Friday, September 22, 2017

Having The Love Of The Father In Us

Love not the world. Neither the things that are 
in the world. If any man love the world,
 the love of the Father is not in him. 
For that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, 
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of the 
Father, but is of the world. And the world 
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he 
that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1John 2:15-17 

     The Greek word "love" is a plural word, imperative, and is therefore a command to all. A command is if you are not doing something start doing it and continue doing what is commanded. I know that some Calvinist would object to my last blog, but that is ok for if the Father is not in you, not matter what, you are not of the Father therefore you are not saved. PERIOD! Lust, we often use this word in regards to sex and that is not all wrong for it does at times refer to a strong desire for what a person believes will give them enjoyment, in other words, lust promises enjoyment, or pleasure. Lust is derived from envy, a Resentful or painful desire for another's advantage: you want and this want is from you, from your lust to have even at the cost of another. Another person does not make you envious, it comes from you and when this envy becomes lust then you are compelled to act upon your enviousness. Many people say that they are not lustful, yet they are envious of the world and all it offers. This is where liberal Christianity has a major problem for it is based on feelings and not on the word of God. Let us observe this fact: if Christianity is based merely on feelings in the presence of God the Father, it is devoid of any moral quality whatever. If there are pure feelings than then it is not non-moral, but I am not sure if there is such a thing among men that can be called "pure feelings." Man is a fallen being their nature being corrupted by sin and nothing can be called pure out of man due to this sin. Think upon this: if human affection is really dependent on knowledge, then why should not it be the same that our supreme personal relationship be the same as the basis of Christianity? So it does make a difference as to what we think about God, the knowledge of God and for it to be the very basis of religion, of Christianity? 
     How then can we know God, to become acquainted with God, to have a personal relationship with God? The Gospel consists as an account how God saved man, and for us to understand this something must be known, about God, about man. The teachings, or doctrine (whichever word you choose to use) are of two things: 1. the doctrine of God. 2. The doctrine of man, these two presuppositions are of the Gospel. What is your conception of God? Liberal Churches do not teach about the conception of God, or teach much, if anything about the knowledge of God, they teach that to dwell upon theology is the death of Christianity. Liberal Christianity teaches that we should seek feelings, to merely feel His presence and to not dwell so much about having knowledge of God. It s not that they do not speak about such things at times, it is that they dwell on feelings, and feelings lead far to often to envy and envy then turns to lust and lust then, if not having the knowledge of God and man will lead a person to act on their lust. What do I mean? Dwelling on feelings, a want, want, want, want something and want the supernatural, to have what a person wants to make them feel good about themselves, this is what the Apostle John wrote about in the opening verses. If this is true of you: STOP IT! The love of the Father is not in you, you only love yourselves! It is true that we must come to believe in Jesus Christ, but liberal Christian preachers speak that we can only become acquainted with God only through Jesus. Wow! This sounds Christian! this assertion has an appearance of loyalty to Jesus Christ, but in reality it is highly derogatory to Him. Why? Jesus spoke of knowing God through many things and to reject that is to reject the very things that lay at the very center of Jesus' life. Did not Jesus show us the nature of God by speaking about the lilies of the field, and did not Jesus see God in the moral law, this law written on the hearts of men whereby the law of God revealed His righteousness. These things lay close to the heart of Jesus and we must not despise this and say only through Jesus can we know God. Read the first three chapters of Romans. Man is without excuse for God can be known through the things He created and to deny this is to deny God and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. 
      We can know God through nature, through many things, but we can only be saved if we repent, turn our lives around, deny ourselves and follow Jesus, and believe upon Jesus. The knowledge of God is everywhere and Scripture leads us to know what the will of God is: to save those who believe on Jesus Christ. Do not add to Scripture, do not make false reasoning to lead people to believe in feelings, to believe in things that are not according to Scripture. Lead people through the word of God and that alone: What else do you need? 

I make a decree, That in every dominion 
     of my kingdom men tremble and fear
before the God of Daniel: for He is 
    the living God, and stedfast for ever,
and His kingdom that which shall not be
    destroyed, and His dominion, shall 
be even unto the end.
                  Daniel6:26

Love the Father: not yourselves

Richard L. Crumb

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