The Wise Man

Imagine living your entire life working for God and arriving at the gates of heaven to be turned away. We can’t imagine that could be possible but Jesus warned us of this very thing. In both Matthew and Luke those warnings are recorded.

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:22,23

“When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” Luke 13:25-27

How can this be? How could a person prophesy, cast out devils, do many wonderful works, eat and drink in His presence and invite God to teach in their streets and then be turned away? The answer lay in the last part of Matthew 7:22, “In thy name done many wonderful works”. If we are depending on our works to get us into Heaven the reality is we don’t even know Jesus.

There are two doors that call to us come and enter. Both promise us eternal life and both claim to be the way to God but there is only one door and only one way. Jesus said,

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:7-9 (KJV)

There is only one way in and that is through Jesus but what is He the door to, what are we enter in to? When we come to that holy place where Jesus stands and we knock what lay on the other side? Many have been deceived because they did not understand fullness of God’s plan. He is not the door to self sufficiency, wealth, or a wonderful plan for your life. Jesus is the way to God. When we enter we step across the threshold of grace and enter a room that can only be described by that same word. Grace! Amazing, marvelous, wonderful, glorious Grace!

The Grace of God is best defined as favor. In Christ we are moved from enmity to favor. No longer are we separated from God but we have found that place where “His grace is all complete”. The only way to pass through The Door is with a broken heart. The contrite and humble heart is welcome but the proud cannot even find the door. The proud heart cannot kneel and receive the free gift. It desires to find its own worth and strives to enter by birthright, knowledge, or works. The proud heart cannot find satisfaction in the free gift but will always look to self in a never ending struggle for identity. Blinded to the free gift and groping in the dark for answers the proud heart finds another door.

Next to The Door of Grace is another that beckons the souls of men. This door is much wider and there is no kneeling required. Above this door is a sign that says, “You Can Do It”. The words draw the heart longing for validation. Self esteem, self love, and self fulfillment are drawn to this door. Yes, Jesus died for my sins but now it’s up to me. If I can conquer my sins, make my life over, work hard enough, labor long enough then God will love me. We have earned the blessings of others all of our lives. We obeyed our parents and they smiled at us. We worked hard in school and earned good grades. We labored and disciplined ourselves as we climbed the corporate ladder. This door calls to us and everything we have ever known says it must be the way. It is not.

Disguising itself as the door to God, the works based life simply isn’t enough. When we stand before God and begin to tell of all the wonderful works that we did in His name we will hear those fateful words, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.” I have often wondered how could someone that had done all those things be wrong? How could God not know them? The answer is all about Grace.

Some believe that they are saved by Grace but then they must take over and clean up their lives, work for God, and show themselves worthy of His favor. This thinking is exactly what took you through the wrong door. You have not entered the room. You’re not even close. It is by faith that we enter into this Grace where in we stand. The elements of our salvation are well defined.

Jesus is the Door.
Faith, believing in Him, is the Key.
God’s Favor is the room we enter.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again. The New Life that we have entered is foreign to this world. We must continually wash our mind and soul with the Word of God because we are walking in the “strange land of God’s promises”. Living in God’s favor does not require you to anything but “be still and know that He is God.”

But what about our purpose, our mission, our work, shouldn’t we be doing something? Of course, we must be about our Father’s business. In that room of God’s grace we receive every good gift. Some of those gifts are the abilities and callings that we possess. Given to us by the Favor of God our work becomes a place of rest. There is no striving, no burnout, no discouragement because all that we are and do, every breath that we take, is a gift from God. We are abiding in His amazing grace. Consider what Paul writes to the Ephesians,

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)

Right after Jesus told His Disciples in Matthew that “Many will say unto me in that day...” and he tells them depart from me you WORKERS of iniquity, He gives them the parable of the wise man that built His house upon a rock. The wise man was able to stand every storm, every wave, every flood, but the foolish man lost it all. Building your life on your works will not end well. Building your life on the Grace of God can’t help but end well. Many expositors have likened the rock in this parable to Jesus. I understand the comparison but in the parable at Matthew 7:24 Jesus says, “The wise man is the one who hears what Jesus is saying and does it.” Now go back and read verses 21-23 again be wise.

