Grace: Raising the Standard of Holiness

How often does one's DOCTRINE change based on one's propensity toward a particular sin?

In my nearly 50 years...with approximately 31 of those years being spent in some type of ministry...I have witnessed two variations on those who "fall" ( as it is oft noted) in ministry.

1. Those who fail God by entering into sin...and, as a result of their sin, they CHANGE THEIR MESSAGE and THEOLOGY to ACCOMODATE their sin.

2. Those who fail God by entering into sin...and...after their sorrow and repentance leads them back into the GRACE of God...they continue to proclaim that sin for what it is: 

SIN...and they REFUSE to preach ANY OTHER gospel!

It is common for the message of the PULPIT to be "We all sin. All of us have sinned in some way this past week or month or year."

But imagine: What if on a given Sunday the ENTIRE CHURCH...the BODY of BELIEVERS...had to CONFESS their SINS to everyone present?!

Could you imagine the PASTOR having to stand in the pulpit and tell his EVERY sin...no matter how SMALL or BIG those sins may be!!

We are OK with sin until we all have to NAME our sin!

And...then...we most likely would lose trust in everyone...everywhere.

You may wonder WHY I am speaking about this. Here is why:

Most in the Church are taking the stance that says since we ALL sin...and...we should go EASY on sin.

Sadly...that is NOT the Biblical mandate we see declared by God in His Word!

We often hear:

"Don't be so hard on yourself!"

But...be sure:

Sin IS a "big deal."

So...what is the BIBLICAL position presented by GOD?

We are to RAISE the STANDARD...NOT to LOWER the STANDARD!

The declaration which says "We ALL sin!" was NEVER to become some banner of PRIDE...as everyone feels JUSTIFIED because those around them are JUST AS GUILTY!

Today...such declarations are made with EQUALITY in mind...and the desire is to "level the playing field."

Now...that might be OK if our GOAL is "To be like OTHERS!"...and COMPARING ourselves to OTHERS will ALWAYS give us a sense of SECURITY...and a sense of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS!

But...the term CHRISTIAN denotes the desire to be CHRIST-LIKE...and...we are ALWAYS to MEASURE ourselves by the STANDARD which HE set...NOT the STANDARD of OTHERS around us.

Throughout the years...being raised in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN)...I have known of many ministers who have "fallen"...and I have known many who found RESTORATION through CONFESSION, REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, GODLY COUNSEL, and a WILLINGNESS to be ACCOUNTABLE.

In my view...that is HONORABLE.

Now...how can we KNOW that one who has "fallen" is truly REPENTANT??

It is usually quite simple:

BIBLICAL DOCTRINE which readily proclaims THEIR OWN SIN as WRONG...and the WILLINGNESS to RENOUNCE it with NO COMPROMISE!!

The Bible speaks of RESTORING "one who has fallen"...and that RESTORATION is noted in their RECOGNITION of THEIR sin AS sin! It is SCRIPTURAL...as we see DAVID repentant before God...and in SORROW he GRIEVES over his sin.

Time and time again...we see those who FAIL God CONFESS that they have SINNED...and that FIRST STEP opens the door to RESTORATION!

Praise God!

Now...here comes the TWIST and the PRESENT-DAY APPLICATION of all of this...apart from what has already been presented here:

I know FEW in the Church who would stand for an UNREPENTANT ADULTERER continuing as PASTOR of a CONGREGATION of BELIEVERS.

But...neither should we be COMFORTABLE allowing an UNREPENTANT ADULTERER to sit UNREPENTANT in the Church!!

There should be a willingness to CONFRONT the one in sin.

You see...it is EASY to adhere to REBUKE and CORRECTION when it fills the PULPIT...but the present day Church is willing to declare "Do not DARE confront sin in the congregation! Everyone sins...and we ALL are guilty!"

Sadly...it is called LOWERING the STANDARD!

It is the promotion of what I call "SINFUL EQUALITY!"

Thus...we now have gone in search of the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR...and the STANDARD of ALL STANDARDS is relegated to some simplistic label of God as the "Bestower of Grace" who looks down at humanity in a search for the WORST SINNERS.

But...by the UNSPOKEN STANDARDS of the Church...these "worst sinners" are simply ANY OF THOSE who sin...but they do it OUTSIDE the Church...and, therefore, "Their sin is not under Grace!"

So...now...COMFORTABLY the Church sits...with the ability to look around at the other members with this wonderful truth:

"I am JUST AS GOOD as the REST of these!"

