LET…. MY…. PEOPLE…. GO !!

 

Chapter thirty-five

Lord Jesus often understated but never exaggerated. “The truth” couldn’t and didn’t embellish. So His use of the word exceedingly, which He used only on two occasions, should grab our attention. The first time was at “a place called Gethsemane”. Jesus said, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” Perhaps He knew tomorrow’s agony would be more than the Roman’s whip, the crown of thorns, the nails, the spittle, the mockery and betrayal. Perhaps this pure and spotless “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” was fully aware that very soon He would bear “our sins in His own body on the tree”. How dreadful – the Sinless bearing man’s putrid sins.

The only other time our Lord used the word exceedingly was when He told those privileged to suffer persecution “falsely for My sake” to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” I say to you my brothers-in-Christ, if you dare abandon and thus disgrace the ‘reputable’ religion that certified you as their qualified representative you will be the target of scorn and ridicule and exclusion. But…. but…. but “rejoice and be exceeding glad”! (Not just glad, but exceedingly

glad!) “For great is your reward in heaven.” I hope you find these words encouraging.

PART FOUR of an imaginary sermon

I know my words this morning startle most of you. You expected another sunday-morning spiritual massage, not a message that totally upsets life-as-is. But how can I set you free unless I convince you that you are not free, that you have been captivated by religion and religion’s religionists.

I encourage you to listen to Lord Jesus: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Truth sets free, be it truth that soothes or truth that stings. The question is not, “Is my message disturbing?” but rather, “Are my words truthful?” Amen?

I desperately want you to rediscover what I recently rediscovered, intimacy with our extremely precious Jesus. Jesus said more than once, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you have “ears to hear”? You listened to me while drawing you relationally distant from Jesus; will you listen to me now as I attempt to draw you back to Jesus?

I say to each one of you: Before you is a life much better than the life you are now living. I repeat: Before you is a better life than the one you now experience. That better life is available whether or not you choose to receive it. Not just better but much, much better. “That great Shepherd of the sheep” wants to lead you to much healthier pasture. You once grazed contentedly in this pasturage but were snatched away by religionists, such as myself, and brought to an inferior grazing ground.

While I set you free from the tight grip I held over your christianity, only you can set yourself free from all religion and all religionists. My brothers- and sisters-in-Christ, you have a choice to make. God gave you a free will and He won’t trespass that free will. The choice is not God’s but yours. The wealth of your eternity, and perhaps that of those you influence, is in your hands.

To return to that better life you once had when first “born of the Spirit” you must do what I did: repent, recommit, reform. Repent of your betrayal to Christ, recommit yourself to Christ, reform your life in accordance to Christ’s ways and will and words.

Are you with me? Do you have “ears to hear”? If so, the first thing to do is….

Repent. The word repent appears intermittently throughout the Bible because repentance was often necessary. God frequently called disobedient Israelites to repentance. John (the baptist) called “the Pharisees and Sadducees” to renounce their hypocrisy. Jesus called the churches in Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea to repent. Paul called the wayward Galatians to repentance. (“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ.”) And Paul often brought correction to the Corinthians who were”still carnal.”

A sad reality: Christians often stray from from Christ. (“Many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”) Judas betrayed “the Son of Man with a kiss”. Peter denied Christ. (“I do not know the Man!”) Paul: “The evil I will not to do, that I practice.” And you and I have strayed far from the intimate and fruitful bond we once had with the Lord Jesus, and you must confront that reality. I am not talking condemnation; I am talking conviction. (Jesus: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.”)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Because there are degrees of sincerity there are degrees of repentance. We can repent fervently (“Peter went out and wept bitterly”), casually, or somewhere in- between. Because I want to bring you to deep repentance – so that you can be completely free – I am going to confront you with harsh realities….

You and I did what God warned us not to do: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength.” We transferred much of our trust from Jesus Christ and redirected that trust unto man. We made very fallible “flesh” our strength, our leaning post, our teacher. Also….

Jesus taught (Matthew, chapter 7) that the “wise man” is the one who hears His words and builds his life on those words. Instead we were, in many ways, the “foolish man” who heard His words and built our lives on variant words. The words of Christ are the words of the Father (Jesus: “Your word is truth”) and the words of “the Spirit of truth”.

Their words are Bible words. Man’s words are the plus of Bible-plus words. You and I wasted the biggest part of our christianity building on man’s destructive pluses, “commandments of men”. Also….

Within the party of the pharisees were some who believed in Jesus but “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Yes, they loved “the praise of God” but they “loved the praise of men more”. The one we love most can be identified by the one we obey. Also….

Instead of being governed by the Holy Spirit who “will guide you into all truth” we submitted to religionists who compete with the Holy Spirit for governance over our christianity. Also….

