“…for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them,felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.” 2 Peter 2:8

Is the wickedness in the world a perpetual source of spiritual mourning, inciting you to call down fire from heaven that justice might be vindicated? Is your heart griped with compassion for the wicked and your intercession being that the Lion of the tribe of Judah might not appear today in order that the wicked may have one more opportunity to repent? As aliens upon the earth anguish of heart to the wickedness in the world is the spiritual address of pilgrims.

Saints experience words and activities that deeply grieve their redeemed soul, those which are base and foul, indicative of unregenerate hearts. Responding to the effectual call of God grace translates the sinner from the kingdom of darkness and death to the Kingdom of God and life, transforming him into a new creation in Christ Jesus, one which possesses a new nature infused by the Holy Spirit, the Law of God being inscribed on the heart, “’This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people’” (Jer. 31:33).

The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit causes the sinner, turned pilgrim, to be aghast at his former manner of life, and grace destines him to live among and behold fallen humanity, lost souls that remain in bondage to sin and death, subjects of the prince of darkness, depraved individuals who by nature engage in detestable acts, speaking blasphemous words, driven on by abominable thoughts. And lest the saint become boastful toward the wicked the Holy Spirit impresses that it is only by grace that he stands justified. Grace imparts to the pilgrim new dispositions—positive and negative—which empower him to sojourn upon the earth as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, constrained by the love of God to preach the redemption of the cross: the pilgrim is sanctified to holiness as the Lord is holy and he is not to be defiled by the world; the pilgrim is sanctified to compassion as the Lord is compassionate and he is not to become indifferent to the plight of wicked men and eternal damnation. In the Saviors stead the saint is constrained by love, seeking the good of
all men, irrespective of whether or not it is appreciated. The saint remains keenly aware that wickedness will be judged, and consumed with that knowledge the love of the Savior compels him to beg men to be reconciled to God, “For Christ’s love compels us….” (2 Cor. 5:14).

The regenerate spirit within the pilgrim is daily provoked by ungodliness in the world, longingly seeking a better country and the city whose foundation and walls are not made by human hands. The pilgrim patiently waits for the appearing of his Lord while seeking to faithfully carrying out that to which he is called, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (Jn. 20:21).

Engaged in the work of the cross the pilgrim is well served to soberly assess his vulnerability to the ways of the old man within, “Do not be deceived; bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15:33). In this regard the pilgrim’s tendency is to turn away from the world as an act of self-preservation, but he cannot cloister himself from the world and remain salt and light to it. And a callous heart of in-difference as with Jonah is equally unfitting for children of the Lamb of God, “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:11).

As ambassadors of Jesus Christ it is the pilgrims destiny to live among the people from which he was redeemed—being tormented within by the sin of the world—and “to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Lk. 4:19), to be in the world but not of it, to direct the hearts of men to Christ Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only mediator between God and men.

Immutable Word Ministries (…Word of Our God Stands Forever Isa 40:8)

Side note: Future readings can be accessed at: Immutable Word Ministries–www.immutablewordministries.blogspot.com

Possibly related posts (Auto generated):

1. Prescribe And Administer
2. The Hour Is Near
3. When Grace Transitions to Justice
4. Humbly Remain Undaunted
5. The Divine Intersection

J.A. Matteson

“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” Revelation 20:12

Two dreadful occasions await the unrepentant wicked at death: a definitive tribunal judgment and conviction before Almighty God, and being cast away for all eternity from the presence of God to suffer the indescribable anguish of hell, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). And in as much as eye as not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of men the blessed wonder of all that God has in store for the redeemed in heaven (1 Cor. 2:9), neither has it truly been understood to the fullest extent just how unimaginably horrible hell will be for the wicked.

Beloved, the terse language of the Scriptures and especially that by the Lord Jesus Christ ought to serve as a strong warning and convincing proof that no man should dare trifle with it and that the administration of the Gospel is urgent to the hearing of all in danger of perishing. As for the redeemed they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ where each pilgrims work will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ, faithful service being recognized and rewarded (2 Cor. 5:10).

