Tag: justification

CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

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CHURCH CORRUPTIONS

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:2 (NASB77) 2  to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Every denomination has a “Church of Corinth” that has drifted in its leadership and lost its first love and focus. There are a few basic corruptions that know no religious distinctive. When Satan gets his nose into your church fellowship, his body is soon to follow.

Following humn leaders, that are humanists, only provides you with a veneer of a carnal communityof self-gratification. The devil knows that to disrupt the church he needs access to the pulpit he is often relegated to a leadership position because of our shamefuil apathy.

When earthly wisdom is favored, spiritual absolutes are compromised and wateed down to relative absurdities. A twelve inch ruler is 12 inches long and not 11 or 13 inches long depending on your personal law or rule of measurement. The same applies to salvation. Jesus is the ony way and you can’t be part saved by believing otherwise.

Like a fish out of water, the Word of God. You are signing hour own death warrant or rather certificate of dying in flames continuing action. Without the “Rock that don’t role,” your faith will only have the substance and constancy of cotton candy. It will tase good but there is nothing thee.

There’s no sense o flattering yourself with self-gratifying deeds, prayers or rituals. When you are your own god, you will have to deal with your own hell all by yourself! Pride of self dropped Lucifer from the highest plateaus in glory down the  rungs to the dungeon of glow-torch flames from hell.

The culprit is lack of discipline. You are sovereign over you. The sin you have you want becaue if you didn’t want it more than you do want it, you wouldn’t have it! It’s that simple. Love the Lord more than the sin.

All the above shaken up and spread out is a fragmenting of the Body of Christ. When the head is sick the whole boy suffers. When lall yur body parrs are bruised, battered and broken, they can no longer work together in harmony. The corruption of your church has polited you too. Don’t be a Corinthian Church that even 50 years after Paul wrote the third letter to them, things got worse because of the younger members disrespecting the elders.

BY YOUR DEEDS

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BY YOUR DEEDS

By Rick Mathes

Acts 26:20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Pray this: “Father God, by your grace I have been saved; Brother Jesus, by your stripes I have been healed: Holy Spirit, you know the mind of the Father and the heart of the Son, What does God want me to do?”

For openers, it is an answer to prayer when the Holy Spirit convicts you of the sin you have been hiding in that dark closet in your soul. Our deepest desire should be to be wholly holy. Any compromise is spiritual prostitution. A little lie with the truth or a little truth in the lie is deceitful beyond compare: neither integrity nor character. In either case the simple law of non-contradiction occurs: A cannot be non A. Sin is spiritual cancer and it must be removed or you will die and eternal death while still on your feet.

The Lord sees us in ways our natural eyes are unable to. If you could see my heart as the Lord sees it, you would run from me and I would be terrified to see yours. We really are sin-machines and our deeds show it. It is only in His shed blood that we receive a full pardon. When Father God looks upon us all He sees is His Son interceding for us. We truly are forgiven and our sins forgotten.

This is how it works; 1) You approach the Cross and as Jesus for forgiveness, 2) He will extend His blessing, 3) You receive the forgiveness (no guilt) and 4) You become a forgiver. The tough one is to walk away from guilt and become a virgin all over again. Flush your toilet and move on.

The vital life is exhibited by the works we produce. I know it’s by grace we are saved not by works but as James taught, if there aren’t any works there is good cause to question the health of this barren tree with no fruit. As the verse clearly teaches, we must repent, turn to God and prove that transaction by deeds. I wouldn’t trust it any other way.

God inhabits His praises like the fragrance of a rose. He also activates good works like a kaleidoscope of good deeds. I would rather see the sermon over hearing it, wouldn’t you? If you aren’t walking your talk, your talking is moot. It’s a waste of oxygen. The Comforter will bring you comfort in the highest degree.

The proof of repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit. He is to infuse Christ and His efforts into you. You cannot do it without the Holy Spirit and it won’t get done without you. Your hands pick up the baton of continued blessing. Don’t drop it: press on!

AN EXAMINATION

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AN EXAMINATION

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 11:28 (NASB77) 28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

No one enjoys the “final exam.” There’s something foreboding and nerve wracking about it and my hands are perspiring already! This is, however, what our Lord commands us to do before we share in the communion of the saints. We shouldn’t be afraid to test our faith and beliefs is we are secure in Him. The adage, “Birds of a feather flock together,” is so true.

So start your self-examination by looking around you and see if those you keep company with respect the Jews ou have come to respect in bread and wine. Are you one of them? When others see you will they label you by the company you keep? Remember that you can’t hang out with dirty people and not get some dirt on you.

