Search Ourselves

How do we know that we are true Christians today? Is there any way to tell? Does it have anything to do with how we feel in our heart? Jeremiah 17:9 tells us "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" So how can we trust our hearts? We can’t.

So I now ask us to search ourselves, knowing that "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12

We must take a test and if we fail it we must repent and line our lives up with his Word. We must accept the chastisement if it hits us. Knowing this "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1st John 5:3

1.) You will love your enemies and pray for those that despitefully use you.

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:43:44

2.) Many of your own family will be against you.

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Matthew 10:34-26

3.) You will forgive all that your brothers have done unto you because your Heavenly Father has forgiven greater sins of yours and not held back.

"Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Matthew 18:33-35

4.) You will esteem other Christians better than yourself.

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Philippians 2:3

5.) You will look not to your needs alone but also to the needs of others.

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Philippians 2:4

6.) You will not walk in continual sin.

"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" 1st John 1:6

7.) You will admit you are a sinner and confess yourself to Christ.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1st John 1:8-10

8.) You will love your brothers in Christ.

"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now." 1st John 2:9

9.) You will not love the world, you will not try to be like it.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1st John 2:15

10.) You will hate your life in this world.

"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." John 12:25

11.) The world will hate you.

"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19

12.) You will be persecuted for his name’s sake.

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2nd Timothy 3:12

I hope you passed the test. If not, I hope you will quickly repent of your trespasses and not try to justify yourself by how you feel in your heart.

In closing, there certainly are many other signs that follow true Christians. Remember you are saved by grace and not by works but works will follow those who love Christ.

"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26

Imaginations of the Heart

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

This scripture in Jeremiah is talking about our own hearts today. Do we think we are good? Decent? Worthy? No! We are desperately wicked in our flesh and that is a fact. We feed our flesh like there is no tomorrow, constantly seeking comfort and pleasure for it. It is so commonplace today that we can hardly see anything but our flesh. How often do we fast? How often do we turn away from even the little things that tempt us daily?

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Ga 5:19-21

These are the ways and the works of the flesh, the flesh is always lusting for these works. These are not the fruits of the spirit. The Bible tells us of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

1 John 1:6-7 tells us

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

We should not deceive ourselves, just because we are followers of Christ we think we are not subject to sin?

In 1 John 1:8-10 we are told,

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

To the flesh is sown corruption but to the spirit is life everlasting. We cannot please God with our flesh. We sin continually, we are capable of nothing else within our flesh and on our best day we are no better than filthy rags before God as stated in Isaiah 64:6

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

Our flesh, even our hearts, each and every one of us, is desperately wicked at all times. Nothing in the imaginations of our thoughts are but evil continually. This is why we have to be born again, not of the flesh but of the spirit, not of adultery, fornication, drunkenness and revellings but of love, joy, peace and temperance.

No attempt at righteousness by the flesh can succeed, it will die, in fact it is dead already and will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Only when we sow to the spirit through Christ can we hope to please God and inherit the Kingdom of God.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal: 5:16-17

So we should be careful when we find ourselves sowing to our flesh and Paul tells us of the sin that does so easily beset us. Let’s be candid for a minute. Are our hearts at times so dark and filthy that we dare not reveal it? The Bible clearly tells us it is; the heart is “desperately wicked: who can know it?”

The price of sin is death and we must have a redeemer if we are to make it through. But thank God that he sent a sacrifice for you and me. He made a way that we could be pleasing unto God. Jesus became that sacrifice for us as foretold in Isaiah 53:5

“But 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.”

But, we cannot continue to walk in the ways of the flesh we must leave the flesh behind at every opportunity it is continually displeasing to God.

The Apostle Paul gives us instructions in how to live in Romans 13:13-14

“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Put your mind as often as is possible on things of the spirit, which are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” This is how we know we are sowing to the spirit and pleasing our Heavenly Father.

Chastisement

Why are we usually so afraid to be chastised or to chastise someone else? I personally find it very hard to tell someone that I think they may be wrong and I really don’t understand why that is.

