One Bad Tomato

Yes, I am back on that rant. You know, the one you hate to talk about but deep down inside you know it needs to be discussed. Yup, that's right I'm going off again about separation. Separation from sinners to be exact. I lead a small Bible Study group and this is a topic that has been the source of great debate on more than one occasions. On one occasion some argued that we have been redeemed to be the salt and light of this earth therefore what sense would it be to go light a place that already has light or go be salt in a salty place. They argued that it would make more sense if we took our light to the darkest of places and took our salt to the blandest of areas. Others argued that we are to love everyone, is not the second greatest commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mt. 22:39)? And still there were those who maintained that even Jesus Christ himself was a friend of publicans and sinners (Lu. 7:34). If you've read some of my previous blogs, you will know that my stand has always been, and will always be, that we need to come out from among this untoward generation and separate ourselves from sinners. So as you might have guessed these arguments threw me off a bit. Until, that is, I did some research.

Yes, it is true that we have been called to be the salt and light to this earth, but the scripture goes on to say "but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" and also "a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house" (Mt. 5:13-15). What do you think makes salt lose its savor? What do you think is the bushel under which a light should not be hid? Sin! Sin is what makes us lose our savor and hide our lights under bushels. So what am I saying? While we are the salt and light of the earth, we must be careful not to let ourselves get contaminated by sin.

So yes, it is true that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves but the word of God also says, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat" (1 Co. 5:11). The Bible also says "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Co. 6:14). Huh! There it is! That word again… darkness. So you're saying that to have fellowship with unrighteousness is to make your light commune with darkness, to hide your light under a bushel? Yessiry Bob! That's exactly what I, and the word of God, are saying.

So how come Jesus Christ was a friend of publicans and sinners (Mt. 9:9-11)? Well let's see what kind of "friendship" Jesus had with these publicans. One publican of note we can look at is Mathew. Look at how Jesus made friends with Mathew, "And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Mathew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him" (Mt. 9:9). Did you see that? Jesus simply walked up to Mathew and commanded Mathew to follow Him, and what did Mathew do? He followed Jesus! Although Mathew was a publican, he heeded the savior's call and left his old life behind to follow Jesus and become His disciple.

When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees about sitting down to have dinner with publicans and sinners he said, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" implying that He was the physician come to make the publicans and sinners, who were sick, whole. But wait a minute; is it not necessary for a man to first admit to himself that he is sick for him to be able to take himself to the doctor? These publicans and sinners who came to dine with Jesus knew they were sinners and came looking for someone to save them from their wretched states. These people are what we would call repentant people. And what does God do for all those who repent? He forgives their sins and makes them whole. So is it safe to say that those publicans and sinners who came to Jesus were made whole, or forgiven of their sins, by the physician? I would think so.

Such are the sinners we are to have communion with; those who know they are sinners and are looking for a savior. These are the people we will lead to Jesus with our lights and savor with our salt. The sinners we need to separate ourselves from are the kind even Jesus Christ himself did not have communion with, the kind who think they are whole and therefore have no need of a physician. But why is it important for us to steer clear of sinners? Well, I love using the children of Israel as an example because there is a lot that we can learn from them. When the children of Israel had finally settled into their promised land they resorted to serving other gods, which resulted in God delivering them into captivity over and over again (see the book of Judges). But what I want to know is where did these false gods come from?

The Israelites had been instructed by God to destroy all the inhabitants of the land God gave them and not to make any sort of pact with them (Ex. 34:12, Nu. 33:52-55). When the children of Israel moved into their promised land, however, the failed to completely drive out the Canaanites and instead made a deal with them that the Canaanites would be their servants (Jud. 1:28). This is where the false gods that the Israelites began worshipping came from, from the very Canaanites that they had refused to completely drive out. Because they failed to obey God and separate themselves from these evil people God said, "I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you" (Jud. 2:3). These evil associations that we fight so hard to keep will, in the long run, become thorns in our sides and a snare unto us.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that by hanging out with sinners you will somehow make them turn to God. Putting one rotten tomato in a basket of good tomatoes makes all the tomatoes go bad, despite the fact that the good tomatoes are more in number than the one bad tomato. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" 1 Co. 15:33. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful" (Ps. 1:1). "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed" (Pr. 13:20). Ladies and Gentlemen, need I say more?

