KNOWING THE LORD
By brother Elliott Nesch
Previous Section | Next Section | Spiritual Writings | Life In ChristFAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS PLEASES GOD
Righteousness or good works pleases God (Hebrews 13: 21). Hebrews 13: 16 says, "But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." While there is no fear of God in the wicked man and he flatters himself in his own eyes (Psalm 36: 1 - 2), the righteous man delights in the Lord and his justice will shine like noonday for the Lord loves justice (Psalm 37: 28). The Lord says in Jeremiah 9: 24, "But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight."
Faith is most important to God. Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11: 6). For by God's grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2: 8). There is a substance to things hoped for and evidence to things not seen and that is faith (Hebrews 11: 1).
As servants of God, we are seen righteous by our faith in Him and God is well-pleased. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and told him his wife Elizabeth would have a child because their prayers were heard. This child was John the Baptist who would prepare the way of the Lord (Isaiah 40: 3 - 5). Zacharias questioned the Lord's promise so the angel Gabriel said, "Behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time" (Luke 1: 20). Despite lack of faith, God fulfilled his promise for His name's sake as He has all throughout the accounts of the Bible. When God told Abraham, being one hundred years old, and Sarah, being ninety years old, that they would have a child, Sarah laughed, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also" (Genesis 18: 12). When Jesus came to the ruler's daughter who had just died, He said to the crowd, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping." And they laughed Him to scorn (Matthew 9: 24). Jesus could've walked away at their laughing and scorn but He took the dead girl by her hand and the girl arose. Don't be as those who laugh but, rather, cry out to God, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9: 24). Whatsoever you ask of the Father in Jesus' name, He will give it to you (John 16: 23). Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11: 24).
By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him," for before he was taken he had this testimony that pleased God. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the things to come. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instruction concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rehab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace (Hebrews 11).
Again, all these servants were seen righteous in God's eyes by their faith, not by works just as we are saved under the New Covenant by faith in Christ's work. Our deeds manifest our faith. Faith without works is dead (James 2: 17).
God did not delight in sacrifices of the Old Covenant if His people were offering them in vain. This becomes a constant theme throughout the Bible. Amos 5: 21 - 24, the Lord says this, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." The Lord says through Isaiah, "Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them" (Isaiah 1: 14).
God desires change in the inner man and not just a vain demonstration or religion. Jesus said to the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also" (Matthew 23: 25 - 26). "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world," James 1: 27. This is the religion that pleases God and this is the fast He has chosen, "To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58: 6 - 7)" O, vain and religious people, faith without works is dead. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered His son Isaac upon the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? (James 2: 20 - 22). Abraham is the only one in the Bible who is referred to as a friend of God. Why? Because he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (James 2: 23).
These are some characteristics of a righteous person as accounted in Psalm 15: He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
GOD IS TRUTH, IN HIM IS NO LIE
God leads us in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake (Proverbs 23: 3). God keeps His reputation of truth through the testimony of His people As a person who has been given a second birth, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit, I am constantly praying for God to be glorified and that I may represent Him in truth and righteousness because I love Him. Proverbs 13: 5 says, "A righteous man hates lying, but the wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame."
Most of us humans, even most fools, can discern that lying is morally wrong. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6: 18). He's incapable of it; it's against His nature. If we were to find just one lie, one false statement in the entire Holy Bible we could throw out the whole book. "That's a strong statement," you might say, "considering the Bible consists of 66 books and 40 writers." I agree, but what's impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18: 27). The fact is the Bible is God's Word and the Holy Spirit is seen throughout. God cannot lie and He has promised eternal life before time began (Titus 1: 2).
All Scripture is God-breathed Of course God can preserve His Word over thousands of years and numerous writers. God is supernatural and His Word is supernatural. Once you know there is a God, believing in the supernatural and miracles is no problem. Some people have a hard time believing that the Bible is God's word and I'd tell you to study history next to God's word. Study the blessings and curses of God upon every nation throughout history and see that it all lines up and prophecy is fulfilled. Seek the Lord and when you find Him, you will know that miracles and the writing of His Holy Word through His prophets are no problem for Him because He created the universe, He made the stars and the sun shine, He is the Designer of the atom and the billions of other galaxies there are in outer space. It's the least He can do. Study His word and you will see that it is truth and that God is truth.
