A Convenient Time

And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he [Paul] reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (Acts 24:24-25)

Dear reader, has God ever sent to you a messenger who reasoned with you about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come? How did you respond?  Did you banish the message from your mind, hoping for a more convenient time to consider its fearful implications?

I wonder if a convenient time ever came for Felix? I think it likely that Felix died in his sins, though of course I don’t know for sure.

There is a stern warning in Scripture for those who hear the voice of God speaking to them:

…The Holy Spirit says:  “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”  (Heb. 3:7-11)

If you hear His voice calling to you for obedience, but you harden your heart rather than repenting, you will receive the same penalty as did the rebellious Israelites that were barred from God’s rest.  This warning is for those who have never known the Lord and hear His voice calling them today, as well as for those who have known the Lord in the past but have gone astray in their hearts since then.

Acts 24:26-27 offers more insight into the heart of Felix, who feared at the word of the Lord, but did not repent:

Meanwhile he [Felix] also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him.  Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him.  But after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound.

Clearly, Felix desired money more than he desired the righteousness and self-control Paul spoke of!  He sent for Paul and spoke to him often, seemingly over the course of two whole years, due to a personal ambition to get Paul to pay his way out of prison.  When Felix was replaced in his duties by someone else, he left Paul in prison to do the Jews a favor. Many conversations with Paul had not brought his heart into submission to God, but instead hardened his heart. Imagine regular talks with the Apostle Paul!–But these talks had profited Felix nothing.  Neither will your church attendance, your Bible studies, your friendships with Christians, or your religious status if you do not submit to the Lord Jesus from your heart and obey His commands.

What is holding YOU back from obeying Jesus?

Is it–as with Felix–a desire for money? Remember Paul’s warning in I Tim. 6:10–The love the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  Remember the words of Jesus–What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:26)

Is it a desire to please your family?  Jesus said divisions would come in families because of Him (Luke 12:51-53), and anyone loving family more than Him is not worthy of Him (Matt. 10:34-37). The dead (those who refuse to repent and believe) must be left to bury the dead, and no one looking back after putting his hand to the plow is fit for the kingdom of God. Remember Lot’s Wife!

Is it that you still enjoy the pleasure of sin? Oh, sinner, remember the pleasures of sin only last for a season; sin’s wages are piling up to heaven and they are DEATH.  If you are still alive, it is because a space for repentance has been granted you by the mercy of God. As surely as the Flood came and carried away Noah’s neighbors, the wrath of God is coming on the disobedient.

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor. 6:2)
Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…(Heb. 3:7,8)

Tomorrow is not promised. Keep playing with sin, keep loving the world, keep seeking after earthly things all while hearing the word of the Lord, and that Word you hear will not help you.  If you wait for a convenient time to get right with God, you may never have the chance. Your sin may blind you and keep you bound until final destruction is determined for you.  Unless you obey, your hearing of the Word will only produce self-deception.  You will be like those who pleaded with the Lord, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” But Jesus will answer, “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:26-27)

The only wise time to get right with God is NOW and TODAY.

If You Have Faith

“If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17:20)

“If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6)

I must preface this writing by saying that these Scriptures are not a blank check from heaven to order anything you like. A person asking things from God in order to merely gratify the pleasure of the flesh is not under the blessing of God; he is asking amiss (James 4:3).   We know that greed is wickedness and living for selfish pleasure is sin.

However, these Scriptures contain some beautiful truth we don’t want to miss or set aside just because some teachers have attempted to twist their meaning.

Many Christians have mountains and trees in their lives that desperately need to go. And even a tiny amount of real faith can make them go. God has made his empowering grace accessible to the weak.  Only believe.

The mountain has accumulated over a long period of time, and has become of such a monstrous nature, it appears immovable. It is some besetting sin, practiced so consistently it has become a habit. Perhaps it is an ungrateful, negative spirit that blocks others’ view of the sky and casts a dark shadow of gloom upon them.  Perhaps it is a habit of speaking angry words, or being too unyielding and unforgiving of the minor faults of others.

The mulberry tree might be the habit of impatience with the children or spouse or coworkers.  Everything they do gets under your skin, and you quickly snap. You’ve been this way all your life, so you think you can’t change. Sure you quit drinking, fornicating, lying and stealing when you made your decision to follow Christ, but can He really uproot this other thing from your life–this thing that has deep roots in your soul and seems to be an integral part of your personality?  The answer is yes. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, this tree can be uprooted and planted in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. It can be forgiven and utterly removed from your life and character. Do you believe?

