Tag Archives: Grace

Eternal Mechanics

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I saw I headline that asked the question, “If God is love then why is homosexuality condemned?”  I’m not going to waste my time trying to pick a part sexually immorality.  Those who are embroiled in such a sin would not listen to me anyway.  I know the power of sexual deviance.  I know the power of a rebellious heart.  I know the volatility of pride.  So I won’t waste my time trying to explain why sexual immorality does not find God’s approval.  (Yes, dear creatures, homosexuality is sin!)

But the question could be asked in regard to any sin.  The answer has no respect for any particular sin.  Lying, stealing, murder, gluttony, pride, you name it, they all fall under the heading of deviance.  Why bother to single one out?

The question simply shows a monumental misunderstanding.  The consequences of this misunderstanding are dire!  And I can’t find words to express it more strongly.  (But the strength of an expression does not necessarily lend to its viability in the readers mind.) There is absolutely no deviance in Life.  But death is full of deviance from Life.  Life lives, death dies.  A childish way to put it, but it’s true none the less.

Try to understand.  God is Pure Life.  There is not the slightest speck of deviance within him.  It is impossible.  The question above cannot be spoken by a holy creature, or even a sincere heart.  It can only be spoken by a deviant soul; that is to say, a soul which does not contain perfect Life.

Everything in creation comes in threes.  You ask a question, you get an answer, there must be a response.  Ask any good salesman and he will tell you, “No” is a legitimate response.  “No” does not provide what is desired.  But it is a legitimate response, and it is absolutely necessary to give it its proper place.

The salesman offers you an opportunity to purchase a remedy for a problem.  You have a legitimate, free will, right to say no.  That doesn’t condemn the offer.  It simply elevates your right to choose

The question that comes after the first one, has to do with condemnation.  “Will God truly destroy the sinner?”  The answer is quite simple.  The sinner destroys himself.  And God is not diminished by the sinner’s death.

God doesn’t need to take any action at all.  He doesn’t make you sin.  It’s entirely your choice.  And again, the question of destruction only comes from a mind full of destruction.

Take note that both questions have nothing to do with obedience.  They have to do with justification of deviance.  They do not come from a willing student, they come from a rebellious and proud soul.

And though such questions raise up anger in me, I cannot blame the deviant for being what they are.  Nor does God blame you for being deviant.  He will simply put you in the place built for deviants. 

It’s just a matter of eternal mechanics.  Death belongs to death, life belongs to life.  Wickedness belongs to deviance, obedience belongs to what is holy.  It’s really not that complicated.

If you see a black widow spider in the cradle of your only son, you will surely kill it.  You desire health and life for your baby.  And you will protect it with violence.  In essence: you do not hate the spider, you love the life of your child.  I can guarantee you the spider will not understand.  But it won’t matter, will it?  If you can’t grasp why God would destroy the sinner, what is it to him if you don’t understand?

Why should it be surprising that God will protect eternity?  No sin, no sinner, no deviance, no rebellion, no wicked thing or person, will be allowed entrance into eternity.  And striving to justify your sin does absolutely nothing to change the violence of God’s Holy Love.

How much does God love?  I mean to ask, what is the nature of the love of God?  He is so firm and beautiful, and full of life, that he was willing to send His Holy Son to die at the hands of his enemies; that he may become to sacrifice for them.  He sent His Son into a bowl of rebellion, so that God could have the means to change them.

But take note of this: he desires to impart the pureness of eternal life.  The sacrifice of Christ Jesus is not an open-ended credit card.  The mercy of God is extended so that we will not fear to come near him and learn.  His intent is to change us, not to accept us as we are.

Specifically, what is it we need to learn?  We need to learn to stop trying to justify our deviance.  We need to learn to recognize the nature of our rebellion against him.  And with this recognition comes some semblance of humility.  And humility is the foundation of eternal learning. 

How can a rebellious and proud student learn anything in a classroom?  The teacher is not going to change his rebellious attitude.  Its up to the child to listen and to observe.  It is impossible that a rebellious soul will learn anything from the Living God.  Such a soul does not come to him to learn.  He only comes with justification for his rebellion.