Even after the Israelites apostasies and turning from God, God did not break His covenant with them. Leviticus 26: 43, 44, the Lord says, "The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God." The nation of Israel turned from God and worshiped pagan gods after all God had said and did, but God kept His covenant with them; He didn't ever break His word unlike political leaders after they're voted into office.
We humans break promises. When somebody disrespects us, lies to us or cheats us, we usually want nothing to do with that person again because we can't trust their character. But not God. He continues to call the Israelites His chosen people even after their apostasy. Even after they moved Him to anger and provoked Him to jealousy with their carved images and they were abhorred of the Lord, according to Psalm 78: 59, He still called them His people. He could have said, "Fine. You don't want to obey Me. I'll find another people." But He didn't; He keeps His Word. Psalm 106: 35 - 45: "They mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; they served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works and played the harlot by their own deeds. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance. And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. Many times He delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies."
Even in our wickedness and rebellion, God keeps His promises out of His loving kindness and mercy. In His mercy, He relented in punishing the Israelites. In His mercy, God warns of His coming judgment and offers us opportunity to repent as He did through Jeremiah speaking to Israel. Jeremiah said, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. However I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, 'Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!' But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods" (Jeremiah 44: 1 - 5). Likewise, God in His mercy, allowed 9/11 to happen in warning of His ultimate judgment which will come to the United States if we don't repent.
GOD OF PROPHECY
There is nothing that compares to God and His uniqueness. Likewise, there is no book that compares to the Bible, God's Word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40: 8). The Bible contains fulfilled prophecy; it names names, kingdoms, and places. This phenomenon could only be explained by God who is not bound by time. Isaiah 46: 9 - 10, "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times things that are not yet done." Isaiah wrote of Cyrus in Isaiah 44: 28, "who will say of Jerusalem, 'Let it be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Let its foundations be laid.'" Then, nearly two-hundred years later Cyrus King of Persia commanded the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem (Ezra 1). Isaiah made the prophecy before Cyrus was even born.
The kingdoms to arise after Babylon were prophesied through Daniel which were Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Daniel 2). The only way non-Biblical scholars explain this is by saying it had to be written afterwards but evidence shows it was not.
Most extraordinary are the hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He would be called out of Egypt (Hosea 11: 1, Matthew 2: 13 - 15), preceded by a forerunner (Malachi 3: 1, Luke 1: 17), rejected by Jewish rulers (Psalm 118: 22, Matthew 21: 42), betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41: 9, John 13: 18 - 21) for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11: 12, Matthew 26: 15), nailed to a tree (Psalm 22: 16, John 19: 18), be a descendant of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49: 8 - 10, Matthew 1: 1 -3), be born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5: 2 - 5, Matthew 2: 1 - 6), be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1: 18 - 23). These are just a few of hundreds of the prophecies concerning the Christ.
QUESTIONS
Before closing, I'd like to answer some common questions I get from non-believers. Is an all-loving God capable of hatred? Yes, again this has to do with good and evil. You can't join the two. God is good, therefore He hates evil. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. Hopefully, you're beginning to see a theme emerge here. There is a morally right and morally wrong; God equals right. There is righteousness and wickedness; God equals righteousness. There is truth and deceit; God equals truth. There is justice and injustice; God equals justice. There is love and hate; God equals love. There is life and death; God equals life. There is good and evil; God equals good and good always overcomes evil. Are we seeing a pattern? If so, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Now, repent and pursue the things of God!
How could an all-loving God send anybody to hell? First of all, if anybody is going to hell it is because they are rejecting God, God is not rejecting them. God has done all he can for us. First He created you, He gave you the free will to accept Him on His terms or to be your own god or create your own god that loves sin and unrighteousness. He came to earth in human form and died for you while you were undeserving and guilty. He stretches out His hand offering you the gift of salvation everyday of your life. By His grace He gives freely the redemption and justification of your soul. God has done all He can for you except make the choice for you to accept or to deny Him. Unfortunately, nobody can make this choice for you except you. If I could make it for you, obviously I would have you accept Him because I care about your soul. This is the choice I have made and I know it is right because His Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God (Romans 8: 16). The only truth and freedom I know is in God and it is undeniable. I am in Him and He is in Me Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14: 2, 3). So, Jesus has prepared a place for his flock, for those of the truth that hear His voice. If you reject God and God's gift and plan of salvation, you are also rejecting the place prepared by God and with God. You're saying, "I want nothing to do with this Holy God." Well, if this is you, God has this other place where you can go. Besides, heaven would cease to be heaven if the saints still heard the blasphemy of them that reject God by their faith or deeds.
