There is a quote that I first heard from Paul Washer that said:
"Your real friend is the one that tells you the most truth"
This quote and one other have been stuck in my mind the past few days. Why? Because love, the real kind, is telling the truth. The real kind of love, is saying to someone who is playing on the subway tracks that death is the outcome and you don't want that for them. Not loving them, is to ignore the detriment to them and the disastrous outcome that is impending. What do believers do? They tell people about Christ, because they love him, and they love those who He loves. Christ, the Savior, the Messiah... the one that redeems us from sin. He's the one that tells us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. Your REAL friend, tells you the most truth, and the truth of Christ is the most absolute. I guess that leads me to the second quote that has been in my mind, probably also from Paul Washer:
God is not who you think He is, God is who HE says He is.
Many people profess faith in Christ, and say that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Many people say that, but, can we see if its true? Many people "Go to church every sunday" and they "pray all the time" and they "believe in God". Does that make them Christian?
Matthew 24:23-26 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.
How do we differentiate between real Christ and fake christs. How do we differentiate between authentic prophets and false prophets?
James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Even the Demons believe. What separates Demon belief from authentic belief? I often hear people tell me things like "I'd die for my faith in God" and I don't know what they mean because many of these same people wont stop doing something that scripture states is a clear provocation to God. I'm not even talking about struggling against clear sin where we stumble in it knowing its wrong and we're in the process of repentance and sanctification- I'm talking about the outright refusal to acknowledge the scriptures that say that its a sin- or the commonly distorted scriptures people use to justify them.
John 16:1-3“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. 2 They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. 3 These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.
God is not who you think He is. God is who HE says He is. Church people thinking that they are honoring GOD are the ones kicking others out of Church-WHY? Because they DO NOT KNOW HIM. These people are holding to a god of their own minds and their own wills and their own passions. Do we know God, the God of the Bible- and equally as important is does He know us? You might read this an ask, "what do you mean He's God of course He knows me." I hope so, because there is something that He mentions in Matthew 7
Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
What's that? Christ is saying that believers who were casting out demons in His name and called Him Lord wont make it even though many miracles are done in Christ's name? Why? Because He says He never knew them- because the PRACTICE lawlessness. If your god is not calling you to REPENTANCE in response to His Grace- your god is not the God of the Bible. False prophets that LOOK LIKE SHEEP have bad fruit. What is this fruit that Christ is talking about that we are suppose to bear?
Matthew 3:8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance
Thats an ugly word for a lot of people, Repentance. Why is it so problematic? Because there are teachers and pastors that get up and teach that repentance is something that is to of no effect. That there is no need for repentance. Christ said this to the Pharisees
Mark 7:6-9 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
Hypocrites are professing a belief in God and disregarding God's commandments. They're speaking all kinds of spiritual things, and reading scriptures, and going to church, and Christ said its vain worship because they're NOT obeying HIS commands, and instead instituting their OWN traditions- just like so many pastors do today.
James 2:18-20 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
OBEDIENCE. Repentance is OBEDIANCE. The flesh wants to relabel obedience as legalism. Paul tells us this very thing in Romans 8
Romans 8:5-7 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
What was that one more time? The flesh refuses to submit to what? The law of God? Those are in the flesh are contrary to the Spirit and cannot please God? That sounds an awful lot like
Proverbs 28:9 He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.
The flesh is hostile to the Law of God and turning away from the law makes your prayer an abomination? Don't they know we're part of a new Covenant and that NEW Covenant has none of that Law stuff because we live by the Sprit?
Hebrews 10:5 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord:I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,”
That Law, that Law is going to be in ... Heaven?
Isaiah 66 22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord. 24 “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.
Might wanna brush up on that chapter a little bit, especially like, these verses
For behold, the Lord will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For the Lord will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by the Lord will be many. 17 “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center, Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice, Will come to an end altogether,” declares the Lord.
...That is still to come by the way. We know that because 2 Peter 3 tells us that, and so does Revelation 21. There is also the part where Christ tells the angels to gather OUT of the kingdom all who are doing Lawlessness.
Matthew 13:40 So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
IF only Christ- the real one in the Bible and not the made up one- had told us to Obey God's Law and to teach others to do the same. Wait..
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
So all the idea that God's law is divided up into 3 parts, civil ceremonial, and moral and then Christ took those smallest parts and annulled them... That's not accurate. Thats error. Thats doing JUST like the Pharisees when they were setting aside the Commands of God for the sake of their OWN TRADITIONS? That means that its not those who are OBEDIANT to the Law of God who are like the Pharisees, its those who teach others to obey MEN instead of the Commands of God are like the Pharisees. Again, I'm not talking about stumbling and shortcomings. I'm talking about the refusal to admit that what GOD says is sin, is SIN.
1 John 3:4 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
I'm talking about those that teach that it doesn't matter what God said in the past, our unchanging God who was provoked by all the ways that HE expressly tells us are a provocation to Him... surely He changed and there is peace peace right?
Jeremiah 6:14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’But there is no peace. 15 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord. 16 Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’17 “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’18 “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.
False prophets say what? Peace when there isn't peace? Huh...
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
They will turn aside from God and seek out pastors and preachers that only tell them what they want to hear?
Jeremiah 14:14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
Surely that's all Old testament right, there is nothing like that in the New Testa-
2 Peter 2:2-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Oh ok. So same stuff. Jeremiah talks about those that teach people to disregard God's law, and Christ says that people that say that they know Him will have a problem on judgement day when He ( not me) says "Depart from me you who practice Lawlessness, I never knew you". We're to live like Christ right, so... what is the opposite of Christ? What is- Anti-Christ?
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The anti-christ is the man of Lawlessness? ...not obeying the law of God? Lawlessness- not obeying the commands of God... that is the activity of ... satan?
Revelation 12:17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
We're to be obedient AND hold to the testimony of Christ who is the one who saves us alone by His work and our OBEDIANCE is the fruit of REPENTANCE and demonstrates that we love Him back?
Thats love for God?
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
So all the times that people cry that its some great legalism to not go out to the store and buy pig flesh and shove it in their face- they're either mistaken, have been misinformed as to what the scriptures say, or are lying. Loving God is walking in the way that He asked us to. Love is walking like Christ, who obeyed the Law of God ( Because to say that God's law and Christs law are different is to deny the Deity of Christ), which is contrary to the flesh. That sounds contrary to what we hear from a lot of people and a lot of pulpits. Sometimes it feels like people hate me when I tell them the truth.
Matthew 24:9-12 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
Your real friend tells you the most truth.
Psalm 119:151-152 You are near, O Lord, And all Your commandments are truth. 152Of old I have known from Your testimonies, That You have founded them forever.
Psalm 119:160-163 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. 161 Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. 162 I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law.
Princes persecute me without cause...
John 7: 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” 25 So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?
The more like Christ you are, the more people want to kill you. The more church people, will want to kill you. We are to judge with righteous judgement, how else are we supposed to make sure that there aren't wolves spoon feeding us a false doctrine because we're too entertained and in love with the world to read our Bibles and see if our god is the the God of the Bible?
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
If you've read this far and I hope you have, I hope you know that I tell the truth because I love you, but I love God more than I love you, and you matter to him so- don't be Biblically stupid
Proverbs 12:1Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,But he who hates reproof is stupid.
...and don't kill the messenger.
P.s. The idea that we should accept everyone's beliefs isn't Biblical. Paul wrote letters telling people to not listen to Alexander.
2 Timothy 4:14- 15 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.
Also, Yes I have read Galatians. In Context. You want to know why that was written? Here.
Read it.
