BIBICAL ELEMENTS FOR DAILY LIVING #7 (FROM 24 AUG 21 HGM)

BIBLICAL ELEMENTS FOR DAILY LIVING-07 

TEXT: "There is no fear in love; but perfect (mature/selfless) love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect (mature/selfless) in love." (1 John 4:18) 

I. MATURE LOVE 

A. The opposite of liberty is bondage. We are held in that bondage through fear. Fear holds us tight without the ability to love; God, ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and those in the world who do not know Jesus as their personal savior. 

B. What causes us to fear? As Believers we are not to be fearful. The absence of fear is faith and the absence of faith is fear. There is not a half way, either we are full of fear or we are full of faith. Fear and faith cannot exist at the same time. 

C. As Christians our walk is to be one of faith and love, because faith works by love. "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." (Galatians 5:6) So, as our love matures so does our faith, because, "faith which worketh by love," thus if our love for God, our self, and other do not grow neither does our faith. As the same measure our love grows so does our faith. 

D. There are many things that make us to fear at times. If we are honest with ourselves we could compile quite a list. Most would rank the fear of death as number one. Fear of death holds us tight in bondage. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:14-15) 

E. When we are delivered from that fear we are set free. We are at liberty to do God's will to walk where He would have us walk. But in order to get into that liberty, we must go through death. Many quote, "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But few quote the condition the Lord sated before those words, "If you continue in my words, you shall know the truth." 

F. If you continue in His word you are going to be delivered to death, that is, to the place where you must choose to give up the ghost. This is a crucial place in our walk. It is the making or breaking place. If we sin, we remain in the bondage of corruption. If we, "give up the ghost" we are set free. "For he that is dead is freed from sin." (Romans 6:7) It is at this point of death where, "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:" (Romans 6:8) 

G. It is this death of the Lord's saints which is precious in His sight. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." (Psalms 116:15) It is at this place where we discover, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55) What we once feared, death to self, turns out to be the very thing that takes us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 

H. We are set free from that which bound us through the fear of death. Now the enemy no longer has a place is us to that he could come to time and time again to defeat us. We have passed from death unto life and we know that, because love has manifested in our lives for the brethren. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." (I John 3:14) 

II. PARTING THOUGHTS 

A. As we die to self and our rights, the love for the brethren will grow in us and as our love matures (perfected), so will our faith. They are forever joined in operation by God. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love," (Ephesians 3:17) and  "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 1:13) 

B. We can sing about being free, and talk about it, and even preach about it, but until we pass through death to our self life, we will still be held in the bondage of corruption and self condemnation. C. But the Lord has abundance of grace and by Him, we can reign in life now. Our corruption confines us to the small place, but when we enter into the glorious liberty of a son of God, we are free to go where the will of God directs us, and in that place we will have great faith and mature love, no fear will be found in us.

 