If I followed you around day in and day out for a week would I collect enough information to convict you of being a Christian? I an speak for me that my habits changed drastically when I made Jesus my Lord. You won’t find me anywhere near blatant sinners if I can help it. I have a brand new regimen of activities. I only continue in those that please the Lord and magnify His name.

Once Satan has your thoughts for even a moment He advances to conquer your mind. I have even had evil thoughts in the midst of my praying. That scoundrel is so low life he has no respect for any thought but that which is evil and offends our Lord Jesus Christ.

Looking closer you will notice that my affections have done a real one-eighty. My heart beats with His and I love what He loves. I’m under new management now and my love of life has changed from temporal to eternal.

Certainly not last nor least but yet most important is for you to examine your motives. What are your underlying and ulterior motives? Underlying motives are on the table for all to see and ulterior motives are under the table, out of sight. If you are honest with yourself, you have both and for your best interests you need to be very aware of them and pray that both would be pleasing to Him. Take a private exam and let Jesus grade it, not hu.

AGAINST GOD

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AGAINST GOD

By Rick Mathes

Acts 5:39 (NASB77) 39  but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

No matter what your denomination or form of church government may be, we all have a commonality as evangelical Protestants that the liberals and catholic heretics just cannot quench no matter h0w hard they try. I would like to name a few and expand on them a bit.

Take up your Cross: True sermons include somewhere in the message repent, submit or obey. All others are largely ear-tickling stories, pontification, or catchy illustrations designed to hae you return next Sunday. Evangelical services hammer on the soul to pursue holiness.

I know what is from Satan; don’t pray right now. The devil doesn’t want you to do the very thing God created for you: to pray to Him. He loves prayer.

Division divides! How can the Body of Christ function if its body parts are scattered about or in conflict with each other? I’m not really fond of my big toe. It’s really ugley and usually smells but when I stub it, my whole body says ouch! WE must be in one accord: this is from God.

When others have the cancer and you have the cure, you shout it from the roof-tops. And when you know the Savior and His salvation, you become a soul-winner. It’s the natural thing to do.

This will drive ou to the Scriptures to study the Word. When I first became a Christian ghe Bible was a big book with a small, simple message. Now several generations later it is a small book with more big messages than I could ever preach in many lifetimes.

Preach only to the willing and you will have learned a responsible message from God: don’t cat your pearls to the swine. Go only where you are invied and the doors will open for you to eshort and encourage the children of the promise

Remember, Jesus said, “Whatever you have done these my brothers, even the least of them, ou have done it to me!” This is real heavy dude, heavy! Rebuke and correct the saints and the lessons will fall back on hou just when you need them. But if you look into the eyes of God and spit in the wind, you know what will happen.

HOW TO REPENT

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HOW TO REPENT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 3:2 “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We need to start out with: Jesus wants you! Now you can wiggle and squiggle like worms on a hook but you need to face it; you are hooked. What Jesus wants, Jesus gets so it is futile to fight the inevitable. Jesus will have you and sooner is a whole lot better than later. He wants to bless you as a loving Father to his son if only you will let him.

So what are you to do when faced with a seemingly irresistible sin? Or in other words, how do you avoid committing this shameful act before the cross of Christ?

The very first thing is you must do is stop dead in your tracks. Just plain stop. Don’t go an inch further. Just shut down all your body parts and senses. Go on disconnect.

Then you need to turn around. Don’t get all hyper and upset and do something stupid or mare shameful. Don’t move. Let your mind catch up with your better judgment. Let the Holy Spirit get behind the wheel once more.

Now you need to turn around. Put you back to the devil and press on! It’s time to hurry back to Jesus. Do not hesitate and don’t look back. You may not have another chance so take this one dead serious and don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

There are three levels of confession and conversion.

The first is intellectual. You need to confess Jesus Lord in your head and really mean it. Don’t try to understand everything about God because you never will. He has informed us through the Word and works of Jesus to take the narrow road to glory and leave all the filth Satan has thrown at is behind.

I don’t trust feelings because feelings because Satan can counterfeit them but when the Word of God and only the Word of God touches my heart, I know it and so will you. We can’t explain it to a non-believer but the Holy Words come alive and now we begin to walk the talk and confess Jesus AS Lord. We have moved from easy-believism to Lordship Salvation when we believe and obey.

ABSORBED

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ABSORBED

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 3:19 (NASB77) 19  and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

I am an evangelical Baptist, conservative, Calvinist, fundamental no nonsense ordained minister. Whew! I am not dazzled by others claims of celestial fireworks, the raising of thousands of the dead in Africa and testimonies of those who died and then went bowled a line or two with Jesus. However, I did have a theophany personally that made a profound change in my attitude toward death.

