"Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

I'm beginning to realize more and more how narrow the narrow path actually is. As time marches on and the return of Jesus is draws nigh, it is incredibly important to be able to discern the signs of the times. Jesus would not have us ignorant of His truth, both in ourselves and in others, but we have to be very careful to stick solely to what Jesus teaches us, so as to avoid judging unrighteously. But discern we must, now more than ever.

It is no accident that Jesus attached the warning against false prophets to the sermon on the mount. The teaching of Jesus in these few chapters are more powerful than any other teaching in scripture, and they not only completely expose sin and hypocrisy, but give great hope and peace to those whom He has called to follow Him. Jesus promises us that these things shall be fulfilled in His disciples, simply by virtue of the fact the He is one who commanded them.

Jesus gives us a very clear vision of what we are to expect to see, and what constitutes this fruit. If many are heralding miracles, casting out devil's, even prophesying in Jesus name, as proof of their legitimacy even to the very Lord Himself, how much more will these men do the same to justify themselves before men. But Jesus makes it clear that these things can all be done without any actual knowledge of the Lord Himself, and without actually being known by Him. This doesn't mean that they are the works of the devil, as we run a fine line and are commanded of Jesus to not dabble in that area of judgment, but it will give us a clear picture of who to listen to, and who to trust in these last days.

As I said, the connection of this warning is not accidentally and coincidentally tied to this glorious sermon. So we can gather plainly that those who are in defiance to these teachings are in fact not known by God, no matter the grandiose works they do in His name. But beware brethren to not judge harshly, as even if they are not known of the Lord, they are still casting out devils, prophesying and healing, and we saw from the high priest of Jesus day that God will even use the unsaved as prophets, so long as they are not against us, we can rejoice. It falls on the church to make sure truth is preached and the truths of who Jesus is in purity are lifted up by our lives, and these men may seem to be doing harm, but they will be used in the greater purposes of God.

We can easily tell if we simply take the opposite of the teachings and examine what becomes plain.

Are the teachers storing up for themselves things on earth? Are they amassing wealth and things and looking to make their ministries, lives and the lives of those that hear them comfortable here in the world? Are they looking to fund million dollar buildings and heap to themselves money and influence?

Jesus uses money as an example because money is the driving force behind the world system. He doesn't accidentally say any of these things, where a mans treasure is, there is is heart also. And if his heart lies where his treasure is, that's a pretty plain thing to see. Jesus didn't spiritualize this teaching and make it about attachment, there is no context to make us think it was for a specific person or to be as an example as in the case of His telling the rich young ruler to sell all he had. Jesus said to the masses, if you lay up treasure on earth than your heart will be in earth, serving money, and you can't do that and serve God. You will either love the money and by extension the ways to get it and retain it, or you will love God.


When you see people amassing to themselves wealth, no matter what they say the motive is, no matter who they say it for, and no matter how noble they say the cause is, it's an automatic red flag. If a ministry cannot abide by the teachings of Jesus, than our Lord makes it clear what He thinks. These prophets will mind the things of the world and be constantly worried about tomorrow because if they aren't, than they can't appease the system that holds them up. They cannot serve two masters.

Jesus says after He warms us of the false prophets, and tell us what they claim to have done, that whoever hears these words of His and does them, they will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The key to discernment and knowledge is not intellectual pursuit or learning, but obedience to Jesus. To be wise, you have to obey Jesus so He can than make everything clear. It's astonishing how simple and clear everything becomes with a simple life of obedience to Jesus, no matter how fanatical it seems to everyone around you. The Father is faithful to provide daily bread, not help us amass wealth and money. He will be an ever present help for an ever present need, and will never place us in temptation to fall into the worlds ways of saving and worry, anxiety and looking to the future. He will hide us under the shadow of His wings and be a refuge to His people.

