Tag: repent

FALLEN

By Rick Mathes

Mark 14:29 But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.”

The pebble spoke “the Rock” and crumbled; really bad start for an alleged pope of the church and Vicar of Christ. It sounds like me and I’m quite sure it reflects you and your rise and fall n this journey to eternity with Jesus. Pride dropped Lucifer like an asteroid from outer space into the oblivion of that endless abyss of flaming horrors. The angel of light went dark with just a glance and then anchoring of “self.” The devil fixed his eyes inward and so did Peter that self confidence is a relegation of trust and faith in otherness such as God. Men are quite clever in inventing gods that are in their own image and likeness. When you depend on you and not on Him, Satan is your lord. That should make your blood run cold!

Your proud boasting of “I, me and mine” smothers the life out of “He, Him and His. Self centered is hell focused on you and you are your worst enemy. You are sabotaging yourself by committing spiritual suicide.

It’s all a matter of unwatchfulness. The devil is a created being and he can’t make you sin but he can arrange the circumstances so that in your view you can sin and get away with it. You don’t see it coming and you are decked witht the first temptation. What a spiritual wimp you have become!

You are a real coward if you turn in fear from Jesus to appease the enticements of hell: the counterfeit pleasures that can overwhelm you. Where is your spiritual “T”? I can tell that you were tripped and raped of all tht is good in you by your bad company. Who you are hanging out with speaks volumes of who you are.

What can be worse but to deny with cursing that don’t know Jesus. I can’t even imagine in my lowest moment I would ever do htat but you can rest assured that I am constantly doing spiritual push-ups to be strong enough to stand against the devil’s best shot!

FAITH

By Rick Mathes

Colossians 2:4 (NASB77) ⁴   I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.

Faith is believing and acting in faith on that belief. The object of the faith is critical: it must be true %100 without even a shadow of doubt. The only absolute truth is Christ so with that logic all faith is in Jesus, His words and works. How deep is your love? How deep is your faith?

One way to measure your love for our Lord is to measure your love for the saints. The Body of Christ, the invisible church, is composed of only those who are His. My nose is not real buddies with my toe but loves my toe and when my toe is hurt my nose, in fact my nose feels the pain. My body is one orgasm as the Body of Christ is. We don’t have to like each other but we but love each other.

When without faith we wanted to die, now will live our lives out with the ever present and expectant hope of His return for His own; This will propel us into the infinite forever. How exciting can it be but to have an eternal vacation if unimaginable ecstasy and explosion after explosion of indescribable illuminations of our King as He really is.

The key is not to have a counterfeit gospel. Throughout the history of Christianity false priests have spewed “strange fire.” There are demons in pulpits all over America and the flaming hell-hounds have infiltrated anything associated with the true Gospel. Paul condemned those who would prevent the first Gospel with destruction. How do you knpow that you are professing the real thing, the Lord’s good news?

The tree of faith is measured by the fruit it bears. It’s easy when it’s easy but when the going gets tough, I mean really tough, do you get going or do you retreat? Can up keep the faith in good times as well as bad? When everything seems to be going down are you still praising the Lord’s wisdom with your family?

None of any of the above can have a glimmer of existence without the grace of God. That amazing grace is the glue that holds everything together. It’s by that grace you have been saved and as by His grace that you are sustained. How good can God be but to save us by his love for us and then provide with His sustain grace to carry us home.

FADE AWAY

By Rick Mathes

James 1:11 (NASB77) For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

Some have done the “Solomon thing” and made a lot of money that almost destroyed them. Do you know why? Things own you and the more you have of them the less you have of you. Business cares will swallow you so that all family and church life whither and passes away. The lust for more is insatiable to most. The special few wealthy Christians however keep the engine of evangelism missions and corporate church life alive. One donor actually gave me a personal check for $440,000. All I could say was, “If you love to give like I love to lead souls to the Savior, I understand.”

The luxuries or the wealthy inherently cause a neglect of duty to our commitments. The restless life of getting and keeping are a futile effort because dust returns to dust and there’s no way to stop it. I have put in writing in my will that I don’t want my remains to be buried in a casket. I want my body to return to the blessed earth God made it from in the first place.