I was in my bedroom praying at night and repenting of sins back to the day I was born whn my invisible body burst from the darkness into an expanse of sky blue. I knew my body was there but I couldn’t see it. All of a sudden love encompassed me like being under water except it was love. Then like a sponge, I soaked in all that love and I became love. What an unbelievable rush

I believe Jesus gave me a taste of heaven.

Now let’s get back down to earth with you and ask, “What can you hold of the Holy Spirit?” Do you have the will and capacity to soak up love into not just your heart and body but completely including your soul? What would you think then of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

Let me put in the best words I can. Father God is the lover, the Son is the loved and the Holy Spirit is the love between them. It really is because I personally experienced this infilling of the Holy Spirit that I understand this on a new level.

Can you even imagine the works of God you could accomplish if this happened to you? I have now continued in Him by turning lives from crime to Christ for over 30 years. What would happen to you? God only knows!

What is the fullness of the Holy Spirit? How much Holy Spirit is there and how much room do you have for Him in your life? And what would happen if you received all the fullness of God? Wow!

When you were drinking and drugging to the max you weren’t afraid to die so why are you afraid to mainline Jesus and live? Try it you will like it and life will never be the same again.

A SPECIAL BAPTISM

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A SPECIAL BAPTISM

By Rick Mathes

Luke 3:21 (NASB77) 21 Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

Let’s join for a moment and take in the wonder of why our Savior would willingly experience the outward manifestation of baptism by immersion. Jesus was sinless, so what was the significance of this unique event?

First of all it was to equip, anoint and strengthen the manhood He has clothed Himself with and secondly to demonstrate obedience, humility and prayer to all generations that would follow.

What an astounding set of circumstances that clearly brought together the visible and audible Trinity of the gospels. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all sharing truth in a single verse. How blessed is the Word of God to us as it shares this precious and golden moment, never to repeat itself in the infinity of time.

What a wonderful seal of approval for our God-man to launch His ministry of salvation and begin His death walk to the Cross, one firm step following another. From this point forward, He never looked back. Oh, how I wish we could do the same and not ever be ashamed Him with our doubts and fears. Just to put on the armor of God, lift up the sword of the Word and firmly place my feet on holy ground is my fervent prayer!

The dove quietly settled in peacefulness, not known to mankind until that moment. The gentleness of the flight, the landing and the harmlessness of the message of affirmation: the Holy Spirit had arrived to anoint Christ the man for the timeless message of the ancients who spoke of Him in times past.

The voice rang out to a startled universe of angels and every devil shook in mortal terror. God became man on a mission that only the Triune god could ever accomplish. In an eye-blink, salvation arrived with healing and deliverance in the wings of a dove. The provision of love for His elect and eternal doom to those who would reject and murder His Son as your sin does to this very moment.

Submit to the reality that you are owned by the Father, saved by the Son and anointed by the Holy Spirit and you too will have that once in a lifetime special baptism a was demonstrated by our Lord Himself. A moment that will change a lifetime of eternities if only you will accept and savor the fullness of the Trinity of which you were made in Their likeness: body, spirit and soul.

 

WHAT IS FINISHED?

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WHAT IS FINISHED?

By Rick Mathes

Jesus commissioned the Holy Spirit to carry on until He returned. It to Him we seek God’s works by grace in us. As Christians, sold out and totally committed to our returning King we have had our vanity transformed into humility. Once we understood His atonement for our sins on the cross we dropped to our knees, put our faces in the mud, the blood and the tears and cried out, “It is finished!” Our old self died.

In the deepest humility we have an earnestness of purpose that only God knows where it came from. It sure hasn’t been natural since we accepted Him in our head and heart as Savior and Lord.

Because of His finished work we are now friends of God. Can you get a handle on that? We are not at enmity with the Lord of our universe but rather personal friends of His now. We can walk into His presence and be more than welcomed at any time we want to. Imagine that for a moment.

We have been declared righteous. This is not a righteousness of our own but one imputed by Christ’s death on the cross. He took our rap-sheet (list of crimes) with Him. Our record is spotless. God will not even know we ever sinned! Isn’t that something? It is finished! I know that because we have been rescued from sin. The devil hasn’t got his claws in us because we are friends of God.

The cell door has come off of its hinges and the bars have been sawn asunder. We have been set free from the power, punishment and will soon be set free from the presence of sin.

How proud can we be when the Lord stepped from the tomb and Satan knew he was finished. Now like a junk-yard dog, he’s trying to take down every Christian he can until he is thrown into the lake of fire.

We have been chosen of god and predestines to be in that parade when the Lord comes back and reins forever. We who are born again will lift up our hands and shout, “Only you O Lamb or God are worthy!”