The warning against the false prophets and Jesus telling us to look to their fruits is Jesus telling us to compare these men, and ourselves with the teachings of the sermon on the mount. Simple and sincere obedience to Jesus is the dividing line between truth and lies, and the life of Jesus in His people is the only way for anyone to fulfill these commands, and when Christ is formed in a person, and he walks in single eyed obedience to Jesus, he shall therefore be perfect, as His heavenly Father is perfect. Not a man striving to be something, but a man indwelt by Jesus expressing someone. Not a human trying to be sinless or holy, but a human containing Jesus Himself.

If we find then, that we see false prophets performing miracles, casting out devils, or doing great wonders, and are preaching a false message, just leave them to it and God will use them for His purposes and eventually they will get their just desert. It falls on His church to pick up the pieces of the disillusioned and broken people they leave in their wakes. Those who have devils cast out only to find 7 more in their place. Those who see this as a representation of the true Jesus and throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater when they inevitably find it to be false. Man in his own self effort will do no good. Those who walk in the spirit must be ready to, in God's perfect timing and will, be Christ to those broken souls.

"But when you pray"

Jesus often contrasts His disciples with the religious figures of His day. Contrasts that are blazing with accusation and that call His followers to the very cross. Jesus has absolutely nothing good to say about those that are part of the religious world system. He calls them hypocrites, vipers, white washed tombs. Jesus is not one to leave anyone comfortable in a religious state that is content to simply allow the status quo to abide.

Do you desire to be known as a praying man/woman? Than Jesus speaks of you when He says hypocrites pray on the street corner to be seen of men. A disciple is one that seeks His reward from God alone, even at the expense of seeming to be a prayerless religious person. Prayer that is seen of men, known of men, is fruitless and will never yield answer. Prayer, like fasting, isn't a religious performance, it's an exercise of faith, and if it is seen and known of men than that is it's reward.

Prayer isn't dependant on earnestness, tears, or working up anything at all. Prayer is dependant on the finished work of Jesus, and our childlike attitude of complete helplessness and dependance on the Father. Prayer that works up tears and emotion is prayer of the soul, and soul cannot carry anything to heaven but the stink of human flesh. This type of prayer is to be a spectacle to men just like the street corner, except this time the observer is ourselves. We love to sit back and say to ourselves that we had a wonderful time of prayer, and all that because we shed a tear or had some other soulish response to the act.

Prayer that prevails is prayer of faith, to the Father, in the Spirit predicated only on the redemptive work of Jesus. The second we add anything else, prayer falls to the death blow of self effort. Are tears wrong? Is earnestness wrong? Yes, if they are there for the sake of them. Jesus didn't work up His tears, He grieved. We men seek to work them up so we can say we weep for souls, and all the time Jesus weeps for you.

Man is so caught up in the show of it all that the God of it all is completely forgotten. Prayer is to be directed to God, and if we were to approach God in prayer I think our praying would be completely other than it is. So the question is begged, are you praying to yourself and for yourself and other men, or are you praying in obedience to Jesus and as He tells us to pray?

"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day."

A God who feels...

In our day we have a God of influence, gasoline in the engine of our ministries and anointing for our preaching. The living God has been reduced to something that can be called down on gatherings of revelry and commanded to move when we tell it and where.

This day and age God is simply some ethereal force called "the presence of God" that makes us feel warm and fuzzy, peaceful or joyous, and like a Mormon missionary, burns in our bosom when we are looking for truth.

The deep irony is that the people who most heartily promote this fleshly charade are the same people that most heartily preach the personhood of the Holy Spirit. But to them He is an anointing to sell the book, a boon of blessings for a backslidden age of apostasy.

A God who feels...

Our God is a God that feels deeply and loves much. He is indignant because He loves. We often reduce our offenses to God as meaning our sinfulness, but we offend God in taking advantage of His mercy, grace, patience and love, and in using Him for our means and ends.