I have always wondered why we never hear the sorrowful proclamation:

"I am JUST AS BAD as the REST of these!" as the altars fill with those who want SOMETHING MORE...SOMETHING BETTER...SOMETHING HOLY:

A TRANSFORMATION that can only come through the HOLY SPIRIT as we seek to be MORE LIKE JESUS...not just BETTER than CHURCH MEMBER X, Y, or Z!

But...what about the ONE SIN which REIGNS SUPREME in PULPITS across America...in varying denominations...yet...the sinners GUILTY of this sin are NEVER held accountable, NEVER called to REPENTANCE, NEVER rebuked or corrected...and...NEVER removed from leadership AT ALL...no matter how OPENLY they sin?

What IS that SIN, you ask?

The SIN of teaching FALSE DOCTRINE...the SIN of preaching LIES as TRUTH...the SIN of OPPOSING TRUTH...the SIN of teaching "doctrines of demons"...the SIN of being a "hireling"...the SIN of being a FALSE TEACHER!

Oh...how READY the masses are to REMOVE a man from the PULPIT if he commits a SEXUAL SIN (as SHOULD happen)...yet they want the pulpit SILENT if a MEMBER commits that SAME SIN!!

BUT WORSE...how READY the LEADERSHIP is to REMOVE a man who commits a SEXUAL SIN (as SHOULD happen)...yet that leadership will NOT remove a man for preaching FALSE DOCTRINE!!

Here is the reality of our time...and a sobering truth:

The PULPIT has been EQUALLY DEFILED by SEXUAL sin AND SPIRITUAL sin!

And...any attempt to JUSTIFY the refusal to set STANDARDS of TRUTH within DENOMINATIONAL organizations is nothing more than COMPROMISE!

It is NOT "diversity in ministries"...it is FALSE TEACHING and LYING SPIRITS...and it is IRRESPONSIBLE to IGNORE the DOCTRINES of ERROR which are being taught under the banner of "truth!"

Face it...within a denomination...allowing ONE CHURCH to preach the PROSPERITY GOSPEL and ANOTHER CHURCH to preach that the PROSPERITY GOSPEL is a FALSE gospel is nothing more than "a house divided against itself!"

And...sadly...most denominational leaders would choose to decide WHICH teaching to SUPPORT simply by determining WHICH MESSAGE is MORE PROFITABLE...and WHICH MESSAGE draws the BIGGER CROWDS which leads to BIGGER CHURCHES and MORE TITHE COMING IN.

Few would do the RIGHT thing...which is this:

To be as the BEREANS...seeking out TRUTH...without regard to what is POPULAR and CONVENIENT and PROFITABLE! (Acts 17 gives us insight into the Bereans...as they LOVED to RECEIVE the Word of God...but the REFUSED to believe what was being TAUGHT until they CONFIRMED it by "searching the Scriptures.")

In almost EVERY REALM, the STANDARDS of Scripture have been LOWERED to meet the demands of a SINFUL CHURCH.

And...NEVER has that STANDARD been ANY LOWER than the STANDARD of TRUTH which is now PREACHED and ACCEPTED in PULPITS across America!

God did not SEND us GRACE so that we could STAND in our SINFULNESS...He sent us GRACE to FREE us from our SINFULNESS!

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)

The Spirit of God comes to RAISE the STANDARD...not to LOWER the STANDARD!

"So shall they fear the Name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun: when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19)

But read this passage in CONTEXT (provided in the link below)...reading Isaiah 59 in totality.

Note the REFUSAL of the people to maintain a STANDARD of HOLINESS...as SIN and FALSE TEACHING are ALLOWED...as the people demand SILENCE from the PROPHET.

Here...Isaiah establishes that sin and false teaching CANNOT go without REBUKE and CORRECTION!

And... then note that it will ONLY BE when the STANDARD is RAISED...which comes by the SPIRIT of the LORD...that the people will be CAPABLE of OVERCOMING the POWER of the ENEMY in the realm of SIN and FALSE TEACHING.

In Isaiah 59...we see a description not just of humanity before the Son of God was sent to REDEEM us...but we see a parallel of the CONDITION of the CHURCH and SOCIETY today....as Isaiah notes that TWO things have been SO DISTORTED that BOTH are almost NONEXISTENT:

JUSTICE and TRUTH.

Clearly presented is a picture of LOWERED STANDARDS...and these standards are now the NORM...even among those who are SUPPOSED to be a HOLY PEOPLE!