City Lights

Matthew 5:14-16 (KJV) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Travelling the dark roads at night while crossing the countryside can be dreary. Endless miles stretch before you with nothing to follow except the white line of the highway. Often while travelling I have seen the glow on the horizon shining like a beacon in the darkness. City lights seem to penetrate the night for miles, when placed on a hill those lights can lead the weary pilgrim to their destination and sweet rest.

This is the reference that Jesus makes when He compares Believers to a city that is set on a hill or a lamp in our homes. Lights are not lit to hide under a bowl but to be placed where everyone can see them. The life of a Christian is not to be one of clandestine holiness but is meant to be a beacon leading the lost to Jesus.

There is a song that talks about a little boy who was lost in the city. He doesn’t know his address or even how to get home, but then he remembers the old mission church that is near his house. He remembers that there is a big lighted cross at the top of the mission and cries out “If you can get me to the cross I can get home.” Isn’t that exactly what the world needs, someone to help them find their way. God has given that job to those that are called by His name.

We are to be filled with the light! The Light of the World has beckoned us come and be filled, to overflow with Truth and Life. There are many that are lost and cannot find their way home. They search in the darkness of this world for something to set them free but all that the world has to offer are the thorns and briers that entangle them even more. Frantically they thrash about in the darkness searching, longing, hoping and then they see a light. There is hope as they make their way to the light that is in you. It is Christ in you the hope of glory.

In Christ’s day everyone was familiar with the oil lamps that were needed to give light in the darkness. They knew that those lights had to be maintained. They had to be cleaned because the soot and dirt would cloud the light and make it harder to see. They knew that the oil had to be kept full so the light would burn through the night and they knew that the lamp had to be placed on a lamp stand so that everyone could see the light. No one puts a lamp under a bowl and hides the light. That is not a real light. True light cannot be hidden it must be lifted so that it may draw men. We see this illustrated in the words of Christ,

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32

Jesus held nothing back as He offered Himself up to the cruel cross of Calvary. But in His submission to the will of the Father we are shown the way each of us can offer ourselves as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto Him. Our reasonable service is to let our light shine for Jesus no matter what the cost.

Not Alone (In the Yoke)

Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus is not calling us to walk alone. He is saying come unto me and I will share your burden. A yoke was a wooden implement that was designed to harness two oxen together so that their strength was combined to pull a load. Christ didn’t save you to toil alone and struggle under the weight of this world by yourself. He has prepared a place next to Him where when you are weak He is strong.
As we have discussed in previous posts, the order of our steps is always important. We cannot expect His strength to sustain us unless we first come to him. I have heard it said that you can’t live like a married man unless you first are married. Likewise, you can’t live like a Christian unless you are first saved. We must come to Jesus, that is salvation, not a work that we have done but the work of Christ on the cross. It is a finished work but after we come we must “take His yoke upon us and learn of Him”. Surrender follows salvation. We understand Christ’s love and grace but to walk beside Him we must learn to surrender to His will. Too often Christians struggle to carry their own load and never learn to submit to God’s power and might. We are like Jacob who wrestled with the Lord all night, exhausted and spent, we finally cry out, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” God wanted to bless you from the very beginning. He didn’t come that night to kill Jacob. He came to change his name. He came to set him upon a new path. He came to speak life and not death. That is the invitation to you today. Come unto me, take my yoke upon you, learn of me, I will give you rest!

