Chapter 7 from the book Raised Up (narration)

“For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” 1 Corinthians 11:19

We see in this verse of a truth that “heresies” have a place in God’s overall economy of things as pertains to His justice in dealing with men. Every person is given a choice (Deut. 30:19; Josh. 24:15; Prov. 1:29; Isa. 1:18-20; Rom. 6:16; Rev. 22:17). Those who do not choose to fear Him and therefore love His truth, are sent by Him a “strong delusion.”

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

First deception, then delusion, and ultimately unending “damnation” is the final result to be reaped by all who do not choose to foster in their lives a love for their Creator’s truth.

Eternal life, divine revelation, understanding, and insight are granted to all who are in Christ. The insight (understanding) of Heaven is given to those who humble themselves and follow Christ, who is the Truth—just as He prescribed in His Word (Matt. 11:25; 1 Cor. 2:9-16).

This relationship begins when the individual hears the voice of God calling him to repentance and responds obediently (Jn. 6:44; Acts 3:19). The called person must choose to follow Jesus by denying himself and taking up his cross—dethroning himself and putting God first in his life (Matt. 16:24-25).

The Reason Heresies and Deceivers Prosper

Below are listed two of the reasons fad books become bestsellers, heresies thrive, beguilers flourish, and deception prospers exponentially among millions who claim to be Christians. For these same reasons, millions who claim to be saved will not be ready and admitted into Christ’s kingdom when the Bridegroom returns:

Reason 1:

So many want some man to tell them what their “purpose” is, because they claim to know Jesus and are still running around life in a confused state. Why? Because they have thus far refused to seek His holy face for themselves, pouring over His words and seeking Him in prayer communion. They are therefore empty and still void of any revelation and understanding as to foundational truths revealed in Holy Scripture—like who Jesus really is, why God created man, what went wrong between God and mankind, why Jesus came to the earth, etc.

You see, it is only in going to GOD Himself—the One who created us and died for our sins—that one will ever understand his divinely-given purpose. What is that purpose? It is to glorify our Maker by following Christ in His Gospel—dying, being buried deep with Him in death to self, and seeing His holy hand of power resurrect us to glorify Him!

Reason 2:

Regrettably and astoundingly, one can observe that the vast majority of people in leadership in this late hour refuse to point people to the Source; they would rather BE the source! They refuse to lay down their own lives and thereby be instruments of Jesus to build His true Church as they point people to Him alone—to His Word and their need to know it themselves and to seek God in prayer fervently and perpetually. These are hirelings and “IDOL shepherds,” and by them there has been induced on the earth “famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Zech. 11:17; Amos 8:11). As He warned us all, many of God’s people have already waxed cold in their hearts, leaving their “first love,” and are forfeiting their relationship and eternity with Him due to being “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6; Matt. 24:10-13; Rev. 2:4-5).

Any man in leadership who is not teaching people that they don’t need him, but they need JESUS, and is not teaching them to “seek ye out of the book of the Lord (for themselves) and read,” is a self-serving, vile and venomous wolf! (Read Isa. 34:16; Col. 2:18-19; 2 Tim. 2:15.) Due to personal rebellion and the epidemic of wolves, many are void of the understanding of their own need to draw nigh to the LORD in repentance and seek the face of the LORD for themselves, putting Jesus first in all things as they lay down their lives that He might reign in and through them (Lk. 9:23-24; 13:3, 5; 14:33).

The Glorious 66!

While driving my car recently I was listening to a radio program that airs every morning for three hours. The host reads from another man’s book. He narrates man’s words to his large listening audience, which listens and apparently does not object. I suspect that those who are blessed to be brought into the light by the truth, cannot bear or do not have ears for such. As usual, what he was reading from a mere man’s book was God-less conjecture, human philosophy, foolish psychology, and reasoning, etc. Whatever happened to God’s Word? Where did the Holy Scriptures disappear to? Where are those who are zealous for the LORD and therefore His holy words?! What about God’s glorious 66 books?! This man and so many others today, have displaced God’s words for those inferior and temporal reasonings, philosophies, theories, and rationalisms of mere sinful men.

Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. ~ Colossians 2:8

Those who migrate to the words and philosophies of mere men, esteeming them higher than the words of God, demonstrate that they are idolaters and “savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matt. 16:23; Ezek. 14:3; Jn. 5:39-44). Jesus draws a conclusion concerning those who “savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” He infers that they are of “Satan” (Matt. 16:23).

