The United States of America
was once a light that shone in a dark place. The cross of
Calvary was held high
just as when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9;
John 3:14-15). Unfortunately, we decided
we no longer need God. In my opinion, we have become so arrogant; many of us
think we are gods of our own destiny. Since we made that brilliant shift in our
thinking, sin has overtaken us like an old hound dog overtaken with fleas. We
have gone the way of Cain (Jude 1:11).
Put simply, the way of Cain
is to depend on our works as opposed to the works of Jesus Christ. We (I use
this term loosely) think it takes a village to raise our children, meaning that
the state should raise our children while the parents hold a secondary role.
That being the case, God is removed from the schools and replaced by the state.
The state demands we teach the children (for example) that homosexuality is
just another way of life and we are born into it. If the parents object, that’s
too bad. Long story short, now that God is out, the blind are leading the blind
(Matthew 15:14).
I am convinced that the
liberal leaning politically correct antichrists actually believe they are
righteous and pleasing to God. They believe that all of us who take the Bible
literally are hateful and ignorant. They believe the Word of God (the Bible) is
a living document to be interpreted only by the ultra-left wing liberals that
have never met a sin they couldn’t embrace and arrogance they cannot hide.
Even in our churches, most
are working at becoming holy super-saints via religious genuflecting meant to
send a thrill up God’s leg (so to speak). Even though God clearly says He never
changes (Hebrews 13:8), God has now reclassified all our “sins” to simply “another
way of life He instilled within man” and is totally content to just love us
into His kingdom. Forget any judgment for our disobedience. Father doesn’t
always know best, unless he’s the Pope of course.
I hope you realize I am being
very facetious with these remarks. God does not change. We all sin. God will
judge all of us. We are not saved by God’s love. We are saved by His supreme
sacrifice, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Our works will take us straight
to hell if we depend on them to be saved. Salvation is in Jesus alone. If we do
not rest our faith in Him alone, there is nothing for us but judgment via
eternal fire.
Yet, man has always, and to
this day, insists on going contrary to what a holy God demands.
Cain’s sacrifice to God was from
the fruit of the ground. Abel’s sacrifice was the blood that God required. Most
of mankind is still presenting to God the fruit of the ground and ignoring the
blood of the cross.
Cain’s sacrifice of the fruit
of the ground came from his own toil and sweat. Abel’s came from the lifeless
body of the sacrifice signifying the one sacrifice yet to come, that of the Son
of God upon the cross of Calvary. Cain came to God with his own works in hand.
Abel came to God by faith.
I fail to understand how
anyone cannot see how insulting it is to God when the bloody body of His only
begotten Son is rejected for our measly little works?
Since Cain, mankind has been
trying to clean up the outside in order to clean the inside (the heart). Going
back to the churches I mentioned earlier, this practice is seen over and over
in most churches of today. Jesus says we have it backwards.
“Are you so dull?” he asked.
“Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile
them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out
of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of
a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these
evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:18-23)
If the churches in this
country would actually practice Mark 7:18-23 above, I don’t believe we would
see the corruption that we have today in every venue of our society.
Jesus said to those of His
day,
“Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25)
From the pulpit to the pew, aren’t
we doing exactly as the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day? Most go to church
on Sunday morning with their own homemade spiritual remedies, and they return
home no different than when they left. There is no repentance. Blatant sins
still abound in the lives of the average church goer. God and His Word are not
considered again until it is time to return to the local church service the
next Sunday. In the meantime, throughout the week, the soul is filled with
everything the world has to offer. The cup is clean on the outside, but the
inside remains filthy. Why is that? It is because most are not submitting to
God’s righteousness, but seeking to establish their own.
“Since they did not know the
righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to
God’s righteousness.” (Romans 10:3)
We keep trying to become
‘good little Christians’ by outward works, instead of accepting the
righteousness of God.
“God made him who had no sin
to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2
Corinthians 5:21)
The apostle Paul says it so
well.
“What is more, I consider
everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I
may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that
comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness
that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9)
We live in a day when many
who are in the local churches are not even Christians, including the “leaders.”
So Satan’s bunch is having a tremendous impact upon society. Those who truly
know Jesus as Savior and Lord can grow as Christians, but it cannot be in the
manner the world dictates. We must come to our God with humbleness of heart, a
repentant attitude, and a commitment to follow the Lord Who never changes.
Most of the so-called church
leaders of our day fit nicely into our Lord’s description of false religious
leaders.
“Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look
beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and
everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew
23:27-29)
What sane person would go to
work in clean clothes but never bathe? Yet, we think we can stand before a holy
God and He not smell the putrid stench of sin within our hearts.
As Christians we must keep
the inside of the cup clean, and that comes by a daily follow-through of 1 John
1:9. Why? Is it to keep our salvation? No. It is to keep the fellowship open
between our Father in Heaven and us.
For those who want eternal
life in Jesus, it will never come by your trying to be a better person. It
won’t happen. It can only be found in putting our total faith in Jesus Christ
to save us and to keep us as He has promised.
To grow in Christ, each day
must be lived by allowing Him to clean the inside of our cup, and He does so by
our total obedience to Him. Then we will be clean indeed, inside and out.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
