Today we are living in the last days. There is a great darkness over the whole earth. As a nation we have undergone a subtle yet insidious decline in morals and values. At the same time, religion has been diminished. The forms and structures are still flourishing, but the substance has been slowly and methodically eroded away, till religious institutions are just that, institutions. Without the truth, or the true spirit, power and presence of the Lord. That leaves us with the doctrines, interpretations and teachings of men. This is all part of a process, which God has allowed to happen. That against this gross darkness the light of His Truth will shine forth.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (Ampl.) But understand this, that in the last days will come perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. For People will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive [blasphemous, scoffing], disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane...They will be lovers of amusements more than and rather lovers of God. For although they hold a form of true religion, they deny and reject are strangers to the power of it.
Well, that's a pretty accurate statement of the condition of the world today. We have a church on nearly every corner in our cities, yet we are starving for the reality of a living relationship with God.
There is great danger in settling for anything other than God's will, as we see in Isaiah 49:11 (Ampl.) Behold, all you [enemies of your own selves] who attempt to kindle your own fires [and work out your own plans of salvation], who surround yourselves with momentary sparks, darts, and firebrands that you set aflame! Walk by the light of your self-made fire and of the sparks that you have kindled [for yourself, if you will]! But this shall you have from My hand: you shall lie down in grief and torment.
Now who would attempt to kindle their own fire? Someone who has their own agenda, someone who is unwilling to do things God's way, and attempts to find another way. That is a very scary road to choose. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. What was unacceptable to him in Isaiah's day is just as unacceptable today. We see another warning in Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with good, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
It is entirely possible for us to deceive ourselves. We can convince ourselves that we are right, have the truth, whatever, and all the while be in direct conflict with the gospel of Christ.
Jeremiah 50:6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.
There is an enormous responsibility that goes with being a shepherd. Unfortunately, there are many in leadership positions today who do not have the truth, and are robbing the people of their right to a relationship with God. Instead of leading them in the ways of righteousness [right standing with God], they are substituting the message of Christ's gospel with building programs, activities and entertainment. The people never find the rest that Jesus bought for us, because they never come into a living, personal relationship with their Savior.
Jesus addressed the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 23:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders [hypocrites]! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so. It is just as applicable today as it was then.
Jeremiah 8:8 (Ampl) How can you say, We are wise, and we have the written law of the Lord [and are learned in its language and teachings]? Behold, the truth is, the lying pen of the scribes has made of the law a falsehood [a mere code of ceremonial observances]. Man is very adept at making a great outward show of being holy, all the while denying the power of God to change man into God's own image. Isaiah 28:13 Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them [merely monotonous repeating of]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, rule upon rule, rule upon rule, here a little, there a little ... that they may go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.
Spending an hour or two a week going to a meeting is not going to absolve us of that which the Lord requires of us. In most instances, it only serves to strengthen one's confidence in their own goodness. They've done their duty to God for the week, because that is what they have been taught by their leaders. Jesus said in Mark 7:13 (Ampl.) Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on. And many things of this kind are you doing.
Many things we just accept and never really think about because we have never known anything else. We have grown up with these things and always accepted them as being true. A relationship with God will take us way beyond traditions and forms and rituals. Dull repetition is not prayer, or worship, or pressing into a relationship. As born again believers we need to closely examine our own hearts.
Our spirit was born again into Christ, that we might grow up in him being conformed to him; be made just like him. He is the standard for comparison, nothing less. His habitation is not a building made with hands, but within the hearts and minds of his people. We are his habitation. We can judge ourselves now, or he will judge us when he comes. How much better it will be if we get ourselves in right standing with him now while we have the opportunity.
The Word says that judgment begins at the house of God. We are his house, therefore we shall be judged first, before the world. The time is short. Very soon judgment will begin. If we are holding to anything other than Jesus, and every word that he spoke, we are going to experience correction. And it will not be pleasant. If we are clinging to any teaching we have received from man, that is not consistent with the Word, it will be tried by fire. His grace is sufficient, but his grace will not allow us to have it our own way. We will be brought into subjection to God. Hebrews 12:5 ...my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him: (6) for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (26) Whose voice then shook the earth: yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. (27) And this word, yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.
Recently the Lord spoke to us concerning what is coming. He told us to prepare, prepare, prepare. This applies to all who call Jesus Lord. He is not playing games. He said, "Proving by love, either make the tree good or make the tree evil." Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree sound [healthy, good] and its fruit sound, or make the tree rotten [diseased and bad], and its fruit rotten, for the tree is known by its fruit. We are that tree. We need to examine ourselves; what we believe, what we think, what we speak, how we act. He also said, "If there be no hell, there be no fear, and fear is the beginning of wisdom." He said to, "Agree with your adversary while you are in the way with him, I Am that Adversary." Were you aware that at times Jesus himself is our adversary?
Anytime that we are not walking in compliance and accordance with him, he automatically becomes our adversary. If we are out of step with the Lord, he will remove our peace, or bring about situations that will force us to make the necessary changes in our attitude, point of view, or conduct. We must walk in agreement, to walk with the Lord. The Lord orders our steps; we cannot walk another path of our own choosing and continue to receive his blessing. May we all be stirred to seek his face as never before, that we may be found acceptable and pleasing to him. The King of Glory has chosen to make his abiding place within these mortal bodies of clay.
Matthew 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. We could never reach this level of perfection in our own strength. The beauty of being the habitation of the Lord, is that we have the ability to grow up in Christ in a vital, living, personal relationship. Observing forms and rituals could never bring us into this kind of relationship. We come to know first hand, the love of the Lord for us. We experience his saving grace. As we walk by our Spirit, we discover an inner transformation-taking place. Our interests and desires are changing. Those things of the world that we once enjoyed no longer hold any appeal. The changes are subtle, yet progressive. We begin to grow in every area of our lives, leaving that which we were naturally born into, and moving into heavenly realms without any effort on our part. Jesus paid the price for everything on the cross. It is simply a matter of our believing and walking in it. Man tries to make everything complicated. We will never grow up and reach perfection outside of our relationship with Christ.
Never again think of God's dwelling place as being a building made with hands. Rev. 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. To know us, and have an individual relationship with each and every man, woman and child is the desire of God's heart. He has made the way possible for this to happen. It is up to us to accept His gracious offer and let him into our hearts. What greater honor could ever be bestowed on anyone, than the opportunity to know the LIVING GOD? May we all come to humbly bow before Him, and lay down our own lives that we may serve Him who first loved us.