We have taken our loving Father for granted, and assumed His blessing and pleasure over whatever we do, simply because it is we that do it. The farther we stray in this path of self centered egotism, the harder our hearts will become. God is grieved deeply and sorrows for the state of His creation, and looks to those who should be heralding Him, but they have forgotten Him in entitlement and selfish religion.

The Father will allow Himself to be used, bear our reproach, and be patient in the giving because He desires all men to come to repentance. He seeks for His creation to look to Him and love Him, and love is patient. Our Father is a God who feels, deeply and passionately, and we in our pride take advantage of Him and seek to use Him as nothing more than a means to our end.

Sinfulness is manifest most profoundly in selfishness, and it's the subtleties that make the difference. The only place selfishness is ignored is the spiritual life, which is why it is so rampant there. Taking advantage of a loving Father for our own blessing, ends, goals, and to make us feel or be certain ways is detestable spiritual selfishness.

May we see that God is a God who feels, and may we love that God to the utter exclusion of ourselves, especially spiritually. May we Love God for the sake of Him, and How He feels, and forget totally about self in the process.

Our God is a God who feels indignation every day, and the time will soon come when judgment will fall and the false prophets, false religion they have set up, and the selfishness they have heralded as holiness will be rolled over and shaken from the earth.

Come quickly Lord Jesus and vindicate your bride.

"But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt. 6:33)

This text has been used for hundreds of years to express the faithfulness of God in Christ. And that it is. Our Father will, and does indeed add to us every necessity of life as we walk with Him. His mercy, faithfulness and provision is beyond our comprehension. But what this generation fails to understand is the depths to which this promise calls us.

Our Father (I write to the born again believers, for only they can call God their Father) is patient, not desiring any to perish, but that all should come to repentance. His patience has been extended far more to this generation of humanity than possibly any other in the history of the world. I include in this the generation of professing christians we see living today. I say "professing" completely on purpose, because Jesus said explicitly that not all who profess His name, nor do works for His cause, whether miraculous or not, will enter that final kingdom of heaven. He will turn them around with the seering and painful declaration, "I never knew you". Jesus takes vanity and the pride of man personally, because it is this that causes men to walk with a trust in their own self sufficiency.

Seek first is a declaration of priority. But this declaration of priority can to easily become a legalistic religious dogma that does more harm than good.

The fallacy of time spent is the favorite condemnation of believers, and has been throughout the years. It is somehow accepted to teach that the amount of time one spends doing "holy" things like prayer, Bible reading, etc. somehow is a metric to determine a persons inner spiritual health.

With that in mind, what of sleeping than? Shall we cry idolatry if a man spends more time sleeping than he does in active, kneeling prayer? Or for most of us that live the real Christian life, and not the ivory tower kind, what are we to say of employment? Many, or most of us are, in God's will and ordered circumstances, enabled and led to work with our hands to provide for our families or to avoid taking money from others, as Paul did. Are those dear children of God who walk with Him daily, working a job, idolaters simply because they spend more time in that employment than what carnal man deems "the employment of the Lord"?

Perhaps you see the line of reasoning here already, and no more illustration is necessary. It's a sad day when the Jesus who spent 30 years as a carpenter is heralded to men as the same Jesus that will condemn someone for spending more time working in their employment than in a prayer closet.

First is a statement of priority, not a statement of time spent. When reading biographical accounts of Christians who God used mightily in a public way, it's easy to overlook they were in prayer while working in coal mines, standing in lines within Nazi concentration camps, and many other and varied forms of life that don't fit the religious mans views of what Christianity should look like. If your Jesus doesn't live within you, and animate your every breath and your entire life, than you are reduced to the religious cliche of "take time to be holy", and you will find you only find God's presence in religious forms (certain forms of prayer, Bible reading, religious services, etc). There is no time to be holy, because holiness is a separation of everything to God, not certain times and forms, days of the week or gatherings. The lack of power and spiritual influence in our day is possibly rooted in this one thing. So few people know God, and therefore they do not walk with Him, in His conscious presence and living every moment in communion with Him, and consequently they are forced to reduce the Christian life to fit their meager experience, rather than admit they might have it wrong, and repent in sack cloth and ashes.