The unregenerate, however, will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ at the great white throne of judgment and all of their wicked deeds laid naked, serving as the basis for their just condemnation (Rom. 2:5). All who rejected the salvation offered in the Lord Jesus Christ will stand before Him condemned (Jn 3:18-19)—the educated and ignorant, the wealthy and poor, the charitable and stingy, the politically powerful and the weak, the moral and immoral, the religious and impious—all will stand individually before God Almighty and hear the piercing indictment of their eternal sentence of doom, their sins itemized one by one, the foremost and eternally damning sin being unforgivable; viz., the sin of unbelief in the Son of God as the spotless Lamb of God and the rejection of His vicarious substitutionary death atoning for sin on the cross, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

On judgment day saints will have The Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous, Who will plead their pardon before the Father, these being justified by faith in the Lord’s atoning work on their behalf, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Woe to the prideful man who brashly contends that he is righteous apart from the imputed righteousness found only in the cross of Jesus Christ, he is utterly deceived and by his boasting a deceiver of the simple, deluded in mind and worse than a charlatan, a diabolical fraud, for he has denied that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Diabolical is the teaching the Emergent Church movement that denies Scripture pertaining to the penal substitution of sin laid upon the spotless Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10; see also Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 Jn. 2:2)—it is the foundation of the Gospel. These fail to understand that apart from the shed blood of Christ they are still in their sin, justly condemned, twice dead, and in danger of hell fire.

Apart from the vicarious substitutionary death of Christ there is no hope, only a sure consignment to eternal darkness. These delusional teachers will not have The Advocate by their side to defend them for they have denied the very work He performed that they might be saved. By their words and deeds they are enemies of the blessed cross of Christ.

Copyrigtht (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries (“…the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8)

(Reproduced with permission)

Like

Unlike

Possibly related posts (Auto generated):

1. New Dispositions
2. Naked and Condemned

“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying ‘Where is the promise of His coming?….’” 2 Peter 3:3-4

Spring rains bring forth a vibrant pallet of color to delight the eyes; hot dry days of summer lead multitudes to seek refuge alongside cool bodies of water; leaves that were green turn to amber, gently falling to the ground, dancing on the breeze of an autumn day; biting cold and snow of winter make the warm glow of a fireside chat with a cup of tea enticing. To the natural mind the rhythm of nature appears as an infinite loop of seasonal cycles, meandering rivers of delightful memories past tend to lull the unregenerate soul into a state of tranquility.

It is the condition of the natural mind to suppress the truth of divine revelation, to defy the self-evident design of the natural order, to suppress a fear of God by denying His existence, professing to be wise while in reality existing perilously close to divine retribution at the hands of Him whose wrath burns as a consuming fire. Such was the generation of Noah, mockers sneered, laughed, joked, and carried on in jolly merriment, eating and drinking to intoxication, frolicking about without care, until the door of the arc closed. At that moment utter destruction came upon them instantly, and there was no hiding place, no escape, “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Then the flood came….” (Gen. 7:16-17).

Redemptive history is linear and not cyclical as the ordered seasons. Providence is guiding human events to their climatic end according to the good pleasure of His will. The Scripture cannot be broken and while heaven and earth will pass away the Word of our God stands forever (Isa. 40:8). What has been was ordained and that which is to come is sure and unalterable, divine Providence will see to that. Striving in vain the fool convinces himself that he can stay the hand of the Lord from bringing to pass that which has been revealed in Scripture.

Beautiful is the Word of God for in it the simple is made wise and the wise a fool. In Jesus Christ the door of the arc remains open, today is the day of salvation, but the hour is fast approaching when the directive will be given by the Father and the trumpet blast will sound forth and the fury of the Lion of the tribe of Judah will be seen by all coming in the clouds will indescribable power and glory, and at that time the door of the arc will close and those who mocked will tremble in horror while vainly trying conceal themselves from His wrath, “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb’” (Rev. 6:15-16).

