What a mighty God we serve, oh what a mighty God we serve; He is reigning up above and He’s sending down His love, what a mighty God we serve!
I want to start off this day by giving God the glory while also giving you something to rejoice about. As Psalm 68 says, “… let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Sing to God, sing praises to His Name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose Name is the Lord, and exult before Him. A Father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.” (Psalm 68: 3-6)
Oh my, how awesome is our God and oh, how He must love us! The Bible says, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19) Well, the fact of the matter is that even before we had a chance to love Him, He loved us, because He loved us before we were. Whoa now, Mr. Preacher, you got to explain that one! Okay, here we go. Even prior to our birth He knew us and already had plans for us here on earth. Jeremiah 1: 5 says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…” His divine affection and good intentions towards us filled our pre-existence with His glory, so how do we not shout from the rooftop, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand…” (Psalm 139: 17)
Praise God that He was already diligently at work preparing us for a loving and intimate relationship with Him when time came for us to inherit our physical bodies. “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139: 14-16)
And when we grasp the awe-inspiring realization of the previously cited scriptures concerning the true wonder of our cosmic creation that we are made in the image of God, well, it can be absolutely breath-taking. “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” (Genesis 1: 26-27)
From the beginning, we have been placed on the road to His righteousness. And in doing so He has set before us a holy highway, equipping us and motivating us, expecting us to run this race to redemption with exuberant expectation, remembering there are others who are on this same joyous journey along with us. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” (Hebrews 12: 1)
And as we run, we don’t run aimlessly like we don’t have a goal or objective in sight. We trudge forward daily absolutely knowing that the objective is not a what, but a Who. And that Who is God’s Christ, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, The Holy One, the Savior, the Redeemer. And His name is Jesus. And if He is truly the object of our affection we will always be, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 2)
So we run this race, but when we do, we must compete lawfully according to the knowledge of the grace that God has instilled in us. And though we are assured to be crowned victorious if we fight a good fight, finish the course and keep the faith, there will undoubtedly be obstructions and distractions along the way. Nonetheless, we must not be deterred by any obstacles. The Apostle Paul agrees with this as evidenced by his address to those in the churches of Galatia who had fallen victim to various trials, temptations and difficulties and had been immobilized in their spiritual progress.
In his epistle to these dear brethren, we see that he points out their failure by issuing a declaration and then asking a question in the same breath by saying, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5: 7) If you will notice, he asks who, not what, hinders you? He wanted to know if they were aware of who it is that impedes your growth, your maturity, your wisdom, your peace, your intimacy with God? He wanted them to make sure that they put the blame where it rightly belonged, and so, not waiting for a response, he then cleverly tells them specifically who it was not by saying, “This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you.” (Galatians 5: 8)
Paul was pre-emptively obliterating any possibility that someone would foolishly think that God was the cause of their problems. The truth is, they were the cause of their own problems because instead of listening to God, they listened to that other persuasive entity Paul spoke of who undoubtedly was the catalyst that lured them into confusion and complications, halting their progress. Paul was calling to their attention the stark contrast between that low-down scoundrel known as the tempter versus the Precious, Perfect and Holy One who died for their sins and was beckoning them to come and be continuously immersed in the sanctified serenity of His calm. God has not called us to chaos, “….but God hath called us to peace.” (1 Corinthians 7: 15)
In other words, He has called you to Himself through His beloved Son Jesus Whom He has designated as creation’s Commander-in-Chief, His divine Director of Spiritual Operations and the Chief Executive Officer of All Tranquility, also known affectionately, admiringly and adoringly by those who love Him as the Prince of Peace, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And of this very calling God says, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14) This is the type of persuasion, as well as invitation and inspiration that our soul is longing for.