This Christianity that finds it's life in a succession of Sunday services and prayer meetings is nothing new, it's ancient, dating clear back to Israel seeking to be like the world around them. God gave them what they desired, Tabernacles, kings, judges, laws, rules, so they could realize they were incapable of "taking time to be holy". In the fullness of time God revealed Himself and His way of living so completely in Jesus that all we need to look to is Him and His life to see what is possible for every believer. Jesus said as much, in fact said we would do "greater" works. We are dust and saved sinners who are empowered to live and walk as Jesus did, in daily communion with his Father. This is a greater work indeed.

Seeking 'first' is, in the mind of Jesus, seeking 'only'. It's only when we realize that their is no priorities in the kingdom of God, that we begin to see the depths and truly revolutionary truth of Jesus and His kingdom. It is all or nothing, every moment or none, all things belonging to Jesus or we don't belong to Jesus. Total dependance on the Father, consciously walking in His presence moment by moment in full communion with Him, truly prayer without ceasing.

Do we seek devotional time alone with God? Of course. Do we base our spiritual life on it? Some do, and preach that. But to these carnal men the devotional time, not Christ, is their life. The Christian life is better said to be the life of Jesus in His people. Prayer is better said to be allowing the Son of God within you to commune with His Father. Devotion is a life lived, not a time set aside. If Christ is in you, let Him express Himself however He desires, because that is rest, that is holiness, and that is to seek first the kingdom of God.

"...because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)

It's no surprise that the shallowest generation in the history of mankind has taken even the holiest things and trampled them under their feet. It's true there are pigs in the pasture, and it's equally true that the pearls of God's truth are in this day and age, pearls before pigs. But just as God can fit a camel through a needles eye, He too can make pigs appreciate the depths of His riches, I am proof of this.

Intercession has been lowered to nothing more than soulish prayer that works up a few tears, prayer that is said a little more loudly or fervently, and somehow gains insight or answer based on some gift of intercessory prayer. Prayer in these days is not the sacred act of faith it once was, it's no longer secret devotion to the Father that gets obvious answers. Prayer is a public piety that boasts in gifts before men, gets online and meets together to publicly share it's burdens. Thousands of self proclaimed "intercessors" gather on the street corners of social media and seek to bolster each other's egos and solidify the religious practices as devotion to God.

But I question this entire charade. I question this definition of intercession; and I propose to you that this religious movement desecrates the Holy office best exemplified by our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Intercession is not prayer, although it does include it. But like most things in this generation, words have been redefined to make them more palatable and easy. Intercession has been reduced to something you can do in a prayer meeting, and completely lost it's meaning and power. Once again, Satan has snuck in a good thing and professing church has eaten it up and completely forsaken God's perfect will. Once again, the good is the enemy of the perfect.

Jesus is the pattern of intercession. The proponents of this new form of intercession will boysterously shout Amen and point to Gethsemane. True, that was intercession... but that only part of it. That agony of prayer was born out of intercession, it wasn't the intercession itself. Jesus never made an intercessory prayer, He made intercession.

I've searched the scriptures for this new form of intercession and have come up empty handed. I have found intercession in scripture that pours out it's life, even unto death, in obedience to the Father. I have found Moses putting himself between a rebellious Israel and it's God, who was ready to pour out His wrath upon them, and emphatically stating his desire to himself be blotted from the book of life, if God would only stay His hand. I have found the apostolic messenger to the Gentiles wishing himself accursed from Christ for his brethren according to the flesh, Israel. I have found Jesus, seeking only His Fathers glory, crucified and bleeding on a cross in obedience.

Jesus gained the place of intercession He now stands in through the obedience of being numbered with the transgressors, and bearing their sin.

