Showing posts with label False Teachers. Show all posts

am not sure if any of you, that read this blog, remember the Sesame Street song which taught kids to recognize things which are similar and to pick out the things which are not. But it recently came to my attention since I have been out of work, I have watched Sesame Street every morning with my son as we eat our breakfast, and it got me thinking. Recent polls show that 80% of Americans say they are Christian, even cults like the JW's, and Mormons also claim that title. The problem is that JW's, Mormons, and I would dare say most of the 80% that claim the Christian title, are not really followers of Christ.

recently saw Jay Bakker, son of false teachers Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, on Larry King Live, although, I think that the original interview actually took place back in 2006. The date is really irrelevant because the false doctrines that Jay Bakker propagated in that interview have been gaining more popularity as each year passes. You can find the specific statements I will be referring to, here at YouTube, and also at this online magazine.

It seems that Jay has decided to take up the cause of fighting for gay rights. His so-called ministry is focusing on reaching out to homosexuals, however, he does not call them to repentance, NO, instead he claims that God told him that homosexuality is no longer a sin. Jay Bakker's direct quote is, "This sounds so churchy, but I felt like God spoke to my heart and said '[homosexuality] is not a sin'". Now, this really opens up the flood gates of craziness and chaos. With this way of thinking, any person can claim a "new revelation" from God. I mean, seriously, this is so absurd, maybe someone will say that God told them adultery was no longer a sin, or how bout stealing? Maybe lying will be ok...ya never know, murder might be the next sin God will change His mind on. The fact of the matter is that God has made it unquestionably clear in His Word that not only is homosexuality a sin, but God does not change His mind.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."

Numbers 23:19
"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind."

Seems pretty cut and dry doesn't it? However, Jay Bakker says, "Well, I mean, I know the arguments. I know the scriptures. And the scriptures are very – you could argue on them all day. I believe they’ve been taken out of context, and I don’t believe that, you know, we’ve researched enough of the background on those scriptures." False teachers like Jay Bakker claim that 1 Corinthians 6:9 is narrowly speaking of homosexual prostitutes, and that it does not at all encompass the damnation of a supposed monogamous homosexual loving relationship. This is a lie, plain and simple. The word translated, "effeminate" does speaks of male prostitutes, however, "homosexuals" is a totally different word, and is differentiated from these effeminate prostitutes with a "nor". Thus God is declaring that neither of them will enter the Kingdom of God. Jay Bakker's doctrines are exactly what Peter warned of when he said that unstable and untaught men would distort the Scriptures in hopes of catching some off guard as to carry them away (2 Pet 3:14-18), because of this constant threat, we should be on the alert and diligent to be established in the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:12).

Romans 1:18-32

Here, Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, shows us that God's wrath is revealed against men who suppress the truth. The Bible says these men fail to honor and thank God even though He has made His power and divine nature evident to them through His creation, and because of their lack of honor and thankfulness toward God, "God gave them over to degrading passions". Before we go wondering what that means, Scripture explains that degrading passions consist of "women exchang{ing} the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." This really couldn't be more clear, I mean, seriously, it couldn't. If God meant to condemn merely homosexual prostitution, it would have been easy for Him to make that obvious. Or would false teachers like Jay Bakker think that when God said adulterers would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, that we should question if God meant all adulterers, or only a narrow specific kind of adulterer. We know that God is holy (Rev 4:8; Rev 15:4), perfect in purity (Deut 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31), and free from all sin (2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 3:5), so when we consider Him and His character wouldn't it make more sense to err on the side of righteousness than to assume that a holy God would tolerate willful sin?

