FORSAKE HIM AND HE WILL FORSAKE YOU
What a shame it is that the multitude of institutions posing as churches aren't teaching the people the truth of God and nothing but the truth. Instead the pulpits are filled with worldly teaching that will leave everyone, whether sinner or not, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Oh how I long for an assembly where the only agenda in place is what God wants and the focus is Christ Jesus. Unfortunately, this won' be found in the institutions, aka the "corporate church". In a corporation, the main focus is on the success of the corporation. The biggest considerations are on how to grow bigger and increase revenue. The truth of God is simply relegated to whatever fits the agenda that has been put into place. If God's truth does not fit the agenda, then it is simply avoided and skipped over. And thus, these institutions/corporations forsake Christ.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
According to the teachings of too many churches, once we initially repent and come to Christ, our salvation is a done deal. Signed, sealed and delivered according to most. And there is nothing one can do to lose it. Now what is true is that nobody can take our salvation away from us just as nobody can have faith for us. Yet just as we can repent and put our faith in Christ, we also can cease to have faith and return to our old sinful ways. Yes, we can forfeit our right standing with God, contrary to the popular belief. The very Jesus Christ that is our Savior can be the same Christ who judges us to hell if we fall away and don't finish the race. If we forsake Him, He will forsake us. Make no mistake about it, if we turn our back on God and do not repent before His mercy runs out, He will most certainly turn His back to us.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16-19)
Let's take a bit of a history lesson. There was a whole generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt in the exodus and were they not supposed to enter the promise land that God had prepared for them? Guess what? Only two persons from that particular generation entered that land, being Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 32:10-12). Not even Moses was able to enter, he was only able to see the land from a distance. Moses pleaded with God reconsider to the point where God told him to not talk about it anymore. The ones who did not enter were not able to because of their disobedience. Only Joshua and Caleb's faith were found to be satisfactory in God's sight for their entire generation. They endured the time of testing in the desert, the time of driving out the nations and even God's judgments on those who were disobedient. Their faith endured and God rewarded their faith by allowing them to experience the promise land. Now I use this example because we don't want to forget that God used Israel as an example throughout the Old Testament to reveal many spiritual truths that have been in place from the very beginning and still go through to today. What's the spiritual principle learned from the example of Joshua and Caleb? That if our faith does not endure to the end, we will not experience the promise and reward that God has in store for His faithful ones.
And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. (Luke 6:13-16)
Judas Iscariot is a figure of controversy in the Bible for there are those who believe that he was a genuine follower of Christ but fell away and there are those who say Judas never had genuine faith to begin with. Let us understand something. When the disciples followed Jesus during His time on earth, they did not know all the things that even we know today. They did not have all knowledge. There was a lot that they didn't know or understand until Pentecost came and the Holy Ghost revealed it to them. It was also God's will to do this. Now what counted and what we must look at is who was following Jesus. Isn't it interesting that in John 6, when many of Jesus' disciples left Him, lo and behold, one of those 12 that stayed was Judas himself. His falling away was not from the beginning, his falling away occurred somewhere in between. As time passed on, Jesus revealed more and more to His disciples. One of the things He revealed was His upcoming death. When Jesus started talking of being crucified, that could not have set well with Judas. It sure didn't sit well with Simon Peter and he confronted Jesus. Judas was a close friend of Jesus (Psalm 41:9). His hope was that Jesus came to liberate the Jews from the Romans. Yet Jesus did not come to do Judas' will, He came to do the Father's will. Judas was not willing to accept this and because he allowed his faith to be shaken, he gave occasion to Satan, who used Judas as his instrument. Keep in mind this was the same Judas who once healed the sick, cast out demons and preached the kingdom of God. And he became a child of Satan because he forsook Christ out of disappointment. Now Jesus Christ, the same who will judge all mankind said regarding Judas that it would have been better if Judas had never been born. The Lord would never say this regarding one who was to experience eternal life. Instead this speaks of one that is eternally damned, as Judas unfortunately indeed was. Jesus Christ turned from his close friend to the one that will sentence him to the lake of fire. That is scary. I believe the account Judas' betrayal is given such the attention as it is in the Bible more than just because it fulfilled prophecy and its historical significance. The account serves as a serious warning to all believers to remain in Christ.