An intercessor is a man who will bear upon himself the reproach of the subject of his prayer. He will bear the burdens the one he prays for bears; he will sacrifice comfort and health to obey the Holy Spirit and make sure that the immediate will of God is carried out, and through that out poured life of obeying, intercession is made, and the intercessor has power in prayer for that person or thing.

Intercession is made, not prayed.

God seeks for a people that are not interested in ease and comfort, or taking the holiest things in scripture and rendering them completely void of meaning and power. God seeks for a man to himself take the load, under the power of Christ in him, and deny himself as Jesus did, even unto death. Bearing the burdens and numbering himself among those for whom he prays, practically in daily experience.

This generation is all about the big thing. Self proclaimed intercessors today pray for world sweeping revival, and have never even born the reproach of being numbered among the sinners in their very own city. They look for a move of God across the world, and yet the hungry in their town are not fed, the fatherless know nothing of familial love, the widows are forsaken, and their neighbors have no point of reference for the power of the Holy Spirit. They want God to move somewhere else, because if the Holy Spirit were to move in their city or family, they might have to sacrifice more than they are comfortable with, and we can't have that.

If God wanted you to intercede for Africa, He would have put you in Africa.

Intercession starts where we are, in the circumstances God has ordained and orchestrated for each of us. The problem is, living for God is hardest in our hometown, because man wants honor from other men, and a prophet is without honor in his own country. It's easy when no one sees you unless you want them to, much harder when you are seen daily, even hourly, of those you intercede on behalf of.

The Holy Spirit seeks a church that will humble themselves under His mighty power right where they are, and intercede for those they have been placed in the midst of. Because intercession is a life of bearing the load of others in practical obedience to the Father, so that Jesus might reconcile the world to Himself through us.

Intercession is a life, not a prayer.

“And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.” (Genesis 15:11)

Vultures always circle death. The vulture can see for literal miles, and smell even further. It is said a vulture can sense the imminence of death, and will often circle an animal before it dies, in expectation of its next meal.

These foul creatures came to feast on the carcasses of Abrams sacrifice to God. They sensed the death and came to take advantage of it - but Abram drove them away. They sought to defile Abrams act of obedience; they saw opportunity in it for themselves, a chance to fill their bellies and satiate their own appetites.

Abram drove them away and in his ensuing sleep was overtaken by a great darkness. But from this darkness a great and enduring promise was given to him from God.

How often this is the case. A simple act of obedience and out of the woodwork comes opportunistic opposition, both spiritually and fleshly. Men denounce the obedient disciples of Jesus as troublemakers; bringers of strife and division. Satans powers come full force against the simple one who merely looks to his Lord and does what He says, with no question or explanation. To men and the powers of Satan, obedience is the ultimate offense. But to Jesus, obedience is supreme act of love.

If you find yourself confused under brass heavens, feeling as if your prayers are hindered and plagued by a vague sense of oppression that leaves you questioning things you once held as self evident, don't be dismayed - out of this darkness great promises come. Sometimes, like Lazarus, Jesus stays where He is for a few days for the stink of death to fully settle in, so that when the promise is fulfilled the glory can only be given to the Father.

Jesus will let the one He loves die, and the death will lead to the glory of God in resurrection.

Be like Abram, and drive the vultures away. Don't let anyone take opportunity to feast on your obedience to your Lord. If you find yourself in darkness, hold fast to Jesus and continue on because He is worthy, not because you find anything in it for yourself. If you can look away from your past, and present experience, feelings, and avoid the incessant desire to examine your every thought and deed, and cling to Jesus in faith, the voice of the Lord will come in glorious promise and fulfillment.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15)

Much is said these days concerning God the Holy Spirit. But in much speaking, error is not wanting. I find great comfort in the words of Jesus concerning the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers - and these words and teachings run in stark and glaring opposition to much of what is taught in the modern professing church.

