Having recently read several encouraging blog posts from family and friends; and having also witnessed the waxing foolishness of those who have access to such posting and youtube video making technology; and the waning of my own tolerance for such posts without the answer, or better yet existence, of a blog which at the least will undermine certain said foolishness and such like (which perhaps has not been addressed by other faithful and holy bloggers who are easily as capable and qualified, if not more so); as I should not aspire to answer a fool according to his folly, and nonetheless will find the occasion where such a rebuttal will be evidently necessary; I have determined to begin an undertaking concerning which I will make no promises of continuing and/or timely posts.
I will try to keep it brief. To the point.
Yet I do get carried away on any whim to which an internal verbosity might acquiesce to the extent of an outward expression in the form of the aforementioned blog
Enough foolishness, and now to said point.
My existence is held in Christ Jesus my Saviour. That I am redeemed is the purposed title of this blog. Let me not hide who I am that I might fool someone into agreeing with me to the "saving" of his soul. The Gospel of Christ is to confront and deal with sin, to the saving of the soul.
"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."
It is this verse which the living God used to bring me back to his side, after I had left Him and blamed Him for my own departure.
Replacement theologists would call the promise of God to His people in this verse a lie and yet the truth, only applicable to themselves. Yet they consider not that a God of such faithfulness to one people would logically show the same faithfulness to another; in this case, lack of faithfulness. And why do replacement theologists want the blessings, but never the judgment for sin? "Food for thought" as it were.... but back to the point.
I thought I had gone far enough away from God that He would not forgive me, that He would not love me or save me from the wretched state of sin in which I had found myself. ("Found myself" is perhaps not the proper way of describing a situation I knowingly chose to walk into, but moving on). I was thinking about the false doctrine of divorce and remarriage one night while yet in sin, but knowing the truth; believing in salvation of others from sin, just not for me; knowing the truth, but in bondage to a lie, when God used this very scripture (though I didn't know the reference until later) to redeem me.
See, I didn't know the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I didn't give His blood the credit it is due. I thought Jesus couldn't save me, though He had, and would, and yet allowed me to walk away from sight. I was blind, and had forgotten that I had been purged from my old sins.
Then I in my sinful state went and talked to a pastor who had been preaching the doctrine that men ought to continue in sin that grace may abound, and in fact pursue more sin than before, to the same extent. This is the doctrine that remarriage preaches.
If you didn't know, the Bible says that divorce is something God hates, and remarriage to someone who is not the covenant spouse while that true spouse is alive is called adultery (Malachi 2, Luke 16:8 for reference).
A true marriage is one to a person who has no other true living spouse. Marriage is till death, and nothing less, thank God for His grace and mercy and faithfulness.
In speaking to this pastor, I found myself at a loss for words. He was determined that having a singles group for divorcees to find and marry other divorcees was a good idea, and he spoke every scripture in his false doctrine's defense that I already knew he would use, and would take out of true Biblical context. For example, he brought up the point that Christ "makes all things new," even marriages, he said. Of course that statement is predicated upon the truth that old things are passed away, namely sins. Now if the first marriage is to be considered an old thing, then it is considered a sin. Yet God says what therefore He has put together, let not man put asunder (Mark 10). Did God therefore join together a man and woman into sinful covenant? God forbid. All of these scripture references by the grace of God had abandoned me during my debate with this pastor, yet for the will of God in my life.
I walked back to my apartment, which was 2 to 3 miles down the road, having been theologically taken to the woodshed, and if that wasn't bad enough, I knew that the arguments he spoke were wrong, yet had no articulation against them. And as I walked, I began to pray.
For the first time in a long time I began to pray knowing that God was listening to me. I asked him first if I was wrong, yet knew I was right. I knew I was right because of the true instruction I had received in the Word from my father; so I then asked God if my father was wrong, yet knew he was right. I knew he was right because of the true instruction he had received in the Word from God himself concerning the issue. So I asked God, "Were You wrong?"
And then something marvelous happened. He explained himself. Not that I deserved an explanation, but does not the Word say "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)?
God reasoned with me, and said that if He honors the covenant that a man makes with a woman that is not his true wife, then He must honor the covenant that I made with sin after I had known Him. He said He would not honor that covenant, that "thou art mine."
See, that which is decreed by God in the natural is a reflection of those things which are spiritual. The Man and Wife are an ensample of Christ and the Church.
What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. If God honors the adulterous covenant, then he honors the adultery of his people who have sinned after they have been espoused to him.
"And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand"(Isaiah 28:18a).
His mercy holds us to our heavenly contract (those of us who have put our faith in Christ).
"They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 3:1)
Those who might read this may not even be married yet. So let us settle this now. We will be faithful to our vows to God when we enter into Holy Matrimony with our wives or husbands, as man and wife. We must dust off this Book, and read the Words of it, and weep that we have not kept this Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus in this country, and we must raise again the standards of holy living that the recent generations have torn down.
We cannot blame our parents. We must believe that God can deliver and keep us from sin. I know it's true. If it's not, then He's not worth serving.
My friends, He is so worth serving.
God help me to be faithful to Him as He has been to me. (I Press).
More to come, if the Lord wills.
Love and peace in Christ Jesus my Lord (a wonderful Saviour is He)
Monday, March 3, 2008
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2 comments:
amen and amen brother! Welcome!
You have a blog!
You linked mine!
wheee!
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