May 2013 USPS Volume 52 Number 5 WILL THE REAL CHRISTIAN PLEASE STAND UP! PART 2

Transcription

1 May 2013 USPS Volume 52 Number 5 WILL THE REAL CHRISTIAN PLEASE STAND UP! PART 2

2 Earmarks of Real Christians The companion of Psalm 24 is Psalm 15, so it s always good to read them together. When I was in public school, we still had Bible reading every morning, and Psalms 15 and 24 were two we read often. These have been in my spirit since I was a child, but I think to myself, Who in schools today are thinking about having clean hands and pure hearts? Psalm 15: Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart (vv.1-2). These 2 are the good things he does. Now the things he doesn t do: He backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt, and changes not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh rewards against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved (vv.3-5). On the positive, he walks in honesty and works righteousness, and he speaks the truth in his

3 heart. When a person speaks the truth in his heart, he will not backbite with his tongue, and he will not be a back-stabber. Before you are tempted to backbite against your neighbor, bite your own tongue. If when you get ready to speak evil gossip, you bite your tongue, you will only have to do it a few times, and the thought of it will be all you need to not speak evil, nor to take up a reproach, nor to join others who do. These are the earmarks of a true Christian, and just as important, he condemns the vile and honors the godly. We live in a day we never thought could happen as the prophet said, Woe unto them that call good evil and evil good (Isa.5:20). A person could be a scoundrel, but if he is charismatic, people will say, Oh, he is a jolly good fellow. They don t care what kind of life he lives, if he s a liar and has been caught telling one side one thing and the other side another. If he is personable and charming and has a way with words, and speaks great oratory things, people will latch onto him. While those who speak truth and righteousness and godly things are scorned and reviled. When It s OK To Hate The Bible says: Ye that love the Lord, hate evil (Ps.97:10). Abhor that which is evil, cleave 3 to that which is good (Rom.12:9). One reason God anointed Jesus is: He loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Heb.1:9). People don t understand that there is such a thing as hating ungodliness. Real Christians hate sin. Where some go wrong is when they hate sinners. God doesn t hate sinners. He loves sinners, but He hates their sin, because their sin will drag them to eternal Hell. Their sin will cause them to be alienated from Him forever. God does not hate homosexuals, but He hates homosexuality. He hates it so much that He wiped two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, off the face of the earth because of that sin. God hates adultery, because He sees that it destroys families and cheats Him out of a godly seed. He said in Malachi 2:15-16: I hate divorce. Why have you done this? You ve cheated me out of a godly seed, and you have dealt treacherously with your wives. God hates the shedding of innocent blood. God hates abortion. But God forgives all those who have fallen into this, and He loves them. None of these is an unpardonable sin. In fact, Paul said in 1 Cor. 6:11: And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

4 will the real christian please stand up! Real Christians do condemn the guilty, but today it s just the opposite: People condemn the innocent and let the guilty off. We have watched TV in court cases of famous people where the evidence against them was overwhelming, but they got off, and people cheered! If you are a celebrity, people will forgive you of things, because they are so celebrity crazy. Real Christians do not exploit people because they are poor, or fatherless, or live with a single mother, or cannot defend themselves. We defend the weak, the fatherless, and the poor. The Bible teaches us that s what real Christians do: Pure religion (true Christianity) undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. (Js.1:27). A Warning From Jesus Before I close, I must warn you: Real Christians are hated by many. Real Christians will be persecuted. Proverbs 29:25-27: The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe. An unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. This is pretty clear: A manfearing, man-pleasing spirit brings a snare. You have to know that when you do stand up for Jesus 4 and truth and righteousness, people will come against you, and you cannot be snared by the fear of man. Why would we fear the face of clay that can do nothing to us of an eternal consequence? The worse they can do is put us in jail, and in some countries, put us to death. But this is nothing compared to standing before the Judge of Heaven and Earth Who can put us in Hell, or let us in His Heaven. There is no man who has the keys to Hell, death, and the grave, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Do not fear the face of man, and do not let yourself be intimidated by those who hate you for righteousness sake. Your judgment comes from the Lord. There is no man or woman there is no congressman, senator, president, vice president, governor, mayor, councilman, judge, or anyone who will give you final judgment. Only God Himself. We know today thousands of innocent people are sitting in jail. Many have been released through new DNA testing even after serving 20 years for crimes they did not commit, but some will never get out of jail, while the real perpetrators are walking around, maybe even repeating their crimes. But one day we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of God to give an account for what we ve done on this earth. Jesus said, He that knew the master s