The modern preacher would glorify the Holy Spirit in his sermon. He would have us believe that we are to set chairs in our rooms and invite the Holy Spirit to sit and share our devotional times. Is it any wonder why the internal leading of the Spirit of Truth is almost altogether absent these days - the Spirit of God is politely sitting in the chair waiting to perform His selfless ministry of the glorifying of Jesus.

When a man encounters the Holy Spirit, self is destroyed and sent to the cross of Jesus to die with Him there - and the Spirit of life waits for this identification and death to quicken us to newness of resurrection life. The Spirit of Truth is also the Spirit of life and resurrection - the Spirit of Christ.

It would seem to me a simple fact that the Holy Spirit is not a hypocrite. He leads men to deny themselves and take up their cross with Jesus. This truth is clearly taught by our Lord. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus - quietly like a dove.

The self denial of the Godhead is always seen best in the work of Jesus on the cross. I submit to you that the ministry of the Holy Spirit also shines forth as a brilliant example of the humility and selflessness of God. The Spirit comes to a man and glorifies Jesus the Son and convicts men of sin, righteousness and judgment; nowhere speaking of Himself or leading men anywhere other than the person of Jesus by the order of the Father.

I see no scriptural precedent to prayer TO the Holy Spirit, only IN the Spirit. Is this wrong? Not at all. But the divine order of God is not this way, and we will find ourselves in error very quickly when we substitute or own good intentions for the perfect will of God, no matter how sentimental we would like to be.

There is much more to be said concerning this topic, and perhaps I will say more later. But for now, see what the Holy Spirit wants us to see, and not what men sentimentally and emotionally teach you that you should see.

Simply stated, Jesus.

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” (Romans 6:6-9)

Much is said these days about forgiveness. In fact, for decades the salvation of Jesus Christ has been peddled to generations of people as exactly that - forgiveness of sins. The outward acts that even many in the world look down upon as heinous acts are what is said to be forgiven us by the cross of Jesus. Moral fortitude and ascetic discipline are enough to refrain from these outward acts, and any religion the world offers a man can in some way morally reform it's adherants. This is not the salvation of Jesus.

If Jesus died so we can be forgiven, the cross is simply a bloody motivational speech - a self help book written with the blood of a martyr. There are systematic theologies written to try and dupe men to believe that the cross is an example, a motivation to lead people to acts of self giving and martyrdom for the hero they worship - another Jesus that lived a good life and was crucified to show us that what love looks like, so we can go and do likewise.

Others have written another story in their volumes. They portray for us a wrathful god, jealous for his rule and law, that was so bound by vengeance and spite, needing so badly to vent his anger against sin that the gospel is boiled down to this one thing - God appeasing his anger on Jesus. The cross is mettled down into an anger management class for deity, nothing less than what the pagan religions postulate for us with their own human sacrifices.

Many and various forms of the gospel have been handed down from father to son, but only one is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the culmination of a cosmic struggle against sin and the usurper that brought it into the world - Satan himself. “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

The garden was the scene for the ultimate usurping of the creation of God. The serpent beguiled man with the question, "has God really said". Satan brought the mentality of unbelief into creation - reinterpreting the clear commands of God and placing ourselves in the place of judge - has God really said? They knew God commanded to eat anything but that one trees fruit - but it was pleasing to eyes, good for food, so obviously God didn't mean what He said - surely He wouldn't want man to be deprived of this glorious fruit; and in deification of their own standard they ate of tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Man became like God, knowing good and evil - and ever since has sought to reinterpret the clear teachings of Jesus to fit his own petty life and moral standards - all under the guise of teaching Jesus would never command something we couldn't do, and if He did, He didn't really mean it than; "has God really said?".