For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)
Wouldn't it be nice if we could go through life, sin all we want and only suffer consequences in this life but still have eternal life with the Lord? Oh fairy tales, fairy tales. The fact of the matter is that eternity with Jesus Christ is only reserved for those who love Him and are faithful to Him. What does it mean to love Jesus? It means to obey Him. What does it mean to be faithful to Jesus? It means to follow Him no matter what. Eternal life is not just freely given without conditions that must be met. If that were the case, everyone would simply be saved automatically as a result of Christ's sacrifice. Yet we who know the truth know this isn't the case. The conditions in order to inherit eternal life is that we must believe His message, repenting accordingly as a result and follow Him to the very end. And all of these things are part of what is known as faith. It is out of faith that we do these things. I've pointed out the example of the Israelites and of Judas in regards to what happens when we cease to have faith in the Lord and forsake Him. And what happens as a result? Idolatry, betrayal and all types of wickedness because no longer does God protect us from being Satan's puppets anymore. This is a sad state to be in saints. If you've read my testimony, you know that I was there myself until I really came to know and understand that our faith in Christ must ALWAYS be present. It is not to ever cease. Jesus will not have faith for us, it is our responsibility to have it. And if we stay surrendered and submitted unto Him, He will not only do His will through us but He will also keep us. For Christ knows that on our own we don't stand a chance. He is much aware of this. We are sheep saints, needed to be constantly led and guided by our Shepherd.
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)
There are many that believe that after they have been converted, if they were to fall away, it is a done deal and they can never repent and return to Christ. God is patient and endures so much from us. He has endured a great deal from me, that's for sure. And here I am saints, still alive and presently declaring His truth. The Lord could have stopped striving with me, He could have allowed me to die in my sins and sent me to hell and there would be nothing I could say to justify myself and give any good reason why I shouldn't be hell bound. That is why I truly believe that God does anything and everything He can, just stopping short of actually having faith for us in order that we may be saved. Those who die and go to hell go because they have willingly rejected the Lord. People say it isn't fair. Oh it's more than fair. Do we love Christ or not? Let's get this straight saints while there still is time, while God will still strive with us (Genesis 6:3). Because once He pulls the plug and He Himself hardens our heart because of our rebellion like He did to Pharaoh, WOE UNTO US! Let me break it down for us. We do not want to go there! If you hear the voice of the Lord and are convicted, act upon it. Seek the Lord while He may be found even if you have rejected Him. For the time will come when He will no longer be found. I don't care if you did once walk faithfully with the Lord and then you turned your back on Him. In His mercy, He has allowed you to still live another day, keeping you alive to allow you time to repent. Oh how great His mercy is. Perhaps I should point out a few examples that show that even up till one's death, there is time. The only problem is that we don't know the number of our days so if I were you, I'd settle things with the Lord ASAP and get on that narrow way that leads to life. Now, onto the examples.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9)
Just like when I mentioned the Israelites forsaking God earlier, who was the one who sent prophets in order to call His people to return to Him? It was God. The Israelites did not seek to repent on their own. It was always God who initiated reconciliation by first pointing out their sins and then giving them the chance to repent. And He did this so many times with Israel unto judgment was carried out. What about from the days of Adam, when after Adam and Eve sinned? Did Adam and Eve seek to be reconciled with God or were they hiding as far away from God as they could? God walked in that garden and provided reconciliation. While Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, God provided their clothing that they would wear from that day forward. Who is reaching out to whom? How many times have we shattered the heart of God and yet He still reaches his arms out to us to give us the chance to be restored because He would rather restore us than destroy us? If that isn't love, I don't know what is.
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. (Judges 16:15-20)
There is the example of Samson. If you want to talk about someone who really fell away, here is your man. Many times he is more remembered and spoken of for his failures than his ultimate triumph. Samson did fall and he fell big time. Boy, did he pay a great price as well by having his eyes put out and being taken into captivity by the Philistines. Yet that price was not greater than the one that occurred when God departed from Him. This left the once strong Samson in a state of spiritual death. God was no longer with him as He had been. If Samson would had died at that point, there is no doubt that he would have died in his sins. There was no "eternal security" for him. Now somewhere between that time and his death, Samson had a lot of time to think and it probably seemed like an eternity. He had time to think about where his sin had put him, not only predicament wise but also in relation to God. He was alone for God was no longer with Him. His strength was gone. His vision was of no use. And the words that he probably heard all the time were those of mockery and scorn. Can we even imagine what that had to be like? Many of us have in a spiritual sense when we have forsaken the Lord. We found ourselves separated from the Holy Ghost, with no strength that He provided in the first place and we became spiritually blind. And when that happened, boy did Satan and his devils have a party at our expense. Now Samson experienced this not only in an earthly sense but also spiritually. That was a tormented man during that time in his life. But God had mercy on him. He kept Samson alive and even allowed some of his hair to grow back. By the way, this was of huge significance because with Samson being a Nazarite, his hair was never to be cut. This was the secret that Samson had revealed to Delilah. The Lord opened His arms to Samson for reconciliation and praise God, Samson accepted and repented. In those final moments of his life, Samson followed God with more zeal and more wholeheartedly than he had ever done in his life. What was the result? God strengthened Samson one more time and more Philistines were killed in those final moments than the total in all the years of Samson's life. Behold the love and mercy of God, who allowed Samson to return to Him.