Especially when He so clearly states, through Paul, in Romans that the act of homosexuality itself is impure, improper, depraved, wicked, evil and ranked among all unrighteousness, whether it is greed, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossiping, slandering, insolent, arrogant, boastful, being disobedient to parents...all of this behavior is considered by Christ as unloving, and those who practice such things are worthy of death. (Rom 1:28-32)

Many people debate whether homosexuals are born gay, but that debate is pointless. King David says rightly that from birth we are sinful (Psalm 51:5) and Paul proclaims that by nature we are children of wrath (Eph 2:3). Since we know that mankind is fallen through Adam (Rom 5:12-14), we should be aware that all of us have an innate sin nature (Gen 4:7) and we are all prone to sin (Jam 1:13-15) within ourselves. Homosexuals may say that from a young age they had certain "feelings" and "tendencies" toward being gay, however, from a young age I had tendencies to lie, and to steal, just as we all have sinful tendencies. Being a liar and a thief came naturally to me, so because of this, do I try and justify my lying thieving ways? No, for Christ calls us to repentance, we are commanded to turn from our sin (John 8:11) and we are commanded to deny ourselves to the point of death (Matt 16:24). Practically speaking, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I am to renew my mind in the Word of God, being transformed by the living and active Word into the image of Christ (Rom 12:1-2), so as to die to self, which is sinful, and live to Christ. The same goes for a homosexual, if he is to be saved, he must die to his desires turning from his sin, and follow Christ in all obedience.

Now...this teaching, although biblically accurate is attacked by men like Jay Bakker who say it is external religiosity to ask someone to "change" and is exactly what the Pharisees stood for, and that it is the very thing Jesus spoke out against. Jay Bakker claims that all you have to do is love God with all your heart, and it doesn't matter if you are a practicing homosexual or not. The problem with this argument is that, the Pharisees had taken God's law and added all sorts of externals to it, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN (Matt 15:9). Whereas I, and many others who are like-minded with me, am merely pointing to Scripture, and echoing the words of Christ, the Prophets, and Apostles in saying do not be deceived (1 Cor 6:10)...no sinners will inherit the Kingdom of God, that goes for liars, and adulterers, just as it applies to homosexuals. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:11 that the Corinthians were once all those things...liars, drunkards, thieves, idolaters, homosexuals...but they were washed, they were sanctified and they were justified through Jesus Christ. This did not happen because of some hypocritical love for God, in which they continued to wallow in their sin...NO...they were ONCE those things, meaning they had turned from them, they had abandoned them, they had deserted them for Christ. It is not a coincidence that Paul says do not be deceived before listing all the characteristics of those who would be banished from entering God's Kingdom. Paul said do not be deceived because we are prone to justify our sin, and we are prone to deceive ourselves into thinking we are not that sinful.

Please, do not be deceived in thinking homosexuality is not a sin. Do not be deceived in thinking obeying Scripture is legalistic...because on judgment day, many will stand before Christ and say, "Lord, Lord"...these men are deceived, thinking that they know Christ...saying "Lord, Lord" you know me! But He will tell them, "I never knew you! DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS" (Matt 7:23). The very ones who will be cast into hell are those who have no law, they are lawless, and they continually practice that which transgresses against God's Word, but, in spite of what Jay Bakker teaches, the true disciple of Christ "delights in the law of the LORD" (Psalm 1:2). Practicing homosexuals do not pay heed to the warnings of being self deceived (Gal 6:7) found in the Word of God. These men loved their sin more than they loved Christ, they loved their sin so much they would not stop practicing it.

"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." - John 3:19

Repent and be saved! Christ will justify and cleanse you from every filthy thing that has stained your soul. Do not be deceived by your own wicked heart (Jer 17:9) into thinking God tolerates sin. If we truly trust in Christ, it is written that the old things have passed away, and we ought to be new creatures with new desires...new creatures who no longer love the darkness of our evil deeds which we once were slaves to. If we are new creatures, we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and if we "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please" (Gal 5:16-17). Self denial is a characteristic of Christ's disciples, self indulgence is a characteristic of an unregenerate person.

f you have not read the first part of this series, I suggest that you read it before you read this, and that first post is located here.