Self is the supreme manifestation of sinful humanity. God created man in His own image, and because man was deceived, he in turn has created God in his own image for thousands of years. Man in his unregenerate state will always look for a god that fits into his own view of what a god should be - and consequently hates the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God as He has revealed Himself is the object of man's hatred, because man knows good from evil, and thinks he knows best. Self becomes god, and self is a cruel and deceptive task master.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ is first and foremost a destruction of all that Satan has perpetuated as truth throughout the history of mankind. The greatest of these deceptions is the service of, and the deification of self.

The cross of Christ was the place where sin was dealt with in an ultimate fashion. Jesus became sin, procuring the forgiveness of sins, by fulfilling the justice of God - bearing upon Himself the chastisement that brought us peace. But more than this, His death was the death of sin. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25) “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

When a man comes to Jesus he doesn't just give mental ascent to a formula - he identifies himself with a Person. The gospel of Jesus is not a systematic theology, it is the reality of God in the flesh bearing away our sin and purchasing us with His own blood on the cross. Man sinned, therefore man must die. God therefore became a man, so that just as sin entered the race by Adam, it might leave the new race by the last Adam.

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-47)

Death can be said to be a cessation of communication with our environment. When a man dies physically, his body loses all communication with his physical environment - he no longer breathes, sees, feels, tastes... He is dead. In the same way, when a man is dead spiritually he has no communication with the realm of spirit - and God is a spirit. Man is cut off from God through Adam, and made alive again through Jesus. Not only does physical death lose it's power through the resurrection of Jesus, spiritual death too loses it's power. This is the glory of the true gospel of Jesus - dead humanity given the option to receive life again.

For the new man to live the old man must die. This is the message - we identify ourselves with Jesus and all that He did to procure our redemption by faith. We, by faith alone, look to Jesus and His truth - that the cross upon which He died slays the old man of sin and death. We, by faith alone, look to Jesus now because not only did He die to settle our debts and kill in us the old self, He is risen and in Him, we rise to newness of life. We are quickened to spiritual life again and made alive to God.

He shed His blood to purchase us as His own possessions - and what a price. The very blood of God was used to ransom us from the enemy. “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) What precious price.

Hear the words of the apostle: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)

If this is true, tha what exactly did our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, shed his blood to purchase? To what purpose are we quickened to newness of life? When a dead man lives, does he resemble the death from which he was risen any longer?

We have died to law, and therefore died to sin. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2)

I believe wholeheartedly in the second, definite work of sanctification where a man is entirely set aside and filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus - but just as whole heartedly I decry that this second work of entire sanctification is what sets a man free from the ruling power of sin. This is done when a man becomes a new creature. The new birth makes a man new, sanctification sets that new man aside for holy use - forms the fulness of the risen Lord within him by the Holy Spirit (this is another teaching altogether).

The sovereign grace of God recreates a man and this is what sets him free from sin, washes him, destroys the old man, and gains for him forgiveness through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. That cross of Jesus - the glorious and bloody, violent death of Jesus, and us with Him.

Repentance is granted to the man that he might bear fruit meet for it - but this to, only as he abides in His savior. Jesus is the glorious and perfect redeemer, and woe unto the man that says His salvation is anything less than perfect and to the uttermost and innermost of all those that come to Him by faith.

Jesus is victorious over death, sin, Satan, and the self of those that repent and believe. Salvation is much more than forgiveness - it brings a man into the Savior He believes, identified with Him through faith. Salvation brings a man to life, life with God. Eternal life is life indeed, and its sole end is knowing the risen Jesus and living in unbroken fellowship and communion with Him.

Jesus is the living mediator - and waits for any and all who will come to Him and be placed in His death, and His resurrection, so that they may live unto God in newness of resurrection life.

A bit of encouragement, I enjoy reading these! May our Lord's Spirit keep leading you, and may His Divine love be brought forth as a mighty, flooding, massive stream within and through you! To His people and those lost that know Him not around your area brother.

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Billy Witt

“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (Romans 4:1-12; ESV)

To begin at Romans 6, as most second blessing teachers do (myself included) is to miss possibly the most profound gospel revelation ever given to man - righteousness by faith.