5 will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes (Lk.12:47). This means that Hell, horrible and terrible as it is, and we can t even know how horrendous Hell is, will have greater degrees of judgment for those who knew the way, who knew the truth, and erred from it. (God is talking to someone today). Recently I wrote a letter to the editor of The Baltimore Sun about the same sex-marriage vote in Maryland s election. The Sun published it in the paper and on their web site. On the web site, they ran the whole article, but in the paper they cut out three or four things that I said. I don t know if they did it for space, or they didn t like what I said. The web site is open for comments, and I expected people who are for same sex-marriage to argue their cases, but the viciousness, the hatred in their words were shocking to me. I thought, My God, if they actually faced me, they would probably spit in my face. Get ready: If you stand for righteousness, you are an abomination to the unrighteous. Your righteousness rubs them the wrong way, so get ready for push back. John said, Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you (1Jn.3:13). Don t be surprised, but rather expect it. Jesus said, If you were of the world, the world will love you, because the world loves its own. If the world hate you, you 5 know that it hated me before it hated you (You are in good company!) But you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (Jn.15:18-19). Did the world hate Jesus? They tried to stone Him three times, and they did finally crucify Him. He raised Lazarus from the dead a true, bonafide, absolutely over-the-top miracle, a man who had been dead for four days, already stinking and rotting, because he wasn t embalmed. When the word got out everywhere that Lazarus, because he was well known and had money, was raised from the dead, the enemies of Jesus wanted to kill Lazarus, because he was walking proof that Jesus was a miracle-worker. They hated Jesus; they hated Lazarus, and they are going to hate us! Darkness Hates Light Why did they hate Jesus? Why do they hate us? John. 3:19-22: And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (lest his deeds be exposed). But he that does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that

6 will the real christian please stand up! they are wrought in God. It boils down to this: People who do not want to do the truth, are not going to come to the light, and if you are a light shining, you reprove them; you convict them. You remind them all the time that they are not right with God, and because they are not ready to get right, and get rid of their sins, they don t want anything to do with you. They will persecute you and turn on you. When you let your light shine, get ready, because Jesus said that you will be rejected, ridiculed, and reviled of all men, when you preach Jesus Christ. You can talk about god as long as it is a generic god. You might even get away with saying Buddha, or Allah, but if you say, Jesus Christ, if you stand up as a real Christian, you will be persecuted, especially if you quote Jesus when He said: I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Ravi Zacharias is a Christian apologist who was born in India to a Hindu family, but he was born again when a Baptist missionary came to his city and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He brilliantly debates other religious leaders, including Hindus, Muslims, and atheists in many American universities. In speaking on the exclusivity of the Gospel which causes scorn 6 against Christianity by other religions, he told this story that took place in 1974 while he was preaching in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a predominantly Buddhist country. Using an interpreter, the message he preached that night seemed to be well received, and many opened up their hearts to receive Christ. When he had concluded the service, his interpreter asked him to take his seat for a few minutes while he talked to the crowd. The interpreter began speaking with great passion, and the more he spoke, the more passionate he became. There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere. Some people started walking out, obviously upset by his words. Ravi was upset too. He had no idea what the interpreter was saying, but it was obvious to him that he was undoing everything that had been done that night. On the drive home, Ravi finally asked his interpreter what he had said that had upset the people so much. He replied: You must understand I had to make sure that they understood that by accepting Jesus Christ, they had to follow Him and Him alone. It is not unusual for them to just add another God to their own. But I told them that in order to follow Jesus, they had to forsake all other gods He alone is the way,

7 the truth, and the life. We are seeing this today in America. You can stand in a large crowd and state that Jesus Christ is one way to God and Heaven, but the moment that you say, Jesus Christ is the only way, they will turn on you and denounce you as being an intolerant hater. There is a phenomenon now known as Chrislam a blending of Christianity and Islam, which has been espoused by some ministers and pastors as a way of bringing unity. They claim that Allah, the God of Islam, is the God of the Bible. This poses a great problem for both Christians and Muslims, because one of the foundational tenets of Islam is Allah has no son. They completely reject Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or that He was crucified, that He died, and was resurrected. Real Christians heed the words of Jude: Earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints (vs. 3). Public Persecution Jesus didn t sugar-coat it, He said, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake (Mt.5:10-11). If you are a real Christian, when people talk about you and say evil things about you, it will be false, and you are going to take it for Jesus sake. You will suffer being reviled. I looked up revile in my Greek Lexicon, and it means to defame and to assail with opprobrious words. I thought, What in the world is opprobrious? I have a fairly good vocabulary, but I have to tell you, I ve never heard of it before. So I went to the English dictionary to look up opprobrious, and it means to treat someone with contemptuous abuse; to scorn with ignominy. Okay, so let s look up ignominy too. It means to publicly disgrace or dishonor. This is what Jesus said is going to happen to you when you stand up to be a real Christian. You will find men will try to publicly disgrace you and dishonor you, because that s a way for them to try to get out from under the conviction that your godly, righteous life is putting on them. So don t give them anything. Walk right, keep your heart pure, keep your hands clean, live righteously, and don t lose your temper on the job. Are you ready to be a real Christian? To have opprobrious words spoken against you? Paul said in 2 Tim. 3:12: Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Jesus 7

