The New Flower And Fruitage Of The Risen Life!

Christ Has Set Us Free

Gal 5:1-26.   IN [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].

2  Notice, it is I, Paul, who tells you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no profit (advantage, avail) to you [for if you distrust Him, you can gain nothing from Him].

3  I once more protest and testify to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation and bound to practice the whole of the Law and its ordinances.

4  If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace (from God's gracious favor and unmerited blessing).

5  For we, [not relying on the Law but] through the [Holy] Spirit's [help], by faith anticipate and wait for the blessing and good for which our righteousness and right standing with God [our conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action, causes us] to hope.

6  For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

7  You were running the race nobly. Who has interfered in (hindered and stopped you from) your heeding and following the Truth?

8  This [evil] persuasion is not from Him Who called you [Who invited you to freedom in Christ].

9  A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church].

10  [For my part] I have confidence [toward you] in the Lord that you will take no contrary view of the matter but will come to think with me. But he who is unsettling you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.

11  But, brethren, if I still preach circumcision [as some accuse me of doing, as necessary to salvation], why am I still suffering persecution? In that case the cross has ceased to be a stumbling block and is made meaningless (done away).

12  I wish those who unsettle and confuse you would [go all the way and] cut themselves off!

13  For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another.

14  For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. [Lev 19:18]

15  But if you bite and devour one another [in partisan strife], be careful that you [and your whole fellowship] are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

16  But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).

17  For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.

18  But if you are guided (led) by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.

19  Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency,

20  Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies),

21  Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22  But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,

23  Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].(Controlled by The Holy Spirit Of Christ!)

24  And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

25  If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

26  Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:1-12

HOLD FAST YOUR FREEDOM 

We are free. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed, though not free to disobey the dictates and promptings of our new nature. We are set free from minute prescriptions, from priestly rules and requisitions, from all that would cramp and hinder our spiritual development; but we are still under the law of Christ, who will see to it that the essential righteousness of the Mosaic law is fulfilled in us, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Rom 8:1.

If the Mosaic law is kept as a means of salvation, we must fulfill it all, Gal 5:3. For himself, as “we” suggests, Gal 5:5, Paul had an assured confidence that his hope could not be disappointed. Christ is ever calling us upward, Gal 5:8. Be on guard against the ferment of false teaching, Gal 5:9. The Apostle shows the absurdity of supposing that he was in favor of circumcision, since, if that were the case, the long persecution of his life would cease, Gal 5:11. These verses were in Bunyan’s mind when he depicted Mr. Worldly Wiseman, of the town of Carnal Policy, as endeavoring to turn Christian out of the Way of the Cross to the house of Mr. Legality.

Galatians 5:13-26

PRODUCE THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 

That Christ has freed us from the Law as a means of salvation does not free us from moral restraint, but brings us under the constraint of a higher law, the law of love. We do not keep this law to be saved; but, being saved, we keep it out of love toward Christ. The power of the new life is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Unite yourself with His life that you find rising up within you. Live in the Spirit. A child was much disappointed because when she took a cupful of water out of the blue lake, it did not look blue in the cup; so her teacher told her to throw the cup into the midst of the lake and leave it there. As we live and walk in the Spirit, we are safe.

The Holy Spirit brings influences to bear which act upon the germs of sin, as a disinfectant upon the germs of disease. If we yield ourselves to these influences, and are filled with the Spirit of Jesus, we shall be delivered from the self-life, which the Apostle describes as the flesh. As Jesus is more and more formed in us, the new flower and fruitage of the risen life will appear, while the corrupt works of the flesh will shrink and drop away,

