We have already looked at the blood atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ bringing about... 1. ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL; 2. REMISSION OF SINS; 3. LIFE AND PEACE; 4. REDEMPTION; 5. JUSTIFICATION. The sixth thing concerning the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is "WE ARE MADE CLOSE" by the blood. Hebrews 10:22 ESV let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. I hear people all the time saying they want to be closer to the Lord or to God the Father. "Draw me closer Lord" seems to be the cry of the heart of passionate believers. However, many sing about it without exercising the commands of it. James 4:8 ESV Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. It is recognizing the work of the cross and the application of our Lord's blood atonement that draws me close to Him. I can only be as close as my sins and flesh are covered by the blood. No flesh will see or touch His glory.
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The Father has been telling those who have prophetic ears to hear the disease was among us. We have been writing about it. Now here it is. There is more to come soon following this outbreak. Apr.20, 2019: Pestilences Nov.20 2019: The Signs Of The End Times? They Are Upon Us: I stated under point #3 "It is a contagious epidemic outbreak of a deadly disease that is devastating like the bubonic plague was." "Many of the diseases that are across the globe are kept quiet in the media and need to be researched to find the name of the disease and the extent of the outbreak. Once these reach full stage there will be no way the outbreaks can be hidden." Jan.4 2020: Prophetic End Times Events That Are Currently Taking Place Or Soon Will Happen. #5 on the list is Pestilences from Matt.24:7, Lk.21:11 & Rev.6:8 Luke 21:11 ESV There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. Matthew 24:6-8 ESV And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. (7) For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (8) All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. DISASTERS: The disasters we have seen or read about recently are not the “end” but according to Scriptures they are the “beginning of sorrows.” The kind of knowledge we urgently need is both natural and spiritual. We, as believers, do not want to be among those who wait until it's too late. At the same time we do not want to operate out of fear for fear is a tormenting spirit and is not from God. 1 John 4:17-18 ESV By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (18) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. WE WILL BE HATED: At the same time we need to know that the Scriptures state that in the end times “true believers” will be hated and betrayed, and the love that many have for God and His Word will fail because of the intense increase of wickedness on the earth. We are called to endure unto the end. This means to “endure in the faith.” This is certainly not the time to seek to be people pleasers. We will fall prey to the trials and temptations of the enemy if being a friend to the world and to lost people is more important than obeying the truth of God's Word. Matthew 24:9-13 ESV "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. (10) And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. (11) And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. (12) And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (13) But the one who endures to the end will be saved. The Blood Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ is under attack. There is a growing group among the church proclaiming that Christ went to the Cross in vain and that God would not have demanded a blood sacrifice. They would say that we are saved from our Lord's perfect moral life and not from His death, burial and resurrection.
The first 5 studies are dated Dec. 2019 under the category of "ATONEMENT" if you would like to read them. This is my sixth post on the blood atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first 5 studies we looked at the blood bringing about... 1st the ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL; 2nd the ATONEMENT FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS; 3rd ATONEMENT FOR LIFE AND PEACE; 4th ATONEMENT FOR REDEMPTION. The 5th thing concerning the blood of Jesus is JUSTIFICATION. Romans 5:1 ESV Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price so that we could stand guiltless and holy before our Father. Hebrews 4:16 ESV Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His atoning blood, took my sin, my condemnation, my punishment, and my guilt upon Himself. In doing so He placed His robe of righteousness on me. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Justification is "just as though I had not sinned." He sat in my place of sin and death to pay for my sins so that I could sit in His place of righteousness and life with the Father in heavenly places. We have been discussing the difference between praise and worship. The reason I spend so much time on this command is because our Lord said that God is a Spirit and those who worship will worship in Spirit and Truth.
In order to worship God we need to know what that word is and what true Biblical worship looks like. Before I build upon a foundation of identifying true Biblical worship I first must tear down the false teaching of the church of what is called worship. In parts 5-6-7 we have covered a lot concerning this aspect of what worship is not. Most of what the Bible calls praise has been redefined by the church as being worship. There are over 20 different words in the Scriptures identifying different ways to praise God. We won't cover them all but just a few to show what is called praise and not worship in the Bible. In part 7 we looked at the first word which is "Towdah" and means to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. The second word for praise is "Yadah" and means to lift up our hands. #2 Yadah - See Strongs #3034 The root word of this form of praise, which is "yad," is a word meaning "hand." Yadah is very literally the "lifting of hands in praise, reverence, and worship." The meaning conveyed is one of outward expression of love towards God, for others to see. It also means "confession," but not necessarily in the general English sense that you and I are used. When used or translated as "confession," it means an "outward confession of praise or worthiness" to God. Since Yadah involves the lifting of hands, one may understand it also with some connotations of "surrendering" or "confessing authority to" (as one under arrest puts up his hands to show submission to an officer). The third word for praise is "Baruch" and means to bless. #3 Baruch - See Strongs #1288 This is a word which very commonly is known to mean "to bless" or "blessed" (if you have ever heard the beginning of a Hebrew blessing, 'Baruch Atah Adonai…' which means “blessed are You, Lord.” It also carries a secondary meaning, in some contexts, of "kneeling" or "bowing" as well. Baruch is usually the Hebrew word behind most blessings given in the Old Testament, either from God towards men (blessing), or men towards God (praising and bowing). Baruch is important to distinguish as strictly a verb (an action), not a noun (thing). The 4th command in the New Testament is to worship God in Spirit and Truth. But what is worship? What is not worship but is being used as a substitution to true Biblical worship?
