I get scripture readings sent to my email every day from a preacher (and good teacher) that I consider to be one of the best whose name is James McDonald, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel with campuses in various parts of Illinois.
Today's scripture was 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 in which Paul uses the term "the natural man." I woke up this morning, before reading this scripture, thinking about the two types of people who sadden and concern me the most.
There is the Christian who is living in sin, some of whom still attend church and some who have not attended in some time, yet both of which, even while living in sin, still believe they are Christians.
And there are the people, the un-churched and un-saved, who think they are "good" just as they are, who say they trust in God, and yet who think there's a little too much emphasis on Jesus these days and not enough on God.
And I realized that with both types of people upon whom my heart focused this morning, Paul's "natural man" of 1 Corinthians 2 is at work: the "natural man" being the one who is not able to discern spiritual truths because God hasn't opened the eyes of the natural man to see.
This is easier to understand in the man who is lost because we have all been there...lost and didn't know it. Lost, while thinking we were good with God. Lost, while extolling our generosities to others: our "good works." Lost, even while busy having intellectual conversation about God and the things of God about which we thought we knew so much.
But still just lost. And we didn't become saved, as Pastor MacDonald pointed out in his message this morning, until God intervened. We understand that because we experienced it, and we know that it is true!
But what is more difficult for me to understand is that once we have tasted of the goodness of God, we can actually become blinded again. Sin can blind us. It's called deception.
And even though I also experienced this, I still don't understand exactly how I got there, except that it might have been because I let something called "deception" into my heart for just a moment....just one small moment...and it grabbed hold and remained for a long time.
Or perhaps I just wasn't saved...not really. I experienced it, and I still don't have a clear picture of how it happened...how I let it happen. But I know that sin and the flesh were involved.
Thankfully, the Lord delivered me from the sin that held me and kept me for a long season. And I can devote many postings (and might still) on what "saved" really means and are we as saved as we think we are sometimes?
But the point today is that I see others living in that deception. And their position in Christ lies even heavier on my heart than the lost (and the lost are heavy on my heart!). I think this is because I have been there, and I have tasted of the fruit of that deception and it is bitter! And I want to warn them, and have often tried, but they are deceived and will not receive the truth....not yet. Not until God releases them from the deception, just as He must release from deception those who are lost. His Word says that He will draw men unto Himself. He must intervene. It is always God who finds us when we are lost, not the other way around.
I know that the most stated example of the lost is the prodigal son, and perhaps that can apply as well to the Christian who has, for a dangerous season at least, has turned away from following Jesus, and is following their own way. But I think the best example, and one I have used often, is that of the Israelites in the desert. The ones who had been slaves under extremely harsh conditions for 400 years, and were delivered, given their freedom and their sustenance by the mighty hand of God as demonstrated through His servants, Moses and Aaron. And yet, they complained because they didn't have meat.
They had manna from heaven, miraculously delivered to their doors practically, but their flesh cried out for the things of their past. They wanted meat and began praising the virtues of their past enslavement, even suggesting that they were better off back then in slavery, as their flesh began to take control of them.
So God gave them meat. But He gave it with a warning that said (paraphrasing): "You want meat? You will have what you want until it comes out your nose!" In other words, until you are so stuffed with it that you vomit it out your nose! Rather disgusting, but perhaps it describes the Lord's own disgust with such an ungrateful people. Here are His actual words to be delivered through Moses to the people:
"And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore, the Lord will give you flesh and you shall eat it. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?" (Numbers 11:18-20)
And such was I once. And such are many Christians today who are not living in holiness according to the Spirit of God, but are living captive to the leadings of their flesh instead, whether it be of lusts, or fears, it is trusting in their own "natures" instead of trusting in God. And by the things in which they place their trust, whether in themselves or in others, but not in the Lord, they show that they despise God.
They are indistinguishable from the world, and yet even the world is able to see the hypocrisy under which these Christians are leading a double-life. And so the witness of Jesus Christ in these Christians, of which I was once one, is distorted. And many who might have been saved through the power of the testimony of Jesus Christ in these individuals, instead remain lost....and glad that they aren't "Christians" like these!
I bring this up today, the day before Thanksgiving, along with my prayers for this national holiday:
"We praise your name, LORD, even as we cry out, please, Abba, Father, please open their eyes to see again, or to see for the first time. Please draw them all unto you. The time is so short. Much lies ahead for which we will need your Spirit to lead us and to strengthen us. Prepare the way for us and for those who have turned away for a season. Let that season of captivity to their flesh be shortened, I plead. Have mercy on those who have turned away and on those who have never come to know you. Have mercy on those who outright reject the most precious gift they have ever been given. Have mercy on those who have trampled underfoot the sacrifice that You, GOD, made for their sakes....the life of your only-begotten Son in exhange for their own lives...for my own life. Cause us all to remember with grateful hearts what is most important to always alway always be thankful for: Your Son, Jesus Christ....without whom we cannot even speak to you, Father, for your Word says you will not hear us while we are in sin; you hear only the repentant and the humble: turned away from sin and trusting in Jesus instead of ourselves. Thank you for the blood of Your Son shed on the cross for us, by which we have been washed clean from our sins. Keep us under the blood of Jesus Christ, under the blood of Yeshua, Ha-Mashiach! Thank you for your goodness and love towards us! And come soon, LORD, come soon. Amen"
Have a Thanksgiving that is blessed by God! Remain ever mindful of Him!