Galatians 5:18

But if ye be led by the Spirit,.... That is, of God, who is the guide and leader of his people. It is a metaphor taken from the leading of persons that are blind; as such are before conversion, and whom the Spirit of God leads in ways they knew not, and in paths they had not known: or from the leading of children, and teaching them to go; so the Spirit leads regenerate persons, and teaches them to walk by faith in Christ. This act of leading supposes life in the persons led, for dead men cannot be led; the Spirit is first a Spirit of life from Christ before he is a leader; and also it supposes some strength, though a good deal of weakness; were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they could not be led; and if there was no weakness, there would be no need of leading; it is an instance of powerful and efficacious grace upon them, yet not contrary to their wills, though they are led, they are not forced; they go freely, being led, as there is good reason for it; for the Spirit of God always leads for their profit and advantage, and for the spiritual delight, pleasure, and comfort of their souls; he leads out of the ways of sin, and so of ruin and destruction, and from Mount Sinai, and all dependence on a legal and moral righteousness; he leads to Christ, to his person, for shelter, safety, and salvation, to his blood, for pardon and cleansing, to his righteousness, for justification, and to his fulness, for every supply of grace; he leads into the presence of God, and to his house and ordinances; he leads into the covenant of grace, to the blessings, promises, and Mediator of it; he leads into all truth as it is in Jesus, in the ways of faith and truth, and in the paths of righteousness and holiness, and always in a right way, though sometimes in a rough one, to the city of their habitation; he leads from one degree of grace to another, and at last to glory: all which he does gradually; he leads by little and little into a man's sinfulness, and to see his interest in Christ, and by degrees into the doctrines of the Gospel, and the everlasting love of the three Persons; and proportionally to the strength he gives, and as they are able to bear: now such persons as these have nothing to fear from the law of God:

ye are not under the law; such are not only delivered from the law in fact, but in their own apprehensions; they have the comfortable knowledge and experience of it; the law is no terrifying law to them; it works no wrath in them; they are delivered from the spirit of bondage to fear, by the Spirit of God, by whom they are led; nor are they under it, nor do they need it as a pressing forcing law to duty; they delight in it, and cheerfully serve it, being constrained by love, and not awed by fear; nor are its accusations and charges regarded, or to be regarded, by such who are led by the Spirit to Christ, the end of the law for righteousness; and they are entirely freed from its curse and condemnation, though they are under it, and desire to be under it, as held forth by Christ the King of saints; and, under the Spirit's influence and guidance, yield a cheerful and evangelical obedience to it.

Romans 8:5   (AMPC)

5  For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

A Tree and Its Fruit!

You Will Know Them By Their Fruit

Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. [Eze 22:27]

Mat 7:16  You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

Mat 7:17  Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit.

Mat 7:18  A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

Mat 7:19  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

Mat 7:20  Therefore, you will fully know them and recognise them  by their fruits.

Matthew 7:20

Wherefore by their fruits we shall know them. This is the conclusion of the whole, and a repetition of what is before said, the more to fix the rule of judgment upon their minds, and engage them to try men by their doctrines, and their doctrines by the standard of the Scriptures, and not believe every spirit; for with some care and diligence such persons may be detected, and the malignant influence of their ministry be prevented. The sum of the whole is, that ordinarily, and generally speaking, as men are, so are the doctrines they preach, and by them they may be known, and judged to be what they are. Christ here, and in the preceding verses, is speaking not of men of bad lives and conversations, who take upon them to teach others; for there is not so much reason to caution good men against these; they are easily detected, and generally discarded; but of men that put on sheep's clothing, who pretended to much holiness of life and conversation, and strictness of religion; and under that disguise delivered out the most corrupt and unwholesome doctrines; which tended greatly to depreciate him and his grace, and to do damage to the souls of men.

Matthew 7:15-20

 By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them (7:15-20)

7:15 Wherever the stern demands of true discipleship are taught, there are false prophets who advocate the wide gate and easy way. They water down the truth until, as C. H. Spurgeon said, “There is not enough left to make soup for a sick grasshopper.” These men who profess to be speaking for God come in sheep's clothing, giving the appearance of being true believers. But inwardly they are ravenous wolves, i.e., they are vicious unbelievers who prey on the immature, the unstable, and the gullible.

7:16-18 Verses 16-18 deal with the detection of the false prophets: you will know them by their fruits. Their licentious lives and destructive teachings betray them. A tree or plant produces fruit according to its character. Thornbushes cannot bear grapes; thistles do not bear figs. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. This principle is true in the natural world and in the spiritual world. The life and teaching of those who claim to speak for God should be tested by the Word of God: “If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa 8:20).