The argument is always that the Holy Spirit will not be given to someone who is unrighteous, and this is a true argument. However, the righteousness is then always said to be after a purging of sin, sins, self, or some act of the will (whether it be absolute surrender, total consecration, you choose the name - it's everywhere) but this only makes sense when you begin the gospel at identification in Romans 6. While the glorious truths of identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are foundational to rightly understanding redemption, they are not the starting point for God.

God starts at the declaration of the sinfulness of humanity, “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Romans 3:10-19; ESV)

If we start here, at the legal declaration of mans actual disobedience and active unrighteousness, the entirety of the holiness message gets sort of discombobulated. There is actual trespasses to deal with, not merely the inherited disposition through Adam. We inherit an unnatural knowledge of good and evil, the curses declared when the first Adam ate of the tree - and as a result man sins actively and raises the proverbial fist to heaven in hatred of God as He has revealed Himself.

This, is the starting block for the race we all run.

Here is where I will most likely be inventing terminology, because I am not reading anything except scripture at this point to develop my understanding of Romans - so bear with me.

Before a man can even approach God, there is a declaration to be made - a declarative righteousness as it were. The law requires blood to be shed. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission". The unrighteousness of man requires that God provide a way of approach, because man cannot purge Himself of sins, and if left to his own devices and a purging act of the will, he falls to the wayside in self righteousness.

The law is acts as our school master, a teacher of sinfulness and disobedience - and it's lesson is the total and full wickedness of every man born of Adam - not just by disposition, but by actual rebellion and sin.

Since this is true, righteousness cannot come by law. Despite the fact no man can claim actual innocence before God due to transgression of His law, man is also predisposed to self exaltation due to the sin of our federal head, Adam. The solution for this is built out in subsequent chapters of Romans.

Abraham was accounted righteous when he believed the promise of God - his faith was accounted to Him as righteousness. Circumcision was given as a sign of this faith, the manifestation that Abraham was in fact the father of the faithful. Abraham represented the righteousness of faith, and the joining of Jew and Gentile in that righteousness - a declaration made by God that the flesh is insignificant - and they that are truly righteous are they that walk by faith.

This foundational and clear truth is trampled underfoot by generations of people who claim that in order to come to God we must be righteous before we make the approach. "God commended His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners" " Christ died for the ungodly". It's this merciful declaration is the entryway for any and all who seek to come.

The flesh avails nothing, and circumcision, or in our fully signposted and revealed way, the seal of the Holy Spirit, comes when a man is declared righteous by the shed blood of Jesus.

This declaration can only be made when a man trusts in the Lamb slain from the very foundation of the world - the great and glorious provision of everyone from Adam to you and I in our day - and the only door through which any man who has ever lived can approach God and be given entry into the narrow path of walking by the Spirit that seals and proves the righteousness of God.

Jesus is the door of the sheep - and faith in His finished work is the way - and the more God reveals to me the depths of modern deception - the more I reakize that this life of faith in the Spirit is in fact the narrowest of the narrow ways, and men miss it for the conscience pacifying way of self righteousness on the right and the left hand.

The fleshly and self righteous rest in their circumcision, the works of the law and their own self effort, rather than Faith in the provision for a sinful man to be declared righteous - the shed blood of Jesus for the sealing of the covenant of grace.

When Abraham was declared righteous by faith, he was sealed with circumcision. When Jews today rest in their circumcision they fail to attain righteousness because it is by faith in Jesus a man is declared righteous.

When we are declared righteous, we are sealed with the Spirit of promise and entered into the path of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When the unregenerate focus on spiritual experiences and rest in those, they will find themselves having many experiences, but of a different spirit. The declaration by faith must precede the sealing - but in our case, their is no chronology here - the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts when we rest in faith in the shed blood of Jesus, the glorious and victorious, living lamb of God.