The Son of God says of religionists that they will not come to Him, even though they are zealous of their religion and its beliefs (Mk. 7:6-10; Jn. 5:39-44).

Always remember that true disciples have an ear for God’s words, and like Paul the apostle, all obedient and faithful messengers of the LORD are mere conduits of His Holy Spirit and truth, so that men’s affections and faith of their audience “should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 4:7).

And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with MY WORDS  unto  them. ~  Ezekiel 3:4

We see clearly in this passage, that when God sends a man to speak to His people, He sends that man to speak GOD’s words and not his own or anyone else’s words or message!

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.  Amen. ~   1 Peter 4:11

The Bible tells us that Jesus will reward those who love and serve Him (instead of self) faithfully. They will be blessed now and forever with His joy.

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ~ Matthew  25:23

What Kind of Messenger are You?

As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters. ~ Proverbs 25:13

Even when it’s snowing and cold, “a faithful messenger” is faithful to serve his master and get the job done. No matter what the inconvenience, no matter what temptations come to move us off of God’s Word, we must remain diligently faithful to our LORD and give forth His pure Word “in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2-4).

The Master, Jesus, is well pleased at all the “faithful messenger(s)” who obey Him by letting Him speak for Himself, as they simply communicate the “preserve(d)” and “purified” words of holy truth (Ps. 12:6-7; Prov. 30:5).

Jesus says of the Father’s Word, “Thy word is truth,” and so we know God’s words and truth are synonymous—they are one (Jn. 17:17). There is no need to search the Universe for the truth—God has already given it to man in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Scriptures. God’s Word is divine wisdom, truth, and His perfect will. Those who know Him embrace Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life” and communicate those things which He has spoken to us and are recorded in His written Word (Jn. 14:6; 17:17). 

He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit. ~ Proverbs 12:17

Did you catch that truth? Read the verse above again please. Those who speak God’s Word show it forth or display it, while those who speak any other message are false witnesses—they are full of deceit that the LORD desires to circumcise or cut away out of their hearts.

And is it not obvious that, just as it is a crime to disturb the peace when truth reigns, it is also a crime to remain at peace when the truth is being destroyed? … Weaklings are those who know the truth but maintain it only (when) in their interest to do so, and (otherwise) forsake it. ~ Blaise Pascal

The crucified disciple migrates toward and acquiesces to divine truth, while shunning and despising that which is contrary (Ps. 119:104, 128; Isa. 8:20). His heart has been and is being circumcised to hear God’s words, as he has and continues to “buy the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23). His heart says with Paul, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). He embraces what Jesus stated concerning His words— “The scripture cannot be broken” (Jn. 10:35). Like Jeremiah, members of the “little flock” of the Father seek out and devour the words of their LORD (Lk. 12:32):

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. ~ Jeremiah 15:16

Christ’s saints value His truth. It is more important than their “necessary food” (Job 23:12).

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. ~ Job 23:12

The LORD is pleased to grant “ears to hear” to those who participate with Him in the process of circumcision of their hearts (Php. 3:3; 2 Tim. 4:2-4; Rev. 2-3).

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. ~ Acts 7:51

The religious person, who is hardened by sinful pride and is therefore “stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,” has no appetite for the Word. Those who are genuinely “born again” by the “incorruptible seed” of “the word of God,” “have tasted (experienced)” and seen “that the Lord is gracious.” These invariably delight in and “desire the sincere (pure) milk of the word.”

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever … As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. ~      1 Peter 1:23; 2:2-3

“Affections”

According to the divine economy, in order to locate where we stand with Christ, we need not look any further than our appetites, affections, and what we have ears to hear. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24).

“They that are Christ’s” have the “affections” of their hearts set upon Jesus and the things and work that pertain to His kingdom, and not the things of this sinful world system (Jn. 4:27; James 4:4; 1 Jn. 2:14-17). They migrate to and delight in meditating upon and talking about Christ by communing in His wonderful Word (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:1-2; Col. 3:16). Those who are not born again, or are not presently abiding in relationship with Jesus, find no pleasure in His words or in talking about Him. Concerning those who do not remain in Christ (remain saved after being saved), Jesus told us that they will be “cast forth as a branch, and … withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn. 15:6). They are carnal and cannot please God.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ~ Romans 8:5-8

Note: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” This is how we can test whether we are of God or against Christ (Matt. 6:24; 12:30). One’s mere verbal profession doesn’t guarantee he is truly saved, especially if there is not clear fruit to prove that there is a soul-saving relationship with Christ (Matt. 3:7-10; Tit. 1:16; James 2).