7:19, 20 The destiny of the false prophets is to be thrown into the fire. The doom of false teachers and prophets is “swift destruction” (2Pe 2:1). They can be known by their fruits.

Matthew 7:1-29

Contents: Sermon on the Mount, continued. Encouragement to prayer. The two ways. Warnings against false teachers. Danger of profession without faith. The two foundations.

Characters: God, Jesus.

Conclusion: True disciples of Christ will be men and women cautious in their judgment of others; conscious of their own faults; confident and earnest in prayer; wary of false teachers and hypocritical profession; building all eternal hopes upon the firm Rock, faith in the Word of God and Christ Jesus.

Key Word: Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:2. (Two ways, Mat 7:13, Mat 7:24, Mat 7:26.)

Strong Verses: Mat 7:1, Mat 7:2, Mat 7:7, Mat 7:8, Mat 7:12, Mat 7:15, Mat 7:21, Mat 7:24.

Striking Facts: Mat 7:22 shows that there will be among those rejected by Christ in the last days, many preachers, so-called soul winners and good moral men, simply because devoid of true faith in Christ who alone is the foundation of salvation. Beware of mere lip-devotion which signifies nothing, either here or hereafter.

What are the Fruits that God is looking for in our lives?

Gal 5:19  Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency,

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies),

Gal 5:21  Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,

Gal 5:23  Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].

Gal 5:24  And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

Gal 5:25  If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

Gal 5:26  Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:18

But if ye be led by the Spirit,.... That is, of God, who is the guide and leader of his people. It is a metaphor taken from the leading of persons that are blind; as such are before conversion, and whom the Spirit of God leads in ways they knew not, and in paths they had not known: or from the leading of children, and teaching them to go; so the Spirit leads regenerate persons, and teaches them to walk by faith in Christ. This act of leading supposes life in the persons led, for dead men cannot be led; the Spirit is first a Spirit of life from Christ before he is a leader; and also it supposes some strength, though a good deal of weakness; were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they Galatians 5:18

But if ye be led by the Spirit,.... That is, of God, who is the guide and leader of his people. It is a metaphor taken from the leading of persons that are blind; as such are before conversion, and whom the Spirit of God leads in ways they knew not, and in paths they had not known: or from the leading of children, and teaching them to go; so the Spirit leads regenerate persons, and teaches them to walk by faith in Christ. This act of leading supposes life in the persons led, for dead men cannot be led; the Spirit is first a Spirit of life from Christ before he is a leader; and also it supposes some strength, though a good deal of weakness; were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they could not be led; and if there was no weakness, there would be no need of leading; it is an instance of powerful and efficacious grace upon them, yet not contrary to their wills, though they are led, they are not forced; they go freely, being led, as there is good reason for it; for the Spirit of God always leads for their profit and advantage, and for the spiritual delight, pleasure, and comfort of their souls; he leads out of the ways of sin, and so of ruin and destruction, and from Mount Sinai, and all dependence on a legal and moral righteousness; he leads to Christ, to his person, for shelter, safety, and salvation, to his blood, for pardon and cleansing, to his righteousness, for justification, and to his fulness, for every supply of grace; he leads into the presence of God, and to his house and ordinances; he leads into the covenant of grace, to the blessings, promises, and Mediator of it; he leads into all truth as it is in Jesus, in the ways of faith and truth, and in the paths of righteousness and holiness, and always in a right way, though sometimes in a rough one, to the city of their habitation; he leads from one degree of grace to another, and at last to glory: all which he does gradually; he leads by little and little into a man's sinfulness, and to see his interest in Christ, and by degrees into the doctrines of the Gospel, and the everlasting love of the three Persons; and proportionally to the strength he gives, and as they are able to bear: now such persons as these have nothing to fear from the law of God:

THE TRUTH GIVING SPIRIT!

Joh 16:13  But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].

When he is come - It is universally allowed that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost dwell in all believers. And the internal agency of the Holy Ghost is generally admitted. That of the Father and the Son, as represented in this Gospel, deserves our deepest consideration. 

The Spirit of truth - So called because HE would teach them all necessary truth. 