I’M NOT READY YET

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I’M NOT READY YET

By Rick Mathes

Walking down a metal cat-walk past prison cells of convicts is an awesome experience that is novel and exhilarating every time. There is an electrifying adventure about it that cannot be adequately described. You never know which prisoner will reach out for Jesus and be saved. It is thrilling to look a prisoner in the eyes with love and encourage him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. I can imagine that this feeling has similarities to a hunter in the midst of perilous jungles seeking the prey and being sought by the predator. The spiritual combat is indescribable in this heart of hell, called a cell-block. A locus, a concentration of evil. Satan’s turf.

It was in this sense of spiritual adventurism that I was followed by a blue uniformed guide to the prison chapel. We approached the stairwell, serpentine corridors and vacated court yards. Each lower floor level became darker, dirtier and more austere until we leveled off on a dingy walkway with the strongest aroma of stench I have ever smelled!

This was the dungeon within the dungeon for detention of the most evil offenders. A dimly illuminated community of “slickers.” A slicker is an incommodious drab cell with bricked-in windows, no cot, sink or toilet. Nothing but the pollution of an endless number of previous residents. No attempt whatsoever had been made to clean up. A hole in the floor dropped directly into the cesspool that was rumored to back up regularly in these cells. This was the home for those who were ill-suited to live with the other residents. Rejected by their own kind! The odor caused me to gag and gasp for air.

The officer was determined to hustle me out of this, “No Visitor” area. His stride picked up and I was close on his heels escaping this restricted zone. The wall shackles dated back to before the Civil War era of slavery. The men were strangely hushed, either seated on the floor or standing up with a drugged glaze in their eyes. No sound. Silence. No radio, televisions or even idle chatter. A thick dark cloud of oppression; Satan was there.

One of these pathetic captives caught my attention. What I saw and what he said to me has everlastingly cemented itself in my memory as though it just happened yesterday.

He was crouched like a creature on the cement floor. If you looked closely you could see the filth he sat in undulate with the vermin that lived in it. He wore only his grossly stained underwear and his hair was standing out in a frightful, wild fashion. He eyes were bulging and yellow. His fingernails long and his toenails curling under. His matted beard barely hid his rotted teeth and infected mouth.

I spoke out, “You need to accept Jesus Christ as both your Saviour and Lord!” He didn’t arouse. I cried out another time, “Jesus is your only salvation. It’s time to repent and receive Jesus!” He turned and looked me full in the face but gave no indication of reply. Finally, the guard angrily took my arm to keep me moving. I shouted behind me, “Why won’t you do this?” I will never forget his heart wrenching reply. “I’m not ready to give it all up yet.”

I was horrified as he left my sight but not my spirit. I still mourn over those who still repeat those words, “I’m not ready to give it all up yet.”

PRESS ON!

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I FOUND HIM IN HELL

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I FOUND HIM IN HELL

By Rick Mathes

Mr. Carnal was a professing Christian that lived an exemplary life. He was a deacon in his church and taught Sunday school Bible study. All the congregation looked up to him and the pattern he set for others to follow. On the outside, the side all could see, he was the husband and father that all the women wished that their man would become. Unknown to everyone was the real truth that on the inside he confessed that Jesus is Lord but never became obedient to His lordship. He was living a lie that finally caught up with him in a sudden and unexpected death!

He died and went straight to hell.

As he looked out over the glowing lake of liquid flames, the abhorrence and inexpressible torture he witnessed was more than his damned soul could bear. As far as he could see was a holocaust of screaming human beings thrashing about in the white blistering conflagration, begging to die and escape this deathless tribulation.

Silently, Satan himself slithered up and rasped, “I have you!” He responded, “I know. I never confessed Jesus AS my Lord,” and began to sob. Through tears he pleaded, “I beg you, give me 24 hours more before you throw me into that lake of fire.” Satan smiled a toothless smirk and growled, “Granted!”

He hesitated and then began trudging along the steamy shoreline while flames licked at his exposed carcass. Reaching down from time to time to hoist up to eye level one wretched body after another, he looked them full in the face and cursed with all his pent up venom of loathing. Again and again he would choose and grip an anguished cadaver to curse as he eventually found his way around the smoking abyss, counterclockwise to where he began his twenty-four tedious hours before. He was totally spent and lacking the strength left to stand in front of the immoral one who had patiently waited for his prey to return.

As he collapsed on that smoldering shore, Lucifer quietly approached and hissed, “Your time is up! But before I cast your body and soul into the black inferno, I must ask you just one last question. Why were you doing that?”

The condemned looked up and gasped, “I was looking for that preacher that told me I was saved!”

Satan’s twisted features gleamed with pride as he snarled, “That was me who told you that you were saved!”