Today's scripture was 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 in which Paul uses the term "the natural man." I woke up this morning, before reading this scripture, thinking about the two types of people who sadden and concern me the most.
There is the Christian who is living in sin, some of whom still attend church and some who have not attended in some time, yet both of which, even while living in sin, still believe they are Christians.
And there are the people, the un-churched and un-saved, who think they are "good" just as they are, who say they trust in God, and yet who think there's a little too much emphasis on Jesus these days and not enough on God.
And I realized that with both types of people upon whom my heart focused this morning, Paul's "natural man" of 1 Corinthians 2 is at work: the "natural man" being the one who is not able to discern spiritual truths because God hasn't opened the eyes of the natural man to see.
This is easier to understand in the man who is lost because we have all been there...lost and didn't know it. Lost, while thinking we were good with God. Lost, while extolling our generosities to others: our "good works." Lost, even while busy having intellectual conversation about God and the things of God about which we thought we knew so much.
But still just lost. And we didn't become saved, as Pastor MacDonald pointed out in his message this morning, until God intervened. We understand that because we experienced it, and we know that it is true!
But what is more difficult for me to understand is that once we have tasted of the goodness of God, we can actually become blinded again. Sin can blind us. It's called deception.
And even though I also experienced this, I still don't understand exactly how I got there, except that it might have been because I let something called "deception" into my heart for just a moment....just one small moment...and it grabbed hold and remained for a long time.
Or perhaps I just wasn't saved...not really. I experienced it, and I still don't have a clear picture of how it happened...how I let it happen. But I know that sin and the flesh were involved.
Thankfully, the Lord delivered me from the sin that held me and kept me for a long season. And I can devote many postings (and might still) on what "saved" really means and are we as saved as we think we are sometimes?
But the point today is that I see others living in that deception. And their position in Christ lies even heavier on my heart than the lost (and the lost are heavy on my heart!). I think this is because I have been there, and I have tasted of the fruit of that deception and it is bitter! And I want to warn them, and have often tried, but they are deceived and will not receive the truth....not yet. Not until God releases them from the deception, just as He must release from deception those who are lost. His Word says that He will draw men unto Himself. He must intervene. It is always God who finds us when we are lost, not the other way around.
I know that the most stated example of the lost is the prodigal son, and perhaps that can apply as well to the Christian who has, for a dangerous season at least, has turned away from following Jesus, and is following their own way. But I think the best example, and one I have used often, is that of the Israelites in the desert. The ones who had been slaves under extremely harsh conditions for 400 years, and were delivered, given their freedom and their sustenance by the mighty hand of God as demonstrated through His servants, Moses and Aaron. And yet, they complained because they didn't have meat.
They had manna from heaven, miraculously delivered to their doors practically, but their flesh cried out for the things of their past. They wanted meat and began praising the virtues of their past enslavement, even suggesting that they were better off back then in slavery, as their flesh began to take control of them.
So God gave them meat. But He gave it with a warning that said (paraphrasing): "You want meat? You will have what you want until it comes out your nose!" In other words, until you are so stuffed with it that you vomit it out your nose! Rather disgusting, but perhaps it describes the Lord's own disgust with such an ungrateful people. Here are His actual words to be delivered through Moses to the people:
"And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore, the Lord will give you flesh and you shall eat it. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?" (Numbers 11:18-20)
And such was I once. And such are many Christians today who are not living in holiness according to the Spirit of God, but are living captive to the leadings of their flesh instead, whether it be of lusts, or fears, it is trusting in their own "natures" instead of trusting in God. And by the things in which they place their trust, whether in themselves or in others, but not in the Lord, they show that they despise God.
They are indistinguishable from the world, and yet even the world is able to see the hypocrisy under which these Christians are leading a double-life. And so the witness of Jesus Christ in these Christians, of which I was once one, is distorted. And many who might have been saved through the power of the testimony of Jesus Christ in these individuals, instead remain lost....and glad that they aren't "Christians" like these!
I bring this up today, the day before Thanksgiving, along with my prayers for this national holiday:
"We praise your name, LORD, even as we cry out, please, Abba, Father, please open their eyes to see again, or to see for the first time. Please draw them all unto you. The time is so short. Much lies ahead for which we will need your Spirit to lead us and to strengthen us. Prepare the way for us and for those who have turned away for a season. Let that season of captivity to their flesh be shortened, I plead. Have mercy on those who have turned away and on those who have never come to know you. Have mercy on those who outright reject the most precious gift they have ever been given. Have mercy on those who have trampled underfoot the sacrifice that You, GOD, made for their sakes....the life of your only-begotten Son in exhange for their own lives...for my own life. Cause us all to remember with grateful hearts what is most important to always alway always be thankful for: Your Son, Jesus Christ....without whom we cannot even speak to you, Father, for your Word says you will not hear us while we are in sin; you hear only the repentant and the humble: turned away from sin and trusting in Jesus instead of ourselves. Thank you for the blood of Your Son shed on the cross for us, by which we have been washed clean from our sins. Keep us under the blood of Jesus Christ, under the blood of Yeshua, Ha-Mashiach! Thank you for your goodness and love towards us! And come soon, LORD, come soon. Amen"
Have a Thanksgiving that is blessed by God! Remain ever mindful of Him!
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