John 16:13

When the Spirit of truth is come,.... Of this character of the Spirit, 

(see below:Joh 14:17.) His coming, as before, intends more especially His descent on the apostles at Pentecost; though what is here said of Him is true of His office, and of His operations on other persons, and at other times:

He will guide you into all truth; necessary to be known, useful to men, profitable to the churches, even the whole counsel of God; what relates to worship, the nature, form, and spirituality of it, as well as doctrine. 

He is as a guide, he goes before, leads the way, removes obstructions, opens the understanding, makes things plain and clear, teaches to profit, and leads in the way men should go, without turning to the right hand or left, which, without such a guide, they would be apt to do. 

The Jews (y) have a notion of the Holy Ghost being a guide into all wisdom and knowledge.

"R. Phinehas says, the Holy Spirit rested upon Joseph from his youth to the day of his death, and "guided him into all wisdom", as a shepherd leads his flock, according to Psa 80:1;''

For He shall not speak of Himself: as Christ, the Son, spoke not of himself in opposition to the Father, so the Spirit speaks not of himself in opposition either to the Father, or the Son, but in perfect agreement with both; being, as of the same nature and essence, power and glory, so of the same mind, understanding, and will; and as they agreed and wrought jointly and harmoniously, in the works of nature and providence, so in the economy of grace and salvation.

But whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; as Christ himself did, Joh 15:15; and they are such things as ear has not heard besides; what were secretly transacted in the council and covenant of peace, and agreed upon by all the three persons; things which concern the salvation of men, the Gospel church state, another world, and the glory of all the divine persons:

and He will show you things to come; which would come to pass after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; things relating to the state and settlement of the Gospel church, the partition wall being broken down, the law of commandments contained in ordinances abolished, and a new face of things appearing in the kingdom and interest of Christ, in consequence of the Spirit being sent forth, and poured down: or this may respect the spirit of prophecy in the apostles, who showed to them many things to come in after ages; as the rise of the man of sin, the great departure from the faith, and decline of the power of godliness in the last days, the calling of the Jews, the destruction of antichrist, the burning of the world, and the making of new heavens and new earth; and, in short, what would be the state of the church of Christ, and religion, in all the several periods of time, quite down to the coming of Christ, when dead saints shall be raised, and living ones changed, as is declared throughout the book of Revelation.

John 14:17   

17  The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.

The Great Christmas Auction

 (Part 1 of 2)

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)

Years ago there was a very wealthy man who, with his devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate.

The widowed elder man watched with satisfaction, as his only child became an experienced art collector. The son’s trained eye and sharp business mind caused his father to beam with pride as they dealt with art collectors around the world.

As winter approached, war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His beloved son was missing in action. The art collector anxiously awaited more news, fearing he would never see his son again. Within days, his fears were confirmed. The young man had died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic.

and lonely, the old man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with anguish and sadness. The joy of the season, a season that he and his son had so looked forward to, would visit his house no longer.

On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed old man. As he walked to the door, the masterpieces of art on the walls only reminded him that his son was not coming home. He opened the door, and a soldier greeted him with a large package in his hand.

“I was a friend of your son,” the soldier said. “I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.” As the two began to talk, the solider told of how the man’s son had told everyone of his father’s love of fine art.

“I’m an artist,” said the soldier, “and I want to give you this.”

(continued tomorrow)

The Necessity of Acknowledging Sin

http://www.gotquestions.org/origin-Catholic-church.html

The Necessity of Acknowledging Sin

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar — 1Jn 1:10

This text is just a little difficult to understand, and the difficulty is of a peculiar kind because it is not quite so easy to see what is the connection between the conclusion and the premises. "If we say that we have not sinned," that is premise; and "we make God a liar," that is the conclusion. There are some texts in Scripture a little difficult to understand because the phraseology is difficult, and there are some texts hard to understand because they seem to contradict our highest moral sense; but this is one of those numerous texts where it is a little hard to see the connection between the conclusion and the premises. If John had said, for instance, "If we say we have not sinned, we are fools," or "If we say we have not sinned, we know nothing whatever about ourselves," you would have understood that at once. But John says, "If we say we have not sinned, we make God—not ourselves—a liar," and to the thoughtful mind there is just a little difficulty in gathering the connection.