Without the peace of mind eternal life with Jesus gives, we live a restless life as do the fallen angels that go to and fro seeking those they can destroy: the fat and lazy Christians. The devil takes many shapes and forms and you can find him in the pulpits of some of the mega-churches that forbid anyone to speak the words sin, death, hell, repent, believe or obey.

This fading away was very obvious in the “downgrade controversy” that caused The Prince of Preaches, CW Spurgeon to leave the Baptist denomination. With this worry and fear comes sleeplessness and a failing health. Our bodies are the machine we treat as though it is non-negotiable. This presupposition that finally proves itself to be false. Alcohol, drugs, abandoned morals, poor-diet, no exercising, etc. cause us to fade away not just in power and wealth, but in memory. Who will even remember you when you go home and take your mind home with you.

Your memory, wealth, and power just fade away. Who will ever remember you when all you are and all you have become is returned to the dust from which it came from?

 

FACTS JUST FACTS

By Rick Mathes

Romans 6:17 (NASB77) ¹⁷  But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

There’s one thing for which you should be abundantly thankful; only you and God have all the facts about your real self.

C.H. Spurgeon:

As long as the blood-red flag of Christ’s Cross floats over the castle of your heart, Satan may get possession of the eye-gate and ear-gate for a while, but Christ is still King. Your will is still good toward righteousness. Sin has not dominion over you.

The freedom of slaves is measured,

By the length of their chains.

Let’s take a look at ourselves and measure just the facts:

Upward: All of the weight of hell is drawn on your eyes to turn them down and outward instead of upward to Christ. When our eyes are thus positions we measure our lives by materialism which is really the devil’s counterfeit pleasures instead of upward where all our joy is birthed in the person of Jesus.

Backward:

Remembering where you came from can and does give you a greater appreciation for where you are going. My favorite phrase in the KJV is “It came to pass!” If Jesus got you through you past big problems, He will be more than capable to get you through any difficulty on your horizon.

Inward:

Turning you eyes inward gives you a cindid view of the reality that dwells in you. But greater is He who lives in you, AMEN? Seeing yourself, your real self can be shocking moment of truth. Denial is such a safe and comfortable place to hide the “real you.”

Outward:

Once you have it all His on the inside, the outside goes form black and white to starling full-blown vivid color. Life finally deigns to reflect His commitment to your happiness and His love permeates your very being. Life becomes as close to heaven as it can get for now.

All-around:

You can do a 360o now and you won’t see or detect a demon anywhere. The Father puts His loving arms around you and all His creatures ay lovingly to you, “This one’s for you.”

 

DON’T LOVE WORLD

By Rick Mathes

1 John 2:15-17 (NASB77) ¹⁵ Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh

and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,

is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and also its lusts;

but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

Fools go to fools and ask foolish questions of fools who give foolish answers for the fools to pass on to other fools. This is how the kingdom of Satan is preserved. You see it everywhere. Losers hang out with losers and continue the descent of spiraling loses. The rolling stone does truly gather the moss of earth’s excrement.

Much of this in enticed by Satan’s deceptions and temptations. The unaware and ignorant masses follow the hand that feeds them, the “feel good” goodies. One of my false shepherds from the abyss we called the “Candy Man” had all a blackened heart could desire: nails in the coffin of flames.

Satan has the same MO (method of operation) he has always had from the beginning. He was most successful with Adam and Eve, he failed miserably with Jesus in the desert and he had me fooled and in his clutches for 25 years.

The first thing he does is to capture the focus of your eyes on the sin he knows you are most likely to weaken to. The he gives you just enough taste to create an insatiable appetite for more. Then he finishes you off with being so ashamed that you did the deed that you are too prideful to make it known much less to repent of it.

The eyes are the “window to the soul”. The look isn’t the sin the lingering is. As you fix your gaze, you deepen your addictive sensitivities and your knees buckle to face Christ.

Was Jesus able to sin? Yes! But in the Spirit, He was able to not sin as you are when you are “born again” and baptized in the Trinity of God.

When you are “street smart” you have an uncanny ability to sense and see the trouble brewing and headed your way. Capture that “Kodak moment” and see the punch coming, then counter-punch with the Sword: the Word of God. “It is written, it is written, it is written!”

