane would be more like it. The story of Samson’s acquiescence to Delilah’s overt machinations reveals the judge of Israel to be nothing short of delirious.

And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” (Judges 16:15–17)

“Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice . . .” Right?! Oh, that pales by comparison! Unbelievable! You have to admit it. It’s plain ridiculous! I mean, how many times do you have to be bamboozled before you “get it?” It’s as if Samson were taking a flying leap off a cliff onto a bed of nails willingly! 

What is it in us that so willingly walks (yes, even runs) into destruction? Yet, that is exactly what sin (in all its forms) does. We could rail on Samson for his obvious dismissal of all rational thought. In a sense he deserves it. (Oddly enough--or NOT--his very foolishness became the means to thoroughly judge the Philistines and deliver Israel). But in another very real and quite embarrassing sense, we are not that unlike him! Isn't all sin a type of insanity? Going up against God cannot be thought to be anything less than the leaving behind of one's own senses. Still, we do it . . . even Christians! 

So, how shall we overcome? Samson avenged himself in the end, bowing against the supporting pillars of the foreign temple bringing it down on 3,000 Philistines and himself as well. It was worth it to him. But was it only worth it because he got revenge? That would be sad . . . to have accomplished such an evident Spirit-empowered feat of strength ONLY for personal revenge! Even our "solutions" can be tainted with self-interest! That's scary isn't it? Of course, we can't say that he only did it for selfish reasons. Perhaps as his hair grew so did his faith. What a fall from which to retrieve oneself!

No wonder Solomon warned his son, "Keep your heart with all vigilance . . ." (Prov. 4:23a), because from the heart issues sin. And from the same heart issues either godly or ungodly sorrow. The simple way, the best way, the godly way to handle such egregious trespasses is to simply call your sin what it is (since God already knows) and ask forgiveness. What a wonderful means to resolve our transgressions. And how apathetically we often are to take advantage of it. Lord, lead us away from self-correction into Spirit-conviction, repentance and resolution. Cleansed! Purified! Resolved. 

Yes! No matter how foolish we have been, there's no profit in revenge, or in circumnavigating our Lord's complete forgiveness. Jesus' blood has already brought down the pagan temples of our lives. Ours is to gratefully accept it . . . and LIVE!

C. H. Spurgeon on the Exclusivity of the Truth

"No man is an island" especially in terms of the truths gleaned from a myriad men of God over the ages! I have always been indebted to Charles Haddon Spurgeon for his wit and wisdom, but mostly for his humble acquiescence to the Gospel and intimate communion with his Lord Jesus. The following quotation centers on a subject that makes my heart ache in these truth-ignoring, yes, even truth denying days. 

I saw this on Adrian Warnock's site, and he took it from HERE.

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Jonathan Hunt

From notes of a sermon delivered on a Lord’s Day evening in 1856, at New Park Street. Notes taken by Pastor T.W. Medhurst.

John 14.6 – ‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way… no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me’

“There seems to be growing up amongst us an idea that a man is of a persecuting spirit if he does not think that the one who flatly contradicts him is as right as himself. If we do as some wish, we shall in time reach that blessed state of charity which had been attained by the courtiers of the Sultan, who, when he said at mid-day, “It is midnight,” replied, “Yes, sire, there is the moon, and there are the stars.”  Today, we are expected not to protest against Popery, lest we should be considered bigots; we must subscribe to all that men teach, if only they are sincere. Suppose a man, travelling due North, was sincere in thinking that he would get to the South, do you think his sincerity would bring him to the desired destination? If a man was sincere in thinking that prussic acid was a wholesome food, would the poison do him no injury? If a man starved himself while he sincerely believed himself to be feasting, how long would it take him to get fat? You say “these things are contrary to the laws of nature.” Just so, and the laws of God’s gospel are as fixed and true as are the laws of nature. If you are honest and sincere in keeping to the road of ruin, you will reach the natural end of that road, eternal destruction. Sincerity in believing a lie does not change that lie to the truth. There is only one way to heaven; there is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ is exclusively “the way.” This excludes all by-paths, all cross-roads, and all short cuts. Scripture knows nothing of the new theory, that we may be all right though we are in direct opposition to the Word of God.”

Cross-posted to the CH Spurgeon blog also. This will form part of new books forthcoming from DayOne publications.

Open our ears, Lord, that we may gladly hear such truths!

.

The Most Grossly Undervalued Truth!

My friend (and former roommate after college) Dave Scudder, posted this from Jonathan Edwards. It surfaces one of most underrated truths in the history of mankind. Sadly, I'm not exaggerating one bit! Nor am I referring to the world, who are incapable of understanding this gem of a truth! No, I am talking about self-proclaimed Christians who should be intimately aware on this point! The very essence of salvation is that the believer is transformed in order that he may know God intimately (John 17:3). And the reason Christ died was not to give us peace, free us from sin, Satan and the world, or to make a place for us in heaven (though all these are wonderful concomitants of our redemption) No, the purpose of salvation is that God might enable us as new creatures to be able to see and adore the beauty of God, to really know Him! Oh, how few today really see this as the goal of salvation. This truth is not the exclusive possession of a few dessert mystics. Oh, no! This is the very heart of the matter, the essence of God's great work of re-creation, yes, the "one thing necessary." Do not let this truth or the following quotation get away from you by reading it too quickly. Focus on it. Ponder it. REALLY. Please. Edwards knew his Lord well. We in this day need to love Him again!