The Bible tells us plainly in Hebrews 12:8

“But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

It would appear that we should be offended if we didn’t receive chastisement but that isn’t the case.

I have to admit that my first reaction to chastisement is to retaliate. I tell myself that I am good or that I had prayed over the issue or made a reasonable decision or some other excuse but (woe is me) I still found myself under chastisement. In other words ole’ pride steps up and I get offended.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:11

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

Perhaps we will tell ourselves that we didn’t deserve the rebuke but does it really matter whether or not we felt it was deserved? In 1st Peter 2:20 the Bible tells us.

“For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”

Anyway who is to say we were not deserving of the chastisement from our brothers? Again the Bible guides us through this reaction to chastisement.

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 16:25

When my brothers in Christ offer Godly chastisement they are attempting to help me. When they offer Godly rebuke it means they cared enough to do it. As we have discussed, it is hard to rebuke a brother or sister. But if you are under Godly chastisement, that is chastisement based on the scriptures, then rejoice because God is dealing with you!

Of course it is so much sweeter to commend than to chastise, but chastisement “yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness”. So I would like to challenge each of us to practice chastisement, when it is based on the scriptures. This advice may seem strange in our world of hypersensitivity but we are not of this world but of the spirit.

Those that chastise must remember that unless the rebuke is based clearly within the scriptures then it becomes a meaningless and proud gesture of our own beliefs and not God’s.

Remember what the Bible tells us in Romans 14:4

“Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.”

I suppose what it boils down to is studying the Word. How else could we possibly know when we should chastise and when we shouldn't?

Because most of us haven't studied our Bibles to begin with, our chastisement is usually nothing but our own pride and lustful desires blurting out in an angry attack on our friends.

If we don't know what we are talking about then we should begin by chastising ourselves. Then read the Bible (KJV) and pray and learn the ways of the Lord and drop our own ways.

Eternity

I was listening to a preacher not long ago talking about eternity and how it would be unfair that Cain killed only one person (Abel) and has been in hell for 5000 years longer than Hitler who had millions killed.

He believes that hell is not "eternal" in the sense that it never ends but that it only lasts long enough to completely destroy the wicked, body and soul. (Which would be eternity for them at least.)

Now, while I don’t agree with this man’s view on Hell he did get me to thinking about eternity. What does it mean to be in eternity? Could it be that God had actually committed Cain to 5000 extra years of damnation and Hitler has only had 60 or so years down there? It just didn’t seem right.

Well, of course it isn’t right, but it isn’t the easiest thing to understand, as you can imagine. Even the beautiful song "Amazing Grace" leads us down this path when it states: "when we’ve been there 10,000 years…"

How can we understand eternity? Is it possible to be there 10,000 years? Is it possible for Cain to be there longer than Hitler?

You must first realize that there is no comparison that can be made between time and eternity. We want to think of eternity as a long, long, long, long time but we miss the point. Eternity has nothing to do with time whatsoever.

When we get to heaven we will already have been there as long as anyone else and we will stay there as long as anyone else, that is the nature of eternity. If it never ends then it never had a beginning. Am I losing anyone yet?

Brother Kent Hovind offered this example on one of his DVD classes: Think of this. In mathematics a line is described as going forever in both directions and a ray begins at one point and then goes forever in only one direction. Ask yourself, which is longer, the line or the ray? Of course neither is longer. They both go for eternity.

So just as the ray is as long as the line so is Hitler in the same boat as Cain, neither has been there longer than the other. In fact, the words "longer" or "shorter" have no meaning in regard to eternity. (Assuming Hitler and Cain are even there, God may have forgiven them, we don’t know for sure yet)

Of course there is no real way to completely understand what eternity is. I believe it is something that must be experienced before it can be fully understood. As the Apostle Paul states In 1^st Corinthians

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

Glory to God! I look forward to that day.

We only see partly but then we will see in full. The things of God are far above our meager ability to understand. I am glad I am saved by his grace and through his precious blood. That one day soon we will experience a day that never begins or will never end.