The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-12). That means the teaching we need is available to us;  it is for us to submit to the teaching and obey it.  Wisdom in how to apply and work out our own salvation is available for the asking (James 1:5).  We can and must learn to live soberly, righteously and godly in our present-day homes, fellowships, neighborhoods, and work environments.  The mountains and trees that seem they are here to stay must be uprooted and moved, and nothing shall be impossible for the one who believes.  Just as the face of the earth is always changing–deserts become lush gardens and gardens become deserts–so God’s will is for the spiritual wasteland that is our past life to be renewed and replenished and made fruitful in the present. We must become co-workers with God to that end, sowing consistently to the Spirit and refusing to sow to the flesh.  With patient continuance in this endeavor, we can trust a harvest of righteousness will come.  Just as a sinful habit was created by a continual making provision for the flesh, so a holy habit can be made by a continual denial of the flesh and a deliberate sowing to the Spirit of God.

When the twelve spies were sent to search out the land of Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb came back confident that the land could be taken with God leading the way. The rest brought an evil report of giants, and the dismal view that overcoming the land was impossible. Their view infected the whole camp like a disease, and the people rebelled against God, accusing Him of bringing them gloriously out of Egypt only to fail and end in defeat.  This faithlessness was so abhorrent to God that He had a mind to disinherit the people! (Num. 14:11-12)

We need to be like Joshua and Caleb, men of faith in God. If God says the land can be taken, it can. If God says that mountain can be made to move, or that tree can be uprooted and thrown into the sea, they can.  He will lead the way, and give patient instruction and supernatural power; only continue to live by faith in His words and do not draw back, lest He have no pleasure in you (Heb. 10:38).

There are too many teachers who are like the 10 faithless spies. They drum an evil report into the ears of their congregations–”We will all keep living in sin as long as we are in the flesh. Nobody is perfect; the best we can hope for is to have a positional righteousness in Christ even while we are losing every battle in our lives and sin is still our master.”  Don’t give heed to this faithless and wicked report no matter how spiritual the teacher appears to be; he is a hireling who has a form of godliness denying the power thereof. Shun this teacher like the plague; he speaks for the devil to keep you in bondage.  If he has no power in his own life over sin, how can he teach you to overcome anything? The best he can do is preach a message of faithlessness and surround himself with other powerless people who are satisfied with equally powerless lives.   This is deception, and is NOT a manifestation of the true Gospel, which makes men new creatures and sets them free to run in the paths of righteousness. The sons of God have a glorious liberty; their chains are broken. When they recognize an area of bondage in their lives, they know from past experience that this hurdle too can be overcome.

I was gloriously set free from fornication, drunkenness, potty-mouth, and a host of other sins at my conversion. However one besetting sin that I struggled with for a while was losing my temper with my children. I had been short-tempered for so long, I didn’t understand how to ever stop and wasn’t convinced it was possible. Satan would tell me it was just my personality and I had to accept it, and so did they. But the Spirit of God was also speaking to me, calling me to lay aside the weight of this besetting sin so that I could run my race more effectually (Heb. 12:1).  There was alot at stake.  Not only was I a poor example to the children to whom I was working to impart the Gospel, but I was in serious danger of becoming a castaway if I did not get control of my emotions and behavior.  I remember the day I came to this verse, and my whole world stopped. It was as if God’s voice suddenly magnified when I read–

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (I Cor. 10:13)

Leonard Ravenhill once quipped, ““One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it.”

When I read that verse with a heart that wanted deliverance from my besetting sin, I was simple enough to believe the Word of God exactly as it was written. I believed that every temptation I experienced, including the well-established habit of lashing out at my children, was completely withstandable and conquerable.  There was a way of escape provided for me, and it was my duty before God to take that way of escape from now on.  There could be no more excuses, for I had been given precious promises that would enable me to partake of the divine nature of holiness and escape the corruption in which I had been entangled (2 Pet. 1:4).  From that point on, I began to catch myself about to make provision for my flesh, and learned through consistent practice to make my frustrated thoughts obedient to Christ and keep my flesh disciplined and in subjection to the Spirit of God (2 Cor. 9:27; 10:5).  There is truly victory in Jesus to the one simple enough to believe that there is power over sin and death in Him, and persistent enough to practice what He teaches until the victory is complete.