Then...again...notice that the Spirit of God does not come to LOWER the STANDARD through GRACE...but through GRACE the Spirit of God "lifts up"...or RAISES...the standard!

Be sure...Satan WILL NOT be DEFEATED...nor OVERCOME...by a Church whose HOLY standard is ON PAR with SATAN'S standard!

If the STANDARD is not JESUS CHRIST...then our STANDARD is no STANDARD at all!

And...if our STANDARD is CHRIST...then SIN is never MINIMIZED in His HOLY PRESENCE.

No...it is in CHRIST'S PRESENCE that EVERY imperfection is ILLUMINATED...and NO SIN IS HIDDEN in the LIGHT of the SON OF GOD.

So...I feel the Spirit of God calling...calling us to REPENTANCE...calling us to SUBMISSION...calling us to HOLINESS...calling us to recognize that we MUST NOT repeat the path of Israel in the days of Isaiah.

Israel would end up REJECTING the very GRACE they had long awaited...as they TURNED AWAY from God time and time again!

And...in so doing...Israel began to ACCEPT a LOWER STANDARD!

Will the Church continue down this SAME PATH...as it sits COMFORTABLE in a RIGHTEOUSNESS that it has REMADE in its OWN image?

Will the Church fail to recognize...as Israel did...the cry of God spoken through the PROPHETS...as God tries to REVERSE their COURSE before the day of JUDGMENT set their eternal fate forever?

I pray that the SLUMBERING CHURCH will AWAKEN...and that they will see before them the HIGH STANDARD of HOLINESS which is HIGHLY EXALTED...and that the STATUS QUO CHRISTIANITY which has INFESTED the Church will MELT AWAY in the FIRE of CONFESSION and REPENTANCE which is SO NEEDED within it!

In Christ,
Ron

The Sabbath: Sunday Worship or Something More?

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8 NKJV)

It is one of the Ten Commandments. It is displayed in various places around the world. My first trip to the Missouri State Capital in Jefferson City included a viewing of a display of the Ten Commandments in tablet form...with the beautiful backdrop of the Missouri River included.

With this instruction by God, there has been little thought given to this commandment and its actual meaning. In general, many simply attribute to this command some requirement to attend church services on Sunday!

Yet...in truth, the Fourth Commandment has no content by which we measure our devotion to God based on attendance of denominational services deemed to be "Worship Services." Sadly...I have seldom heard a sermon regarding the SABBATH which delves into the IMMENSE SIGNIFICANCE of the Commandment.

Now...before some televangelist hype takes hold of what I am about to teach...as the norm in "prophetic" and "wisdom" and "revelation" circles is to claim some "new insight and revelation" on Scriptural doctrine...I want to make this fact known:

What I am about to deal with is fully Scriptural...and it is actually CLEARLY revealed within the Word of God.

Instead of claiming some "new insight", I sit to write with much wonder as to HOW and WHY the Church seems to SO MISUNDERSTAND the doctrine of the SABBATH. It is akin to one of my recent blogs in which I used a common teaching of the Church (noted in the declaration from pulpits from the earliest days of my recollection) which proclaims, "The Bible says the Devil is a thief! And the Bible says that the THIEF...the DEVIL...comes to steal, kill, and destroy!" But...as troubling as it is...that declaration is simply WRONG! Jesus was NOT discussing Satan when He labeled someone a THIEF.

In reality, when Jesus spoke those words, Jesus was calling PASTORS "hirelings"...noting that these HIRELINGS do not actually care for the flock at all! Jesus was warning the people to BEWARE of these SELF-SERVING PASTORS...telling the people that these "hirelings" will USE the flock for personal gain...STEALING their money...then KILLING them by DESERTING them when the wolf comes, and totally DESTROYING the flock. Jesus says that any PASTOR who holds the position only for PERSONAL GAIN is a THIEF...stealing from the flock in every possible way!

Although the passage SPECIFICALLY is referring to these self-serving shepherds...many CONTINUE to misrepresent the passage. And...the fact that Jesus is warning the Church about UNCARING, SELFISH PASTORS and that He is NOT speaking about Satan is actually a BIG DEAL...as Jesus was warning us about MEN and their DESTRUCTIVE POWER when they MISUSE it!

The same misinformation and misunderstandings about the SABBATH are creating dangerous doctrines today...as a return to LEGALISM is being espoused under the banner of ENLIGHTENMENT!

So...thus we begin.

