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2 Chron 19:4-9
"And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city,
And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.
Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem.
And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.
And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in your cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass."
BROUGHT THEM BACK TO THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS
This is EXACTLY what we need today in the body of Christ. Sadly the body of Christ is sick, because her members have made her sick, so much so that our Saviour Himself has said he would "spue thee out of my mouth, ... be zealous therefore and repent" Rev 3:16 & 19
Speaking of zeal, here are some words preached on that very verse, in 1628, From: A Coal From The Altar, To Kindle The Holy Fire of Zeale by Samuel Ward:
"Zeale hath been little practised, less studied: this heavenly fire hath ever been a stranger upon earth. Few in all ages that have felt the heat of it, fewer that have known the nature of it. A description will rake it out of the embers of obscurity: and it may be that many when they shall know it better, will better affect it.
Zeale hath in this our earthly molde, little fuel, much quench-coale, is hardly fired, soone cooled. A good Christian therefore would be glad to know the Incentives and preservatives of it, which might enkindle it, enflame it, feed it, and revive it when it is going out."
We need this holy zeal, this fire in the church today. Not the fake stuff. There's too much fakery that goes on in the name of God and His Son; either denial of His power, or emotionalism masquerading as His power. Both are equally wicked. Dead as Sardis or as flamboyant as Jezebel; a church with little repentance, making mockery of holiness, bringing the world in to entice gullible souls in hopes of getting them into the church; making them a twofold more child of hell than themselves just as the pharisees were judged of doing.
They say "judge not" - hands off, you can't judge, but yea, the Scripture says judge righteous judgment, and read on in Matthew 7 if you're gonna use that verse, because it says remove the beam out of your own eye, then you can see clearly to remove the mote out of your brothers. If you are living in sin, then don't try to correct someone else; repent of your own sin first, but if you're living in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, walking in His righteousness who hath called you, then surely you may judge. Just be sure that too is in the Spirit and love.
And that's exactly what verses 5 & 6 say here, and note, the judgment must be of God not man, for there is no respect of persons, nor iniquity with him.
1 Corinthians 6:2-4
"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church."
Let the fear of the LORD be upon you. The Hebrew word "pachad" here means literally fear, terror, dread. It can mean awe, but a fearful awe. How many times I've heard in a sermon "fear just means reverence, that's all it means." LIES! See, we've lost the fear of God, therefore we think we can do what we want and He winks at sin. Well, He don't! He don't for one minute wink at sin!
Now in verse 9 where it says "Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully.." that fear "yare" can mean to revere, reverence, piety, but also means terror as well. "And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." (Heb. 11:21) "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling..." (Phil. 2:12) Fear there's "phobos" - fear, dread, terror, alarm or fright.
2 Corinthians 7:1
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." That's New testament right there, and "ekphobos" means stricken with fear or terror, exceedingly frightened.
Jonathan Edwards preached back in 1741,
"There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. " Do we hear this kind of preaching today? It's rare. We need thundering prophets calling people to repentance, out, away from the world and its vanities, separated from Babylon and Sodom and Egypt. And get Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt OUT of the church!
James Durham (1622-1658) wrote in his message, Faith No Fancy,
"So few of you tremble at the Word of God. This is given as a property of a suitable hearer of the Gospel to whom the Lord will look (Isa 66:1-2), that he is one who trembles at the Word. But the most part of you that hear the Gospel are like these pillars on which the house stands who are never so much as once moved by the Word."
Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. See, there is the convergence of Old and New; Chronicles, Corinthians. "Well, no ones perfect" you say? I've heard such nonsense preached: "we all make mistakes, we're all going to sin." Go ahead and give license! That's what's being preached in these mushy easy grace churches. Ain't in the Bible. Repent is in the Bible. A call to holy living is in the Bible: it's in the Bible from cover to cover. Righteousness is in the Bible. Purity is in the Bible.
Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
2 Corinthians 13:11 "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you"
Philippians 3:12-16 "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing."
Perfect, complete, mature, consummate human integrity and virtue. Complete in mental and moral character. That's what it means. Now I don't teach sinless perfection as the Quakers of old, though I love their sermons, and would be a good word to follow. But I believe in something close to it. Otherwise much of 1 John couldn't be in the Bible. "These things write I unto you that ye sin not....Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him....Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God...We know that we know him IF we keep his commandments." Lots of "IFs" in the Bible. They get neglected, glossed over. They should be preached and let the fear of God be in our hearts to truly behold what the Holy Word says!
"Everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him...In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." I'm just throwing random verses out there from 1 John. Some say that's only talking about habitual sin, or continuing in sin. Does it say that? It doesn't say that! We should be letting the Holy Spirit search our hearts DAILY, no, every MOMENT, to see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me, try me, David cried in the Psalms.