Excusing Sin

But before we face that difficulty there is one question I have got to ask and answer, and that is, How is it that people say, "We have not sinned"? It is not just saying it with our lips; but I want to ask in what peculiar ways do common people like you and me say in their hearts, "We have not sinned"? Well, of course, everybody does it in the first place who conceives that he is perfect, but that is such an extraordinary state of mind and so uncommonly rare that I do not imagine I need touch on it except for a moment. In the course of my long pastoral experience, meeting with all types of men and women, I do not remember a single sane person who ever thought he was perfect. I remember one poor man, but then he was insane, and he also thought that he was Christ. Remember, perfection is your ideal and mine—"Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect"; and I have never put any limits to what the Spirit of God can do for any man who constantly yields himself up to it. I have never put any limits, no matter what a man's past is, no matter how hard his heart is, no matter what his circumstances are, to what the Spirit of God can do for anybody who opens his heart to Him every morning; but at the same time this is the universal Christian experience. The more you yield yourself, the more you hitch your wagon to that star, the more you wrestle on toward heaven against storm and wind and tide—the more you feel and know you are a sinner. Paul began by saying about himself that he was less than the least of saints. When he got to know Christ a great deal better he called himself "the chief of sinners." Therefore I do not think one need say anything about that, for who is the fool who for one moment conceives that he is perfect. If there is, may God have mercy, not upon your soul, may God have mercy on your mind. But then a far more common way than that is for people to deny that what they have done is sin; that is to say, to make excuses for themselves that they would never dream of making for anybody else. Of course, I am not talking about you, I am talking about myself as well, for there is no man or woman, no matter how God's grace has gripped him, who is not always prone to make excuses for his own conduct that he would never dream of making for anybody else.

For instance, sometimes you read of a man stealing money. Well now, if his neighbor did it, of course he would be a thief, but the man is so earnest he is going to pay, but he wanted time, that in him it is not sin; or perhaps he gets such a starvation wage that he says he is just taking what he has a right to, and then he says, "I have not sinned." Many of you are tempted to tell lies just because the truth would cause such pain or discomfort to somebody you love, and you say you have not sinned because you have done it out of human kindness. You would never admit that in anybody else. Of course today, when people on every hand are breaking the seventh commandment, dashing in pieces the covenant of honor and purity, of course they all say that it is love; love is such a beautiful thing it justifies anything, does it not? Or perhaps they say it is necessity, and necessity knows no law. In a thousand ways like that today people are juggling with their conscience, and just saying, Whatever be the case with others, of course I have not sinned. Perhaps equally common among people who are led by the cold light of intellect rather than by the flaming light of passion, is the thought that sin does not exist; it is only a dream of fussy theologians, there is no such thing. What is sin? Now sin, if it is anything, of course, is a transgression of the law of God; sin is the free act of a free man. Sin is something for which you—nobody else—are responsible; therefore if you are liable, the punishment, that is the guilt, is a reality, and always with guilt there comes fear. Now when anybody takes up a view of life that just denies the reality of these things, robs them of what is essential in their meaning, don't you see he says, "I have not sinned"? If sin is a necessity, a necessary negative if you have got to get a positive, if sin is only imperfection, not a fall down but a fall up, letting the ape and tiger die, only a necessary stage in evolution, if everything is determined by heredity, well, of course, you say you have not sinned; whatever you have done, that does not exist. These things seem very modem, but they were all present, mark you, with John at Ephesus, and John says, "If any man says he has not sinned, he makes God a liar." Now don't you see what it means? You know if I called a man a liar, what I imply is that that man has been speaking, and probably speaking to me, and when you call God a liar you imply that God has been speaking to you. And John's point is that whenever and in whatsoever way God speaks, the basis of His speech is the fact of sin. In every voice God uses he talks on the understanding, implied or asserted, that sin is a reality, and therefore our duty is to try and examine the various voices of God and see whether that is true or not.