Jesus is “that great shepherd of the sheep”, the very “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. Yet many time we have referred to fellow christians as our shepherd by addressing them as Pastor. What could be more grievous to the One “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree”? Also….

We must freely admit that – like the Ephesians, like the Galatians, like several other New Testament churches and like every christian who attaches himself to the evangelical religion or any other religion – we have left our “first love”. We dethroned Jesus and seated a person or a religion or “earthly treasures” in His place. Also….

We carelessly neglected the admonition of Jesus to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”. Instead we used our energy and ingenuity to do precisely what He told us not to do: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.” Also….

Even though Lord Jesus empowers us to stand firm against all sin (“My grace is sufficient for you”) and even though God “will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able”, we nonetheless capitulated to the influence of the majority to keep lockstep with them.

Yes, we have every reason to be genuinely repentant. A cursory (superficial) repentance is an insult to “who Himself bore our sins”. While a fervent repentance leads to a fervent recommitment to Lord Jesus, a casual repentance will, at best, lead to a casual recommitment.

Recommitment. Do you agree that the husband who refuses to recommit himself to his spouse is indicative of a troubled marriage? And do you agree that the christian who refuses to recommit him/herself to Jesus Christ is indicative of an unsound christianity? (And do you agree that as the selfish husband endangers the marriage, the selfish christian endangers his/her salvation?)

Recommitment to Jesus Christ should be made while kneeling. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” If you refuse to kneel before Christ you are not yet ready to recommit yourselves to Christ.

Wait until you are. Jesus hates apathy.

The wise christian recommits his/her entirety to Jesus daily. Do you agree that the marriage whereby both spouses daily recommit themselves to each other and to their marriage vows will never end in divorce? If so, do you also agree that the christian who daily recommits him/herself to Jesus Christ will never backslide. will never again be abducted by religionists will become (one of relative few) “fishers of men” will lay up an abundance of eternal “treasures in heaven”?

Is refusal to recommit oneself to Jesus Christ a sure sign of immorality? Isn’t commitment to another person spiritual adultery? Isn’t refusing to say yes to Jesus saying no to Jesus? Something to think about?

You must understand that commitment to Christ is commitment to the Bible. The Bible contains Christ’s ways, Christ’s will, and Christ’s words. It is folly to think you can submit to the lordship of Jesus without submitting to Scripture (to the degree of your understanding, not the understanding of another). Your knowledge and understanding will increase to the degree you submit to “the Spirit of truth”.

If you are lethargic in your commitment to Scripture you are in danger of losing (again!) your freedom. Be alert to the reality that you are surrounded by ravenous (no shame intended) religionists – both advocates of religion behind pulpits and those seated next to you in pews – wanting to slurp you up. Make a sincere (repeat, sincere) decision to always choose God’s word over “commandments of men”. If you are indeed genuine you have no reason to hesitate signing the last page of the Bible – in the presence of the Father, Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit – as a solemn declaration of your determination to choose the Bible over religion.

And now we must talk reform.

Reform: “an improvement, especially in a person’s behaviour or in the structure of something.” (Cambridge)

You have heard it said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” To protect your newly upgraded relationship with the Lord Jesus (should you come to a decision to sincerely recommit your entire being to Him) you can’t be “doing the same thing over and over again”. Amen?

A christianity that is not patterned after Christ’s ways and will and words will bear little fruit. “Treasures in heaven” will be scant. “The judgment seat of Christ” will be grievous. May it sink deep in your heart that Jesus is giving you a new beginning. “Old things [should] have passed away.” You don’t want to ever again contaminate your christianity with “doctrines of demons”.

Obvious questions: “Now what?…. how do I live?…. what do I do?…. what don’t I do?”

To be a qualified disciple of Jesus Christ that bears much fruit (“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit”) you must rid yourself of the religious strongholds that have done you so-o-o-o much dirt. It took a long time to get these religious strongholds and it will take time to get rid of them. And this you do by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by self-effort. (“The just shall live by faith.”) Now I have some suggestions for your consideration….

Renounce institutionalism. The Holy Spirit cannot guide an institutionalized christian. Calendar christianity is not fruitful christianity. You need not know what tomorrow brings. Intellect and reason must never replace the governance of the Holy Spirit.

Pursue Christ. Discover more fully the One you have discovered. Catch the One you have caught. Know the One you know. (Paul: “That I may know Him.”) Increased intimacy, that’s the objective of your remainder earth years. More of Him, more of Him, more of Him.

More of Jesus translates into more of every good thing…. more fruit…. more converts…. more love and peace and joy more “treasures in heaven”…. a favorable account at the judgment seat more of every good thing.

Deepening your intimacy is not something you do collectively. It is not Jesus-and-us but rather Jesus-and-me.

