Tag: sin

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!

ETERNAL DEATH

By Rick Mathes

Romans 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

You get paid for the value to another for what you have done. Sin, your sin, killed the very Son of God on a death stake. Your sin ripped His boy’s back open with a whipping, hammered nails into His wrists and ankles and ground a crown of sharpened thorns into His scalp until he was unrecognizable and close to death.

Now I know what I could do if you did it to my son. In fact, if you did it to my dog Suzie Q I would beat you until you went to Jesus for judgment! I would repent later. Now if I would lose it in the flesh can you even imagine how Father God feels towards your sin that tortured and killed His only Son? God forbid my mind would never conceive of the wrath our sin deserves! I would go insane.

There is an absence of spiritual leaders to inform sinners that they need a Savior or else. We are facing a coming tsunami of sin like our world has never even imagined before an the pulpits are silent. Why?

Evil associations breed evil associations. When humanism infects the Body of Christ, unless the antidote is administered, death is the inevitable consequence. The church is suffering a terminal disease or ear-tickling nonsense from false shepherds leading their sheep over the cliff and into the bottomless abyss of flames.

Apparent worldly success in multiplying things or building larger church buildings will eventually own you. The more the devil has a grip on you with “things” the less freedom you have to “break the cuffs.” Consider this progression; 1) Lost and not able not to sin, 2) saved and able not to sin, and 3) raised with Him and not able to sin.

The consequence of sin will result in an empty and shallow life of uselessness. When you are caught up in the love of sin you liver the same day 365 days a year, year after year. You are really a dean man looking for a place to be buried. Blindness means no spiritual insight. Dean men cannot see and neither will you see life as it was meant to be until Jesus restores your sight and you live maybe for the first time.

 

ENTER THROUGH THE GATE

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB77) ¹³ ” Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide,

and the way is broad that leads to destruction,

and many are those who enter by it. ¹⁴ “For the gate is small,

and the way is narrow that leads to life,

and few are those who find it.

I love to visit Magic Kingdom in Florida and take every opportunity my now grandchildren will allow the excuse for me to go. It is fresh in my memory the view through the main arch of the castle when you approach the park. You can see down Main Street with unlimited fun places to stop in at along the way to the rides. I just want to clap my hands and thank the Lord for allowing me to vacation to such a wholesome fun place to enjoy.

An unusual habit of mine, I need to confess, is to walk against the crowd.

It just seems to me that if all those people are coming from somewhere, it must be really worthwhile to go there and find out what it was that drew such a crowd. The narrow, more difficult path through the crowd is the path I always take and doesn’t that sound Biblical?

It appears to me that the crowd is full of carnal Christians that have been lured by the world to turn their back on the more difficult narrow path and take the wider one everyone seems to enjoy the most. The attraction was temporary and plastic so they crowd to the next thrill for more Holy Ghost bumps and a home run sermon.

It all starts with “stepping though the Gate.”

John 10:9 (NIV) ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

He will come in and go out, and find pasture.

It takes the first step through the gate for the Lord to help you with the rest. And in order to do that, you need to know where the gate is. Let me clue you in: it is in Christ! He’s standing at the gate waiting for you to step through.

Thank the Lord that there is a gate! It is the only one and it is wide open. I know that it is strong because it is the only gate that has survived all of man’s efforts to shut it. Jesus Himself promises that the gates of hell cannot prevail against us, that He will never give us more that we can bear, that He will always find a way out for us, that no one can take us out of His hands, that He will never leave or forsake us and where He is, we will be. Whew!

He said from the cross “It is finished” but He hasn’t said “It is done” yet so don’t waste any time. Today is the day of your salvation if only you will hear, listen, learn, apply and then evaluate the truth of this teaching. May the Lord bless the truth to your spirit and may you draw closer to Him because of this study.

 

 

ENDLESS

By Rick Mathes

1 Timothy 1:3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus, in order that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,

At the moment Jesus said, “It is finished” Satan said, “It had just begun!” The battle of the “isms” began and has gained a lot of ground even into this post-Christian era we find ourselves in. The worst of which is Humanism, that is, man is his own god.

Humanism plainly stated is a religion where we each are our own god and truth is relative. Some believers have an 11 inch ruler, some a 13 inch ruler and others a measurement they believe the standard 12 inch ruler is necessary for objective unity. All others lead to chaos.

Escapism believers think denial is a river in Egypt. Let me ask you, when you are in a heated fire-fight at war and you bury your head in the sand, what part of your anatomy is blown off? Drugs and alcohol numbs your thinking process into thinking that the problems of the world have gone away. But the problem is that they are still there when you sober up! (Only worse)

Occultism has a messianic person that is charismatic and takes advantage of anyone stupid enough to follow him. It amazes me what nonsense people will fall for. I sometimes think that these followers have a meaningful conversation with their cucumber before they eat their salad.

Mysticism is what Pope John said the Roman Church needed more of. Anything that gives you the “Holy Ghost bumps” will do. Charismatic gangsters that merchandise the name of Jesus have a lot of group hypnotic success with lighting and music. Catholics had statues, relics, candles and Mary to pray to. (Not in the Bible.)