If you had a foolish employee who refused to learn, you would eventually get rid of him.  If you told him to present a written intent to change his ways, and he showed up with a list of justifications, would you be irritated?  You might make a few comments, in the interview, to draw out your desire from him.  But if blame and justification is his continual response, he will be looking for a new job.

God only asks that we have a willing heart to ask for his help.  You may question whether he is willing to help you or not.  Isn’t the testimony of Christ Jesus, as found in the Gospels, enough proof for you?

The Holy Father sent his eternal Son into a body of flesh.  When the time was right, the Lord Jesus began to speak the words of His Holy Father.  And God confirmed his Holy Son’s words by many miracles.  From the healing of a common fever, to the raising of the dead!  God proved that Jesus was His Holy Son. 

It really doesn’t matter whether you believe that or not.  That is now the nature of creation.  It did happen.  And Christianity exists because of God’s love.  Here I am, delivering the message.  There you are, reading it.  The response is up to you.

That, my friend, is all the proof he will give you.  If you are not willing to believe that, then you are not willing to let go of your rebellion.  And by our unwillingness to let go, we prove we don’t want any part of eternal life.

Now let me try to show you why this is a viable and important message.  I’ll do the best I can, but the confirmation of this message needs to be individually received from God.

It is impossible for God to entertain deviance of any kind.  God is willingly responsible for the life of every creature.  God is the very and singular source of all sustaining.  If he entertains anything unholy, he loses a certain strength of life.  Let me say as strongly as I possibly can, he will not entertain your justifications!

You do not command God.  It is God, by absolute necessity, that commands you.  Seek out His Holy Son, or die.  It’s really quite that simple.  It’s simply a matter of eternal mechanics.  And the choice is put squarely into your own hands.

You can say no.  But you will die just like you are.  There is no place in eternity for you, if indeed “No” is your answer.

But saying “Yes”, opens the door to a life you have never known.  The preparation has been made for you.  Do you have the guts to come and take it?  Or do you insist on spewing rebellious crap from your mouth?

P. S. Propriety says I should have ended this message on a positive question.  But propriety has been instrumental in silencing the message of Christianity.

Some will be repulsed at my use of the word “crap”.  You know what folks, I don’t really care.  This message is going out to deviant people who speak that kind of language.  They call the message of Christ Jesus “crap”.  I just gave them back there money.

By His Grace

What is Sin?

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Sin is “doing wrong”, whether in the mind or by the hands.  Sin is a living being, expressed by the individual.

I have spoken often about how sin disrupts the Righteousness of Eternity.  I have written of how the will of God is staved off by our disobedience called sin.  But Charles Spurgeon takes this concept one step farther than I had perceived.  You can find the entire audio of his sermon, “Thoughts on the Last Battle” at this link http://www.spurgeongems.org/messages/028chs.mp3.

Brother Spurgeon speaks of sin, as it is, past the sealing of the soul.  He asks, (in my own words) if sin destroyed the will of God while the man lived in this place of testing, what will it become when the soul is sealed in sin for eternity?  What will the “man” become when all the restraints of God’s beautiful Grace of the Holy Spirit’s influence is removed?  When the Holy Blood of Christ is no longer effective, when repentance is no longer an option; for the man is now sealed in the manner of soul he allowed God to create.

What then is sin?  Is it simply a game we play between ourselves?  Is it simply a futile expression of disruption in the Truth of God for Eternity?  Is it simply being a rebellious child who stands outside the door of God’s Holy Family?  Is it simply pleasure?  Or is sin a growing monster?

Will hell restrain the wickedness of wicked souls?  Do you think that you will live one slight moment in hell with a smile on your face?  You will be frustrated beyond description.  You will find desire consuming you.  Yet there will be no more avenue to disturb the Holy Will of the Living God or His Holy and Righteous Christ.  You will no longer have a body to command.  You will be only an essence of SIN.  You will be a distilled form of desire, with no possibility of expression or gain.

If God had not designed hell to be obliterated, there would be eternity to suffer within an indescribable torment of desire.  But ask yourself this:  How long will the Living God allow the display of tormented, wicked, desire ridden, useless souls to remain?  Even if He allows the display to remain for the sake of reminder to His Holy People, there is a place where even the display will be done away with.