God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied....
 
To go to heaven and fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.
 
Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows.
 
But the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.

Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives, to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?”

-Jonathan Edwards

.

God's Word: Nothing To Be Trifled With!

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?” ” (Jeremiah 32:1–5)

Prophets spoke for God. God never gets anything wrong. Everything God says happens. PERIOD! End of story.

Or, at least, it SHOULD be! Scripture is replete with examples of those who dismissed God’s word as a “kill-joy” or a waste of their time. In the example above, the king of Judah hated that Jeremiah had prophesied his captivity under the Chaldeans. So, rather than listen to him—as from God—Zedekiah threw Jeremiah in jail! (We can understand his apprehension at such a message. But to jail the messenger!?) Really? What good would it do. The WORD has gone out. It’s not going to change. Jailing Jeremiah won’t help one bit. (But that’s using reasoning, and reason is hard to come by among rebels). By the time we get to chapter 32, Nebuchadnezzar is in the process of besieging Jerusalem, carrying out the very prophecy which Zedekiah, king of Judah hated, and  for which Jeremiah was imprisoned.

Lesson?

Well, a most obvious one is: “You shoulda listened!” Prophets of God only speak the truth of God. And God is NEVER wrong. NEVER! 100% accuracy. You’d think that would’ve earned a little respect. But, NO! Evil, persistent evil foolishly refuses to listen even in the face of historical precedent. There was nothing wrong with the messenger. Certainly nothing aberrant in his message. Why the resistance? Why is there ever any resistance to God’s message? Innately, men will not have God rule them. "It doesn't matter what you say, we don't want Him!" It doesn't make sense. But it is what it is.

Another lesson is the arrogance of man that he would "put it to God," forcing God to answer to him! Zedekiah asked, "Why do you prophecy and say . . . ?" He's not inquiring; he's attacking. What? Do you really imagine that if you command the prophet to shut-up, that therefore will avert God's plan, His wrath? No, he's simply setting Jeremiah to take the fall for a country gone bad, and in the process, setting him up to be thrown into prison. What audacity men have that they think to put God on the judgment seat! How utterly foolish. Yet, today such an attitude has gone epidemic. God somehow must answer to man!? C. S. Lewis wrote,

The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: If God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it.

Audacious. Foolish. The answer is rather, hear God. Submit to God. Obey God. Don't tell Him how to run the universe! And never presume to sit in judgment over the One who gave us jurisprudence.

 

Don't Be Foiled By the Devil! Part 4 - Conclusion

Buy HERE

GOD KNOWS HUMANS

The Bible tells us often that God knows humans better than they know themselves—He doesn’t have to wait for the information to come from the accuser, the devil. God has said,

I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it.  (Isaiah 48:8b-11a)

God does have a stake in each of us—and it is for His own sake that He will lift us up. He is not going to bless us for our own sake—He is going to bless us for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of His own name!

If you think that there is anyone in the world so good that God could do something for that person’s sake, you don’t know sin; and if you think there is anything that God will not do for you for His sake and for His name, you don’t know God! [emphases in article all mine]

If you have failed, remember that you are not responsible to men in this regard. You stand responsible before your heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. Let us be encouraged by this good news!

In the third place, some are fearful that they will lose their reputation as sober and conservative and traditional Christians. In other words, they have never been willing to be a fool for Jesus’ sake!

It is amazing that genuine Christians are not willing to stand up wherever they are and give a good word for the Lord. There are great political ideologies sweeping the world now whose members will make double-eyed, long-eared donkeys of themselves for the sake of the party and the cause. There are religious sects whose witnesses are willing to go to jail, to be pushed around, to be lampooned for the sake of a miserable, twisted doctrine! But in our Christian ranks, we prefer to be respectable and smooth, and we have a reputation for being very solemn Christian believers.

I can only conclude from my experience that many solemn, professing Christians will never make any spiritual progress and will never really be happy in the Lord until God finds some way to shake them out of their deadly respectability! . . .

HAVE TO LOSE REPUTATIONS

So it has been with all of God’s saints who have pleased Him and praised Him through the centuries. At some time in their witness and expression of the living Christ they have had to lose their reputations among those who have been traditionally pious and somber, dogmatic and cautious.

This is still happening in our day, and with glorious results.

A young man who is director of one of our American Bible conferences has given me his testimony of great and radical things which the Lord has done for him in recent months.

“I realize now that in my service for God I was one of the most self-assured, conceited and horrid young fellows you could ever meet,” he told me frankly. “I could raise money, I could put on a great program, and I figured I was a great success in the Lord’s work.

“But recently on a trip to Wales, I had the opportunity of talking to some older folks who remembered Evan Roberts and the great Welsh revival. They told me about the true working of the Holy Spirit in Christian renewal and revival—and I didn’t really know what they were talking about

“Somehow, and they did not realize it, it was just as though they were burying me under a great load of crushing bricks, and God spoke to me about my own great spiritual lack.”

