And in Him was Life

AND IN HIM WAS LIFE…

Anyone who was born again as an adult knows experientially what it means and actually feels like to one day walk in darkness and the next day be translated into the kingdom of light. I was almost 23 years old in 1975 and one cold night in March I climbed up Garret Mountain in Wayne, New Jersey at about 7:00 PM, and after a couple of hours I climbed back down. I climbed up a seeker and I came down a believer. I cannot fully explain the emotions that coursed through my body that night. I actually felt like a brand new person. As I went to my room in my Aunt’s house where I lived I went to bed speaking with Jesus. He was finally real.

When I awoke the next morning it was if I had been dreaming, but this was no dream. I left early for work and drove up to the park on top of Garret Mountain and I had my first devotional time with Him. For the next several weeks I was like a man possessed. I spoke about Jesus to almost everyone. My boss had to listen to me incessantly since I was his only employee. In a few years I would leave for Bible college and begin my training; God had called me to preach. I later rejoiced as I heard that my boss had gotten saved. Those seeds bore fruit!

I had been raised in a liturgical Protestant church and I was confirmed as a member. I took my first communion but I was lost and still had not been born again. So when I began to read the Bible after I was saved it was like reading a wonderful treasure. I could not believe what was in there even though I began by just reading the words in red. In fact, if the church just read and believed and obeyed the words in red we would be a much more pure and powerful witness for Jesus. But of course as I read further I was amazed at how much divine wisdom and glory those pages contained.

In two years I will have been a born again Christian for forty years. Before I was saved I used all kinds of drugs, I sold drugs, I drank heavily, I was promiscuous, I was violent, and there was hardly any sin that was not part of my life. And after I was saved I was delivered from many sins, but I still was and am now still in the process of sanctification in which the Holy Spirit identifies sin in your life and guides and empowers you to forsake it. Even some of the little sins are hindrances from completely embracing and experiencing Christ Jesus in all His fullness. Yes, I am not what I could be and I surely could walk in a much deeper spirit of surrender, but praise His name I am not what I used to be!

But after knowing Christ for almost forty years I can boldly and without the slightest reservation give witness to the fact that there is no life - NO LIFE - outside the life that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ! Nothing in this world can satisfy and or even compete with the life in the Spirit. This world and all that is in it is against Christ. Life cannot be found in money or things or nations or governments or success or power in this world. True life, life that transforms you from the inside out, can only be found in Jesus Christ who IS our life.

The world attracts our flesh and present many alluring promises, only to disappoint us time and time again. And we deceive ourselves into believing we can have the world and the fullness of Christ together. In these days false teachers like Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes and Rick Warren present a faith structure that embraces the temporal and propels people into seeking earthly success and gain, which in the end may well cost some their souls. Success in this world is a vapor, it is here today but will be gone tomorrow. It has no spiritual substance and it is a system of antichrist. These men and thousands like them are hucksters for Satan. They are the pied pipers of darkness who wear nice clothes and a warm smile but whose mission is sinister.

And in fact there are millions of professing believers who seek the riches and admiration of this world and who have even experienced different levels of worldly success, but that my friends is a very dangerous path. No man can serve two masters. And if you are serving money and yourself, you cannot be serving Christ. And here is the ultimate dilemma. When you set your affections on Christ and refuse to seek that which is below, you still will have to battle your flesh and the forces of darkness. Many will be your victories, but many will be your setbacks. Oh yes, walking in the Spirit is no earthly pleasure cruise and it does not come just from enjoying praise and worship music. No, the life which walks in His footsteps is the path less traveled. It is both laborious and glorious. It is very difficult and yet free from the cares of this world. It is self denying and lifting Him up. It is both rich and poor. It humbles and exalts you. There is nothing in this world that can compare with walking with Jesus, nothing…nothing at all.

This new year will bring increasing challenges to any who wish to live in Christ and offer their lives a living sacrifice. Many will be the challenges that come from the non-religious world, but legion will be the delusions which emanate from the lips and lives that claim to know Christ. Oh yes, the deception within the visible church widens and deepens. The false prophets will expand their dark power and will make disciples after themselves. And with things in this world getting worse by the day, many will follow in their pernicious ways. Millions will be deceived. The entire western American evangelical church will slide into a deeper apostasy and will continue to join hands with false cults and forms of Christianity which are false. The word ecumenical has lost all its meaning since it will become the accepted norm.

But do not allow your heart a moment to contemplate all that is swirling around you. The spirits of darkness will appear as spirits of light and they will contend they offer a new and more productive way to know and follow Christ, but they are lying spirits. There are not and never have been any so called “new ways”. Knowing and following Christ still requires repentance and prayer and self denial and witnessing and a rejection of all that seems right in this world. Yes, with each passing year the deception becomes more powerful and the apostasy widens. But the opportunity to know and experience the glory of the Person of Christ is still available and will provide a fullness of life unspeakable and full of glory!

Is a sliver of truth enough to nourish your soul? Is a quick and passing peek into His glory all you desire? When was the last time you heard an entire message on the cross of Jesus? When was the last time someone preached the crucified life with power and humility? When have you heard an entire message about the resurrection of Jesus and that power being infused into your own spirit? How can we walk in His power and illumination if we never hear of Him or personally seek Him? Why has Jesus become a doctrinal appendage and been muscled out in favor of all kinds of earthly issues? Have we fallen out of love with Jesus while still retaining our dry doctrines?

Is it politics you desire, then you shall have it. Is it nationalism you seek, then it shall be yours. Is money your pursuit, it may be yours. Must you have a constant stream of entertainment, that will come to you easily. Do you enjoy a good moral crusade, then you will be revered within those ranks. But of you desire Christ and all that is Him, then you will have to sacrifice what your flesh desires, and you will have to daily deny yourself. The end is coming, but the end is not yet.

The struggle deepens, the battle intensifies, and the war rages! And a word of caution for us all. We must speak out against the false teachers of our day, but that must never consume us. Like Abram of old, let us not get so caught up in chasing the birds that we leave the Sacrifice. Christ is our life, and it is and always be He who we look for. He is coming in the clouds and His reward is with Him. But until that glorious day He is still our reward. We are the New Testament tribe of Levi who God did not promise material things but to whom promises Himself as our inheritance! Oh my!! Jesus Himself is our inheritance and our glory. And He has granted unto us eternal life by His grace through His faith.

And with eternal life safely and securely tucked away inside us by the power of His matchless grace, who can complain before Him? Who among us should demand more? And as we admit ourselves as unprofitable servants, He makes us His sons. Where is there room to ask for more? We are yours, Jesus, use us fully to Your glory alone, for in that light we find our lives. Let this year, as men measure time, be a year where we are used as vessels fit for the Master’s use, and may Jesus Christ receive all the preeminence!

Amen and amen...