Remember!

I have been going through an especially hard time these last few weeks. Everything around me seems to be going down the drain, and nothing I try seems to be working out. The harder I try to fix things, the more messed up they get. And so I sat there disappointed, miserable, and just about ready to quit, and asked God what needed to be done to overcome this. Where is my deliverance going to come from? I wailed. How will I receive my breakthrough? I begged. And in the awesome ways in which the Lord speaks to me, He said one thing to me "remember".

Remember?! Remember what? How am I going to overcome my present situation by remembering my past? Why would I even want to remember my past, it's not a pleasant one. But the Lord kept impressing upon me to "remember". So remember I did. I remembered my horrible past and the pit I had myself in, but I also remembered how the Lord dug me out and set my feet on solid ground. I remembered the various mistakes I've made and how I could have avoided them all, but I also remembered how the Lord forgave each and everyone one of my mistakes and washed me in His blood. I remembered how my back has been up against the wall more times than I'd like to count, but I also remembered how the Lord has delivered me and made a way out for me each and everyone one of those times.

Life is not a straight road; it's a winding road with twists and turns, and ups and downs. The only thing that remains constant in life is God. He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (He. 13:8). And so when nothing seems to make sense and everything that should be right-side up is upside down remember the Lord. Keep your mind focused on what He has done for you and it will remind you of what He CAN and WILL do for you. Don't believe that remembering will bring you through? Let's see what scripture has to say.

When the children of Israel were finally settled into their promised land, and all the naysayers had died in the wilderness, they quickly turned to serving other gods (Jud 2:11-12). The reason they did this is because these new children of Israel did not know the wonderful works of the Lord. The old generation that had seen God part the Red Sea, pour manna from above, and make water spring forth from a rock had died. Even Joshua's generation that had seen God deliver the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites into the hand of the Israelites had died off. This new generation of Israelites did not know what the God of their fathers was capable of. They did not remember what God had done for them. Therefore, it was easy for them to turn to other gods and worship them because to them all gods were the same.

"And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, the he did for Israel" (Jud 2:7). When Joshua and the elders died no one remembered the great works of the Lord. "And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after then, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel" (Jud 2:10).

So what did the Lord do so that this new generation would cease from worshipping false gods and return to Him? He stopped fighting their battles for them (Jud 2:21). Whenever this new generation of Israelites forgot God and started worshipping other gods, he delivered them into captivity. When they remembered God and put away their idols He delivered them. Over and over again throughout the book of Judges we see this cycle repeating itself. God's chosen people forgetting Him and getting beaten up, then remembering Him and getting delivered. As I said before, God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. That means His ways and His methods do not change.

While God does not, today, deliver us into the hands of our enemies when we forget Him, He does test us to see whether we will remember Him even in times of great distress. The reason God kept delivering the children of Israel into the hands of their enemies when they would turn to other gods is because He wanted to "prove (test) Israel whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not" (Jud 2:22). God still tests His children today to see whether we will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as our fathers did keep it, or not.

So the next time you find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place "Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth" (1 Chr. 16:11-12). Remember how he brought you out of your own Egypt and delivered you from sin. Remember how he parted the Red Sea in your life and you walked on dry ground. Remember all that the Lord has brought you through and "seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth" (Ps. 105:4-5).

Cling to the hope that the same God who rescued you way back when can still rescue you today. Be like Jonah who said, "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple" (Jona. 2:7). Everyone "remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them" (Ec. 12:1). Like Moses admonished the children of Israel, let us "only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and they sons' sons" (De. 4:9).

Remembering the Lord's goodness will bring you out of whatever situation you're in because it's only by remembering His goodness that we can begin to praise Him. Like one evangelist said, "praise inspires God's creativity". When we praise God we move Him to do the impossible. So remember God's goodness today and praise your way right out of that rut!

Holy Ghost Filled!

This is a lesson I taught last week at Bible Study. I am posting it on my blog upon special request from a very wise person who asked me to discuss the evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost.

What Is The Holy Ghost?

- It is God in activity as Spirit.

o We all know that God is one (De.6:4), He robbed himself in flesh and came to earth to die for our sins (Jn. 1:1, 14, 1 Ti. 3:16).

o So God is the father in creation, the son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in ACTION (2 Co. 3:17, 1 Jn. 5:7).

