Denying Ourselves: True Faith

Now we have received, not the

spirit of this world, but the

Spirit who is from God,

that we might know the

things that have been

freely give to us by God.

1Corinthians 2:12

As I begin this week’s blogs I am reminded, and I want to remind you, when we receive the Holy Spirit He unites us with God, so that His Love, God, is manifested in us, and in our life, our daily undertakings. It is impossible to weary the love of God for God is LOVE. LOVE is His nature and if we allow the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives and His Love springs from our center then I, you, have no business to be guided by the wisdom of this world, the spirit of this world and by natural temperament. We must beware not to work along the line of natural sympathy, for if we do then all we have done is blaspheme the Love of God, in fact, we have blasphemed God. God has given to His children freely so that we may know Him and this is done by the teaching of the Holy Spirit: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1Corinthians 2:13). We are to compare things in this life with Scripture and allow Scripture to lead us for this is how the Holy Spirit teaches is, by His word, and impressing upon our souls to follow God’s word. If what we think is from God, as some do think that by some special revelation God speaks to them, then how would we be able to judge them whether what they say is from God or not? We can’t, but if Scripture supports, not intimates, but supports what they have heard by the Holy Spirit’s directing them to Scripture for the truth then false understanding and teaching will be put at bay. Do you love Jesus? Do you love God? Do you love the Holy Spirit? When Jesus asked Peter three times: Do you love Me, then probably Peter was somewhat hurt at the question(s). What Jesus was doing was probing into Peter’s belief and willingness to love Him and to follow Him. The questions that Jesus, the Holy Spirit asks of us may hurt for we must either obey, and answer the question(s) for in either way we answer we reveal our true selves.  Are you holding firm to you convictions? Or are you allowing the wisdom of this world to lead into things that God has told us not to be involved in: i.e., watching TV shows, or going to movies that portray homosexuality as an OK lifestyle. Will you stop watching TV shows that are hosted or have as persons in the show, as with a person who is homosexual and gives the weather report as he does on GMA and then stop watching that show so as not to give some tacit approval? Jesus tells us that we will face troubles because we are following Him: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:15–18). We have so much “sloppy agape” teaching and preaching that God and our testimony about Jesus Christ is held in derision by those who oppose Jesus and His teachings and we see this everyday now with even government approving of such as homosexual lifestyles. Are you willing to stand up for the truth? Are you willing to be what Jesus wants, you, and me, to be: His feet, hands, and His voice until He returns for His bride? This is what Jesus told Peter that if you love me you will feed My sheep. If we do otherwise then we are doing that which Jesus spoke against and are denying Him: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10: 32-34). Paul in writing to the Corinthian Christians reminds them and us of the same thing that Jesus spoke: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Corinthians 2:14). I have heard it said that we are not to judge, but is this true? NO! We are to judge to ensure that God’s commands are being carried out in this world. We begin with ourselves to judge ourselves according to God’s word and not be the wisdom of this world, and by those who are preaching the wisdom of this world: “But he who is spiritual judges all things, ye the himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has know the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?’ “But we have the mid of Christ” (1Corinthians 2:15–16; Isaiah 40:13). If you are following the commands of God, then who can judge you rightly? No one! They are followers of the wisdom of this world and not of God and are foolish men and women. We are to have and we do if we have converted to Jesus and are allowing our convictions not to waver. Those convictions are to deny our selves and live for Him. This will take courage, but we have the courage of the Holy Spirit residing in us and we are not to be afraid: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). This will require that we change from the Inside Out for if the inside is wavering then our character that shows what and how we are inside. The reality about us has a need to change and live for the One who came and died for His children.

He who dwells in the secret place

            Of the Most High shall abide

Under the shadow of the Almighty.

            I will say of the LORD, ‘

“He is my refuge and my fortress

            My God, in Him I will trust.”

                                    Psalm 91:1–2

Set Time Aside To Pray And Speak To God

Richard L. Crumb

Growing In Faith: Leaving Behind The Carnal Life

And I brethren, could not speak to you

as to spiritual people but as to carnal,

as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk

and not solid food; for until now you

were not able to receive it, and even

now you are not still not able; for you

are still carnal. For where there are envy,

strife, and divisions among you, are you

not carnal and behaving like mere men?