The first 3 commands we covered earlier: COMMAND #1: DON'T MAKE GOD'S HOUSE (YOUR BODY) A DEN OF THIEVES. (JN.2:13-18) COMMAND #2: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. (JN.3:3-7) COMMAND #3: GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. (JN.4:1-2) COMMAND #4: WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH. (JN.4:23-24) In part 5 & 6 we stated that worship is not: 1. WORSHIP IS NOT A PLACE: 2. WORSHIP IS NOT A MUSIC TEAM OR MUSIC SONG: Before I identify what true Biblical worship is I want to drive home what it is not. Since we stated that worship is not a music team, a song, or a time I feel it is imperative to assist the reader in identifying what role music and singing plays in the body of Christ. Remember: We really need to stop using the terms, "worship team", "worship song", and "worship time." You might ask, what is the big deal? We have already covered that the big deal is that we rob God of true worship by renaming it and substituting it with something else. Out of the mouth comes curses or blessings, life or death. What we confess is what we are doing and is what fills our heart. So if we continually call music and singing worship then that is what is in our heart. We would have to ask ourselves what is the object of our praise, God or the music. There are over 20 words for different ways in which we are to praise the Father. I will give some of these over the next few studies and then we will jump deep into what true Biblical worship is. PRAISE WORDS: #1 Towdah - See Strong's #8426 This word means "thanksgiving." In Hebrew texts such as the Psalms especially, it often appears in songs of thanksgiving and praise, which David offered in the midst of many of his trials. It can also sometimes denote an "offering or sacrifice of thanksgiving." It will be helpful to remember to offer this form of praise especially in the hard times. Thank God for his sovereignty, power, and might. If the faith of the woman with the issue of blood can make her whole, then your faith can make you whole and my faith can make me whole. We need to know how to act on our faith in the PRAYER OF FAITH. You can have a pocketful of money and yet starve to death. You can have head knowledge of the Word of God and have a heart full of faith and yet die of sickness. We need to know how to act on what we have. Let’s look at Acts 14:6-10.
Acts 14:5-10 ESV When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, (6) they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, (7) and there they continued to preach the gospel. (8) Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. (9) He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, (10) said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking. Paul and Barnabas were on their first Apostolic journey. Look at verse 7. “And there they preached the gospel.” As Paul preached the gospel message we can see the results in verse 9. “The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,” Was the man healed by verse 9? No! It is not faith plus works, but a faith that works: James 2:14 ESV What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? James 2:17-19 ESV So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (18) But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (19) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! James 1:22 ESV But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. HOSEA 4:4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.
The spiritual level of a nation will never rise above the level of its spiritual leaders. Everyone wants to blame someone else for the condition of our nation. The Democrats blame the Republicans, and the Republicans blame the Democrats. The liberals blame the conservatives and the conservatives blame the liberals. Of course, everyone blames the church and the Christians for "holding back" progress. However, in the Book of Hosea, Israel is being judged for whoredom, adultery, and idolatry. The judgment is multifold which means that God has removed His blessing, and Israel will go into captivity. Finally, in chapter 4, God gets down to the meat of the issue as to whom He should hold personally responsible for the fall of Israel. They departed from God and His Word and chased after Baal and other false gods. God blamed the SPIRITUAL LEADERS of Israel. It was the Priests who caused the nation to depart from Him and His ways. We can trace the downfall of the nation to the corruption of its priesthood. Instead of being light for those in darkness, the priesthood was the blind leading the blind. Instead of being a source of illumination to the words and ways of God, they had become darkened by sin and neglect themselves. The nation copied the sins of the priests. The priests not only indulged themselves in the sins of the world, but they encouraged the nation also to do so. When a nation seems to be spiraling out of control, one would think that at least there would remain one sense of morality, order, integrity, and righteousness and that being among the religious leaders. However, the priests in Israel had rejected the laws of God. When the priests encouraged the people to sin, that meant an increase of sin offerings the people brought to the altar, which in turn meant that the priest grew in wealth. They were getting rich at the cost of the nation turning its back away from God. Therefore, as the religious leaders turned away from God and His Word, the nation followed suit. They perished because of lack of knowledge. The priests’ religion had become one of tradition and ceremonial, void of the intimate love of God and His goodness. Their teachings lacked the passion of being spiritual and moral, which would have challenged the people to walk upright before a Holy God. However, we cannot give what we do not possess. Whenever our religion places its ceremony above the spiritual, its false unity above the love of God, and its feel-good message above the presence of God, then it becomes irrelevant and is useless as salt that has lost its saltness. In the last study (Part 5) we started on the 4th command.