Some argue the position that the Holy Spirit is in all of us but this is a doctrine of demons. You must be born of the Spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit will not dwell in a wicked person who is not of the truth. If we all had the Holy Spirit, how does Jesus make this statement to the Pharisees who questioned Jesus' authority, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8: 44). I do wish we all carried the Divine Spirit with us, but reality is quite the opposite. The reality is that we are born into this world as children of wrath fulfilling the desires of the flesh by our nature (Ephesians 2: 3) and God will not join His Spirit with this sort. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils (1 Corinthians 10: 21). One cannot stand with one foot in the world and one in the kingdom for he will be ripped apart and destroyed for the two cannot be joined. Might you remember that he or she who partakes in the Lord's Supper unworthily, who eats of the bread and drinks of the cup without first examining themself eats and drinks judgment upon themselves; for this reason many are weak and sick among you (1 Corinthians 11). Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall then I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6: 17). To whatever you join your body you join to Christ. If your body is joined to immorality, you are not in Christ and Christ is not in you because His Spirit departs from such wickedness. Narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few find it (Matthew 7: 14). If all were blessed with the Holy Ghost irrespective of their righteousness, where then is free will?
God has made all of us in His image and likeness. Just as God has free will, you too have free will and the choice is yours, the most important decision of your entire life. God is free but there is not sin or evil in Him but rather God is perfect; God is good. Therefore, let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when they are drawn away by their own desires and enticed (James 1: 13 - 14).
As a parent disciplines a child in love, God, in His love, chastises His children. Proverbs 13: 24 says, "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly." If you do not receive chastisement from God, you are a bastard child, not a child of God (Hebrews 12: 8). God, in His love, has promised to judge the world in righteousness. He would not be just if He did not judge the world. He would cease to be everything good such as truth, love and justice. He would cease to be God. If you're mother was beaten, raped and strangled to death, you would want the criminal to pay the penalty for the crime. If the judge let that criminal free without punishment, you would not be satisfied because that would be unjust. If God lets the sinners go free, He would not be just. Because just as the murderer who has broken the law, all sinners have transgressed God's holy law; we are guilty. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10). Just in that, we are guilty of death because we have all offended God's holy law. We have broken the law: we deserve the death penalty. Our death will be evidence of our sins against God. The Bible says, "the soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18: 4) We've all sinned, the whole world has been condemned, we shall die. 10 out of 10 people die. You're going to die! It is appointed for men once to die, then comes the judgment (Hebrews 9: 27).
Does God love you? Are you capable of loving the violent criminal who rapes and murders your mother? In spite of his crime, can you still invite him into your home for a meal to share the dinner table with your children? In spite of your transgression and guilt God still loves you, that's why you are still here. Think of the worst moment in your entire life. If you are anything like me, that moment was when you lost everything important to you and the people you loved the most betrayed you in the most vile manner. My voice was breaking from my crying screams, my eyes hurt with blindness from tears, my knuckles swollen, cracked and bloody from punching my surroundings, wishing each breath was my last. What about you? . . . Even in that moment when we curse the very God who gave us life, God's grace and mercy was upon us. We were still in God's presence dwelling in the glory of His creation. If you choose to reject God, you will be sending yourself to a place without God and that worst moment of your life will be nothing near to the sorrows and torment that are ahead of you. And you will be fully deserving of what awaits you because you have rejected the one and only Truth.
It would be like sitting in jail and a friend comes to bail you out with a $5,000 bond and you reject it. Not only would that be foolish but that would be offensive to your friend who put up the money. If you reject God and want nothing to do with the Author and Creator of your very life, He will be offended. That analogy nor any other analogy could do justice to the truth of the future you have been condemned to by your guilt if you do not repent. All we know is this world and for me to pick an analogy according to this world to capture the spiritual is impossible. I have only had a taste of the goodness and love of God which surpasses all knowledge (Ephesians 3: 19) and I dare not even imagine the wrath of God or any place without His presence. If you only knew of the eternal burning anguish to be suffered for your guilt, you would not only accept your friend's gift but you would be kissing their feet in thanks. And now I ask you a question. Will you repent, or will you mock what is holy and sacred?
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