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Devotion Archive

True Faith: Judgement #112
21st May 2010

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Good Morning Dear Ones,

This morning I will wrap up what false teachers [prophets] do with a discussion of their lack of humility. When measured up against the Sermon on the Mount teaching on judgment in MT 7: 1-29, we see a wide gap between them. People listening to false teachers are not being called to meet disappointment, suffering, trials, and loss with meekness by them. My way of looking at this is the central issue of lack of submission to God. Had we been talking about submitting to a human being, this would have been encouraging weakness, because humans are sinful by nature. It would be like giving in to a despot, dictator, or the like. That is never good, because people who wrest power at the expense of others are acting as agents of the evil one. But there are is a great difference when we are being encouraged to submit to God. PS 16: 2, "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from You.'" PS 57: 2, "I will cry to the God of heaven Who does such good things for me." PS 31: 19, "How wonderful are the good things You keep for those who honor You. Everyone knows how good You are, how securely You protect those who trust in You."

Yes, it's possible, even probable, that a number of people under the influence of false teachers would testify to their good deeds. However, their testimonies would be a lie. False teachers rarely reveal the entirety of their views, particularly in the beginning of their growing influence over people. In some cases, the most malevolent of their teaching is kept secret to a percentage of their followers all the time. With our God, things are very different. He has revealed everything we need to know to have real faith in the truth, to make the often-difficult decisions to go against our natural selves, so that we can gain eternal life with Him. GA 5: 16-17 sheds light on a basic truth that we need to know. "What I say is this: Let the Sprit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do." When Paul was talking about the conflict between the body and the Spirit, it is with this concept that he was dealing.

Now to the issue of humility. Remember PR 16: 18, "Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall." As an addendum to this, we have PR 16: 27-29, "Evil people look for ways to harm others; even their words burn with evil. Gossip is spread by wicked people; they stir up trouble and break up friendships. Violent people decide their friends and lead them to disaster." We have to offer praise and thanks to God for giving Solomon the wisdom to say these things straight out. God knew they needed saying! These are the ways that false teachers often operate. Their motives are those of the adversary. Self interest and gain are likely a part of what they are doing. The direct antithesis of their approach is that of a powerfully faithful and obedient believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This person never has any hidden agenda, only God's agenda. This person has gained spiritual power of the constructive kind, because he has submitted wholly to God, and God is in leadership of his life and work. PS 31: 3-5, sheds light on a faithful person's attitude. "You are my Refuge and Defense: guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." That last sentence reveals a person who has submitted to God and is given a unique inner peace that only God can give.

As a part of this submission to God, there is openness and honesty. There are no secrets, no underhanded actions, no evil thoughts or decisions being made. The opposing and often-secret behavior of false teachers provides a glaring contrast. Christ Himself told us in JN 15: 13-15, "I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father." He has never lied, for He is God's second personality, and "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" [JN 14: 9b]. The Father has no evil in Him. It is He Who defined the truth in HE 4: 12, "The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where the soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of man's heart." And there is no getting around the truth for any length of time. God's truth lasts forever! HE 13: 8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." We can always test what we hear against what He has said and know the truth about any teaching we should hear. Praise and thanks be to God!

PRAYER: O Lord, we come, as always, before Your throne with humility and reverence toward You. You speak to us through the teaching in Your Son's Sermon on the Mount about judgment, a subject complicated enough that You gave Him enough for us to have 116 and counting devotions on it. And yet, You are so very clear. You have called us not only to read these precious and vital words, but to also meditate on them. Judgment comes up in our daily lives, from the most mundane decisions we must make, to those regarding other people in our lives, to those which are of such great importance that You alone have the right to pass them. When it comes to being exposed to false teaching, the lies which are so often crafty and creative, we must have the teaching of Christ to help us discern. That is why You have told us that Your words are "God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed," in 2 TIM 3: 16-17. Furthermore, You have encouraged us to listen to You in prayer, and we obey this directive now........Dearest Abba, Your words are always wise, always compassionate, and always the perfect ones for maximizing what we learn about ourselves, our motives, what we should do, and how best to reach as close as we can to Your greater perspective. We pray with daily diligence, thankfulness, a caring heart guided by Your Spirit, and with regard for the needs of others. Where false teaching is concerned, we must understand PHIL 3: 18-20, "I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's death on the cross. They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven." Had it not been for His Atonement on the cross, His willingness to suffer, physically die, go to hell, and be resurrected to heaven, we would not have had the opportunity we have to be saved, justified in the Father's sight, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and be eternally forgiven [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; RO 8: 14-16; HE 8: 12]. There is no greater love than what You have for us, and we gladly and willingly submit to Your authority and leadership in our lives. Praise and thanks be to You! In Christ's holy name; Amen.

Next week, we will examine the question: do false teachers [prophets] care for the sheep? One way to look at spiritual maturation is to see over the course of our lives a movement from total selfishness and self-centeredness to a healthy balance between taking care of self and caring deeply about others. Moreover, there is a growing relationship between oneself and the Lord, one that is real and personal. We must come to understand the omnipresence of the Lord in our lives. He never goes "off duty" or out of sight unless we are foolish enough to push Him away. That is why sin is defined as separation between a person and God. Once again we see one more aspect of the contrast between being led by the Spirit and being led by the desires of the natural self. Where our leadership is reveals the kind of judgments we will make, relationships we will have. How can we not think of 1 PET 2: 9? "But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people , chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, Who called you out of darkness into His own marvelous light." We don't have to live with sin's power over us. In our baptism, we were "buried with Christ and shared His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of thee Father, so also we might live a new life" [RO 6: 4] "... We are no longer slaves to sin" [RO 6: 6b]. So join me in praying PS 119: 125 that we will be given discernment when we hear false teaching. And that way, we can remain steady and on-course with the ethics and didactics of God's word. We will remember to "guard the Treasure [God's word] entrusted" [2 TIM 1: 13-14]. Our God loves us and watches over us. Nothing is hidden from Him [HE 4: 13]. Praise and thanks be to Him!

Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn

© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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