Eternal Life – God’s Mystery

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. Lk 17:12-19

Indeed,

“strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Mat. 7:14)

Only one man saw something different. One man out of ten. That is how difficult it is to see the things of the Spirit.

But first…

It is not written, but the sight of the lepers  standing “afar off” must have shattered Jesus’ heart into a thousand pieces. The compassion that this Man had knew no bounds. And when they begged Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”, knowing He had the power to do what they asked Him to, He couldn’t have been more glad to oblige.

“Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” He spoke casually; but He was excited, for He knew the profound miracle that would befall them along the way.

“And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” (v.14)

Jesus was happy at their cleansing; yet nothing could send Jesus’s heart pounding harder than what happened next. Scripture tells us:

“15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”

The fact that scripture states that this man “turned back” indicates that he did not wait to arrive at the priests’ office. He had no more need of that. He had met God! And having met God, he became alive in his spirit.

The other men went rejoicing, of course. Not that they were thankless, no. They were very happy and thankful. But where, pray, do you think they went? To the priests, of course. They were going to show the physical miracle that had been done for them. These men saw nothing besides the miracle that was done for their bodies.

But their compatriot turned back and came and worshiped the living God. Bye, bye priests!

This man saw something the others did not. As they say, what you see is what you get. For that reason, therefore, Jesus told the man,

“… thy faith hath made thee whole.” (v.19)

We can finally perceive what true faith is. It is seeing into the Spirit. Jesus was now not talking about physical wholeness. That had already been accomplished. Here Jesus was talking about spiritual wholeness. This is the greatest gift a man can receive from God.

When we see God, we get done with the law! Our spirits become alive!! We are free men and women. That means we can worship God in truth and in the Spirit, for the life of God resides in us.

We ought to endeavour to go for the life of God. Christ’s life in us. The Apostle Paul wrote,

“22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified… 24 Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1:22-24)

Paul and those who worked with him did miracles, but they distanced themselves from the miracle ‘ministry’ and the wisdom seekers. They sought after the life of God in them instead.

Lastly,

“… and he was a Samaritan.”

Wow. This man was not a Jew. Jesus called him a “stranger”.

The people in greatest danger of not receiving the life of Christ are, sadly, those of us who claim to be saved.  The problem is, we tend to think in terms of entitlement. For this reason we take the grace of God in vain. But forget about all the rights you think you have in Christ. God’s Kingdom is for those who do not think anything of themselves. That is why Jesus told the Jews:

“If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (Jn. 9:41)

Imagine that. Jesus told them it were far better if they had been blind!

The Apostle Paul said,

“I be nothing” (2 Cor. 12:11)

That was Paul’s perspective of himself.

Recently, I was drawn to read about an American preacher who wears $4,000 shoes. Y’know, just shoes. In America they call them celebrity preachers. I wondered what a man who wears $4,000 shoes thinks of himself.

But what does the healing of our spirits do for us?

We become men and women of grace, for the life of Christ works in us. In 1 Cor. 15:45, the Bible says:

“… the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

The last Adam, Jesus, was a life-giving Spirit. That is what we become when our hearts are touched and changed by the Master.

[A mother and her child arriving home in the evening]

Peddlers of the Gospel, Enemies of the Cross – Part 3

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. 2 Cor. 2:17

There are thousands upon thousands of songs, and an even greater number of sermons, all dealing with the subject of God’s provision for us, material provision in this world. God is involved with that, all right, but that is hardly God’s priority. It is hardly the cause for which Jesus died for. Long before Jesus died on the cross, God was still providing for mankind, the good as well as the evil.

Another scripture upon which doctrine has been built is 1 Peter 2:24: “by whose stripes ye were healed.” This scripture provides one of the most deeply-entrenched doctrines in the Church today. But, while it is true that God promises to heal our physical bodies, why should a doctrine be built out of this?  If there was anything for the Church to build a doctrine on it ought to be 1 Peter 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”

We never seem to realize the gravity of spiritual matters. The healing that God is really concerned with is the healing of our souls. You see, the earthy man has many diseases to contend with: malaria, cancer, flu, diabetes… the list is endless. Some of these sicknesses are ordinary, and others life-threatening. But they are all physical. Not one of these diseases attacks a man’s soul. But with God there is only one disease – sin. This is the only disease that attacks the soul. And sin is such a great disease that all physical ailments combined fade into insignificance when we compare them with this one. That is what all those scriptures about leprosy in the Old Testament were about. There are scriptures upon scriptures in the Old Testament dealing with leprosy, because it was a forerunner of how God would deal with sin.

Jesus was beaten so that we would be healed – healed from sin. What needs healing is your heart. You need a total heart transplant; and I am not talking about that thing that pumps blood around your body. I am talking about the place where your desires and aspirations stay. That is the thing that needs healing and it is what God is busy trying to heal, if you will let him. That is where you have a problem.

As for physical healing, God promises to meet our material and physical needs, including healing for our bodies, and that is enough. We should simply believe that and get on with the business of seeking first the Kingdom of God.

You can become sick and you can even die of an illness. This happens all the time. But when this happens, this other gospel will tell you that you have failed to ‘claim’ your healing. In other words, it brings judgment upon you; and therefore millions of Christians live under condemnation because they are unable to attain to a certain level of faith.

The ‘earthy’ gospel that is being preached today spawns all kinds of sins because it does not deal with the inner man, wherein sin dwells. People prosper financially and materially, but they do not become holy and righteous which is the real requirement that God has for us.

God cannot be angry with you because you do not own a car, or because you have failed to recover from a sickness. But God is displeased with us when we fail to attain to the stature of Christ in the area that really matters with Him – our character. God is displeased when we fail to carry a pure heart, when we fail to forgive.

If I have faith to pray for someone to get healed but cannot forgive my wife or a brother, that ‘faith’ of mine is meaningless with God. It is a useless faith. Many men of God are known as ‘great men of faith’. Unfortunately, God knows them otherwise.

Because of a lack of the revelation of the gospel of the cross of Christ, many preachers today are fornicators, covetous, liars, bribe-takers, lovers of self, lovers of status, and every other sin. When an earthy gospel is being preached, it stokes all kinds of carnal fires within Christians. But its worst qualification is that it does not deal with sin. And sin is exactly what Christ came to die for. This is the purpose for which God revealed a peculiar gospel to the Apostle Paul – the gospel of the cross. It is through an understanding of this gospel alone that a man or woman of God can crucify their carnal natures and bear fruit in their lives of the holy, loving nature of God. It is the revelation of this gospel that the Church today needs.

The Apostle Paul says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

May the Lord help us to know that!