Dear follower of Jesus, allow me to tie together the testimony of Joshua and Caleb with the truth of I Cor. 10:13:  there is no giant in the land of your life except such as commonly faces all men, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be faced by a giant stronger than you can withstand with the strength of God in you, but in every single case will provide the way to overcome and get the victory. There is neither ominous mountain nor stubborn tree that cannot be made to move out of your way, so that you can run your race with the endurance necessary to reach the finish line–if you have faith as a mustard seed. Grab hold of the precious promises of God and believe them. Make straight paths for your feet to walk in, so that your lameness may be healed (Heb. 12:13). 

Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith (I Jn. 5:4). Amen. God be with all–and empower all–who love the Lord Jesus in truth.

“We Won’t Do It Anymore, Daddy!”

I once heard a man tell a true story that has stayed with me all my life.  He had commanded his three children not to cross over a certain dangerous street, and attached the penalty of a spanking to disobedience, lest they not take his command seriously and get hurt. One day he discovered to his horror that they had disobeyed him and put their lives in danger. With great sadness and sobriety, he took off his belt and calmly reminded his beloved children of his previous words–the rule which was meant for their good, and the punishment for breaking it. Then…

He began to “spank” his own leg with the belt. At first, his children were confused, staring at him in disbelief. As he continued hitting himself, he pleaded with his children to listen to him from now on, lest they come to harm. After a number of hits with the belt, his leg was becoming swollen and discolored, and tears of pain were running down his face, but he continued whipping himself.  By this time, his children were weeping themselves and screaming in horror, “No, daddy! Stop it, daddy! Please stop! We won’t do it anymore, daddy!”

Dear reader, please consider this story carefully.

This is a wonderful example of God.  He made moral laws for the good of men. His laws are love and are meant to promote the well-being of everyone. There is a penalty attached to disobedience, lest the whole world turn to rebellion and destroy itself, having no regard for its wise Maker and Governor, and no regard for His other creatures.  But when we like sheep had gone astray, He looked upon us with compassion. He carefully devised a plan whereby He could demonstrate the rightness of the boundary of His law, keep His promise to inflict a just penalty, convince the lawbreaker of the terribleness of his deeds, and turn his heart toward obedience–hopefully showing His prodigal children that He is not only just but also merciful and loving (thus worthy of the utmost love and respect in return.)

We love Him because He first loved us.  We respect His moral law because we see how earnest He is to uphold it. We understand that His commands must be for our good, because we see His good intention toward us in taking our pain upon Himself.

He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  (Isa. 53:5)

How are we healed? He has both taken our penalty, and given us a new start with a better understanding of who He is. Seeing His character in clearer light, we are healed of ignorance and blindness, and never want to cause Him pain again. We are healed of the rift between us and God caused by our disobedience, because He has made a way back by allowing Himself to be afflicted for us.  We are healed of our hatred and disregard for His Word, and His love is shed abroad in our hearts, by which we learn to love God and others in like manner.

God forbid we ever truly consider the cross of Christ and continue in rebellion.

If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:26-31)

There are many today who claim to know and love Jesus, but by their works and continuing in disobedience, they deny Him (Titus 1:16). Jesus said,

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)

Those who profess to love Jesus and understand the cross, yet continue to disobey Him are like children who watched their father whip His own leg, saw His tears and heard His pleading, yet continued to do as they pleased. They have hardened their own hearts and done despite to the Spirit of grace;  they have received the grace of God in vain, for its teaching they have not submitted to.

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:11-14)

When we consider the cross of Christ where the very blood of God was poured out (Acts 20:28), may we also cry out with a broken spirit and a contrite heart, “No, Daddy! We won’t do it anymore, Daddy!”  When the grace of God appears to us, so powerfully teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts in this present world, may we turn tear-stained faces and converted hearts toward Him in full surrender.

God bless you.

Return to the Lord

In the book of Hosea, the prophet was called to rebuke and warn Israel and Judah. Israel was such an adulterous people that Hosea was commanded to marry a whorish woman to demonstrate what it was like for God, married to people who “transgressed the covenant” in every conceivable way. The children of Hosea were given names that forecast the judgment of God on Israel–literally “no mercy” and “not my people”–for the mercy of God has a limit, and He will eventually cast off those whom He cannot reform by His many kindnesses.