THE FIRST SABBATH:
"In the beginning, God created...", thus beginning and establishing the eternality of CREATOR...and the starting point of His CREATION. From there, we find an account of the creation of all things...as the origin of all things is found in the supernatural power of Almighty God. And...once done with His works of CREATION...we discover this:

Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made."

From the foundation of CREATION, God established a DAY OF REST.

At first glance, it almost seems insignificant. Yet...being God, the reality is this: God did not NEED a day of REST...as His power is from everlasting to everlasting...and in Him is no weakness. So...noting this reality, we then accept the wording of this passage in totality, as God "sanctified" this day...a day when all WORK ceased...and REST was established.

THE SECOND SABBATH:

It is a long venture through history which allows us to arrive at THE SECOND SABBATH.

The world struggled with SIN...and God's wrath had been kindled against humanity...and a GREAT FLOOD covered the earth. Only Noah and some of his family remained to REBUILD and REPLENISH the earth. Abraham became the "father of many nations"...David had risen from a shepherd boy to be a KING...and Israel had struggled through times of OBEDIENCE mixed with REBELLION.

It would be during all of this that we find Israel's time of EXODUS from Egypt...and it is here we again see a reference to the SABBATH...as the Ten Commandments were established by God. We find some insight in Deuteronomy 5:15:

"And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."

Moses is speaking to the people here, and he has just expounded on the SABBATH. There...in verses 12-14...Moses reiterates a DAY OF REST...when no man shall work...nor ANY who reside within his household...nor those who dwell within the gates of his property, be they stranger or son, slave or servant, male or female...nor any animal of burden.

(This is only my second time to ever write any teaching on this subject...and just as before, I feel the AMAZING anointing and Presence of God even now as I write...as I know where this is going!)

Again...we see this theme regarding Sabbath: Entering into REST!

But here, we build upon that initial revelation...as we see TWO inclusions which reveal the PURPOSE of that REST:

1. The people are to CEASE their LABOR...even the animals which carry the BURDEN of much of that WORK are to be given REST.

2. The Children of Israel had been SLAVES, existing in BONDAGE...and God MIRACULOUSLY brought them out of that BONDAGE...bringing them into REST.

Of course...they were headed where? To the PROMISED LAND!

But...sin and rebellion would detain them...and a generation died in the wilderness. And the pattern began...as Israel would move from times of OBEDIENCE to times of REBELLION. God REPEATEDLY called His children back to Him...but soon Israel would turn a deaf ear, and God would go silent.

For four hundred years...the people existed....but they did not LIVE! And...then...one day...

John the Baptist was baptizing people in the river...and a man appeared asking to be baptized! And John would cry out:

"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Within 3 years, that Lamb of God would hang on a cruel cross...fulfilling the prophetic words of John that day! There...on that cross...was the revelation of THE SECOND SABBATH!

You see...salvation had been established through LABOR throughout history...from the FALL OF MAN in the Garden of Eden until this day of CRUCIFIXION. For every sin, there had to be a SACRIFICE. Over and over...the people came to the PRIESTS...and through those priests they would offer a lamb or a dove...a blood offering by which they could find FORGIVENESS. It took EFFORT...it took WORK...it took LABOR!

But...then...GRACE appeared!!!

("Grace! Grace! God's grace! Grace that will pardon and cleanse within! Grace! Grace! God's grace! Grace that is greater than all my sin!")

And...when Jesus cried, "It is finished!" on the cross that dark and dreary day...all of our LABOR ceased...as the Lamb of God...Jesus Christ...once and for all provided the SACRIFICE needed which would give us the FREE GIFT of SALVATION: undeserved, "unmerited favor." God, in the form of a man, gave His life on the cross that day...

...so that we could CEASE our LABOR...being given the promise of SALVATION by which we can live as OVERCOMERS in Christ Jesus...with the promise of an ETERNITY WITH HIM as the reward for our SURRENDERED LIVES to the Lamb of God!

Paul would tell us "by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Jesus did away with the need for animal sacrifice. The constant LABOR to uphold the strict RULES which were commanded by God for the preparation of the sacrifice which would only COVER our sins now MELTED AWAY in the wonderous CRIMSON FLOW of the CROSS of JESUS CHRIST...and what was once only COVERED by a sacrifice became CLEANSED by the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!

So...we now see in the SABBATH not only REST...but the ceasing of ALL LABOR...even the labor which was necessary for attaining and maintaining SALVATION! 

Thus far...we have seen the SABBATH at CREATION and at the CROSS.

But...we now await one more SABBATH!