After having established that God causes His Church to grow through the preaching of His Word (Rom 10:14, 17) in the first post, we will now see that Scripture clearly shows that God also grows His Church when there is purity within the congregation. Now, for this to occur there are some things that are umm...prerequisites if you will. The Church must be made up of regenerate believers. This may seem like a no brainer to some, especially since the word Church itself literally means "called out", so of course the Church should be made up of a body of believers who have been called out, elected, or divinely selected by the Almighty. However, there are organizations of Church planters who poll the non-believing community to ask them what they would like to see in the Church. They ask these unregenerate people what would bring them in the doors, and that is why you see so many Churches now that are indistinguishable from the world system. Since these so-called Churches have become like the world to appeal to worldly people, they are then obviously made up of those who are not truly saved, and since they are not born again, they are utterly incapable of being pure (Rom 3:10-18) and it is impossible for them to please God (Heb 11:6), or for them to live righteously as God has called us to be holy just as He is holy (1 Pet 1:16). As I pointed out in the last post, for the Church to grow, it must be continually devoting itself to the teaching of Christ and the Apostles (Acts 2:42), and in doing so it can't help but be offensive to the unregenerate sinner (Jer 6:10). We are destined to be hated as Christ was, but we also ought to be blameless as Christ was. That is the importance of the Church having purity, that we do not suffer reproach that is due us because of sin. That is why Jesus Himself set up a system of discipline that the Church is to practice, however, it is almost never practiced today, mainly because most Churches have become so much like the world that they tolerate sin, to their detriment, but do not be deceived, Christ is not in their midst (Rev 2:20)

Matthew 18:15-17
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

Here, Jesus is clearly stating that something must be done about sin which involves those who are in the Church. True Churches can not tolerate such behavior or they run the risk of having their lamp put out and not having the blessing and authority of Christ behind them (Rev 2:5). Now, I am not saying that we should be critical fault finders who nitpick every single sin that we may see, or make ourselves out to be junior detectives that go around searching for sin in peoples lives. For instance, if someone misspeaks and says something they shouldn't have, or maybe has an outburst of anger one time, we overlook such things because "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Pet 4:8). We should be understanding that our flesh has not yet been redeemed and because of that we are unable to be free from every and all sin. However, since our sinning is a reality of our life until we are brought into glorification upon the return of Christ, that does not at all mean we should take sin lightly. Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Paul, here, is giving the strongest negative in the Greek saying, God forbid that we continue in sin because we are forgiven for our sins, that type of attitude shows a total lack of thankfulness and respect toward the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf (Heb 10:26-31). We are to deny ourselves to the point of death (Matt 16:24), no longer living for our selfish desires but by faith for the glory of Christ (Gal 2:20). Our lives should be sacrificially yielded to Christ in complete obedience, clinging to the Word of God so as to allow it to transform us into the image of our Creator (Rom 12:1-2). The process of sanctification should be continually taking place, making it so that our sins are happening less frequently and farther apart (1 Thess 4:1-8). Just because we are still in the flesh and prone to sin, that is never an excuse for our sin. We should realize that each and every sin that we commit is the exact thing that killed the Son of God. Our sin is precisely what held Jesus to the cross, so upon sinning, we should be mournful and weep over the fact that we have offended and transgressed against our Lord and Savior (James 4:8-10).

The Apostle John makes all this crystal clear when he says, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8), showing us that yes, we are prone to sin, and yes, because of our innate sin nature we will stumble from time to time. However, John explicitly says "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him" (1 John 3:6). In saying this, John is telling us that anyone who habitually sins, or whoever has a life that is characterized by constant sin has not been redeemed. They are deceived in thinking they are a Christian. The sticky area is that there are times when a legit believer will fall into a season of sin, but upon being confronted, they should respond to the voice of God, repent and turn away from their sin (1 Cor 5 & 2 Cor 2:4-11). So, a verse like 1 John 3:6 should really strike fear and doubt within the heart of a person about the legitimacy of their calling and they should wonder if they have ever truly believed with a faith that brings forth fruits in keeping of repentance (Luke 3:8).