1Corinthians 3:1–3

            Paul had come to Corinth before, and taught the Corinthian the deeper points of doctrine  by Paul on his first visit to Corinth.  Corinthians were, in part, well being sincere converts, yet they were far from maturity of judgment and experience, therefore they were prone to carnal passions.  In the beginning pole topped the Corinthian church in simpler terms so that they could understand and by this time, they should have been able to understand the deeper things of doctrine.  This was not done by the Corinthian church in this was seen by the carnality in the church.  Even today, we see divisions, strife, envy, and allowances of immorality seen in the forms of homosexuality, divorce without Scriptural reason, and not putting away those who are unscriptually sound.  Factious, which means in unnaturalness, or pretensions, and so often a slavish love of fads acting upon human principles, for those involved in such things are guided by their own pride and passions and not by the principles of true religion that is Christianity.  As Matthew Henry recorded in his work on first Corinthians: "It is to be lamented, that many who should walk as Christians, live and act too much like other men".[1]is evident that there is carnality in the church and this can be seen by the acts of some professors, and preachers, who show themselves to be carnal, by a vain -- glorious emulations, eagerness for controversy, and disposition to despise and speak evil of others.  This is simply sin, and it is not of grace.  It is distasteful, yet it is a duty of God's servants to expose that which is calculated to deceive and injure His people.  The effective way of doing this removal of carnality is to let in the light of truth.  You must first address the problem so that you may know what may be the solution.  This takes courage, and conviction.  What is required in teaching is to hold to a steady guidance of the mind and conscience of a believer about the foundation of his peace and acceptance with God, and how to exercise his faith in this life.  To declare and vindicate the truth and to give true instruction and edification is to show a love of sincerity and to enable others to extricate from their minds those difficulties that are leading them into carnality.  We are to direct their consciences so that they will inquire of God, and seek after abiding peace with God and establish their minds in the truth.  Nevertheless, no matter the difficulty involved in teaching the truth, I respectfully urge each Christian to make real effort to gird up their loins of their minds and to seek the truth prayerfully and by the reading and study of God's Word.  Paul as did other Bible writers had doctrinal instruction as the foundation by which they issued precepts to regulate and guide a Christian’s walk.  We are to be reminded that as saints we have the exceeding riches of God's grace, and that the love of Christ may constrain us so that we are urged to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. the justice of God and his truth give us no cause to complain because our full satisfaction was given to us by a mediator, Jesus Christ. Think upon this:  Jesus Christ is Lord of all and yet was made subject to the law, not to just obey the law, also to be subject to the curse of the law, and by this we are made righteousness of God: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5: 21). should not we'd be in a in devout meditation  of these things, to break out into the praises of a justifying God, and sing with the church?  God has pardoned His elect, and teaches us to grow in maturity: "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity in passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage" (Micah 7:18)?  Think upon this and you will be humbled; God chose rather than to punish the sins of the elect made him righteous before Him by means of His Only Begotten Son, rather than them to suffer and go unpunished.  The abyss of God's love, a love by which He spared not even His dearest Son, in order to spare sinners! The Corinthian church while living in a culture of great immorality, idolatry, and various theologies from men who came from all around the world to cross the isthmus had not allow them to grow to maturity and allowed for certain worldly and carnal exercises in the church.  Take a look at your church and see whether or not this is true of your church and if so what can you do to eliminate the problem.  First, examine yourself and see whether, or not you are doctrinally sound, not by what some men teach and preach, rather allow Scripture to interpret scripture in teaching the truth.  If the problem cannot be resolved then you have the responsibility to remove yourself to a church that is teaching the truth of God's Word.  This will require great courage, and commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Behold, on the mountains

            the feet of him who

brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!

            O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,

perform your vows.  For the wicked one

            shall no more pass through you,

he is a truly cut off.

                                    Nahum 1: 15

Proclaim good tidings: the Gospel

Richard L. Crumb

---

[1] Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry commentary on the holy Bible, 1 first Corinthians; Royal publishers, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee: 1979; p, 90.