COMMAND #4: WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH John 4:23-24 ESV But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." Worship is a great word but greatly misunderstood and misused. In fact it is one of the spiritual disciplines in which we deceive ourselves and rob God of. We talked a little bit about what worship IS NOT. 1. WORSHIP IS NOT A PLACE: 2. WORSHIP IS NOT A MUSIC TEAM OR MUSIC SONG: I have taught this for years and for the most part this teaching falls on deaf ears. WHY? Because the enemy is good at getting the church to either substitute God's perfect plan, desires, and Word for our life OR the enemy gets the church to add leaven to God's Word. When leaven, which can be sin or the traditions of man, are added to the Word then it makes the Word powerless in our lives. Mark 7:5-9 ESV And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" (6) And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; (7) in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' (8) You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." (9) And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! Mark 7:13 ESV thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do." Matthew 16:6 ESV Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Matthew 16:11-12 ESV How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (12) Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Luke 12:1 ESV In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Galatians 5:9 ESV A little leaven leavens the whole lump. That's right. This will be continued in part 7 tomorrow, as we see what true worship is. Line upon line and precept upon precept. If you have read the introduction in Part 1 then you know that I am seeking to list some of the 1,050 commands from God to believers to obey. In doing this I am reading the 4 Gospels in a harmony of the Gospels so that I get the chronological order of the commands we are to follow. The first 3 commands we covered earlier: COMMAND #1: DON'T MAKE GOD'S HOUSE (YOUR BODY) A DEN OF THIEVES. (JN.2:13-18) COMMAND #2: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. (JN.3:3-7) COMMAND #3: GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. (JN.4:1-2) The fourth command is in Jn.4:23-24. COMMAND #4: WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH John 4:23-24 ESV But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The Greek for worship in Jn.4:24 is "as a dog licks his master's hand." Worship is a great word but greatly misunderstood and misused. In fact it is one of the spiritual disciplines which we deceive ourselves and rob God of. 1. WORSHIP IS NOT A PLACE: The Lord Jesus Christ was teaching that worship was "not a PLACE" such as the temple for the Jews or the temple for the Samaritans. True worship is in a place called "Spirit and Truth." However, today we have brought the term worship back into the church building as being in a place. Somewhere and sometime the body of Christ has got to get their terminology correct. We say, "well, why are you so picky, you know what I mean?" But then we want to quote the verses about our words have blessings or curses, and life and death tied to them. What's wrong with using the right words and teach people correctly? Having said that let me say. We do not GO TO CHURCH. We are the church that goes to a building. 2. WORSHIP IS NOT A MUSIC TEAM OR MUSIC SONG: It gets under my skin every time I hear the phrase "worship team" or "worship song" or "worship time." Music has nothing to do with worship and worship has nothing to do with music. Music, singing, and dancing are three of over 20 expressions of PRAISE in the Scriptures and should not be called "worship." When we use the term worship for a music team or a song we sing we have robbed God of worship in Spirit and Truth which He calls for. We have substituted WORSHIP with one expression of PRAISE. We have even limited praise down to one form and that is singing. So what is worship if it is not a place, a song, or music? To be continued. Because of the length of this one it will be continued in PART 6. There are statements in the New Testament that don't seem like a command at first glance. However, when we look at the verse in lite of the complete gospel message it is clear that it is not only a command but an activity that our Lord Jesus Christ modeled. If you have read the introduction in Part 1 then you know that I am seeking to list some of the 1,050 commands from God to believers to obey. In doing this I am reading the 4 Gospels in a harmony of the Gospels so that I get the chronological order of the commands we are to follow.