The person who is not hungering for more of Christ, is not devouring His Word, does not have a life of prayer, and does not financially support the LORD’s work, is clearly not bearing fruit consistent with a true disciple. The fruit of his life plainly reveals that he is what the LORD terms “carnally minded” and is therefore abiding in spiritual “death”—separation from God.

When a person belongs to Christ, the fruit of his life testifies of that fact clearly with what he does and where his focus is—on heavenly things, rather than on earthly (Matt. 6:19-21; Php. 3:18-21; Col. 3:1-4).

They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. ~ Titus 1:16

Without exception, the person who is given over to the LORD is given over to His cause. What concerns God concerns him. His finances, actions, and heart are behind Christ’s Gospel (Matt. 6:19-21). He is about his Father’s business and not his own (Lk. 2:49). What business the LORD declared and demonstrated to be important, is important to the truly saved person.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. ~ Luke 14:33

There’s a simple fruit-checker to see if we are walking in the Spirit or in the flesh—if we mind His things, we are of Him, and if we don’t, we aren’t. The mind which sets its affections upon the LORD is a mind filled with divine grace. The true disciple is busy with the work that is important to Christ. The man with such a mind is kept in “perfect peace,” because he is presenting himself a living sacrifice to the LORD, and his mind is set upon things above and not on the things of the earth (Rom. 12:1-2; Col. 3:1-4).

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. ~ Isaiah 26:3

In contrast, those who have their minds set upon the things of this world prove they are serving themselves and not the LORD.

(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction [hell], whose God is their belly [carnal, self-serving appetites], and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) ~ Philippians 3:18-19

Those who have been and are being circumcised in heart, as they are daily and perpetually “crucified with Christ” turn away from and expose lies, and they have “ears” for and a love for divine truth given to us in the written Word. The affections of their hearts are set upon Christ and His coming and everlasting kingdom, and not on the things of this sin-cursed temporal world. They are therefore busy dying, that His power and grace might reign in them to the cutting away of anything in their lives that does not bring God glory.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and coveteousness, which is idolatry. ~ Colossians 3:1-5

Only the work of the Holy Spirit, through the inner working of the cross, can bring about the sanctified life which includes upward affections and a circumcised, broken, contrite, humble heart of flesh that responds perfectly and delightfully to the voice and words of the Savior (Ps. 4:3; 40:8; 1 Jn. 5:3).

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings … ¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? ~ Jeremiah 4:3-4, 14 

Circumcision involves the cutting away and removal of that which is excess. It was the sign of the covenant of the LORD with His people Israel and is also the sign or fruit of His work in all of His people today.

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. ~ Romans 2:28-29

What was physical under the Old Covenant, is spiritual under the New.

All whom He saves are positionally crucified with Christ and yet must buy into and participate in the Gospel by dying, being buried, and trusting and allowing God to raise them up. We who have been born again have been crucified with Christ and circumcised inwardly and are to follow suit “daily” in this crucified life (Lk. 9:23-24; Rom. 6:3-7; Gal. 2:20; 5:24).

According to the above passage from the prophet Jeremiah, “vain thoughts” must be taken away or circumcised from the hearts of God’s people. If a person does not hear God’s Word, it is clear that they are not His—they are not set apart by Him in salvation and for His use.

“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:47). Here Christ makes it crystal clear that those “of God heareth God’s words” and those “not of God” refuse to hear, embrace, and do them. Those who steer away from God’s Word, do not get into it for themselves, and have no hunger for it are simply “not of God” according to the Almighty Himself. Jesus told us that those who are ashamed of Him or of His words are not of Him and will not be going to Heaven (Matt. 7:21; Mk. 8:38).

Jesus told us that “God is a Spirit,” and if a person does not worship Him “in spirit and in truth” it is because that person does not know Him and is not known of Him. Christ said that this was a “must” essential.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him MUST worship him in spirit and in truth. ~ John 4:23-24

The only way that an individual can be saved and serve God “in spirit and in truth” is to be “born again” (Jn. 3:1-8; Tit. 3:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:23). When he is born again and continues abiding in Jesus, he will worship God in the Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh or the fleshly things of mere men.