- It is God’s spirit in us.

o When Jesus ascended back into heaven he promised that he would not leave us comfortless, that he would come to us; that is, he would put his spirit within us so that we would have him with us at all times (Jn. 14:16-18).

o We are the temple that God has chosen to dwell in and that is why his spirit dwells in us (1 Co. 3:16, 1 Co. 6:19-20).

- It is a gift and a promise to all believers.

o The outpouring of God’s spirit on all men was prophesied of in the Old Testament, and we all know that God’s word does not return to him void but that it accomplishes whatever it has been sent out to do (Jl. 2:28-29, Zec. 12:10).

o In the New Testament the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon all flesh was promised to all believers following the ascension of Jesus into heaven (Mt. 3:11, Lu. 11:13, Lu. 24:49, Jn. 7:38-39).

o The promise of the Holy Ghost is for every single person who believes in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:39).

How Do You Know You Have Received The Holy Ghost?

- Speaking in tongues is the initial sign.

o Jesus said that after we receive the Holy Ghost (His spirit) we would receive power to do great works and speak in new tongues (Mk. 16:17).

o The first time the Holy Ghost was poured out on all men (the day of Pentecost) they spoke with other tongues and that is how they knew that the Holy Ghost Jesus had promised them had been poured out on them (Ac. 2:3-4).

o The first time the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Gentiles they spoke in tongues and that is how the Jews knew that the promise of the Holy Ghost had been extended to the Gentiles (Ac. 10:45-46).

o When the Holy Ghost was poured out on John the Baptist’s disciples, they spoke in tongues and that is how Paul knew they had received the Holy Ghost (Ac. 19:1-6).

o It was prophesied in the Old Testament that God would speak to His people with “stammering lips and other tongues” (Is. 28:11).

Why Do We Need The Holy Ghost?

- It is necessary for salvation.

o Jesus said except a man is born of water (baptized) and of the SPIRIT (receives the Holy Ghost) he would not enter into the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:5).

o On the day of Pentecost when the church was founded the disciples told everyone who believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they needed to repent, be baptized in Jesus’ name for the remission of their sins, and RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST (Ac. 37-39).

o The early church emphasized believers receiving the Holy Ghost because they understood its importance (Ac. 19:1-6, Ac. 8:14-17).

o If we do not have the spirit of God in us, we are not His (Ro. 8:9).

o After we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are sealed with His spirit, that is how we know that we are a part of Him (Ep. 1:13).

- The Holy Ghost bears witness to the spiritual adoption of believers.

o Receiving the Holy Ghost confirms that we are the children of God (Ro. 8:14-16, Ga. 4:6).

o When we receive the Holy Ghost we become part of Christ’s family and therefore are entitled to all of God’s promises to believers (1 Jn. 3:24, 1 Jn. 4:13).

- It is the Holy Ghost that teaches.

o When we are witnessing to others about Jesus it is the Holy Ghost that gives us the words to speak (Lu. 12:12, 1 Co. 2:13).

o When we are reading the word of God it is the Holy Ghost that teaches us and helps us remember what we read (Jn. 14:26, 1 Jn. 2:27).

o When we pray it is the Holy Ghost that teaches us how to pray and what to pray for because we do not know how to pray or what to pray for ourselves (Ro. 8:26-27, 1 Co. 15).

- The Holy Ghost guides us into all truth.

o The Holy Ghost reveals to us what is truth, that is what is of God and what is not, and things to come (Ez. 36:27, Jn. 16:13).

o The Holy Ghost directs believers where to go and what to do (Ac. 10:19-20, Ac. 16:6, Ac. 13:2).

- The Holy Ghost gives life or strengthens.

o We are spiritually dead without the spirit of God in us (Jn. 6:63, 2 Co. 3:6).

o The Holy Ghost strengthens our mortal bodies to overcome anything, even death (Ro. 8:11, 1 Pe. 3:18).

- The Holy Ghost gives believers power.

o The disciples received the power to do greater works than Christ after they received the Holy Ghost, so will we (Lu. 24:49, Ac. 1:8).

o It is after we receive the Holy Ghost that “rivers of living water shall flow out of our bellies” (Jn. 7:38-39).

o After we receive the Holy Ghost then we can receive the gifts of the spirit which are word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues (Jl. 2:28, 1 Co. 12:8-11).