Each Step I Take

Psalm 27:1 (KJV) - The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Have you ever longed to get somewhere but seemed to be stuck in a rut and just going in circles? The more your desire to arrive at the destination grows, the more frustrated you become when you can’t seem to get past the obstacles that block your way. I have often told people that they can’t graduate unless they pass every grade. When we fail the first grade we have to retake the lesson and try to pass again. There is a progression to everything in life. Seeds turn into sprouts, sprouts turn into healthy plants, plants produce the harvest, the harvest returns to the seed take out one of those steps and the garden won’t grow.
The Christian life is no exception. The Psalmist alludes to this forward progress in our verse. The Lord is first my light, then my salvation, then my strength. You may be familiar with Psalm 119:105, “The word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” But verse 104 gives us a greater insight into this important first step, “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” It is God’s Word that illuminates the darkness of sin in our lives. Without seeing that sin for the destructive cancer that it is we can never truly be repentant. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:9, “now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation…” I am so thankful that when Jesus stepped into the room where I had hidden my sin His light illuminated the darkness and there was no hiding from His holiness. He did not bring condemnation but He brought conviction of sin and the sorrow that I felt was not of this world, shallow and quickly forgotten, but it was deep and abiding. I realized that it was my sin that had nailed Jesus to the cross and like the Psalmist “I hated every false way.” There is no salvation without godly repentance.
But God doesn’t leave us in our despair. His light not only reveals our sin but He reveals the cross, the cross where Jesus died for our sin. The debt of sin that I could not pay was paid in full as Jesus drank the bitter cup and satisfied the wrath of God. Salvation belongs to Christ and grace opens the door so that I might enter in to the holy presence of God. It is here that we can say with Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
He is my light, my salvation, and my strength! So many want to walk in the power of God and live in the Spirit without experiencing the light and salvation. We must walk step by step and know that God is faithful to keep us. Preaching the power without the cross is empty. Preaching the cross without the knowledge of sin is meaningless for the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The grace of God allows us to walk in His power and to know His victory over sin and death. But to fully embrace God’s love and grace we must fully embrace the destitute nature of sin and flesh that robs us of the glory of God. There is a path to victory. It is clear and when followed step by step all who come may enter. Is Christ your light, and salvation, and strength? If He is then you have nothing to fear, victory has already been won.

Light and Salvation

Psalm 27:1 (KJV) - The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

David Patillo wrote a song that says, “Alone and in the dark, Satan’s chains on my heart, I was oh so blind. Feeling confused, my soul being abused, sin had tortured my mind. Quicksands of sin creeping up to my chin, no way to go but down. Then a voice seemed to be, saying come unto me and I’ll lead you to higher ground.” The name of that song is “No Power on Earth”. As a Christian I find that it is easy to forget the hopelessness of being lost and enveloped by the darkness of sin. Standing in the light of God’s love and grace that darkness is but a distant memory. When I stop and think about where Jesus found me and how He saved me I can’t help but lift my heart and voice to Heaven in praise. I want to worship the Lord with everything that is me because He brought me out. Jesus delivered me from the miry clay. The Psalmist sings out “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:2-3 (KJV)
In Israel the potter would go down to the clay pits and select his clay. The pit was dark and the clay was formless and lost in the mire. The potter would take the clay and “set” it on the “rock”. The rock is where the potter would establish the foot of the pottery, that place where the potter would put the clay to begin the process of shaping it. Then the potter would “establish the goings” by spinning the wheel and as the clay would rotate the potter would place his hands on the clay and begin to shape it. The clay was not able to remain on the rock by itself without the skillful hands of the potter it would become unbalanced and spin out of control. What a beautiful picture of how God has brought us out of the sin and mire of this world, placed us on the solid rock Christ Jesus where He can shape and mold us into a vessel of His anointing. The potter would allow the clay to form and at the right moment he would press his fingers into the center of the clay and begin to form the pot. The potter would call this “forming the heart”. Aren’t you glad that God has poured out His Holy Spirit into our hearts and is this very day making us, forming us, molding us, and establishing our “goings”. We have reason to rejoice! God is for us! Who can be against us?

Need a Light

Psalm 27:1 (KJV) - The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

      In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” . Most of us think of an image as “a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible” and that is one of the dictionaries definitions. Today I would like you to consider the dictionaries second definition, “an optical counterpart or appearance of an object, as is produced by reflection from a mirror, refraction by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays through a small aperture and their reception on a surface”. When we look at an object what we are really seeing is light. The light from that object passes through our eyes and an image is created. This definition of image serves us well when contemplating the Scripture in Genesis 1:26. We were created to reflect The Father.
      God had a plan when He created you. He was showing off. When Adam and Eve were commanded to go and fill the earth God wanted them to replicate Him. He wanted an earth filled with His glory. But sin marred the lens of our aperture and darkness covered our souls. The light of God cannot be reflected through the selfish, soulish nature of sinful man and so God sent His only begotten Son into the world that the world through Him might be saved. The blood of Jesus, the sacrificial lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world. When we place our faith in the finished work of the cross old things are passed away and behold all things become new. Instead of a reflection marred by sin we are once again restored so that we can fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. What is that purpose? To allow His light to flood our soul and reflect His glory to a world that is lost in the darkness of sin.
      The Psalmist said, “The Lord is my light.” Can you say that today? When your family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers look at you who do they see? Do they see the light of His glory shining brightly in your heart?