Speaking of David in the Psalms, John Wycliffe around 1360 AD wrote,
"So our Lord the Father of heaven had mankind in hell, that was glassine: that is to say, brittle as glass. To break it he brought such a little red worme, that was our Lord Jesus Christ - as David saith the one & twenty Psalme: Ego sum vermis & non homo - I am a worm & no man. And with his blood he delivered man kinde."
Wycliffe knew about the little red worm, the "tolath" in Hebrew תּוֹלַעַת, used for its dark crimson dye; this particular worm, common in Israel, attaches to a tree, lays her eggs, when they hatch they feed on the mothers blood for 3 days, then she dies. The red dye from the towla was also used on the High priests robes. What a perfect type of Christ used in Psalm 22! I know Wycliffe said Psalm 21 but chapters were different in the 1300s. Point being, the BLOOD of Christ shed for us on that brutal cross is what paid for our sins, and largely we are ungrateful. Should we not WANT to serve Him who died such a death, and offered such a sacrifice? Why would so many take Christ so lightly, and then look for excuses TO sin rather than seek the power to OVERCOME sin, and be done with it?
The Holy Ghost is calling for the church to be brought back unto the LORD God of their fathers.
"And take heed what ye do. Let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Do this in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, with a perfect heart, and ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren. This do, and ye shall not trespass."
Thomas Watson (1620-1686) had this to say about Godly sorrow for your sin:
"1) Some are naturally of a more rugged disposition, of higher spirits, and are not easily brought to stoop. These must have greater humiliation, as a knotty piece of timber must have greater wedges driven into it.
(2) Some have been more heinous offenders, and their sorrow must be suitable to their sin. Some patients have their sores let out with a needle, others with a lance. Flagitious (extremely wicked) sinners must be more bruised with the hammer of the Law."
Oh how the LORD has used that verse from Jeremiah with me: His word like a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock to pieces. The sinner MUST be broken. You must be made to see the gravity of your offenses before a holy God. How do you react to a festering, stinking pile of poop? How about a rancid, rotting, dead thing? It's overpowering. It's overwhelming. You can't stand the stench of it. It makes you sick. THAT is what OUR SIN is to Almighty God! It's why Jesus says to the Laodiceans he will spew them out of his mouth. He says that to a professing church, NOT the world. But a worldly church.
Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
He ain't saying that to the world, to unbelievers. That's addressed to the church, yet I've heard only ONE sermon in 38 years as a believer where the preacher used it to address the church! All the rest were for salvation messages to the lost. It's a sobering thing when you think of Jesus OUTSIDE of His church knocking to get in. That's exactly what this implies. You all pushed Him out, pushed Him away if you're living like this Laodicean church was. Rich and in need of nothing. You got it all. You're comfortable in your nice glittery church, with the smooth minister speaking soothing things. He or she won't offend you very much because after all, you're their meal ticket.
So many churches won't preach against sin, won't preach on hell; afraid to preach on prophecy and end times. They don't preach the blood, or if they do, it's used out of context like a magical formula. It's all entertainment, self esteem, pop psychology, all kind of false teachings. Fourth dimension. Not in the Bible but it's being preached. Paul Yonggi Cho came up with that. Biggest church in the world in Korea, but he teaches new age junk. Speaking something into existence is reserved for God Almighty, the Creator YAHWEH, and when people do it, that's an OCCULT practice! Visualization, manifesting dreams, etc - all this is unscriptural junk that's crept into the church and taken root there.
Thank God there ARE still some churches out there preaching the truth, and living it. HalleluYAH! But it's a remnant.
Christians who embrace all these false teachings are dabbling in hell fire, gambling their very souls, and only the LORD most High knows if they are saved, but so as by fire, and their works shall be burnt up as the wood, hay, and stubble that they are. Not everyone who says LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of the Father. There'll be many who even say, we prophesied, and cast out devils, and did many wonderful works, and the Lord Jesus shall profess to them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
BROUGHT THEM BACK TO THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS
Do you want to test the LORD with your shallow profession, embracing sin, and aligning yourself with the world and vanity? Shall we test the LORD by seeking THINGS, blessings, materialism, heaping up treasures of Laodicea against the last day when God shall judge the hearts of men by His Gospel? You'll be judged by the Word of God, not the teachings of your church or pastor - so it be best if your church and pastor line up with the Word.
Repentance, holiness, falling upon the mercy of God, weeping over your vile sins, getting a revelation of what Christ did for you on the cross, shedding his blood like that red worm: just receive Him, and eat of Him, drink of Him; crucify your flesh with its affections and lusts. No one time little cute prayers all innocent. Pray without ceasing. Cry out in agony for your sins, open your heart that the Holy Spirit put His conviction on you, so that it truly bothers you. It SHOULD bother you. If your sin don't bother you, you ain't getting a true revelation of God.
Seek Him till you get that repentance, till you turn from your wicked ways, till sin becomes so disgusting to you that you renounce it, and flee far far from it.