Not only will those multitude of souls be in agony of frustrated desire.  They will face the prospect of eternal extinction.  And they will know it for certain.  For in their consignment to hell, they will have, no doubt, been told that death must join them.  When death arrives, “Nothing” becomes.

Is that what you want to be?  When your moment of transfer from “life” to the grave comes upon you, is that what you want for your hope?  Pleasure calls now.  But do you think you’ll love pleasure as dearly when there is no longer any means to employ it?

The offer of transformation remains, only as long as a man is in this place of testing.  Only while we are in the flesh of this body, is the Holy Blood of Jesus of any effect.  He calls all men to take from His Holy hand the things of Grace.  But when our hands are no longer able to hold anything, what is Grace to us then?

Jesus stands ready and willing to embrace any man in the Righteous Way of Christianity.  But who will consider these things and live?

Addition:

I have wondered why, in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus, Abraham sat on a hill overlooking Hell.  Can it be that Abraham and Lazarus were learning about the prospects of God’s Holy Promise to eternally punish the wicked?  (Luke 16: 19-31)

And I am reminded of the words of Christ Jesus, 9 “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Revelation 14)

Let us wake up to the reality of the Gospel’s power.  The promise of eternal life is TRUE!  The promise of eternal torment is TRUE!  Which will each man choose?  We all, every man, know.

What If, What Then?

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Is it possible?  What is the probability?  Does the Church lack fruit and devotion simply due to human ability to process information?

If mentors are placed.  If vision is clearly promoted.  Do the people lack, simply because they are not able to “think it through”?  Is it a situation of inability?  Or is it a lack of willingness, that causes unfruitfulness in the Body of Christ?  And, it can’t be ignored, what is the impact of “rotten apples” among them?

If this is so.  If there is no remedy, for the sake of the human mind, then how much more need we rely on the Grace of God?

If the people are not quite able to grasp the fullness of the Gospel they are offered, then how powerful is the Majesty of Christ to save?  How great is the Grace of God!

There is the least among us, yes.  There is the greatest among us, yes.  And a myriad in between.

But to what extent are we valuable by continually promoting the epitome of Christianity?  Are souls ruined by a consistent deluge of “Get it Right”?  Are our brothers and sisters encouraged to try harder?  Or are they damaged by expectations they’ll never be able to attain?

Well, now.  What a dilemma to rake over the coals.  And I don’t want to waste too many words doing it.

After thinking it through, I fall on the idea that I am not qualified to determine the answer.  But it’s crucial to remember two things.

1. The Church belongs to Christ Jesus.

2. He has seen fit, by Holy Wisdom, to leave the leadership of His people in the hands of men.

What say you?

 

The Duty of Grace

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Resourcefulness is born by the union of ingenuity and necessity.  When an impasse is encountered such a child will prosper.

As our body encounters limitations in this world, so it is with our faith in the Spirit.  There is room for resourcefulness.  Such is the duty of Grace.

By His Grace

The Swinging Doors

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I have made a great deal of noise about our calling to holiness.  There is certainly nothing wrong with pressing one another to such a high calling.  And every Christian is called to the highest possible standards.

But I have never preached the gospel to a robot.  It’s not likely I ever will.  The gospel is not made for automated consumption.  The gospel is made to be consumed by frail, and even rebellious, people.

Too much talk, however, about our necessity to gain holiness can leave many with a broken heart and destroyed faith.  Not to mention that many people will simply stop listening,  because they know they cannot, or are not willing to, reach to the greatest of Christianity. 

I cannot retract one article or word in regard to our high calling.  The Lord Himself told us to be holy, even as our Heavenly Father is Holy.  So I cannot retract what the Holy Lord has spoken.

So in view of the audience, which the gospel intends to command, there must be a doorway of relative ease by grace.  Such a doorway does exist.  In fact it is a double swinging door.  That is to say, two doors which can open independently, yet are side by side.  One is made of spirit, the other is made of flesh.

The first door was built by Jesus.  It was hung, and operational at the speaking of these words by Isaiah the prophet: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. . .”.  Christ Jesus, being the full mercy of the living God, is the door of grace.  This is the door made of spirit.