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. (2 Samuel 12:1-9)
Now isn't it interesting that as infamous as Samson is made out to be, the reputation of David is one of the best from all the persons of the Bible. And why not? When he followed God, he followed God with all of his heart and we can see this by the great things God was pleased to do through him. I say "When he followed God" because there were times when he did not. There was a time in which David fell away and was responsible for adultery, murder and deception. David and Bathsheba. Now we must remember that before the David/Bathsheba affair took place, here are three events in David's life that are of huge significance: 1)David, a shepherd boy, slays Goliath the giant who invoked fear in everybody else, including Saul who was king at the time; 2)David becomes King of Israel; 3)David leads Israel to victory over the Philistines and brings the ark back to Jerusalem. These are pretty substantial events and one would think, how in the world could David do what he did after all that God has done for him? I'll tell you how. Like so many of us, he became lax in his faith and began to lose that zeal he once had for the Lord. In fact, he should have been fighting alongside Bathsheba's husband Uriah at war instead of hanging out on the rooftop. The Bible says that it was the time when "kings" go to war (2 Samuel 11:1). David was the king at the time. Compare the character of David during this time and Uriah the Hittite. Don't you think it interesting that a foreigner had more zeal for Israel than its king? I find it pretty telling as an indication of where David's priorities were at. So then if David became just as disobedient and as wicked as Saul was before him, what's the difference between the two? And then was the Lord wrong in making David king then? I find the difference between them not only in the level of obedience but in how they responded to the rebuke of God. When Saul was rebuked by Samuel, he did not seek to genuinely repent and was worried more about his relationship with Samuel and his reputation than where he stood with God. Not David. When Nathan rebuked him and revealed to him the extent of his sin, David repented. He gave no excuse or explanation for what he had done and he understood the extent in which he had wronged the Lord. In fact, David believed that he was deserving of death, which is why Nathan told him that he wouldn't die. There was a consequence though. The child that was a result of David and Bathsheba's affair was stricken by the Lord and died. And of course there was even more consequences to follow within David's family. But how merciful God is in that he allowed David to still live throughout that whole time instead of having David die in his sins. Also even though the child died does not mean that child went to hell. The child was too young to even be accountable.
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:39-43)
Yet another example I will point out is the thief on the cross. Now there are three accounts given. There would seem to be a discrepancy but a closer look reveals there isn't any. Jesus was crucified between two robbers who were also being crucified. In Matthew and Mark, we would be led to believe that both robbers were mocking Him. And to be honest, it could be true. But in Luke we see one robber mocking and the other rebuking him. So either the robber who repented changed his tune on the spot or he was simply quiet until he decided to speak the words that he spoke. Now whether the repentant robber once followed God is not known but I use this example to show that even in the last hours of life, one can repent and have reconciliation with the Lord. But it must be genuine repentance, not the fake "I'm scared of hell," in-the-moment repentance. For God will read your heart and know if you are truly repenting or not. Also, I just want to to remind you that the thief was only able to repent because God allowed it. The window had not yet been closed on the thief. This doesn't mean that it will be the same for everybody so I wouldn't test God in that way. That robber that was on that cross next to Jesus was indeed genuine. And think of the few words that he spoke. Within those words, he gave testimony of Jesus with boldness and with conviction. And he certainly didn't try to justify himself did he? He fully admitted that he deserved to die for his sins and also recognized that Jesus did nothing to even deserve death. The repentant robber was genuinely sorry for what he had done and how he had wronged God. Godly sorrow produces repentance. And guess what? Jesus Christ was more than happy to welcome the repentant robber into the kingdom.
The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. (2 Chronicles 15:2)
A last example that you may check out for yourself is the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-32. That parable had a huge impact on me when I thought that I had sinned so bad that God wouldn't forgive me. That was back in 2001 and I haven't forgotten that. Praise God for His word. Forsake Him and He will forsake us. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to us (James 4:8). Saints, let us take seriously the words of God. That is our standard and resource for truth because people are saying all sorts of different things these days and much of it is false. If you are not following Christ, His mercy still abides upon you if you are reading this. Repent and He will restore you. For those of you that are following the Lord, take heed to the warning and be careful that you do not fall away. Be faithful and endure to the very end. God will not be fooled or mocked. At the table of our hearts, Jesus Christ is to be the only one there with us. He will not commune at the same table in which our old selves, our sins, wickedness, Satan and his demons sit. It is either Him or them. Those who will spend eternity with Him are those He loves and those who love Him.
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