Some of the charges against these people included:

Appreciating idols rather than God for daily provisions (2:5, 8 )
Forgetting God (2:13)
Forsaking truth, mercy, and knowledge of God (4:1)
Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery, and breaking all restraint (4:2)
Having no respect for the priests (4:4)
Rejecting knowledge and forgetting God’s law (4:6)
Setting their hearts on iniquity and “eating up sin” (4:8)
Ceasing to obey the Lord (4:10)
Asking counsel from wrong sources (4:12)
Loving dishonor (4:18)
Not directing their deeds toward turning back to God (5:4)
Pride (5:5)
Begetting pagan children, not brought up in God’s ways (5:7)
Willingly walking by human precepts (5:11)

This list is what apostasy looks like.

It is possible to begin well, but fail to finish the race, both personally and corporately.

God commands His people to love Him first, to do what is right by His standards, and to teach their children His ways. But over time, even those who have tasted of the heavenly gift and seen His goodness can become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. They can begin to forget God, spending more time in carnal pursuits and increasing worldly goods or other means of self-satisfaction. In fact, the more they increase, the more they sometimes sin (4:7). Little by little, they begin to ask counsel from the wrong places, rejecting the knowledge of God (which is always right) and replacing it with human precepts (which are generally wrong). Their judgment becomes skewed, as they no longer have the mind of Christ, but the carnal mind which is death. They begin to see their daily provisions as coming from their own labor or good luck, forgetting they can’t even breathe apart from the help of God.  If they do notice their own spiritual brokenness, they turn to other broken people for the cure (5:13), trying to get water from broken cisterns. Pride keeps them continuing on their way even when it becomes obvious they have made a wrong turn somewhere.  They don’t direct their deeds toward turning back to God, but instead make provision for their flesh, taking advantage of God’s patience. Worst of all, they continue to call themselves by God’s name, imagining that once in God’s favor means always in God’s favor. Unless there is repentance and change, whole generations of children are brought up in this apostasy; they are “pagan children” though they may deceive themselves to the contrary.  If they “accept Jesus,” He is only one of their many gods, not their only Lord and King.

A cursory look at American Christianity today reveals that we are in a state of apostasy as bad as Israel’s, and we too are in terrible danger of reaching the end of God’s mercy and being altogether disowned without recourse.

A bit closer to home, perhaps this scene of apostasy describes you. Perhaps you once knew God, knew His tender mercy and gracious forgiveness. Perhaps you felt your burden of sin roll away. Perhaps you experienced joy and peace for the first time. Maybe you even served the Lord with gladness for some years. But something hindered you in your walk. Maybe it was laziness.  Maybe there was some sin in your life you refused to give up. Maybe you grew discouraged because of persecution. Maybe you were lonely, and you began to seek counsel or companionship from “friends” who serve the devil. Maybe you began to seek after something–money, material goods, social advancement, romance, etc.–and this pursuit eclipsed your pursuit of the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Whatever the reason for your apostasy, there is only ONE THING TO DO. You must return to God. His threatenings apply to you just as much as to adulterous Israel, for these things were written for our learning. And yet, there is hope!

Listen to what the Lord said He would do to Israel (Ephraim) and Judah in hopes that some would yet be saved:

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense.   Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. (Hos. 5:14-15)

Faithful are the wounds of a friend! He who knit you together in your mother’s womb will tear you as a lion tears the prey, and go away, hiding Himself until you acknowledge your offense and earnestly seek Him again. The prophet tells us how to respond to this:

Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.      After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.  (Hosea 6:1-3)

Are there any more precious promises than these?  David acknowledged that in faithfulness God had afflicted him, and that his affliction was good for him–for before he was afflicted, he went astray, but now he had learned to keep God’s Word. (Psa. 119: 67, 71, 75)  Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. Leave off sloth and sin and the pride that drives you blindly along, storing up wrath as you go; acknowledge your offenses and seek mercy from the Lord.  He does not afflict you to no purpose, but for your healing!  Yes, when you die to your sins and your old way of life, He will raise even you up on the third day, that you may live again in His sight. He will not reject you if you will only return to Him. Just as the morning is faithful to arrive, so He will come to you like the rain and make your life fruitful again, if you only pursue the knowledge of the Lord. For He has no pleasure in the death of one who dies; therefore turn and live! (Eze. 18:32)

May God bless you!