TruthInvestigate

“Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange,—the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory.”

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Location: Kingsland, Georgia, United States

A person God turned around many times.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Does Jesus commit Himself to me?


“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:23-25).

I’ve been bad. Am I rejected? Does Jesus treat me as a publican and a sinner? Am I not still His dear child? Am I cut off from the joy of His presence? Or, is Jesus like the Pharisees of the gospels?

They mistreated their own flock. “This people who knoweth not the law are cursed.” (John 7:49).

“[The Pharisaical tribunal] answered and said unto [the man who was blind from birth], Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.” (John 9:34).

No, Jesus’ homemaking methods were very different from the Pharisees. They were like His brothers.

“His brothers felt that His influence went far to counteract theirs. He possessed a tact which none of them had, or desired to have. When they spoke harshly to poor, degraded beings, Jesus sought out these very ones, and spoke to them words of encouragement.  
 All this displeased His brothers. Being older than Jesus, they felt that He should be under their dictation. They charged Him with thinking Himself superior to them, and reproved Him for setting Himself above their teachers and the priests and rulers of the people. Often they threatened and tried to intimidate Him; but He passed on, making the Scriptures His guide.  
     Jesus loved His brothers, and treated them with unfailing kindness; but they were jealous of Him, and manifested the most decided unbelief and contempt. They could not understand His conduct..... He possessed a dignity and individuality wholly distinct from earthly pride and assumption; He did not strive for worldly greatness, and in even the lowliest position He was content. This angered His brothers. They could not account for His constant serenity under trial and deprivation.” Desire of Ages, p. 87.
     
“Jesus heard that [the Pharisaical tribunal] had cast … out [the man who was blind from birth]; and when He had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” (John 9:35). Jesus never lost His propensity to mercy.

There needs to be rules. The family needs boundaries and structure. Leadership is required of every father and mother. Jesus’ family of disciples was the same way. But He set their boundaries by the instructions concerning the Law of the kingdom that He daily gave to His disciples.

“They joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” (Isa. 9:3,4).

For the person who has been born again the ties that bind him to his “Mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20) fit him up to keep himself within the boundaries of the redemption relationship, but his heavenly Parent gives him breathing room when he makes mistakes. He has given his heart to Jesus. He has bowed before the love he sees in his Lord. He has the spirit of heaven that will no longer let him serve Satan. A covenant has been made, signed by love and surrender. Jesus developed in his heart the need for a Saviour from sin, from guilt, and from shame. He responded to his Saviour’s great mercy and tender kindness. Now, as with Abram, Jesus will be his shield and exceeding great reward.

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” (Ps. 91:14,15).

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29).

But this exalted privilege exists only because the child of Jesus’ love accepted all the punishment and discipline that came from his life of sin. He could blame no one but himself for his ruined life and the damage he caused others. He did not throw any blame on God or anyone around him. He took all the blame, all the shame, all the guilt. In the dark, without knowing where or when it would all end, he clung to the hope of love from above, looking for evidences of God’ mercy, searching word for precious promises.

“If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.” (Heb. 12:7). “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6).

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of His correction: for whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Prov. 3:11,12).

In the dark he struggled, battling doubt, day after day, week after week, for months, for years, all the while his everlasting Father delighted in his faithfulness to patiently remain in the purifying and refining process.

“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matt. 3:11). “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:3).

All the patient endurance paid off. In the end all doubts were resolved and faith shined forth in his mind. The Father brought him forth to the Mother of all living to be justified, to be reborn in His own image, and to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

This exalted privilege resulted from the acceptance of accountability, which opened the door for “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7), “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us.” (Eph. 2:7).

Now the new child of infinite love is at home in the bosom of his Mother of all living and God his Father. Like a baby joey riding in a kangaroo mother’s pouch, the new child of God “[rides] upon the high places of the earth” (Isa. 58:14). His big fear of heaven’s rejection is gone. All earthly fear is gone. He “[sits] together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6), by faith “delivered … from the power of darkness, and … translated … into the kingdom of [God’s] dear Son” (Col. 1:13), he abides “with [Him] in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

“Joy shall be in heaven” (Luke 15:7), “joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (Luke 15:10).