Legalism is the land of the dogmas. Now don’t get me wrong. We need o have the objective honest doctrine as clearly taught in the Word of God, pure and without deviation. I’m just saying that when hedge after hedge after hedge is put up to protect the commandments of God, the spirit dries up and dies.

Sacramentalism is a heathen carry over to the Church of Rome. All the sacraments, vestments, holy water, gowns and relics make God gag. They are nothing less than selfism which eventually so distorts the Bible that is encouraged where there is no hell and all you need is love. And it goes on endlessly.

 

END TO BEGINNING

By Rick Mathes

Mark 14:72 And immediately a cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep.

Satan and his demons were “toking and coking” outside the sealed tomb; celebrating the death of God’s only Son. Lucifer was right! He was equal to God and the kingdom in heaven as well as on earth was his alone. The Body of Jesus was cold and lifeless: there was no doubt about Him being dead. The corpse was laid in the tomb and the life of the Messiah had come to an end. The burial was provided by those who loved Him and witnessed by His worst enemies.

The massive stone was rolled across the doorway into the sepulcher and an official governmental seal was placed on it under penalty of death if anyone would tamper with it. The guards, priests, and government officials were dead set on ending the rumors that Jesus would rise from the dead and return to His disciples to bring revolution and emancipation to the Jews that were under the servitude of their Roman captors. To all involved, this was the end of this Jesus phenomenon. Their hopes were dashed.

The hinge of faith in Jesus as Christ is the undeniable empty tomb. What happened is the question that divides those who do and do not believe Jesus is Lord.

The initial evidence was the grave clothes neatly folded and left behind. It was as though He rose up and through burial clothes leaving them perfectly folded in tact as though the body just disappeared.

The seal was broken and the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out but to let us in. The curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom as a powerful sign that the King had returned.

This new beginning terrified the soldiers and emboldened the Apostles and disciples. The world hasn’t been the same since except the church has weakened and the state has strengthened. This will only be for a season because the end is becoming the beginning because of our risen Lord.

ELECT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 24:31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Our Bible is formed in 66 books and is considered the canon or yardstick of our faith. The canon or absolute beliefs include God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-present. If He was any less He would not be God. He knows what you will think before you think it. Without His empowerment you couldn’t do it and He is wherever you may be. With these three foundational certain truths, if you share them with me you are a Calvinist.

On the other side are those who believe that we have a free will and can do entirely as they choose before God’s knowledge, power or presence. I prefer to be Armenian and believe I am the total captain of my ship. To do that God ahs to lessen His attributes. I ask, if you are a “free will” believer, what are you free of, His knowledge, power or presence? See what I mean? We are not free of one speck of either of the three. He has predestined every moment of our lives.

The acronym to remember these doctrines by is T U L I P.

The first is total depravity. This does not mean that you are incapable of doing good deeds or being a good person, it just means that you cannot be good enough. You must be sinless to enter into heaven and stand before Father God. It is impossible for you to do this.

Unmerited salvation means that while you were in the midst of your depravity, God’s Son died on the cross as the payment of your punishment, so that you would by His grace be converted by His sacrifice and step into glory on His behalf sin-free.

Limited atonement declares that God so loved the world that He gave His Son so that whoever would believe in Him would be saved. This also means that whoever won’t believed in Him will not be saved.

Irresistible grace makes the elect the metal and Jesus the compelling magnet. Yes, you have free will but your choices as elect will ultimately be those choices and decisions that give Him all the glory and honor.

Perseverance of the saints means just that. When you are Him, you just don’t ever give up. Quite the opposite, you press on to keep the faith, fight the good fight and complete the race.

 

DYING OF THIRSTY

By Rick Mathes

John 4:15 ⁾⁾ The woman •said to Him, ” Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.”

The Word of God is a fountain of Living Water. In this metaphor Jesus is the form and the Bible is the essence in every word. A shower of blessings is yours as you step into the fountain of youth. Just what does this amazing spiritual water do? Let’s investigate together.

Thirst Removing: You can drink any beverage when your throat is parched and dry but what do you look for when your spirit turns to dust?

Life Preserving: Your body is 80% composed of water of the earth. Your spiritual, born again soul seeks the refreshment only Jesus has. He is live giving.

Filth Purging: There is no better way to do your spiritual laundry but to step into the shower of blessings our Lord has stored up for you in heaven.

Softening: You can’t continue in life with a hardened heart, dry of emotions if you will bath and soak your soul in the Psalms, the balm of Gilead.

Fire Quenching: Your fire-insurance premium was paid in full by our Lord, the Suffering Servant. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against you.

Spring Creating: Once you fill up with the Living Waters you will overflow with springs of righteousness. You will accomplish God’s commands and not know it.

Fruit Producing: When you are filled with the Word and the Spirit, the Logos and the Rhema, wonderful blessings happen in every direction.

Heaven Producing: The essence and form of this Living Water returns to the clouds of glory, the very place our soul will return to it’s first estate.

Have you ever cried so hard that your ribs ached? A place where the tears wouldn’t come anymore? A dry desert inside with no life nor reason to live? Good news!

When Jesus wants you, He has you! You can wiggle like a worm on a hook but your are hooked. So, surrender and take a Holy Ghost shower!

The woman at the well was astonished that He was the Messiah. Let Him seep into your soul and don’t just slash in it, get out of the boat and walk on it. Peter proved that this could be done.