God in Nature

For instance, for I never like to leave this out, I suppose most of us would say that God talked to them in nature. In this beautiful world, I hope you have all got enough of a receiving set within you to hear God talk to you in nature. Of course, without that we never would have any science. If I can take up a book and read it and understand it, it means that behind that book there is a mind kindred to my own. And if science can read the book of nature—that is exactly what it does, we dwell not in a chaos but in a cosmos—if science can read the book of nature, then there is a mind behind it cognate and kindred to our own. I wonder why it is, if you were out in a great storm and in peril of shipwreck, you would immediately feel you were a sinner. I wonder why it is when you walk over the moors of Arran every bird and every beast flies from you in dread; the game birds and the rabbits and the deer fly from you in dread. Is not something wrong? Has not some harmony been broken? Do you think God ever intended that? Now I do not say anything about the pain you feel when you are confronted with perfect beauty. I do not say anything of the song of birds that, as Burns says, "Ye'll brak my heart"; but what I do say is, even in the dim voices of nature God does not only say, "Child, am not I beautiful?" but God says, "Child, you have broken something, you are a sinner."

God in Conscience

Then does not God talk to you in conscience? Don't you believe that in the still small voice of conscience God is talking to you? I beg of you never to give up that faith. If your conscience is not dead, and it is dead in some people, seared with a hot iron, what does it say to you? Does it say, "Child, your temptation was too strong for you, therefore you are not guilty"? Does it say, "Child, these are dreadful circumstances you live in, therefore you are not guilty"? Does it say, "Child, it is all heredity, and the blame rests on your grandfather"? It says, "Child, you are guilty." It says to you, "Whatever your temptation or heredity, you are guilty; nobody else." And if you say you have not sinned, that you could not help it, that things were too strong for you, that you were in the hands of a determined fate, don't you see you make God a liar whenever He talks to you in conscience?

God in the Bible

Then I hope everybody agrees with me that God speaks to us in the Old Testament. Well now, if you do, that whole utterance is based upon the reality of sin and nothing else, except God Himself willing to forgive it. Take the story of the fall: what is at the back of it? That sin is real, that guilt is real, that the fear that follows guilt is real, and that is the very meaning. Then you have the sacrifices of smoke at the Jewish altars, the forty years' wandering in the wilderness, the seventy years' exile in Babylon, and the anguish of the Psalmist, and you have the trumpet cry of the Prophet that he is the Lord God who forgiveth sin. Then you say sin is not a reality; it does not exist; it is only a negative. You make God a liar in the whole utterance of the Old Testament. Don't you see?

Then far above the Old Testament, we have the New Testament, and I who know a little about Plato and Dante and Shakespeare never hesitate a moment to call the New Testament the most wonderful book in the world. Written by men of strong individuality, each of them with his own angle and his own outlook, each with his own aspect of the Lord, and yet all of them banded together as with a band of steel in this one conviction, that man needs redemption and that God in His mercy is willing to give it now. You get so tired of books whose only parrot-cry is, Educate, educate, educate; books that tell you that give time to our human race and it will evolve into a kind of superman. The New Testament comes to you and me and says, "Child, first of all there is a barrier between you and God, and that barrier has got to be taken out of the way." In other words, you do not want to be reformed, you need to be born again and then you can start educating and evolving. The whole New Testament is based on this, that you and I are guilty sinful creatures, and if you come along and say, "We have not sinned," you are making God a liar as He speaks to us in the new Testament.

God in Christ Jesus

And then, of course, the whole argument comes to its height in this: God in His infinite mercy has talked and spoken to you and me in our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word (the expression of the thought—the Oratio against the Ratio) became flesh and dwelt among us." "His name shall be called Jesus." Why? Because He is a beautiful teacher, because He is our example, because He is a great social leader? "His name thou shalt call Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." There were things that our blessed Lord made very light of, things that He did not care a straw for, and sometimes they mean everything to us; but there was one thing our Lord never made light of; rather He deepened it, intensified it all the time, and that was the fact of human sin. It was that which brought Him here; it was that which sent Him among the publicans and sinners; it was that that nailed Him to the cross. And if you venture to say, "I have not sinned;" "It was not sin at all;" "Sin does not exist;" don't you make Him just a liar when he talks to us in the Lord Jesus Christ? I beg of you not to do it. Life is far too serious for that. To wrap yourself up in excuses is to be naked before the great white throne. It is far better just to say however humbling it is, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thought, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

CHRIST'S REVELATION OF GOD

"Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us, Jesus saith .. he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." — John 14:8-9.