Now, according to today's market driven Church paradigm, Church discipline is not in the least bit conducive to their visions of expeditious massive growth. They are more interested in packing the pews than in being obedient to the Word of God. But, look at Acts 5, where Ananias and Sapphira after having sold a piece of their property, went to the Apostle Peter and lied. In a vain attempt at appearing generous, they claimed to be giving ALL the money they had received for that property, to the Church, but in reality they had secretly kept a portion for themselves. What happens next is the ultimate in Church discipline..."Ananias fell down and breathed his last" (Acts 5:5). God disciplined both Ananias and Sapphira to the point of death for lying, which caused a "great fear {coming} over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things" (Acts 5:11).

Now, take into account, that during this time in the early Church, the Apostles, by the power of the Holy Spirit, were preforming great signs and wonders, causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead to rise (Acts 5:12). The miraculous would have attracted the masses into flocking to the Church, but they would have been coming for the wrong reasons. Just like today's Church planters that try to get people in the doors for all the wrong reasons, whether its Starbucks, Crispy Creme or some form of entertainment...God must purify His Church from sin and from those who are there for selfish ambition through discipline, no matter how counter productive it may seem to Church growth. Because, in spite of the disciplinary death of Ananias and Sapphira and the fear that spread throughout the Church because of it, "all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number" (Acts 5:14). So far we have seen from the Scriptures, that the way that God grows His Church is totally opposite from what the modern Church says we should do to see growth in the congregation.
This deals a deathblow to the wisdom and scheming of men. It is written that "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God" (1 Cor 1:25-29) If only those who profess to follow Christ would read His Word so that they may know this, so that they too will "BOAST IN THE LORD" (1 Cor 1:31) alone.

n earlier posts I have mentioned Joel Osteen (here and here) and how he does not, at all, even come close to holding to anything that could even be remotely confused with the teaching of sound doctrine. Joel's motivational uplifting self-esteem filled messages resemble Oprah, Dr. Phil & Tony Robbins instead of the Apostles Paul and Peter. His teaching is completely and totally void of any biblical truths to the point of being flat out heretical. This idea of the Purpose Driven Church is market and fad driven, and there are many in the spot light who point to the size of their Churches as proof that they are doing God's work. How on earth could this be an accurate way to determine if God is leading them when Jesus Himself said that many will travel the broad road of destruction but few will enter by the narrow gate which leads to life (Matt 7:13-14). Are we to look at the success of the various cults and think that God has put His blessing on them? The fact of the matter is that a true Calvinist (which would actually be a biblicist...is that even a word?) cannot look at Church growth as a gauge of God's approval because Scripture is crystal clear...God is sovereign.

Rick Warren arrogantly and wrongly says that given enough time he can make anyone believe in God, but since Scripture, time and time again, reaffirms the fact that we are "called", and clearly states that we did not choose the Lord, but He has chosen us (John 15:16), it is then apparent that the Church grows not by the will and craftiness of man but by supernatural means, more specifically, by the will and election of God, which means that the number of those that will be saved will not fall short by even one soul. Acts 2:39 shows us how God will build His Church through divine selection.

"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

Over the next 3 blogs we will look at the various biblical elements of true Church growth...

-They spoke the Word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31)

Hebrews 4:12
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The living and enduring Word of God is the instrument by which God causes a sinner to be born again (1 Pet 1:23), that is why it is paramount that it, and it alone, is preached.

Romans 10:14
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

Peter knew this to be true and that is why he preached from the Word of God at Pentecost. In chapter 2 of Acts Peter read from the Scriptures and then expounded on what those truths meant. Today's Church of the tares claims that the Bible is outdated and archaic, even sometimes going as far as to say it is human in origin, and that it is no longer relevant to today's world and problems. They set it aside so as to teach human wisdom from books not inspired by the Holy Spirit. This produces a so-called believer without roots, whose faith has no foundation and will eventually die off because the Scriptures are evident that Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of true faith and the Apostles and Prophets laid the foundation upon which we are to build our faith. If a Pastor fails to bring sound, healthy doctrine, make no mistake, he can never build anyone up in the faith, no matter how "moral" the person may seem externally (Matt 13:3-9, 18-23; Matt 21:18-19; cf. 1 Cor 3:10-11; Eph 2:19-21) since that person lacks a foundation. They cannot then be built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood so as to be acceptable to God (1 Pet 2:5). After Peter delivered the Word of God accompanied with exegetical teaching, we see the effect that God brings about within the heart of sinful man.