He told me that he made his way to the little cottage where he was staying and got down on his knees and began to sweat it out before God.

Do you know what this was? It was the act of dying! It was the end of self. That man died to reputation, ability, presumption, success, conceit, personality—all of that stuff!

He said to me, “Mr. Tozer, I was filled with the Holy Spirit and my whole life has been transformed. Now I only want this cheated and betrayed generation to see the glory of God once more.”

I said to him then, “Brother, do you realize that if you carry through with this message and this blessing that you will lose some of your best fundamentalist friends? You will be described as having gone off your rocker!’

“I am not worried any more about my reputation,” he replied. “I am perfectly willing because I am going to let the Lord have His way in the whole operation!”

The interesting thing is that he hasn’t had to switch or change his doctrines around at all—he just found out that he needed the fire of God on his doctrine, and he got it!

WE MUST TRUST

It is for us to trust, to trust wholly in the Lord Jesus. This is the only way in which we can conquer fear and live in blessed victory.

I have had times in my life and ministry when the burdens and the pressures seemed to be too much. Sometimes physical weariness adds to our problems and our temptation to give in to discouragement and doubt. At these times it seems that even in prayer it is impossible to rise above the load. More than once, by faith that seemed to have been imparted directly from heaven, the Lord has enabled me to claim all that I needed for body, soul and spirit. On my knees I have been given freedom and strength to pray, “Now, Lord, I have had enough of this—I refuse to take any more of this heaviness and oppression! This does not come from God—this comes from my enemy, the devil! Lord, in Jesus’ name, I will not take it any longer through Jesus Christ I am victor!” At these times, great burdens have just melted and rolled away all at once!

Brethren, God never meant for us to be kicked around like a football. He wants us to be humble and let Him do the chastening when necessary. But when the devil starts tampering with you, dare to resist him!

I stand for believing in God and defying the devil—and our God loves that kind of courage among His people.

If you are still wrapped in grave clothes and great fears lie upon you, it is time for you to dare to rise and in sweet faith in the risen Jesus Christ declare: “I will not take this any longer. I am a child of God—why should I go mourning all the day?”

Will God answer?

“All right, My child,” He will answer as the burden rolls away, “I have waited long to hear you say that. Jesus is Victor and in Him you overcome!”

Don't Be Foiled by the Devil! Part 3

WE MUST GET FREE!

I think we had better get free! We must face up to the issues and attitudes and doubts which constitute our fears, that keep us from being happy and victorious Christians with the true liberty of the children of God. We seem to quake about many things.

In the first place, are you still afraid of your past sins? God knows that sin is a terrible thing—and the devil knows it, too. So he follows us around and as long as we will permit it, he will taunt us about our past sins.

As for myself, I have learned to talk back to him on this score. I say, “Yes, Devil, sin is terrible—but remind you that I got it from you! And I remind you, Devil, that everything good—forgiveness and cleansing and blessing—everything that is good I have freely received from Jesus Christ!”

Everything that is bad and that is against me I got from the devil—so why should he have the effrontery and the brass to argue with me about it? Yet he will do it because he is the devil, and he is committed to keeping God’s children shut up in a little cage, their wings clipped so that they can never fly!

In our churches we often sing, “Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears.” But nothing happens and we keep our fears. Why do we claim on one hand that our sins are gone and on the other act just as though they are not gone?

Brethren, we have been declared “Not Guilty!” by the highest court in all the universe. Still there are honest Christians, earnestly seeking the face of God, who cannot seem to break loose and find real freedom. The grave clothes trip them up every time they try to move on a little faster. Satan uses their past sins to terrify them.

Now on the basis of grace as taught in the Word of God, when God forgives a man, He trusts him as though he had never sinned. God did not have mental reservations about any of us when we became His children by faith. When God forgives a man, He doesn’t think, “I will have to watch this fellow because he has a bad record.“ NO, He starts with him again as though he had just been created and as if there had been no past at all! That is the basis of our Christian assurance—and God wants us to be happy in it.

SATAN MAGNIFIES MEMORIES

Next, are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures? He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.

The devil will whisper, “You didn’t get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?“

He will say, “You made a big ‘to-do’ about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn’t you?”

He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith—and perhaps more than once! The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.

Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing—but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up!

Perhaps you have read of the saintly Fletcher, whose holy life became so recognized that he was called “the seraphic Fletcher.” His testimony reveals that he stumbled and miserably failed God seven times. But after the seventh failure he went to a room and did not come out until he was able to rest his case completely in the strength of God’s hands. He came out of the room saying, “Dear Lord, I believe that I am delivered from the bondage of my sin. If you will keep me and help me I will never cease telling the world what you can do for a man!” For the rest of his life Fletcher exhibited to the world God’s power to bless and to keep His transformed children on earth.

If our failures are going to hinder us forever, we might just as well never have taken the first step. But God knew all about us and He still loved us and desired His eternal best for us. (I Talk Back To the Devil! by A. W. Tozer)

Tomorrow, Part 4 - Conclusion