Again I stress that more of Jesus should be every christian’s determination. Warning: If it’s not more it will be less. You are continually changing. If you are not changing for the better then you will change for the worse. More of Jesus for the determined, less of Jesus for the lethargic.

Speak Jesus. It’s easy to speak God – even the world speaks God – but it’s not easy to speak Jesus. That’s why christians seldom speak that name. When is the last time you spoke the name of Jesus in conversation? In your last social gathering with other christians, did anyone mention that name?

It takes courage to speak Christ, but it gets easier as you do. Eventually it will come effortlessly, but in the meantime you may have to compel yourself to speak that “name which is above every name”. Speaking Jesus will bring you relationally closer to Jesus it really will.

Alone Time. Alone time with Jesus. Just you and Him. The two of you. Early in the morning when your place of residence is quiet.

The value of this alone time with Lord Jesus cannot be exaggerated. John 15:5: “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” To bear “much fruit” you must practice abiding. Not just occasional visits, but a continual dwelling in the awareness of His Presence (realizing He is in any space you occupy). Your morning alone time will help you develop this holy intimacy with the very “King of Kings and Lord of lords”.

Don’t build. Psalm 127:1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” I heard it said, “The hardest thing to do is nothing.” We like to do, to build, to accomplish. It is agony for those controlled by the flesh to “Be still, and know that I am God.”

A soldier stands still and quiet before the general busy at his desk. He is on standby. If the general doesn’t give an assignment the soldier does nothing but wait. He doesn’t leave, doesn’t make himself busy, doesn’t ask questions or offer opinions. He waits. Likewise “a good soldier of Jesus Christ” is to be on standby (this regarding public, not private ministry), waiting for an assignment. His business is to do the Lord’s bidding; anything else is none of his business. When your assignment comes – and it will come – consider it a holy thing to be dutifully exercised. Your faithfulness will lead to further assignments.

“Walk in the Spirit.” The opposite of walking in the Spirit is walking in the flesh. The percent of christians fully submitted to the governance of the most Holy Spirit is almost zero. (Seriously, it’s almost zero.) To walk in the Spirit is to swim upstream. There can be no man-pleasing. no compromising…. no “commandments of men”. And….

And there will be no failures. The Holy Spirit does not, cannot, fail. Never made a mistake and never will. You must understand and embrace God’s order of command: Jesus…. Holy Spirit you. Repeat: God’s order of government is Jesus…. Holy Spirit you.

If you attend church sunday morning let it be by the urging of the Holy Spirit. No more calendar christianity. The Holy Spirit cannot guide an institutionalized christian. You don’t need to know what tomorrow brings. Remember, you are no longer the lord of your life. You repented and reinstated Jesus on the throne of your christianity. He directs you through the Holy Spirit whom He sent to you. Amen?

Be defensive. You have seen pictures of knights in armor; that’s should be you when (if) attending sunday morning service. (“Put on the full armor of God.”) That church gathering is congested with religionists who captured you before and will tirelessly go after you again.

Good things happen in church gatherings. It seems there is a palpable presence of the Holy Spirit when christians congregate. Jesus: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” This visitation of the Lord is rarely strong – mostly the people are gathered unto each other and not unto Lord Jesus – but feeble is better than nothing. Also, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” An anointed sermon (no, not all sermons are anointed or even truthful) increases faith in our Lord Jesus.

And bad things happen in church gatherings. Sitting sunday after sunday after sunday in a pew, a religious stronghold slowly grips you, a religious mindset that says your place is the pew, not the pulpit. not any pulpit. And you surmise that the fellow controlling the microphone is called by God to be the preacher/teacher. When you accept that you belong where you are and he belongs where he is, you victimize yourself. You see yourself as his ministry. He gains your confidence and loyalty. You assimilate his religion. Instead of imitating New Testament teachers (Paul: “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ”) you imitate this denominational appointee.

Important: If you think you are obligated to attend sunday services you are still in bondage. Refusing to sit silently in a non-biblical pew listening to a non-biblical salaried pastor in a preprogrammed service is not trespassing, as many suggest, Hebrews 10:25:“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”. (That verse goes on to say, “but exhorting one another”.) When the writer wrote those words there was no such thing as denominational hierarchy, evangelicalism, a programmed ‘service’, a one-man ministry.

Prepare to preach. I and many others have taught you, through insinuation and inference, that you are not called to preach. By not admonishing you to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” to the world Jesus died for and to Christ’s church, we actually taught you not to. (Bonhoeffer: “To not speak is to speak.”) Bear with me as I emphasize this vital reality….

1) We convinced you that we are your God-ordained pastors, and 2) as such, you concluded, we certainly would have admonished you to preach if that was God’s will, and 3) therefore, you have wrongfully concluded, you are not called by God to preach. This is a crippling mindset that will be hard to drive away. But you must because….

