Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. (Isa 7:10-11)
Ahaz appeared righteous by saying he would not test God with a sign (“I will not test the LORD like that”). He sure sounded proud and important when he declared this. His use of ad hominem excuses is almost admirable here. Even though God had actually told him to ask, Ahaz didn’t really want to know what God would say.
Often we use some “Bible” excuse, especially a juicy theological tidbit. Such as not wanting to bother God or blaming some theological question that concerns us—to keep us from communicating with Jesus and in wanting to carry out His express will.
I was once reamed out publically by a family member for trying to say that gays and genders etc were no worse than any other person. We have all sinned and come short. But this person was so proud of all their theological excuses for why I was so wrong. Made sure all my family and friends knew about it. Quoted lots of Bible verses to “prove” it. Jesus didnt seem to matter here. Just self-justification and making sure I appeared wrong, guilty, etc before everyone. Such arrogant words sound just as hollow today as when they came from the mouth of Ahaz back in the day.
CHURCH! Its time to get it right! There is NO ONE who is a little less before God than we are! Period! True story! End of story!
The religion of Christ uplifts the receiver to a higher plane of thought and action, while at the same time it presents the whole human race as equally, alike, as the objects of the love of God. Being purchased by the sacrifice of his Son. “Jesus Christ The Righteous. ” (1 John 2:1)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. (1 John 2:1-3, NIV)
Fenced From Satan’s Attacks
“If any person sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.” How careful is the Lord Jesus to give no occasion for a soul to despair. How He fences about the soul from Satan’s fierce attacks. If through manifold temptations we are surprised or deceived into sin, He does not turn from us and leave us to perish. No! No! that is not our Savior. Christ prayed for us. He was tempted in all points like as we are; and having been tempted, He knows how to succor those who are tempted. {7BC 948.2}
At the feet of Jesus, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, meet together, with no thought of cast or creed or race or tongue or people or any kind of worldly pre-eminence.
All earthly distinctions are forgotten as we look upon Him whom our sins have pierced. The self-denial, the condescension, the infinite compassion of JESUS who was highly exalted in heaven, puts to abject shame and poverty all human pride, self-esteem, and preferential social castes or cliques.
Pure and undefiled religion manifests its heaven-born principles in bringing into oneness all who are sanctified through the truth.
The blood of Jesus is pleading with power and efficacy for those who are back-slidden, for those who are rebellious, for those who sin against great light and love. Satan stands at our right hand to accuse us, and our Advocate stands at God’s right hand to plead for us. (Heb 7:25) JESUS has never lost a case that has been committed to Him. We may trust in our Advocate; for He pleads His own merits in our behalf. Hear His prayer before His betrayal and trial. Listen to His prayer for us; for He had us in remembrance. {7BC 948.5}
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:1-2)
The restoring is to be done, not in a proud, officious, masterly manner, but in the spirit of meekness. Do not cast your brother aside, saying. He has disappointed me, and I shall not try to help we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Heb 12:9-15)
“…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,(Eph 2:12-14)
Be the change that you desire to see in others. (2 Cor 5:17)
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one we are a savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all people; forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to Godward; not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament.” “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. . . . For which cause we faint not; but though our outward person perish, yet the inward person is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Those who profess the name of Christ, are to represent Christ as their pattern and example. They are to unfold to others the truth in its purity, and make known to them what are the privileges and responsibilities of the Christian life; and this can be done by the professed follower of Christ only as they themselves conform their character to the sacred principles of truth. There must be no betrayal of sacred trusts on the part of any one who professes to be a child of God. There must be no obliterating of the line of demarcation between Christians and the world. There must be no bringing down of the truth to a low, common level; for this will dishonor God, who has given an infinite sacrifice in the gift of his Son for the sins of the world. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:5.
By nature the heart is evil, and “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4.
No human invention or policy can find a remedy for the sinning soul.
The fountain of the heart must be purified before the streams can become pure. Anyone who is trying to reach heaven by their own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility. There is no safety for one who has merely a legal religion, a form of godliness. The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. (2 Cor 5:17) There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.
It is God’s Holy Educating Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. God’s holy, educating Spirit is in His word. A light, a new and precious light, shines forth from every page. Truth is there revealed, and words and sentences are made bright and appropriate for the occasion, as the voice of God speaking to the soul. {COL 132.2}
Like the wind, which is invisible, yet the effects of which are plainly seen and felt, is the Spirit of God in its work upon the human heart. That regenerating power, which no human eye can see, begets a new life in the soul; it creates a new being in the image of God. The thoughtless and wayward become serious. The hardened repent of their sins, and the faithless believe. The gambler, the drunkard, the licentious, become steady, sober, and pure. The rebellious and obstinate become meek and Christlike. When we see these changes in the character, we may be assured that the converting power of God has transformed the entire person. Anyone who looks to Christ in simple, childlike faith is made a partaker of the divine nature through the agency of the Holy Spirit. {FLB 55}