Essential part of the Lord’s teaching
Recently, I noticed I can see more light from the scriptures, it must be the works of the Holy Spirit. I think the eyes of my heart are opened more. There are some verses in the Bible seems hard to practice, but they are the important part of the whole consul of God, that Paul talked about in Acts 20:26-27 (NKJV) “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Beware, the evil ones are trying hard to erase or distort these truth to deceive the sheep into destruction warned by Jesus, Matthew 7:13 (NIV) “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. Below is a list of a few verses many people do not like to hear;
God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, …… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. …… “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. “And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.
The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. …… Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. …… He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The above are some key verses of several chapters or conclusive instructions of the Epistles. For a very long time I had little fear or reverence for God, these verses seems either impossible or unclear for me to fulfill, so I just go over and forget about them quickly, they are not registered in my mind. Now I am getting more sensitive to these words of instructions, because they are actually the essential part of our Lord’s teaching.
Every one who read these scriptures has to make a choice, either accept it’s authority and seek the Lord for answer, or reject it’s authority and do whatever he likes. Too many prefer to follow Christ without taking up the cross and die to the self, maybe that’s why a great majority are still lukewarm today. Each child of God go through different route by the decisions he make in his spiritual journey, but only serious ones will run to the end, a total surrender — die to the self and live for Christ. Without seeking the Lord for instructions on how to live our daily life, it’s almost impossible to do God’s will and be transformed into Christ like. Many did not make it because they fell into the devil’ trap and stopped in the middle of transformation.
False “salvation”
Arthur W Pink described the spiritual condition of the professing Christians today in the first chapter of his book “An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount”;
Many books are telling us how to be “filled with the Spirit,” but where can we find one setting forth what it means to be spiritually emptied—emptied of self-confidence, self- importance, and self-righteousness? Alas, if it be true that, “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15), it is equally true that what is of great price in His sight is despised by men—by none more so than by modern Pharisees, who now hold nearly all the positions of prominence in Christendom. Almost all of the so-called “ministry” of this generation feeds pride, instead of starving the flesh; puffs up, rather than abases; and anything which is calculated to search and strip is frowned upon by the pulpit and is unpopular with the pew.
His observation seems quite accurate, as false teachers have no respect for Jesus nor his teaching which says in Matthew 23:10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. If anyone wants to teach, he must first deny himself and become the mouthpiece of God, as it is written, 1 Peter 4:11 (KJV) If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. But this word of God seems unheard-of from any pulpit. Blind guides wanted to site in Jesus’ seat and make the flock to follow them. They distort the truth by cherry-pick certain scriptures but reject others. As it is written, Acts 20:30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Obviously they live in sin and encourage everyone to do the same.
Many sheep stopped repenting of their sins because they think a sinner’s prayer is enough. They have no concern for sin any more. Paul Washer described this in his sermon (youtube 23 May 2010) titled, “10 Indictments Against the Modern Church in America”. He said, @34:13 “The malady of this country is not liberal politicians, the root of socialism, Hollywood or anything else. It is the so-called Evangelical pastor of our day, and preacher of our day, and evangelist of our day that is where the malady is to be found. we know the gospel. we have taken the Glorious Gospel of our blessed God and reduced it down to four spiritual laws and five things God wants you to know. with a little superstitious prayer at the end, and if someone repeats it after us with enough sincerity we poshly declare them to be born again.“
Man-made “salvation” is totally different from the word of God. True believer is described in Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. It is a transformation from a slave to sin to become a slave to righteousness. And Paul’s teaching can be summarized as 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. And Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Those who are saved obeyed his instruction to “follow the example of Christ“, and thus “have become slaves to righteousness.” They are not lukewarm or dead like the church in Sardis or Laodicea.
Beware, too many false teachers and fake brothers who reject many words of God, they have a very different gospel, they never speak nor understand the truth — “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.” They have no respect nor fear of God. As it is written, Titus 1:10-11 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach — and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
Pay attention to this word, “many rebellious people”, they are rebellious because they refuse to obey the word of God. They don’t have to rebel against all the word, only a few is enough, because they have no respect for God’s authority. For example, if someone read 1 Peter 4:11 “If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God“, he will ignore it and go ahead speak whatever he think is okay. Is this man not a rebellious person? When he reads another verse like “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” He wouldn’t care much, it’s just another impossible verses. I was like this before, we may all have such mentality at one time, and we have to repent.
