GUARDING THE HOLINESS OF GOD

GUARDING THE HOLINESS OF GOD

                “But I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted you are putting up with it. 2 Cor. 11:3, 4

                Even back in the early church there were many self-appointed apostles and prophets just as there are today. A true prophet often has the unenviable task of warning the people of danger. He must correct wrong doctrine. He must say tough things exhorting and reproving and disciplining people with words from God. He must guard the holiness of God.

                 But a false prophet can come in preaching times of ease and prosperity and easy access to God without repentance or a cross. He can make the people feel good about themselves by sheltering them from the harsh realities of sin. They offer a way into the fold that doesn’t require death to self and a complete new birth in which,” I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20

                At first the people put up with it, but in time they embrace it until the Gospel becomes a broad way to destruction. A different Gospel replaces the old ways of repentance and departure from the world. A different Jesus is preached. A different spirit comes in, so that instead of eating from the tree of life, they begin to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

                No matter how many complex issues we find in the Bible, there is a core of simplicity which is the purity of devotion to Christ. We must guard the holiness of God, for He dwells beyond the veil in the Holy of Holies. His mercy is enthroned upon the Law, for where there is no law, there can be no mercy and where there is no commandment, neither can there be forgiveness. How can we repent if there is no sin and how can we ask for God’s mercy and grace if God has not told us what things cause us to fall short of His glory? How can we be forgiven if there is no sin and how can sinners be judged if there is no foundation of absolute truth?

                This is at the heart of Paul’s warnings about the world’s final antichrist. He is called the “Man of Lawlessness.” And Paul warns them saying: “Let no one in any way deceive you for it (the day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy (Falling away) comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

                We may ask ourselves how a church could ever fall for such a scoundrel as the antichrist. How could people be so deceived as to take the Mark of the Beast when it is so clearly portrayed in Scripture?

                The answer is that it happens little by little. False teachers come in offering an easier way… a broader pathway filled with good times and prosperity. The Gospel slowly becomes “Me-centered, rather than Christ centered. They lower the requirements. They abandon things like true repentance, of denying self and taking up our cross and following Jesus. They abandon the study of Bible prophecy, eventually labeling it as fear mongering. And even as we delude ourselves with our flesh-pleasing worship, we become lukewarm. We shut Jesus out of our everyday lives and quarantine Him to one hour of church. We get caught up in the ways of the world until we can no longer hear Him knocking on our closed door.

                Millions of Christians abandon their small churches of accountability and flock to the large arenas where state of the art sound and flesh pleasing sermons begin to give us the same euphoric feelings that one experiences at a football game where 100,000 people shout and do the wave and root for their team. Isn’t it great that we have finally put away the old ways of self-denial and obedience? Isn’t it great that we have finally discovered hyper grace? We no longer need to change. We no longer need to be conformed to the image of Christ… He accepts us as we are… and even that truth becomes a lie because we leave out the port where He transforms us into His image.

                So we sing and dance in the outer court, never having entered into the intimacy of the Holy Place, or stood trembling before the veil behind which the unmitigated presence of God resides. We no longer seek to abide in the secret place of the Most High… Nowadays we can simply claim Psalm 91 as our right, because we call ourselves the Bride. We no longer guard the holiness of God by allowing Him to purify our hearts with His Word and His indwelling Holy Spirit.

                We toss Him our 15 second prayers on the way out the door. We see no need for fasting and prayer. We are no longer on the battlefield of the Lord. We have become spectators… being entertained by the burning of those who are consumed with holy fire. We join the mockery of those who jeer as the true prophets are eaten by the lions. “Away with them! They were only fear mongers… peddlers of conspiracy… daring to believe that God is warning us of things to come by signs and wonders in the sun, moon and stars…. daring to say that God’s judgments are beginning to fall upon the earth. Lk. 21:25, 26

                Nature is being torn apart as nation rages against nation and the global government of the Beast surrounds us as the spirit of antichrist takes over our planet… but we party on because we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and we do not know that we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. We have long forgotten that gold must be tried by fire.