The Reality Of Redemption

But as it is written:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

nor have entered into the heart of man the things

which God has prepared for those who love Him"

but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.

For the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2: 9 -- 10

(Isaiah 64: 4; 65:17)

            In our attempt to understand God we find ourselves deficient because absent is a lack of an essential element; God is not us for He is a different being.  Often Jesus makes statements that seem so hard for us to understand because they are not that which we would do as humans.  Jesus in His rebuke to certain cities where He did many mighty works and yet they did not repent Jesus then gave a prayer to His father: "At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’" (Matthew 11: 25).  How are we to understand this seemingly difficult statement: "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your site" (Matthew 11: 26)? Carnal man, and that is what we all are, have one problem that has need to be resolved, and that problem is that by the original sin caused by Adam our souls are corrupted and we do not desire godly things.  Jesus Christ resolved that problem by His death that made payment to the debt owed to God and that debt was the death of a sinless man.  God paid that debt owed to Himself by Himself.  So often, we are so involved in our daily activities and the culture of this world that continually tries to derail us from our faith.  We cannot see the things of God nor are we able to hear the things of God unless the Holy Spirit reveals them to us and that revelation is only to those who love God.  As Paul so aptly reminds us, the spirit searches all things even those deep things of God.  Therefore, when the Spirit speaks to us He is teaching us and leading us to exercise those deep things of God: "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even so no one knows the things of God except last Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God" (1 Corinthians 2:11 -- 12).

            So many people are so involved in the reality of experience claiming that reality, of a person's experience of redemption, is proof of their godliness, it is not; redemption is the reality and it would have no meaning for us unless it speaks the language of our conscious life.  When a person is born-again, God does a work that is hard for us to understand, and yet for those who are born again know that this is a fact: God takes us right out of our self and our experiences and identifies us with his Son Jesus Christ.  If all we are is left with is our experiences then those experiences have not been produced by Redemption.  How will I know that I am being led by Redemption?  The proof is that we are led out of ourselves all the time and we no longer pay any attention to our experiences as the ground of reality.  The only reality is what is producing our experiences and any other experiences other than that which is produced by Reality is not worth anything unless they are kept and we are kept at the source and that source is Jesus Christ.  When we allow the culture of this world to be the source of our wisdom all is that done is that we are damning up the Holy Spirit that is in us and then we begin to produce subjective experiences.  We are never to give nourishment to any experience that does not have God as its source and our faith in God as its result.  If we become subject to subjective experiences then those experiences are anti-Christian, and it does not matter what visions you may have had.  The question is simply this: if Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or are you trying to lord it over Him?  Are your experiences more dear to you then your Lord?  Jesus Christ must be Lord over you, and you must not pay attention to any experience that is not of Jesus Christ for if you do God will make a time that will make you impatient with your own experience.  We should have this attitude that is ingrained in us and that is this; I do not care what I experience; I am simply sure of Him.  This will take courage and being ruthless with yourself especially if you are given to talking about the experiences you have had.  If faith is not sure of its self then it is not faith.  The only faith that is true faith is that which is sure of God and this is the only faith that there is.  Paul did not speak worldly wisdom words that would tickle the ears of the hearers, words that are so eloquent producing a euphoric reaction, no, he preached what the Holy Spirit teaches: "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13).  We are reminded once again that we are to interpret Scripture with Scripture.  The foolishness of man is that he attempts to devise the world his way, and develops a worldview that is in contradiction to the will of God.  For if a man is not born again by Jesus Christ and only remains as a natural man then: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.  For ‘who has known the mind of the LORD then he may instruct Him?’ “But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2: 14 -- 16).  What Paul is telling us here is that the natural man has no right to judge us in regards to our faith.  The question is are we actually living rightly true faith of God or are we living by a faith that is rooted in the subjective experience?

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

            and in sin my mother conceive me.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

            and in they hidden part You will make

me to know wisdom.

                                    Psalm 51: 5 -- 6

May God washes whiter than snow

Richard L. Crumb