PHILIP'S INQUIRY bore witness to the growth of a human soul. Only three short years before Christ had found him. At that time he was probably much as the young men of his standing and age, not specially remarkable, save for an interest in the earnestness about the advent of the Messiah. His views, however, were limited and narrow; he looked for Christ's advent as the time for the re-establishment of the Kingdom of David, and deliverance from the hated Roman yoke. But three years of fellowship with the Master had made a wonderful difference. He is not now content with beholding the Messiah—he is eager to know the Father: "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."

But surely this request was based on a mistake. He wanted to see the Father. But how can you make Wisdom, or Love, or Purity visible, save in a human life? Philip was so absorbed in his quest for the transcendent, that he missed the revelation of the Father which for three years had been passing before his eyes. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?"

Our Lord revealed the Father in His works (John14:10-11). The story of His miracles are leaves from God's diary. The right way to read them is not to say: This is what Christ did; but, Thus God is ever doing—always healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, restoring the leper, and raising the dead.

He reveals the Father in answering our prayers (John14:13). He is ever anxious to answer our petitions, that He may reveal the nature and glory of God our Father.

Christ reveals the Father by communicating the Holy Spirit, who comes to abide in us. No miracle could tell us so much of God as the Spirit does when He communicates the Divine nature. When our Lord says that He will manifest Himself to the soul that obeys Him, and that the Father will come in to make His abiding-place with us, He not only shows, but He gives to us the Father (John14:21-23). The life and ministry of our Lord during His earthly life, and throughout the ages, unfolds to us the Father, in the sweetness, tenderness and strength of that glorious Being, whose Love pervades the universe.

PRAYER

We bless Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou hast revealed to us the Father, and hast brought us nigh unto God. Make us pure in heart, not only in our walk, but in our inward temper, that we may never lose sight of God by reason of the obscurity of our own nature. AMEN.

Carriers of the Keys

“And I will give unto you the keys of the Kingdom…” (Mat 16:19)

This is perhaps one of the more noted sayings of Jesus, and the very idea that we can actually open and close heaven’s doors fills our imaginations with both wonder and inquiry. What does He mean by this?

Some would argue that since Jesus was speaking specifically to Peter, these words make him the first of many successive Popes who hold an authority to which no other human may lay claim. Not so. For the same words were spoken to all the disciples on other occasions.

Jesus is saying that His followers, those who are a part of the Community of the Called Out, have been given the ability to grant access into the kingdom — as well as close access to those who will not enter.

Furthermore, it is not Heaven’s doors we are opening and closing. Rather, this is about helping others access the very real and royal presence of the Lord and His work here on the earth.

This is a right now activity, not something in the sweet by and by.

it ever occur to you that you can actually be the means whereby the Lord extends His love, light, and life to others? You can be the one that makes it possible for someone else to actually experience a real and lasting touch from Jesus; a touch that heals, that forgives, that cleanses, and that transforms.

Christ can make Himself known through your hands, through your words, and through your deeds. You are a carrier of the Keys that opens the Kingdom. And you have been authorized by the King to give away to others what your have freely received yourself.

Ah, but there’s the rub. Have you indeed received it yourself? Has the touch of Jesus healed you, cleansed you, forgiven you, and transformed you? If so, then in the words of the Psalmist, “let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” (Psa 107:2).

But If not, then what in the world is keeping you back? I open the door to you right now! Come on in and behold the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

One final note. This is not a free-for-all, indiscriminate toss out of heaven’s treasures like candy thrown from floats in a passing parade. No, Jesus set clear perimeters in His commissioning us a carriers of the Keys. “What you open on earth must already be opened in heaven,” He said. In other words, we are to follow God’s lead — just as Jesus Himself did. “I only do those things I see My Father doing.”

So, yes we have authority, symbolized by holding the Keys; but we also are charged with the responsibility to only do as the Lord directs. This means we must always be in relationship with Him, for that is the only way to handle each and every situation as Carriers of the Keys. So, what are you waiting for?

There’s a whole lot of folks just waiting for you to pass their way.