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. ~ Philippians 3:3

It is only when the cross of Christ has had its way in circumcising a man’s heart that he can delight in God. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law (Word) is within my heart” (Ps. 40:8).

The cross and its mortifying of the sinful nature separates the heart from carnality, hardness, deceit, filthiness, and self-will, allowing it to hear clearly and respond obediently (Jer. 4:3-4, 14; Ezek. 36:26; Hos. 10:12; Acts 15:9; Rom. 8:13-14; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 3:12-15; 13:9).

Those whose hearts are full of self instead of the Savior, “heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears … And … turn away their ears from the truth” (2 Tim. 4:3). These who have a mere “form of godliness” and are “lovers of their own selves,” help fulfill the prophecies of the exponential multiplicity of deceivers in this last hour— “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13).

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ~ 2 Timothy 4:2-4

All leaders who do not communicate His pure Word are false teachers and are only supported by those whose hearts are not given over to Christ (2 Tim. 4:3-4; Heb. 13:9). His “faithful messenger(s)”    are joyfully overflowing with the “treasures” He has deposited in their “earthen vessels,” and their cups run/spill over onto those they serve with the Gospel (Ps. 23:5; 2 Cor. 4:7).

The Psalmist prayed thus concerning evil communicators who spawn and propagate heresies that lead people away from Jesus: “Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth” (Psalms 140:11).

It’s only as men are not circumcised in heart and ear that they allow, endorse, enable, condone, support, and cause false prophets to prosper as they “bid Godspeed” to them (2 Jn. 7-11).

Only dead men, men who are truly “crucified with Christ,” men who are in their personal lives preferring the LORD above themselves, can and will be filled with the life of Christ and speak His holy words faithfully and with His anointing. Many today who hold positions of leadership and influence simply do not want to die.

The flesh, smiling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross; before that cross it bows and toward that cross it points with carefully staged histrionics – but upon that cross it will not die, and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear. ~ A.W. Tozer, The Divine Conquest

It’s only misled men who mislead men. Misled men are men who deny the daily cross Christ commanded us to take up (Lk. 9:23-24). Un-crucified men will deny Christ by delivering a message different from the one He delivered.

A third defect in our message is our tendency to keep the terms of discipleship hidden until a decision has been made for Jesus. Our LORD never did this. The message He preached included the cross as well as the crown … We popularize the message and promise fun. The result of all this is that we have people believing without knowing what they believe (with) no doctrinal basis for their decision. They do not know the implications of commitment to Christ. They have never experienced the mysterious, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. ~ William MacDonald, “  Evangelical Dilemma”  Milk  & Honey, 4/07, p. 4

It’s only as we cry out for Him to “increase” and as we ourselves “decrease,” that Christ’s power, life, and message can reign in our mortal bodies (Jn. 3:30; 2 Co. 4:10-12). Only those whose lives are laid down can possibly be raised up by Him to be used of Him, and they by His divine “ability” make Jesus known— “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11).

Do we have ears to hear “what the Spirit saith unto the churches” in this late hour? (Read Rev. 2-3.) It’s only as we are flattened, prostrate, and bowed down before His Majesty that He will elevate us in His power, wisdom, and grace (divine ability) to know Him and to be used of Him. We are not worthy to be saved into His family or used of Him, and without Christ, we “can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5; Tit. 3:5-6).

Are You Truly “Crucified with Christ”?

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20

Be it known that only crucified men can glorify God and only crucified men do not mislead others, nor do they follow false prophets who are the enemies of Christ and the cross of Christ. They have ears to hear and a heart to faithfully embrace the words of the One they love supremely—Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Father, please break me. Crush me that I might be abased in Thy holy presence and thereby preserved of You. Grant a teachable and contrite heart, Holy Father. Give me a heart after You and ears to hear what You would say to Your people in this late hour. I love You, Jesus, and thank You for dying to mediate between God and men. I am crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Capture Points

• Discuss in detail what divine truth is being conveyed to us in 1 Corinthians 11:19. As usual, remember to bring in other passages (Isa. 28:9-10; 1 2:13; 2 Cor. 13:1).
• Carefully and prayerfully write out Colossians 2:8 on an index card.
• Prayerfully and biblically talk about 2 Timothy 4:2-5.

The Laid Down Life [podcast]

Isaiah’s Call and Commission [podcast]

“He that Loveth Pureness of Heart” [podcast]