The first 2 commands we covered earlier: COMMAND #1: DON'T MAKE GOD'S HOUSE (YOUR BODY) A DEN OF THIEVES. (JN.2:13-18) COMMAND #2: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. (JN.3:3-7) The third command is in Jn.4:1-2. The Scriptures in Jn.4:1-2 doesn't seem like a command but it is an example of a later command. COMMAND #3: GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. John 4:1-2 ESV Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (2) (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), Sometimes we can read a passage over and over for years and not see it. I read Jn.4:1-2 for years and years and always saw the statement that Jesus was baptizing but seemed to miss the fact that He was making disciples. The key is that Christians are born and disciples are made. Our Lord never told us to do something that He Himself did not do. He commanded all believers to baptize and to make disciples in Matt.28:19. Matthew 28:19 ESV Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, The ESV says to make disciples and the KJV says teaching. The Greek word is "matheteuo" and is pronounced math-ayt-yoo-o. It means to become a pupil, to disciple, to enroll as a scholar, to instruct, and to teach. The most important thing a person can do is to give his/her life to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved/born again. However, no one wants to see our natural baby stay a baby all his/her life. We look forward to seeing our children grow and mature and learn to be responsible adults. The same for spiritual leaders. We long to see the spiritual children grow up into maturity and start acting as a spiritual adult believer in word, deed and thought. Christians seldom accomplish this on their own. God did not establish the way the kingdom is advanced and the way Christ is being formed in us as a method of the lone ranger. We need one another in maturing the weaker believers. This is a Christ-centered method of maturity and one that cannot be violated. Unfortunately many have exchanged true disciple making and maturity for commitment to a church or religious organization. I can't tell you how many times I heard the remark that a believer was mature and committed just because they attended the church building the most in a given week or have gaven the most money. We as believers don't have to make disciples, however we cannot get away from the fact that we will be held accountable to our Lord Jesus Christ in the end for not fulfilling this command. He set the example of making disciples in the beginning of His ministry and then gave the command to us to do the same at the end of His ministry before ascending back into heaven. 2 Timothy 2:2 ESV and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. GO, AND MAKE DISCIPLE! BEING PURE:
In properly understanding Scriptures one of the key elements to look for is discerning who is being addressed. Knowing if the writer is speaking to the lost man or the saved man is key to interpretation and use. Take the Book of 1 John as an example. It is a great book for believers because it is addressed to believers for our understanding about the process of spiritual growth and how to identify someone who calls themselves Christians but is not. I have heard over and over well-meaning Christians using 1 Jn.1:9 as a soul-winning Scripture like it is talking to a lost man. However, John through the Holy Spirit is addressing a believer in this verse. Let's look at some of verses of 1 Jn.1 and see the thought behind them. In 1:6 we see that if someone claims to be a believer and we say as a believer that we are walking in fellowship with the Father, yet we walk in darkness (continual sin), than we are deceived. What are we lying about? We are lying about having fellowship with the Father if we walk in sin. This verse is for a Christian to examine his own life and the life of those who claim to be believers among us. (1 John 1:6 ESV) If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. In 1:7 we see that if the believer walks in the light, not according to his own understanding of the light, but walks in the light as God is light, then we will also walk in fellowship with one another. Light fellowships with light. Light does not fellowship with darkness or a sinful lifestyle. When darkness meets light both are affected. Example: Suppose the sun is shining bright outside and you have your curtains opened and your living room is flooded with the brightness of the outside. You turn your lights on in the living room and it does not affect the amount of light that is already there because of the brightness of the day. Light has met light. However, the sun goes down and there is no moon and it is as dark as a thousand midnights outside. You turn your living room lights on and although it is bright it is nowhere as brilliant as it was when the sunlight flooded the room. Some of the light in the living room will shine out the windows but will make little process beyond a few feet outside the home. Light met darkness and both are affected. (1 John 1:7 ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. We see in 1:8 as a Christian we cannot say we have no sin. That would be a lie. (1 John 1:8 ESV) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. However, we have a great promise in 1:9. If we as believers confess our sins we find that God is both faithful and just. He is faithful and just to not only forgive us but to cleanse us from the unrighteousness of the penalty of the sin, the power of the sin, and the presence of the sin. We would be wrong to use this verse as a soul winning verse. We would be telling the lost man that he needs to confess every sin he has committed in order to be forgiven and saved. The only sin that sends a lost man to hell is the sin of unbelief in failing to receive Christ as Savior. His long list of personal sins does not send him to hell. Once that lost man confesses Christ and repents of walking in his own power he is born again. Now as a Christian he starts confessing sins that he knows he is guilty of in order to be forgiven and freed from them. (1 John 1:9 ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Purifying or cleansing us from all unrighteousness means to be totally forgiven of our sinful behavior. Experience tells us that true confession of a particular sinful behavior brings a forgiveness and a cleansing of conscience that sometimes we can even feel or sense. It is like a load dropping off of us. We seem to gain the upper hand over the sin and with some determination we can overcome it from that point forward. GO, AND SIN NO MORE... |
AuthorCharles Morris. Founder and Senior Pastor of RSI Ministry, RSI School of Ministry, and RSI Publishing L.L.C.. Archives
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