It’s your perseverance in being adept at knowing Satan’s turf that will alert you to the survival skills you need to survive the temptations of the evil one. Just consider the whole issue a testing from the Lord and press on in the most dreadful of situations.

When you walk by, Satan better tremble because your  “Home Boy” is the King of the hood!

 

 

 

EXAMINATION

By Rick Mathes

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

There is nothing wrong with me asking, “How do you know you are really a Christian.” Better yet are the two Evangelism Explosion questions: 1) Do you know for certain that if you were to die tonight that you would go directly to heaven?” or 2) If you were to stand before Jesus and He were to ask you, “Why should I allow you into my heaven?” what would you say?

Certainly a pre-examination before you would die or meet Jesus would be in order. Now understand, we are not to judge whether someone is going to heaven or hell but it is appropriate to do a personal inventory of how we measure our commitment to Him.

I would start by looking at those I hang out with. The old adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.” I would sure hope that if you spotted me in a group of sinner it would be real clear to you and to them that I am a Christian in good standing with Him not the Pope or some other natural person who claims he speaks for.

I have often quipped, “Why should we really get to know each other and ruin a perfectly good relationship?” Sad but true that the habits we have in public differ from those we entertain in private. Do we really think that those private little sins we drag out when no one is looking escape the notice of Jesus?

What if you had a TV screen on your fore-head and your ears were wrap-around speakers and everyone could see and hear what you are thinking? I’m getting cold chills just writing this and thinking about it!

How about if everyone knew what your real love and enjoy such as lusting and mentally undressing women and imagining erotic love affairs?

Let’s not leave out the major weakness which is your motive to love and enjoy those things that please the Lord. When you do you have moved from carnal religion (relative liberalism) to a godly relationship with your Savior (conservative dogma).

I know that as long as I live 51% or better to please Jesus with all my senses, I will have passed the exam. Will you?

 

EXAM I HATE

By Rick Mathes

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB77) ⁵ Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test?

Isn’t it interesting that the oldest New Testament fragment in the Vatican library is a torn corner of a page that clearly asks Pilates question to Jesus, “What is truth?” That question has hounded me from my earliest memory as a struggling teenager on the streets of Detroit Michigan. I now know, of course, that my Lord is the way, the truth and the life, amen!

But could you examine yourself and say that you truly walk in the truth at all times? I doubt it. Say for example there was a video screen on your forehead and speakers on each of your ears. Got the picture, so to speak? Now imagine that every thought you have is projected and heard by the Lord and all those within sight and sound of you: that which is in the deepest recess of your mind exposed for everyone to know the real truth. How horrifying!

Apparently you are a hypocrite like the rest of us; a saved hypocrite I hope. How shocking? I don’t think so. We all fall short of the holiness we are commanded to pursue. This doesn’t excuse us from talking self-examination and working the rest of our lives to improve the grade.

There’s not much hope for you if your spiritual studies or “boning up” for the exam. This is just a superficial effort to appease those that you are sucking up to. A counterfeit Christian is the most despicable chuck of sewer waste any human can descend to.

Or worse yet, you may have them all fooled by your apparently passionate efforts to be heavily involved in church activity. The more works the better! This camouflage only lasts until the Son rises and your dungeon of darkness is truly revealed as your instant gratifying hogwash you call “committed to the Church.”

So if you are a hypocrite, superficial or heavily involved in church, you need to put your face in the mud, the blood and the tears at the foot of the Cross and repent, submit and obey.

Or are you afraid you might get a failing grade and flunk the final exam when He returns? Afraid?  You should be terrified!

 

 

EVIL IS VERY EVIL

By Rick Mathes

Three score and twelve years of life have convinced me that the downward spiral of mankind’s morality is about to go “Splat.” The author of the “Rise and Fall of America” is busy collecting his notes for the outline of the last word While the Word, Jesus, is busy reminding others of His righteousness and value of His atonement for sin.

All that hinders grace and forgiveness is removed so that our wholly His, holiness may surface to the brim of joy and happiness: we are free from the deadly grip of Satan and his flunkies.

We can have a funeral for our old self and bury guild forever because by His Grace and payment for our sin, God will never even have a hint we ever faulted Him. The chains of bondage and cuffs of sin are broken and if we will cooperate, forgotten for all eternity.