The Great Commission is your commission. And you must give an account to Lord Jesus for your response to this mandate. The Great Commission necessitates preaching. You are called to preach, to teach, to evangelize, to admonish, to correct. Not convinced? Read the New Testament. You can either pattern yourself after the twelve, Paul, Timothy, James, Stephen, Phillip, Titus, etcetera, or you can pattern yourself after today’s evangelical (so-called) laity. The choice is yours.

The first time you preach will be the scariest. After that it will get progressively easier. Don’t preach religion. Don’t preach church. Preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Don’t imitate anyone and don’t charge a nickel. (“Freely you have received, freely give.”) Memorize the most relevant verses. Consider yourself Christ’s representative. (“We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us.”) Let the stern reality that heaven and hell are the only two destinations for every living person permeate your christianity. Persuade the godless to come to Christ and persuade the lukewarm to return to “first love”.

Prepare to encounter your Judge.

Prepare for the account you must give to your Lord and Judge.

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” The judgment seat isn’t a maybe but a certainty, more certain than your next birthday.

The obvious reality that most are not preparing for that day is no sane reason for you not to prepare. The reason you never heard me mention the judgment seat of Christ over the years is because of a foreboding most institutionalized pastors have; it’s impossible to regularly fleece Christ’s sheep of money and loyalty without conviction of malpractice. (“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit.”) Never forget…..

Without the leadership of the Holy Spirit – “He will not speak on His own authority, but what He hears [from Jesus] He will speak” – you have no chance of completing that high calling Jesus and His Father have long ago placed on your life. Without sensitivity to the Holy Spirit you cannot bear “much fruit”; your appearance before the “judgment seat of Christ” will be an embarrassment.

Before my closing remarks I want to assure you of my availability to speak one-to-one to anyone wanting to discuss this matter further, not as a pastor but as a brother-in-Christ.

And now, in closing, I will condense in a few simple words the content of my message delivered to you out of duty…. out of love and out of concern for your eternal well-being….

Before you is a better life than the one you are living. You can go after this better life or keep the one you have. Note that I have not pointed you to a man or to men or to another religion, but to the very “Lord of lords”. To choose Christ will take courage. Whatever your choice, there will be eternal consequences. Those consequences will be fully realized at “the judgment seat of Christ”.

My last words to you from this pulpit: The judgment seat is coming! The judgment seat is coming! The judgment seat is coming!

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Continuation of Richard’s chilling vision of the Judgment Seat of Christ…..

From Me to You

Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! This is the word I want to speak to you. I speak Jesus to you. Not a sermon. Not admonition. Not advice. But I speak Jesus to you.

Jesus saved you. Jesus hung suspended between heaven and earth by three nails bearing your sins “on his own body on the tree.” Jesus is the only one who died for you. Do not spend your life impressing anyone else. Do not serve yourself. Do not be a foolish man who heard the words of Jesus but built his life on the words of another. Your house will surely fall. If you build your life on the words of anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ, your Christian life will end up in comparative poverty. Yes, you may make it “as by fire.” But you will suffer loss. You will be eternally poorer than the man who heard the words of Christ and had the wisdom to build on His words.

Can you not see Jesus in the garden sweating drops of blood? Can you not picture Jesus suffering rejection before Pilate on your behalf? See Him now. Jesus being disrobed, left naked in shame. Spit upon. Crowned with thorns. Sneered at. His hands and feet pierced through with nails.

He cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Jesus taking your place and mine so that we would not suffer eternal damnation.

It is this Person that you have put your trust in to save you. It is this Jesus who promises rewards for faithfulness. It is this Jesus who loves you and aches to give you priceless eternal rewards. It is this Jesus that cries out to you now. It is His voice alone that matters. Jesus calls you to turn from your dead works and build on His words.

Would you reject your Christ to build on the words of another? It is the I am that calls you. It is the Eternal One who reasons with you to turn from dead works. It is He who longs to have you complete the course that He laid upon your life.

There is an appointed time for you to stand before this Jesus. You will have to give Jesus an account. Paul declared, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” The terror of the Lord. Though blood- washed, though His adopted, you will witness the terror of the Lord if you appear fruitless at the judgement seat.

Jesus will deliver you from any hindrance from doing His will. Jesus is on your side. Jesus does not condemn His own, but out of His agape love He would warn you of the certain tragedy that you are walking into if your life is consumed with laying up treasures in this life.

“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Help me to hear Your words! Jesus, help me to prepare for that day of accountability. Jesus, I want to have the rewards that You want me to have. Jesus, let me feel the impact of Your words; may they move me, change me, challenge me. Jesus, help me turn from dead works and selfish pleasures. Jesus.”