“Many rebellious people” is a serious warning for very wide spread of false teaching by people who have no fear of God whatsoever. Too many have stopped repenting and thus live in sin. They are deceived, as they do not know how to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling“. They have lots of experience in organizing all kinds of activities without hearing Jesus’ voice, nor inquiring of the Lord. They are not led by the Spirit, but walk in self confidence. Many have been teaching the Bible for 10, 20 years or more, but have no idea what is God’s will.
Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer
Recently I woke up with this verse in my mind, the Spirit is teaching me one of the key requirement to hear the voice of the Lord. The NIV text of 1Pet 4:7 is, “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” Without sober or clear mind we can not pray. That’s why most sheep do not hear the Shepherd’s voice, we have missed this verse. Not only this, we have not believed other verses either, Rom 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Almost no one believe this word of God, we can hardly see anyone seeking instruction on how to pray. Paul urged all believers to “Pray without ceasing“, this does not suggest repeating the Lord’s prayer all day long. What we ought to pray is written down in the book of Psalms and in Paul’s prayers from his letters. They are written so that we may follow, but so few are listening. Many do not like to pray psalms because they don’t have pure hearts, so they don’t like to hear some of the words spoken by the holy Spirit.
It is written, 1John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. Many God’s children still don’t have this confidence in approaching God and don’t get what they prayed for, because they don’t care about God’s will or plan.
The way to know God’s will is hidden from our eyes, (Ephesians 5:17-19) Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; The word of God is self-explained here, the will of God can be known by being filled with the Spirit, and the way to be filled with the Spirit is to speak to our self in psalms.
Here is the hidden truth, in order to “understanding what the will of the Lord is” we have to hear his voice first, thus be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms is the most practical way in hearing his voice. Especially meditating psalms in the evening, as Psalms 4:4 … commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. (Psalms 16:7 NKJV) I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. The verse is telling us how God instruct our heart in the evening when we pray or meditate psalms.
Another reason for praying all the psalms is to fight the spiritual battle. So many God’s children are beaten up by the enemy because we don’t really know how to fight a spiritual war. We don’t know what and when the evil ones are planing or attacking, thus praying psalms all the time is a more practical way to fight the evil ones. There are many good examples such as;
Psalms 10:15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.
Psalms 17:13 Rise up, O Lord, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword.
When Jonah was inside the fish, (Jonah 2:2) He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. This is psalms 18:6, but I believe this is not the first time he pray psalms 18, he prayed many psalms before, so that he knows how to apply these prayers in real time situation. Therefore, I don’t think we have to wait until something bad happened then praying for protection and help or healing. I just pray through all 150 psalms, but I am still learning. It’s not easy because this is spiritual war, my flesh doesn’t understand much, and I have to learn self-control and be sober.
I suspect not many people understand the meaning of Ephesians 5:17-17. When Paul instruct them to speak to themselves in psalms, he also speak to himself in psalms a lot since he teach what he does. In the same way, we can conclude Jesus also did this because Paul said, “follow my example as I followed the example of Christ.” For Jesus said in John 8:28 …… and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. It’s a clear indication that he prayed something like psalm 25:4, 5 “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me.“
We see our Savior prayed psalm 22:1 on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ” But that may not be the first time Jesus prayed this psalm. It leads me to think about this question, is this psalm also meant for all who take up their own cross and follow the Lord? Then the these words came to me; Romans 5:3-5 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
The answer seems positive, when we suffer to the degree we feel God has left us, then we pray psalm 22:1; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Now a sense of fear started to grow within me, “how much more suffering have go through in the coming judgement? Have we wasted too much time in the past, so we will learn perseverance, character and hope the hard way?
Are we are too “intelligent” to have child-like faith? If we are truly “poor in spirit”, then we would just obey the word of God and seek Him for instruction on every move we take. It seems I still have to learn lots of things to walk in the Spirit.
May God have mercy on us. Have mercy.
Now let’s imitate the Lord to pray psalms 94, 95 and 96 (NKJV);
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs – O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud.
LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?
They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.
They break in pieces Your people, O LORD, And afflict Your heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, “The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob understand.”
Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?
The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD, And teach out of Your law,
That You may give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
For the LORD will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
But judgment will return to righteousness, And all the upright in heart will follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the LORD had been my help, My soul would soon have settled in silence.
If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up.
In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, Have fellowship with You?
They gather together against the life of the righteous, And condemn innocent blood.
But the LORD has been my defense, And my God the rock of my refuge.
He has brought on them their own iniquity, And shall cut them off in their own wickedness; The LORD our God shall cut them off.
OH come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
OH, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength.
Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.