I still shudder at the gulf between the south and north rim of the Grand Canyon but am still reminded that the distance between heal and heaven can only be bridged by His Cross.

The stench and miasma of my dead, maggot infested soul has been healed to resemble our Lord’s loveliness and splendor. The pollut9ion has been removed and the fragrance of a thousand roses wills the air. Notice however that the rose pedal gives forth it’s best aroma when it is severely bruised and likewise so do our Lord’s elect do the same thing. The blood of the martyrs and their faith grew the church to heaven’s glory.

Lucifer is a fish-faced, thumb sucking, punk in the Name of Jesus! He is no more than an annoying itch on God’s nose. With just one swipe of God’s hand and all evil, everything evil can be swept away into the flames of Hell at His will.

The evil devil personified is neutralized and incinerated to dust with just one prayer in your heart. I’ll so the dame and we will together bring together an invisible army the all of Hell cannot prevail against. Won’t you join me in this last hurrah!

 

 

EVERYONE

By Rick Mathes

Acts 10:13 (NASB77) ¹³  And a voice came to him, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat!”

Limited atonement simply means that those who don’t call upon the name of the Lord won’t be saved. The only unforgiveable sin is unbelief but those who do submit to His lordship will enjoy eternal life in glory. The saved include but are not limited to the helpless, the captives, the despairing and of course all of the lost. He throws out a wide net but very few are swept up in the catch for three main reasons.

Guilt: Uninformed sinners, those that don’t understand His unconditional forgiveness, feel their guilt so deeply that they have convinced themselves that nothing would be atonement enough to cover the shame of their sins.

Sin: Most don’t have an objective yardstick of what sin is. To them, everything is relative and they rationalize that when they have done more good than bad so it will go favorably when they meet God.

Misery: These poor souls have hit the mother of bottoms and have no hope or even any desire left to get up and continue. They are so beaten down by the wages of sin they just shrivel up and die.

There aren’t any qualifications a sinner needs to meet to be saved except the choice of Christ. He chooses who He wants regardless of their nationality, sex, rank, culture, character or sins. The sinner has nothing to do with his salvation. It is entirely the Lord’s choice for His purposes that He doesn’t have to disclose in advance.

What is the message we need to be attentive to?

1. Faith in Jesus
2. Confession of sins
3. Forsaking sin
4. Discipleship
5. Baptism
6. Witnessing

The Holy Spirit facilitates all of these requisites in a supernatural way that will leave the penitent sinner in wonder and trembling in the blessing of election.

ETERNAL LIFE

By Rick Mathes

John 17:2 even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life.

What greater authority can one have but to heal heath or give eternal life? Only God can do that and Jesus is God. This is a universal gift to all humans. It’s not a matter of if we have eternal life; it’s only a matter of where this eternal life will be spent. Unbelief is the only unforgivable sin. My deepest grief and pain is for those who just don’t care. Give me someone who hates me or loves me but don’t give me or the Lord anyone who is lukewarm. Indecision is a decision.

There is a spiritual vacuum filled in you as the realization of heaven or hell becomes a reality to your reasoning process. Stepping into the unknown darkness of death can be a terrifying thought without any hope of heaven’s reward. Our hope accomplished is the Lord’s light extinguishing the devil’s darkness. The gates of hell cannot prevail agains the glorious hope of all eternal hereafter in the New Jerusalem.

Our need for a hope is rekindled with the Lord’s promises in His holy Bible. He said He will not give us more than we can bear. He will always provide us a way out. He will never leave nor forsake us, no one can take us out of His hand and where He is wee will be. He said it, I believe it and that settles it!

True spiritual experiences ae those that proceed and confirm the Word of God. Don’t forget that Satan counterfeits feelings and yours may be a fake. I recommend that you stand on the truths of the Word and glimpses of heaven will follow. In fact, if you can handle this; eternal life has begun on earth right now and in His time will be continued in glory with Him.

The Holy Spirit will guide you beyond the natural. We are limited by our five senses. I’m sure the Lord would like to have you take a peek of the supernatural now and then to keep a grip on yourself and to keep your hope alive within you.

Too much Word and you dry up. Too much Spirit and you blow up. With the right amount of the Word and Spirit, you grow up!