THE THIRD...AND FINAL...SABBATH:

Jesus is about to be crucified...and, in an UPPER ROOM, He eats with His chosen Disciples. With these words, Jesus tells them that they MUST NOT FORGET His SACRIFICE for them:

"Do this in remembrance of Me."

The call to REMEMBER:

An urging to KEEP ALIVE in their HEARTS the PURPOSE of what He had come to do: provide the WAY of SALVATION for all mankind...and...telling them to REMEMBER the HIGH PRICE which was paid for the GRACE they would now find living within them.

It hearkens back to CREATION. It urges a RECOLLECTION of a PROMISE made...and a PROMISE given.

A Messiah had been promised...and that PROMISE was Jesus Christ. And in Him was SALVATION...total...complete...without flaw or blemish.

It hearkens back to this:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

The SABBATH: a DAY OF REST, when all WORK must CEASE, and our LABORS are over!

After His death on the cross, Jesus arose after 3 days...victorious over sin and death! And...before He left this earth, Jesus left us with ONE LAST PROMISE: to RETURN again for His Bride!

In Acts 1, two angels appear and say, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." Then...Paul tells us of the moment when "the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NKJV)

We now await the FULFILLMENT of that PROMISE as BELIEVERS!

We actually are now awaiting....

THE FULFILLMENT OF SABBATH!!!

In THE FIRST SABBATH...we see Jesus as CREATOR!

In THE SECOND SABBATH...we see Jesus as SAVIOR.

In THE THIRD SABBATH...we will see Jesus as RETURNING, TRIUMPHANT KING!

You see...in the SABBATH is the PROMISE OF REST. We see in the FIRST and SECOND SABBATHS that all WORK and LABOR must CEASE...and the people enter into REST!

At CREATION and at the CROSS...the WORK had to be FINISHED...COMPLETED ("It is finished!")...and THEN came REST! This same COMPLETION is what we now await...as all of creation now awaits the RETURN of CHRIST...and time as we know it will be COMPLETE!

We now await the RETURN of Jesus Christ...and, for the BELIEVER, this will usher in the SABBATH...our DAY OF REST!

But...THIS time...there will be:

No more WORK...no more LABOR...no more TRIALS...no more SICKNESS...no more PAIN...no more DEATH...no more STRUGGLE...and no more SIN!!!

Paul would fully declare what SABBATH was NOT! It was NOT some RITUALISTIC ADHERENCE to some Old Testament LAW which is now IMPOSSIBLE to KEEP!

(Read Colossians 2 in totality!)

In Colossians 2, Paul tells a GENTILE CHURCH that they are NOT to let ANYONE judge them regarding "meat or drink", feasts ("respect of an holyday"), "new moons"...nor the "sabbath days." These believers had NEVER followed Jewish law...never adhering to these strict religious laws. And Paul told them they were NOT to worry about those who DEMANDED such ritual...claiming it was REQUIRED PRACTICE!

Both here and in his letter to the Galatians, Paul asks them WHY they would let ANYONE deceive them by their INSISTENCE that they RETURN or ADHERE to BONDAGE under the LAW...as Paul denotes a return to "Touch not; taste not; handle not"...saying that is being "subject to ordinances...after the doctrines and commandments of men." (verses 20-22)

But the KEY to understanding the SABBATH from the writings of Paul is found in verse 17, when Paul says, "Which are a shadow of things to come." Everything in the OLD TESTAMENT foreshadows "things to come." Even here, we see Paul teaching us that the SABBATH represents a FUTURE PROMISE!

For Israel...it pointed to Jesus coming as MESSIAH!

For the Church...it points to Jesus as SOON COMING KING!

So...with all of that...what is God saying when He said: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

The Fourth Commandment is a call for us to REMEMBER:

1. To remember that it was JESUS who came in CREATION...RESTING when all was finished! ("In the beginning was the Word....")

2. To remember it was JESUS who came to die on the CROSS...bringing REST when He cried "It is finished!"...as all aspects of LABOR ceased, and SALVATION became a FREE GIFT which was offered by the shed blood of Christ!

3. To remember it is JESUS who is soon to RETURN AGAIN as the BRIDEGROOM, receiving to Himself His BRIDE...the CHURCH...as we enter into REST...and our LABORS are over...and our WORK on earth is done!

That day is coming soon, Child of God!

So...REJOICE! KNOWING that the pain and struggles of this life will soon be over...and what AWAITS those of us who BELIEVE in OBEDIENCE is beyond ALL that we could ever DREAM OF or ever HOPE FOR!

So...

"Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy."

God bless!