Acts 2:37-38
"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

Notice how this ties perfectly into what the writer of Hebrews said? The Word of God pierces the heart and convicts the soul, and that is why strictly teaching the Word is such a necessary part of Church. Also take note of what Peter says to them when they inquire of him what they should do...Peter doesn't pull a Joel Osteen and tell them to hold their heads up high, that God loves them no matter what and that they should be proud of themselves because they are from royal stock, Peter tells them to repent. As I mentioned in my last post, the people who are citizens of heaven are those who realize their spiritual bankruptcy and look to Christ alone to save them. Contrary to what Rick Warren claims in "The Purpose Driven Life," saying some quick little prayer will not save you, neither will raising your hand at some alter call. Turning from your sin and calling out to Christ as your Savior and submitting to Him as Lord is the one and only thing that leads to Salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Matt 7:21-27; Luke 4:46-49). Instead of giving them some felt needs message, Peter went on exhorting these men toward repentance (vs. 40) and God used that to grow His Church (vs. 41). Continue down Acts 2 and you will see that "they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (vs. 42) which lead to "the Lord...adding to their number day by day those who were being saved" (vs. 47). The Apostles had a total disdain for any sort of contextualization (they were not at all in the least bit concerned with fads, trends or styles relating to clothes or music) but the message transcended across all social barriers, whether it was age, racial or cultural...it is written that "they had all things in common" (Acts 2:44) and "were of one heart and soul" (Acts 4:32). It is so important to remember at this time in the first century people were totally divided by their cultures (so much more so than now), the Jews had nothing to do with the Greeks...knowing this should help us deeply appreciate the supreme power that God's Word has to break down such long standing boundaries and to unite us as one in Christ (Phil 2:2; 1 Cor 12:12-13; Gal 3:27-28). That is why it is so sad when one of the first questions or comments I always hear young people say about Church is whether the music is modern or not. Church is not about you being entertained with the latest style of music but about coming before the Lord in worship. When I first started attending Church, the style of music I enjoyed was drastically different from the old hymns we sung during the gathering of the assembly, but I loved them regardless because they were rich with theological truth which glorifed God. Those old hymns are packed with truth from Scripture so as to teach even during the musical part of the service. Everything in a Church service should be pointing to Christ and to His Word.

This is exactly why Churches should not be teaching or preaching from anything other than the Word of God. It is dangerous and rebellious to appeal to anything innate to people’s falleness (is that a word?). The message that is preached must be alien, it must be divine, it must be God's very mouth and mind...nothing else brings eternal life.

1 Corinthians 14:40
"But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner."

Titus 2:2
"Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance."

Titus 2:6-8
"Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us."

1 Timothy 3:11
"Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things."

Not to mention that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self control (Galatians 5:22; Titus 1:7-9; 2 Peter 1:5-7)...John MacArthur was right in calling it Charasmatic Chaos

ith all the recent brouhaha (I seriously can't believe I just used that word, and highly doubt I even spelled it correctly) over Mark Driscoll and his language, I sincerely hope this title won't be considered scatological humor, its just that when I realized what I wanted to blog about, I instantly thought of the beginning of Kindergarten Cop when Arnold kicks down this door to some crack house and responds to some astonished crack head asking who he was by saying, "I'm the party pooper," just before pumping two slugs into the druggies chest.

With that in mind, I really felt that it was an appropriate title because this bit of Scripture will truly rain on some peoples parades and confront their partying ways, hopefully piercing their heart with conviction.