                We have forgotten that whom Jesus loves He reproves and disciplines. We no longer sense the need to repent… but Jesus stands at our door and knocks… and He still holds out His promise saying:

                “If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me. He who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Rev. 3:14-22

                The Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place is a picture of God’s throne. He is seated upon the Law for it defines His character and His government of truth. But above the Law is the solid gold lid of mercy and grace, for where sin abounded, grace abounded more. He extends to us a covenant of forgiveness, but like I said above, forgiveness has no meaning apart from a broken law.

                So Jesus did something spectacular. He took that law on stone and He wrote it on our hearts so that it could be expressed through us in the same way as it was expressed through Jesus. The Law is now expressed in loving God with all of our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It is expressed in the fruit of the Spirit. It is expressed in obedience and sacrifice. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

                In truth, true love is infinitely harder than simply keeping the letter of the Law. True and ultimate love requires a death to self. One cannot be self-centered and yet truly love and worship God. Neither can we be self-centered and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. True love then is an infinite law imposed upon finite man. It is impossible unless God Himself dwells in us.

                We must be filled with His Holy Spirit or we have no hope of fulfilling the Law. We can keep the Sabbath from now until doomsday and yet never enter the Rest that is only found in Christ. We can refrain from killing one another, and yet never have the God kind of love that would actually bless those around us.

                Bonnie and I have learned a few things in our life. One of them is that when we are not walking in the Spirit, the Christian life seems like an impossible and overwhelming burden. It is not true that the moment Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink and no amount of fancy footwork could keep him on the surface?

                Just so, the Christian life is equally impossible apart from Christ and His indwelling presence. So when we are living in the Spirit, walking on water is the easiest and most natural thing. But when we are not walking in the Spirit, we sink.

                Satan and the world and our own flesh work together to throw difficulties, trials and temptations in front of us that threaten to pull us away from that place of miraculous walking. We can be momentarily pulled out of our place of safety and we begin to sink. And then to add insult to injury, the Christian life suddenly appears to be impossible overwhelming and unreachable.

                One of our biggest challenges as Christians is to learn how to stay in the miracle… to walk on water in the power of Christ and not our own power. In time we come to our senses and call upon His name and He lifts us up and restores us to our walk on the water, but sometimes we can practically drown in the process.

                To every one of the 7 churches Jesus said: “to him that overcomes I will grant… Well, what is it that we are to overcome? We are to overcome whatever it was that caused us to start sinking. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the work of our testimony. We speak His truth, His promises, His covenant guarantees. We push the refresh button, so to speak, and come back into communion with Him. We shore up our defenses. We remind ourselves of the covenant we live in, signed by the very blood of Jesus. We rejoice that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. We wait upon the Lord and He renews our strength.

                These things are not mere platitudes… they are the things we live by. He really does restore us! He really does reach out and lift us up. He restores our souls. He leads us in His paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He has become our Shepherd.

                We… all of us, are learning how to walk in this place of power. We are learning to use the tools that God has given us to overcome. Leaving everything else behind, we are pressing toward the mark of our high calling in Christ Jesus. In the end it is not about Law keeping after all. It is about Christ living His life through us. It is about Christ in us the hope of glory. It is about living the real thing and not just a facsimile of the real thing.

                 I want to be one of those people out of whom rivers of living water flow. And because Christ is living in me, I want to be able to say with Him: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, ( and because we are now living in the last days,) the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn…” Isa. 61:1, 2

                We need not fear the vengeance of God, for He has reserved that vengeance for our enemies. So whether He yanks us out of here, or hides us in the secret place of the Most High, I will fear no evil for He is with me.

                In a very real way, we tend to waste a lot of time trying to figure out when Jesus will return when we should be learning how to overcome and how to take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the entire world so that He can come. If His plan is for us to do His works in eh world, then we need to learn how and get started.

                It is time to leave the outer court and to enter into that place of intimacy and power that lies beyond the veil. We need to guard the holiness of God so that we can meet Him face to face and live. This, Jesus is preparing us for by baptizing us with His Holy Spirit and fire.

                Join me in saying: “Be it done unto me according to your Word Lord.” Luke 1:35, 38. For the Lord has planted a seed in us that will bring forth sons and daughters of God.