8 will the real christian please stand up! said not only shall you suffer this persecution, but He said, Rejoice, and be glad: For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be cast out, and trodden under foot The late D.J. Kennedy often said, We are supposed to be the salt of the earth not the sugar of the world..you are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven (Mt.5:12-16). While many will hate you, and many will lie on you to disgrace you, there will be those whose hearts are open to the Lord. There will be those who want to know the truth, who want to see a real, genuine Christian, and you can be that person! I want to tell you, Sister Sharon Anne Hardy Knotts is not perfect, but I am authentic. I am real. Sometimes I make mistakes. I don t always do everything right, but I am going all the way with Jesus, and I am going to stand up for righteousness. Are you going to stand up? Are you a real Christian? I challenge you today, Will the real Christians 8 please stand up and say, I m going to live right. I m going to walk right. I m going to let my light shine for Jesus. Standing before Pilate, the Roman governor, and His own people who cried out for Him to be crucified, Jesus said, For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice (Jn.18:37). A Word of Prayer Today you have heard the truth. I have not given you my opinion, but I have given you scores of Scriptures, and many more I didn t get to because of time. I have given you the Word of God, but the Scriptures say that in the last day mockers and scorners would come, and many would be offended (2Pet.3:3, Jude18, Mt.24:10). Jesus said, Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me (Mt.11:6). Some are offended, because the light is reproving them, and they don t want to give up their sin. It may be promiscuous sex, drugs, alcohol, or it could be a proud heart, and you have rejected the truth of the Word of God. If you are not a real Christian, or if you ve never been a Christian, God is speaking to you. Maybe you think Christian means somebody who believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

9 That s not what a Christian is. The Bible says, The devils believe also and tremble (Js.2:19). It doesn t matter if your mother had you baptized and wrote your name in the church records. I don t care if she was pregnant with you while she was going to church, and raised you in church, you must know Jesus Christ for yourself. God has no grandchildren. You are going to stand before the Lord, and woe unto those who knew the way of truth and erred from it. If you have never been a Christian; maybe you just never got it, and didn t understand it before. But I m telling you today, the Lord is calling you. He says, Behold, I stand at the door of your heart, and I m knocking, and if you open, I will come in, and My Father will come in, and we will have fellowship with you (Rev.3:20). Regardless of what you ve done, what your past is, what sins you ve been involved in, the blood of Jesus is able to cleanse you from all sin and all unrighteousness (1Jn.1:9). If you are someone who is in church, but you don t live right, and you keep falling into a double life, it s time to make up your mind to go all the way. As long as you have half of your heart in the world, you will never be able to live a godly life. Jesus said, No man can serve two masters. He 9 will love one, and hate the other. He will cling to one and despise the other. (Mt.6:24). You are going to have to make up your mind. If you want Jesus, you must let go of the world: Your illicit love affair, your secret sin of pornography, your drugs and alcohol, your bad temper that makes you curse and shoots your testimony to bits. You need to say, I want to be delivered, because whom the Son sets free is free in deed (Jn.8:36). Today is your turning point. Today is the day God wants to turn it around for you. Listen to the words of Jesus: If you are ashamed of Me in this wicked, and perverse and crooked generation, I will be ashamed of you before My Father and the holy angels (Lk.10:26). If you deny me before men, I will deny you before My Father in Heaven (Mt.10:33). I will say, I never knew you. Depart from me you worker of iniquity. If you don t want this to be your eternal consequence, get right with God now. You have had one foot in the church and one foot in the world, and have been trying to walk the tight rope, and to make it all work. Sometimes guilt gets on you so bad, you can hardly stand it, but you always conveniently stifle it and push it down. But the Lord is saying, Today is the day. It s time to get

10 will the real christian please stand up! right. Make a decision. You have to make a decision: If God is God, let Him be God. If Satan, the god of this world is your god, and make no mistake, if you are in the world, then Satan is your god (2Cor.4:4); if that s the god you want, then you are going to be enslaved to him. But the Lord is saying, Today is the day for you to get free. If you want to be saved for the first time, or to get back to the Lord, or to be delivered from something that keeps pulling you down, do not hesitate. Tell God, I want to be a real Christian. I m ready to stand up for the truth. I m ready to come forward and make a public confession that I am become a real Christian. 10