1 Peter 4:3
"For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries."

I recently came across a professing Christians myspace that said, "I am a christain but i am flawed. I will go out with my friends and dance the night away (cocktail in hand) on a satureday and be at church bright and early Sunday morning letting God continue to mold and shape me as he see's fit. Thats just me. I'm random. I'm spontaneous." (The typos in the quote are not mine)

Now...before I get into it, I first want to point out that her saying "I am flawed" does not at all constitute a true confession of sins. True biblical repentance bears fruit, (Matt 3:8) resulting in righteous behavior, and ultimately a radically changed life (Rom 10:10), whereas this girl admits that what she is doing is wrong, however, she continues to do it anyway.

So...does this way of living harmonize with the Word of God? Can one have a divided heart, living a life of wanton pleasure, and at the same time truly be a disciple of Christ? Peter says earlier in this same epistle that we ought to be obedient children, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, commands us to no longer be conformed to our former lusts that we indulged in, in our ignorance, that is, before we were called out of darkness and to the light of Christ. We are also commanded to be holy just as God is holy (1 Pet 1:14-16). Furthermore, Peter says we should be putting aside all hypocrisy (1 Pet 2:1), which plainly means that we are not to be out dancing the night away, cocktail in hand, Saturday night and then turning around to play Church on Sunday morning. Peter goes on to say that we should be following in the footsteps of Christ who suffered, in fact, throughout this entire epistle Peter clearly shows us that the Christian life is one of suffering (not partying) by saying, "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose" (1 Pet 4:1a)

Our purpose isn't to pursue our needs, wants, desires and pleasures, but to live for Christ. Scripture makes it perfectly clear that we are not to be out partying like rock stars, because that is the way non-believers live their lives, but our purpose is to be unified to Christ in His sufferings (Phil 1:29; Phil 3:8-11). Or do we honestly think that some how that doesn't apply to us, or that we can escape such things when the one whom we profess to follow endured it?

Have we so quickly forgotten what Christ said in John 15:18-20, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master ' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also."

Christ suffered, and since we are obviously not greater than He is that means we will suffer also, so it is inevitable that our lives will be that of persecution and suffering if we are truly His disciples. But...why must we suffer? 1 Peter 4:1b-2 says, "because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."

It's a good thing, because if you are suffering for Christ and in the same manner as Christ, that means you are preaching the Word and suffering without reason, then you can count it all joy (James 1:2-3) knowing that you are being transformed into His likeness and that spiritual maturity brings holy living, which results in a life that has ceased from sin but that lives to do the will of God. Your priorities have changed.

That brings us full circle to our original verse...stop living and partying like non-believers because the time for all that type of behavior is over. The reality of the situation is that Christ died to save us from that sinful behavior...actually, that exact type of behavior is what killed the Son of God. If we have truly been called out of such ignorance and darkness, our eyes should be opened to the fact, and we should also realize that "the end of all things is near" (1 Pet 4:7), so instead of dancing the night away, with a cocktail in hand, we should be sober and alert awaiting the return of the Almighty. Not waiting, as in sitting there and doing nothing, but doing the will of God. As the old Puritan said, we should be preaching the Word as if Christ died yesterday, rose today, and is returning tomorrow. We should be acting with a sense of urgency, because really...this is life and death we are talking about.

Lastly, on a personal note, this particular subject is something that I have struggled with greatly in my own life. It was only a few years ago that my life was centered on getting wasted. Shortly after being called to Christ, I was unaware of these commands in Scripture, and I was unaware of the necessity to become Holy as He is Holy, so I continued in this sinful duality, and half heartedness toward God. I thank God, however, that He has not left us in the dark concerning such things but has revealed these commands and warnings in His Word, and that is one reason why it is so imperative to be addicted to Scripture as I mentioned in my last post, so that we can be transformed to the image of Christ through His supernatural Word knowing the very mind and will of God (Rom 12:2). Remember...if we hear the words of God and turn our back on His calling to pursue sin, we really ought to be stricken with fear and the possibility that we are not truly regenerate for the Scriptures say...

Hebrews 10:26-31
"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY' And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."