LACK OF TRUTH

Truth! "What is Truth?" That was the question Pilate asked Jesus in John 18:39 when Jesus stood before him in judgment, but today I would ask where is the truth? Notice Jesus never replied back to Pilate, but in the previous chapter we can find the answer to Pilate's question. Jesus says, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 171:17) So the word of God is truth. Truth is not what we believe because or what someone else says: the word of God, the Bible, the Scriptures is the only truth in the world and when we depart from it we get over in areas that only lead to loss, destruction, and death, both physical and more important spiritual. For example we see today in the world if we believe we are a female, but created a male by God you can be a female if you want to. You can turn the truth into a lie and a lie against God's word. Man today is not dependent on God's word for a moral compass and standard to live by. Truth is situational and dependent on what we want, not an absolute like God's word. The Prophet Jeremiah knew God, yet felt utterly dependent upon God. The LORD's approval is with those who are dependent upon Him; those who seek counsel from the mouth of the LORD. We see Jeremiah's heart condition and desire for truth, dependency, and to know God. Jeremiah writes, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23) When we try to direct our steps we then step out of the will of God for our lives as a person or a nation. You know because of one act of disobedience by Adam, the human race fell, and that one act of disobedience cost the Son of God His life. Some of the consequences of being out of the will of God are easily seen in the spiritual and moral manifestations of a society. Moses knew this as he watched the Children of Isreal spin out of control on a daily basis like we see on the TV daily and hear on the news. Yes, there is nothing new under the sun. In Deuteronomy Moses writes, “And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” (Deuteronomy 28:65) These are conditions, which are symptomatic of being out of the will of God: uneasiness, restlessness, uncertainty, fearful, lack of assurance, discontent, and spiritual bondage. There are others, but these indicate that something is out of alignment in our relationship with the LORD and with each other. When these conditions are present it would be well to consider our having missed the will and purpose of the LORD and this my friend can only end in total loss, destruction, and death as an individual or a nation. Always remember the absences of truth is fear. This is what we see in America, fear, it runs the country. We are afraid to live life to the fullest as God intended us to. This is the direction America is heading. And why? The leaders of the "church" have failed to walk in the truth of the word of God. When the truth is lost then all of the social morays and morality on which hangs the civility and goodness of a society shall fail and then according to the word of God, "no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” We mistakenly say the issues of abortion, lesbianism, homosexuality, BLM, and all of the other anti-Christ organizations are political issues, but not so my friend they are the moral issues of OUR day that rest on our understanding of the truth. Day after day I find myself saying what is going on? I cannot believe what I am seeing and hearing? What has happened to America? And what is going on is the lack of the truth in all walks of life. In every walk of life: politics, religion, financial markets, the military, education, business, sports, entertainment, technology, social media, medicine, science, you name it truth has been excluded from the social discourse making the way for non-truth or lies in all we do and say. I cannot remember when our society was so corrupt, when life had such a limited meaning or value, when a man's opinion mattered not to the collective, but was just something to crush under foot to make way for what others believe and want to see happen, even if it is evil and ungodly. You know we cannot foresee the future nor does it seem many people have the ability to discern what the LORD wants in days to come. Therefore, we should prayerfully make our decisions giving God the opportunity to redirect us because only He knows what is ahead. There must be a "sincerity of heart" when it comes to the truth in our lives and the lack of truth will only lead us to greater loss, destruction, and death. Jeremiah helps us again, “For you dissembled in your hearts, when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us according to all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare it to us, and we will do it.” (Jeremiah 42:20) “Dissembling in your hearts” is making a false pretense (not walking or acting in the truth) in intention. Here they had already determined that if God told them to not go to Egypt, they would go anyway. They did and carried the Prophet Jeremiah with them. We cannot expect God to guide us, love us, protect us, and care for us unless we are sincere and walk in the truth of the word of God and willing to obey His Word. Did you know there is a distinction between instruction and teaching? In Psalms David writes, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go….” (Psalm 32:8) Instruction reveals the principles of divine guidance which is what we lack while we walk away from the truth. While teaching helps us to receive and move in divine guidance. The LORD will teach us to discern His will through our circumstances or problems, therefore, we must understand the principals of His guidance. And in the loss of truth we will never learn the principles that will enable spiritual growth and development in us individually and as a nation. We will never learn meekness which is a pliability that enables the LORD to guide us gently, rather than by the force of circumstances. Most often guidance comes through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, or by divine providence. The LORD in His wisdom, has given us these three safe guards when we are in a difficulty. If the Word, the Spirit, and divine providence agree as one, we have a three-fold factor of safety, and we then can be reasonably sure that we are hearing from the LORD. Another form of guidance relates to personal integrity, God 's biggest focus in our lives. Solomon writes, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them….” (Proverbs 11:3) Now I like Proverbs and the Psalms, but to be honest I seem to have a hard time studying what the authors failed to live up to. They too walked away from the truth given to them. There is guidance by integrity (standards of righteousness) that we receive from the written Word of God. The LORD would have us to be guided by principles of integrity where we do what is right, even though we could evade it as others do. The Word of God establishes standards of right and wrong and the LORD expects us to adhere to these standards without special revelation. We do not need a revelation to discover that we are obligated to obey the Word of God. As I said with the lack of truth in our lives we will experience the lack of peace and fear will rule our heart. Peace is what the LORD wants for us, but did you know there is a differentiation between peace “with” God, and the peace “of” God. Peace with God has to do with our “relationship” with God. The peace of God has to do with our “walk” with God. Peace “with” God comes first, whereby the enmity between us and God is removed. The peace “of” God should follow after, but not all Christians (and some Believers) who have peace “with” God also have the peace “of” God. The peace of God comes through our walking in the Spirit and is a state of tranquility and rest produced in our hearts by the Spirit. It is a supernatural peace that passes all understanding. The peace of God is one of the forms of guidance, restraining us by an inner unrest, uncertainty, or confirming a certain course of action by a witness, satisfaction, or a deep inner rest. The peace of God can be described negatively, positively, experientially, positionally and judicially. It is not a mere absence of disturbance, but a conscious rest, which is independent of circumstances, favorable or unfavorable. Jesus taught in principle, “My sheep know my voice” (John 10:27). Many have often said, “But how do I know it is the voice of the Spirit?” One of the best ways to learn the recognition of His voice is through His sheep. They had learned to recognize His voice through continued association with Him and other people who know Him. At night, as we drift off to sleep we listen to a really good Christian radio station out of Atlanta, our white noise. On the hour they have a new cycle that repeats though out the night. One night, one of the spots talked about how over 400,000 Southern Baptist have left the denomination in the last year and blamed it on, like everyone else in the world, COVID for the exodus. Well, the LORD impressed on me it was not COVID for the departure, but it was the radical political stance the Southern Baptist Convention took in support of Black Lives Matters (an ungodly Marist organization whose main goal is to destroy the nuclear family as God has created it and America) and other anti-Christ organizations while still calling themselves Christians like all of the other denominations and religions in the world. They may be Christians, but certainly NOT Children of God because His children know His voice, they know His word, and they know truth. If you are interested in the recognition of His voice see to it that you live and walk in close association with Him. Written by David Stahl