Using Our Talents

I often think of what the Bible tells us of in Matthew 25:14-30 when Jesus explains

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods."

This is a beautiful parable that I encourage you to read to better understand what I am writing. Jesus goes on here to explain to us that we should use the talents given to us.

I found out that a talent isn’t what we might think it is, rather it was a unit of measure that was used to measure, among other things, gold and silver. I found that one talent of gold could be worth as much as 3 million dollars today if you factor in exchange rates and inflation. Could you imagine receiving 3 million dollars and simply burying it in the earth and accomplishing nothing? We begin to see why the lord was so upset with the slothful servant.

So, one talent really was quite a lot and I think we are similarly blessed with the "talents" that we are given. It is interesting that the word "talent" is used since to us the word "talent" means "abilities". We can easily translate this to mean that those with many talents will accomplish many things and those with few talents will accomplish few things but whether we are given many talents or few talents we should not bury any of them in the earth.

I am guilty for many years of not using my talents. I would often see preachers preaching boldly or doorknockers going house to house or someone effortlessly striking up a conversation with someone about Christ. I saw people with great skills of organization and networking gather large numbers of people together to forward the message of Christ. Praise God for all these.

I would see all these and when I tried to also accomplish these things I would fall flat and fail miserably. I am a quiet person and find it hard to preach or knock doors or even strike up a simple conversation. I can barely organize my thoughts much less put together a team of people so I began to shy away from doing my part. I felt like I was beating a dead horse and getting nowhere.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well, first I believe we should confess our faults and shortcomings but also to let you know that through writing I have found a talent that I can use for the Lord. It is easy for me to write down my thoughts and ideas. My mind is too slow often times to think of details quickly during a conversation but in writing I give myself time to think out what I need to say.

So if you can preach then preach, if you can sing then sing, if you’re a people person then talk with people, if you know how to organize then organize. Whatever you enjoy and that which comes easy for you are your talents. They are not hard to spot when you look at them that way.

If you are good at it then do it and do it for the glory of Christ. Please don’t spend a lot of time trying to do things that others are good at like I did for so long but rather do that which you are good at.

The Lamb of God

Have you ever wondered why Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb of God?

Well, in Old Testament the Lord gave the Jewish people several feast days which they observed to serve God in the Law of Moses. These days were known as Sabbath days or "rest days". During these Sabbath days the people would bring lambs to sacrifice upon the altar of God.

The Passover was one of the greatest days given to the Jewish people. If you recall this day signified when the death angel passed over those who had blood on their doorposts before Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. The blood came from a lamb that they had sacrificed earlier that night.

When Jesus sat down with his disciples in the upper room it was to celebrate this traditional feast day called Passover. Throughout the years the Jewish people had celebrated this day and Jesus wanted to celebrate it with his disciples since they also kept the law.

Later that evening Jesus was taken by those sent by the chief priests and scribes and elders. He was taken before many courts, until they finally convinced Pilate that he should be crucified.

He died on a cross at the ninth hour on the feast day of Passover. So while the Jews were sacrificing actual lambs for the their sins, Jesus became the true lamb and fulfilled the old covenant and that is why we call him the Lamb of God.

Suffering Wrongfully

“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”
1st Peter 2: 19-21

Why do we often keep silent when the chance to witness to someone comes up? What hinders us? Are we worried that someone will get angry with us or ridicule us? Are we afraid we might get tripped up in our own words because we don’t know the Bible well enough? Do we simply not believe in the true sense?

Whatever reasons we have I would pray that we could realize what an honor it is to suffer for a conscience toward God.

Perhaps the coworker or acquaintance who zeroes in on your every fault, trying to make fun and embarrass you, is in reality a blessing from God that gives you the opportunity to suffer for his name’s sake. Is this so hard to believe?

We know there are angels among us unawares, why do we assume angels always do nice things for us and never give us challenging opportunities. Perhaps we are being tested of God, do we pass that test?

I pray that we would pass that test. I believe this is a serious issue with God; souls are on the line today friends. God bless you all!