Greetings in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ!
My heart is grieving, for there are many who are ashamed of the gospel, ashamed of the testimony, ashamed of the Word of Truth. Please know and be comforted that I cry not here against those who have erred in the innocency of their heart. But herewith shall all willful shame be revealed.
"(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)" (Philippians 3:18-19.)
They willfully reject the Word of the Lord, yet they profess to so believe. As Christ Jesus said unto them, "laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men". (Mark 7:8a-b.) Again, I cry not here against those who have erred in the innocency of their heart.
But the self-willed insist that all men obey (or be hated and rejected for not obeying) the traditions, commandments, and doctrines of men rather than of God. But Jesus Christ has declared unto such, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15b-d.)
What? "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey"? (Romans 6:16a-c.) If you yield yourself a servant to obey the commandments of men, you are the servant of those men, even of women, to whom you yield yourself a servant to obey. And that is an instruction to even those who have erred in the innocency of their heart.
O man, who will you obey, God or man (or woman even)? But know this, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." (Matthew 6:24a-e.)
You cannot hold to your own thoughts and ways (wherein your only glory is in your shame), O man. For God has said, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8.)
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; ...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15a-b,f-g.)
© June 4, 1997, The Standard Bearer
P.O. Box 765, O.O.B., ME 04064
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