The deceptive spirit of ungodly urging and influence that the Apostle Paul speaks of in Galatians is not from God but from none other than Satan himself. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew meaning for the name Satan is “adversary.” In the New Testatment, the Greek translation is “hostile opponent.” I’m not going to sugarcoat who your enemy is. So whether we’re referring to the old or the new description, we’re talking about the same lying, thieving, murdering deceiver who has plagued mankind since the Garden. So what kind of persuasion do you think is coming from this adversarial opponent that harbors such hostility towards you? Well, of course the best description of his intentions is listed in John 10: 10 where it says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”
And a thief he certainly is. He wants to steal your hope, your health, your relationships, your finances, your enthusiasm, your peace, your love and your joy. If you got any encouraging dreams, he wants them too. And if he can’t downright steal these things out of your life, he’ll settle to ruin it or destroy it in your life. But ultimately he’d rather you be dead in your sins with no life at all. But though Satan may have come for the purpose of taking life and all it was intended to be for us, Jesus says to all who love, trust and obey Him that, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10: 10)
Point blank, the devil wants you to be shackled, scourged and stained by sin......to be separated from God. As Jesus told Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22: 31) He wants you to be influenced by the false teaching of a sick society and even well-meaning but misinformed friends or family. He wants you to be blind to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and instead infect you with a demonic spirit of worldly wisdom. So beware, be sober and be vigilant because “this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” (James 3: 15) And nothing good will come of it.
But glory to God, there is another wonderful wisdom that does not originate from this planet’s pathetic and putrid pits of death, but comes straight from the throne of a holy, righteous and spectacular God. A wisdom which transcends all human intellect, understanding, emotion, perception or description. It is the powerful, effectual and essential spiritual wisdom that comes only from on high. James 3: 17-18 says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
And how do you obtain this most precious and invaluable wisdom? Well, just ask for it. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1: 5) Just understand that you must ask right. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1: 6-8)
God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, uncertainty or indecision. So don’t believe every devil that whispers in your ear. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4: 1) By the mercies and grace of God we are not partakers of just any spirit, but we have been blessed with His Holy Spirit. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1: 7) And this is incredibly important because “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4: 24) As Jesus told Nicodemus, unless you are born of the Spirit you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
We need the Holy Ghost not only to worship God properly but to empower us to live our lives as God has intended. Of course, as stated in the asking for wisdom, the prerequisite to all of this is to believe. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11: 6) But that’s not all because belief is only the beginning. Anyone can have faith or believe, but is it the kind of faith that can produce something? “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2: 19-20)
God said He was a rewarder of the right kind of faith. And in that promise He was essentially indicating that after you believe, then you can receive. To enter into the Most Holy Place we have to roll up with our Most Holy Faith. So, as Paul said to certain disciples in Ephesus on his 3rd missionary journey, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19: 2) It is then and only after we have received this treasure in our earthen vessels that we are able to represent the Lord in the manner that is pleasing in His sight. We can do nothing on our own but mess up the process.
It is upon the humble, submissive, obedient and repentant sacrifice of ourselves to God, and not any ability that we may possess, that we gain access to the assets of eternity found only in the Lord our God. Let me say that again. It is upon the humble, submissive, obedient and repentant sacrifice of ourselves to God, and not any ability that we may possess, that we gain access to the assets of eternity found only in the Lord our God. And whatever good we think we’re doing, it’s not us, it’s Him. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4: 6)
And so, once you have obtained that which is of God, then you can accurately display or properly represent God for Who He truly is. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5: 20-21)
So represent that righteousness, not by exhibiting yourself, but by allowing the characteristics of God, or the fruit of the Spirit, to be gloriously manifested in your life, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2: 15)
And of course the light that shines through us is Jesus, our beloved Savior. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1: 1-4)
That great 1st century prophet, preacher and evangelist John the Baptist came as a predecessor to the Light but, “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1: 8-13)
It is by Him that we have “renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4: 2, 4 & 6)
On the first day of creation God said, “Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1: 3-4) Likewise, keep yourselves divided from the works of darkness remembering that, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 5-9)
Be that beacon of brightness that God has called you to be as Jesus tells you that, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” (Matthew 5: 14-15) Don’t do anything which would impair, diminish or extinguish that light. Every time we say an unkind word, display a cruel look, unleash a mean spirit, harbor an ugly thought, yield to temptation, appease anger, satisfy lust or violate any commandment, we put a shade on the light that was meant to dispense the unhindered, glorious illumination of God on the earth. So, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 16)
May we all therefore be, “…followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Ephesians 5: 1-2) And may the image we project always be the immaculate and illustrious image of His divine nature.
To God be the glory, dear ones. In Jesus’ precious name, amen.
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