You would think this is enough proof for anyone who is struggling.  But God has supplied a second door, due to the weakness of man. 

Often, in a man’s frightful plight, he needs a human example.  As the little boy was reported to have said to his mother, “Sometimes I need a Jesus with skin on”.

God has supplied the second door through the Apostle Paul.  We will call this one the door made of flesh.

As he worked out his own salvation, he fell upon a place of concern.  Though the desire within him to “become” was great, he found the flesh drawing back his upward momentum.  So he spoke to the people to explain his view.  (Failure visits every man.) 

Because of the grace of God he could continue without interruption.  But continuing did not mean he needed to start over, as some are persuaded is true of their own faith.

He intended to forget what was behind and set his mind firmly on what lay ahead.  But he also understood that if he was trying so very desperately to “accomplish”, what would become of the weaker Christians.  That’s when the Lord gave him a door to hang.

The Apostle Paul’s door of mercy hangs right next to the door of grace.  It simply says this: “Only let us live up to what we have already attained“.

Strive as hard as you can, but let God be God.

A great deal more can be said in regard to this.  But I’ve already used a whole lot of words.

In every job there is the craftsman as well as the apprentice.  Each continues to do what he has learned.  Each one adds daily to what he knows.  There are different levels and skills.  But the craftsmen and the apprentice own the job they are given.

Apply this as you will.  Only learn that God is Holy Love.

By His Grace

The Invisible Bridge

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I have found something interesting, something I have known, but not fully understood.  The elders talk about it.  The Deacons point toward it.  The world denies it with frothing lips.  It remains, however, before every child of God to encounter.

The majority of our walk before Christ Jesus is spent in discovery.  We cannot use excuse, before the Holy One, for our disobedience.  Yet there are reasons why we falter as we do.  Discovering these reasons comes hand in hand with growth toward maturity.

We learn not to blame anyone for our fault.  Yet we recognize that the whole of humanity has caused every sin.  And in this way, the Lord Jesus teaches us to sacrifice blame for personal responsibility.

But what shall a man do when he understands this as fully as his mind is able?  What shall we do when a man finds himself repeating offenses yet finds no one but himself to blame?

Here a man comes face to face with the fullness of the gospel.  No longer perceiving as a child.  Now he perceives as a man.  The fullness of blame rests on the one who has sinned, rests heavily.

From here one can receive the forgiveness of Christ with renewed interest.  From here the glory of God takes a prominence in all his thoughts.  The man no longer tosses about the subject of blame or innocence.  Condemnation becomes exceedingly personal.  Here the glory of God rages even brighter to consume his enemies.  Here the glory of God’s mercy blazes even brighter within the flame.

I have come to discover: the Glory of Christ Jesus is stronger than our sins.  Not only in his teaching, but more so in our learning.

If you continue in the way you will discover this also.  It is the crossing of an invisible bridge.  And I speak of it so that when you yourself encounter this, there will be memory within you.

It is a difficult place to encounter.  For here a man is starkly naked before the Holy One.  But having reached the other side of the bridge I can testify, “Even in this he is able to save”.

It may well be you do not understand what I’m saying.  But the time for every man will appear.  I will try it with one example to express this in understandable terms.

As a man goes to a school of learning, he learns enough to do his trade.  But he has yet to enter the workforce and apply it.  Often the world will scoff at the little bookworm who seems to know all. 

But one day he goes to work and understands why they laughed.  He presupposed his importance.  And difficulties have proved his knowledge insufficient.

Now he grapples with humility.  Now he is faced to join them in their derision of the novice.  Yet even while he makes fun of pretense, he is forced to remember that he once also walked in that way.

What comes from this place I do not know.  It is not as though these things happen among men.  But this has come to me before the Holy One in all its brilliance.  Stark and true, it shines a light within my soul to illuminate every possible miscarriage of righteousness.

May understanding come in due time.  I enter into this place in full view of those who have gone before me.  And I speak of this with the humility that knows others have understood this long before I arrived.  And I have to confess the question, “Do I yet understand as I should?

By His Grace