Beloved, the last days of redemptive history began with the incarnation of the Son of God, “…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son….” (Heb. 1:2), and His coming is immanent. Today, as in the days of Noah, mockers abound, sneering, laughing, joking, and carrying on in jolly merriment, eating and drinking to intoxication, frolicking about without care, but the door will soon be shut and their opportunity for salvation past. Let not the man of God look upon the lost with contempt; but rather, let him with empathy pity his neighbors blind deluded estate and the fate that surly awaits him, pleading with him to enter the arc of salvation found in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, that he might escape the swift currents of the coming flood of the wrath of the Lamb of God.

Let it not be said of the saints of God that those outside the arc were not warned, that they were not shown the door, that they were not privy to the narrow way, that they were not thrown the scarlet rope of Calvary. The Lord our God warned that His coming would be as a thief in the night, catching many unaware. May the bride of Christ trim her lamp for her redemption is nigh, her Prince is quickly approaching; indeed, He stands at the door.

Like

Unlike

Possibly related posts (Auto generated):

1. The Greatest Enterprise

“Moses said to the sons of Israel, ‘See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri,the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.’” Exodus 35:30

Are you functioning as the Lord intends within the covenant community, or has confusion enveloped your path, hindering progress in grace endowed fruitfulness as you subtly pursue self-exaltation? Arriving at an accurate understanding of your role within the body of Christ is paramount to one day receiving commendation from the Lord, “Well done good and faithful slave….” (Matt. 25:21). And it is worth noting, dear pilgrim, that the Lord chose “slave” in describing your relationship to Him; “servant” can suggest a voluntary arrangement while slave accurately portrays the spiritual reality of your blessed redemption through the atoning blood of Christ, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20).

Suggesting to a fellow pilgrim that he can and ought to perform whatever he chooses is folly and an insult to the King of Glory; beloved, silly notions of this variety find no support from Holy Writ. As the Lords bond-slave what constitutes pleasing service to Him? Is it not a pliable disposition, one which submits to divine directives, those which are always in accordance to the pilgrims intended function within the covenant community as crafted by the Lord?

Bezalel serves as a type whereby the pilgrim observes in him a tender heart which hears and responds to the divine call and directive of the Lord, where the consummation of his obedience if found to be integral—along with all the saints—to the final eschatological glorification of the name of the Lord, “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name” (Ps. 86:9).

The wisdom and characteristics implanted within the pilgrim in the form of natural abilities bring glory to the Lord when humbly possessed and diligently applied. The naïvely immature pilgrim seeks to accomplish great exploits for the Lord, sinisterly indicative of the sinful Adamic nature—exploits manifested from inner pride—those not directed by Him and to which he is not suited, those outside of his divine call and gifting, and the resultant outcome is failure, frustration, and divine chastisement.

King Uzziah served the Lord faithfully for decades, but ended his reign in disgrace, succumbing to pride by insisting on fulfilling the role of priest, a function to which he was neither called nor equipped, and he experienced the chastisement of the Lord of Hosts, “…It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the LORD God. But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense” (2 Chr. 26:18-19).

To the unregenerate mind the gifting of the Lord appears as merely a natural endowment and he is inclined to conclude that so-and-so simply possesses an uncanny ability—a lucky endowment—to perform specific tasks well. Scripture, however, reveals a very different picture of personal giftedness, testifying that it is the result of divine grace, the Lord bestowing upon individuals particular abilities according to His good pleasure and for His purposes. When the Lord purposes to bring His design to pass He stirs the hearts of His people a desire to release that which has been implanted within them. Bezalel was gifted and called by the Lord as an artisan, his giftedness being confirmed through the excellence of that which he created, being affirmed by the Lord and the covenant community, both taking delight in his work.

Beloved, consider in what way the Lord has gifted and called you to function within the body of Christ, then enter into that work with diligence and excellence for the glory of His name.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries (“…the word of our God stands forever.” Isa. 40:8).
(Reproduced with permission)

Like

Unlike

Possibly related posts (Auto generated):

1. Crossing the Jordan
2. The Lord’s Favor
3. The Lord’s Wisdom