These “sons of God” (John 1:12) know the will of God. They know the sovereign and immutable Law of God intimately because they have surrendered to every aspect of it. The law is written in their heart and mind, and obedience is natural. Everything that is grievous to others comes easily to these new creations of Jesus. Like innocent children, they grow without worrying about growing. They look peculiar without knowing it or thinking about it. They have a wonderful zest and a happy zeal for life. They obey without a fuss, because Jesus, their Mother of all living, is always in their sights, on their thoughts, and prayers. They have perfect freedom in His perfect acceptance. “All things are lawful” (1Cor. 10:23). Everything they do is lawful because they love the Law and, consciously or subconsciously, they obey the Law. If they come short and sin against their brother or beloved Master, He corrects them in tender mercy. They respond to His tenderness and return to the happy life of obedience to Him. And Jesus gives them space to decide how to live. His boundaries always remain for His children, but the boundaries stretch with the growth in grace of each of His children. For the child of Christ, there is continually more space to think, to decide, and to act than there was the day before. This gives His children ownership, responsibility, individuality, creativity, freedom of expression—liberty. “Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 2:4).

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; … by love serve one another.” (Gal. 5:13).

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1).

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2Cor. 3:17).

But this breathing space, in which to think and grow, could only be given His children because they had patiently suffered the traumatic developmental years under the Father’s “the chastisement of [their] peace.” (Isa. 53:5).

However, not everyone surrenders to the chastisement. Most seek to medicate their conscience by shifting the blame, and avoiding the shame and guilt and pain. They may tell lies to evade imputation of sin. They may scoff at a sin and laugh it off. They rationalize; they justify. They might accept the sedative substances offered them to forget their troubles, and thus never fall broken before the Saviour. The fallen human heart is a genius to invent any action to avoid the pricks of a convicted conscience. Multitudes of these folks are churched, and may profess to be children of God, but they have never fallen on the Stone and been broken. Whatever the method(s) chosen, “they do not come to the point of yielding the will to God.” Steps to Christ, p. 47. Yet, they believe they are saved and are convinced that they possess the liberty of the sons of God.

And many pastors, who also have never surrendered to the Father’s chastisement, confirm the damnation from their flocks’ self-deception. And the “people love to have it so.” (Jer. 5:31). The people follow their leaders right into the bottomless pit. Old temptations continually harass them all. Vice and addictions haunt them. The withdrawal from these should have happened quickly with the Spirit’s power. But because they never received of God “the Spirit of His Son into [their] hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6), they receive no new heart and mind and conscience, and none of His grace to overcome sin.

“Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians.” Steps to Christ, p. 47.

Jesus cannot give anyone peace who has never committed himself to His Spirit. Through His Spirit Jesus always works with everyone to fall and surrender to Him. He is “set for the fall and rising again of many.” (Luke 2:34). He graciously extends His appeal to everyone.

“The righteousness of God without the law is manifested… which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all … for there is no difference.” (Rom. 3:21,22).

But, His redemption, His peace and liberty, His power in their behalf, His grace to save, is only “upon all them that believe” (Rom 3:22). The Lord Jesus sits perched and in turmoil, ready to bless the whole world. Yet He cannot reward anyone if they will not surrender their will to His Father’s immutable moral law. But when they do surrender, they immediately receive all of heaven in one gift—reconciliation with God and constant companionship with His Representative, the Spirit of His Prince. That gift is Himself. A new creature, a child of joy and life, is what the distrusting, careless, alienated and miserable souls are missing who stubbornly resist God’s strong convictions from the claims of His will, His holy, just, and good Law. If only they will choose to wrestle with the commandment, then every blessing would be theirs.

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” (1Tim. 1:5-7).

Multitudes, multitudes of unsurrendered souls don’t trust in Jesus and love everything about Him. They therefore continually offend God and His wrath abides on them.

“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:35,36).

The exalted privilege of redemption is never theirs. These are the ones that Jesus cannot commit Himself to. They were never His. He never knew them.   

They cannot enter through the gates into the city of God because if they did another great rebellion would take place in heaven. They formed a character that never submitted to the Law of God. They are enemies with God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7). They never humbled themselves and sorrowed for their sins. They never received the new heart and new spirit that could allow God to trust them throughout eternity. It’s only reasonable that the great prerequisite for entrance to heaven must be the experience of their surrender to His wrath while hoping in His mercy. The Father cannot and will not go through another great controversy, with all of its death and suffering to His Son and to all of His children and angelic hosts.

Let us go to the Law. Let us accept the punishment for our iniquities. Let us feel the pain of conviction. Let us know the grinding of the Stone until we break. Let us give in to God and be enabled to receive His Son, and life eternal. Otherwise we will be among the billions who are resurrected from the second death and will willingly bow and surrender to Jesus’ tender mercy, only when it’s too late. Every delusion that blinded our minds from sin completely removed, we will stand before the true beauty of holiness and self-sacrificing love as it is in Jesus, and, with the great deceiver and all who he deceived, we will then fall on our face.

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10,11).

But that surrender and service to Christ and the Father won’t be tested and washed from sin. It will not be counted for righteousness. Therefore, we will perish in our eternal destruction.

God forbid! May it never happen to us!

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