The time is short. Return to the faith of the fathers, the faith of the Apostles, the true faith of the Gospel.
Luke 24:26-27,
"Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Behooved is binding, essential, necessary. Absolutely essential that Christ suffer, and die, and rise from the dead. And that repentance and remission: repentance be preached. Paul told King Agrippa that men "should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." (Acts 26:20)
Revelation 2:5
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
AMEN
"And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city,
And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.
Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem.
And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.
And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in your cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass."
BROUGHT THEM BACK TO THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS
This is EXACTLY what we need today in the body of Christ. Sadly the body of Christ is sick, because her members have made her sick, so much so that our Saviour Himself has said he would "spue thee out of my mouth, ... be zealous therefore and repent" Rev 3:16 & 19
Speaking of zeal, here are some words preached on that very verse, in 1628, From: A Coal From The Altar, To Kindle The Holy Fire of Zeale by Samuel Ward:
"Zeale hath been little practised, less studied: this heavenly fire hath ever been a stranger upon earth. Few in all ages that have felt the heat of it, fewer that have known the nature of it. A description will rake it out of the embers of obscurity: and it may be that many when they shall know it better, will better affect it.
Zeale hath in this our earthly molde, little fuel, much quench-coale, is hardly fired, soone cooled. A good Christian therefore would be glad to know the Incentives and preservatives of it, which might enkindle it, enflame it, feed it, and revive it when it is going out."
We need this holy zeal, this fire in the church today. Not the fake stuff. There's too much fakery that goes on in the name of God and His Son; either denial of His power, or emotionalism masquerading as His power. Both are equally wicked. Dead as Sardis or as flamboyant as Jezebel; a church with little repentance, making mockery of holiness, bringing the world in to entice gullible souls in hopes of getting them into the church; making them a twofold more child of hell than themselves just as the pharisees were judged of doing.
They say "judge not" - hands off, you can't judge, but yea, the Scripture says judge righteous judgment, and read on in Matthew 7 if you're gonna use that verse, because it says remove the beam out of your own eye, then you can see clearly to remove the mote out of your brothers. If you are living in sin, then don't try to correct someone else; repent of your own sin first, but if you're living in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, walking in His righteousness who hath called you, then surely you may judge. Just be sure that too is in the Spirit and love.
And that's exactly what verses 5 & 6 say here, and note, the judgment must be of God not man, for there is no respect of persons, nor iniquity with him.
1 Corinthians 6:2-4
"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church."
Let the fear of the LORD be upon you. The Hebrew word "pachad" here means literally fear, terror, dread. It can mean awe, but a fearful awe. How many times I've heard in a sermon "fear just means reverence, that's all it means." LIES! See, we've lost the fear of God, therefore we think we can do what we want and He winks at sin. Well, He don't! He don't for one minute wink at sin!
Now in verse 9 where it says "Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully.." that fear "yare" can mean to revere, reverence, piety, but also means terror as well. "And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." (Heb. 11:21) "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling..." (Phil. 2:12) Fear there's "phobos" - fear, dread, terror, alarm or fright.
2 Corinthians 7:1
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." That's New testament right there, and "ekphobos" means stricken with fear or terror, exceedingly frightened.
Jonathan Edwards preached back in 1741,
"There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. " Do we hear this kind of preaching today? It's rare. We need thundering prophets calling people to repentance, out, away from the world and its vanities, separated from Babylon and Sodom and Egypt. And get Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt OUT of the church!
James Durham (1622-1658) wrote in his message, Faith No Fancy,
"So few of you tremble at the Word of God. This is given as a property of a suitable hearer of the Gospel to whom the Lord will look (Isa 66:1-2), that he is one who trembles at the Word. But the most part of you that hear the Gospel are like these pillars on which the house stands who are never so much as once moved by the Word."
Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. See, there is the convergence of Old and New; Chronicles, Corinthians. "Well, no ones perfect" you say? I've heard such nonsense preached: "we all make mistakes, we're all going to sin." Go ahead and give license! That's what's being preached in these mushy easy grace churches. Ain't in the Bible. Repent is in the Bible. A call to holy living is in the Bible: it's in the Bible from cover to cover. Righteousness is in the Bible. Purity is in the Bible.
Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
2 Corinthians 13:11 "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you"
Philippians 3:12-16 "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing."
Perfect, complete, mature, consummate human integrity and virtue. Complete in mental and moral character. That's what it means. Now I don't teach sinless perfection as the Quakers of old, though I love their sermons, and would be a good word to follow. But I believe in something close to it. Otherwise much of 1 John couldn't be in the Bible. "These things write I unto you that ye sin not....Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him....Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God...We know that we know him IF we keep his commandments." Lots of "IFs" in the Bible. They get neglected, glossed over. They should be preached and let the fear of God be in our hearts to truly behold what the Holy Word says!
"Everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him...In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." I'm just throwing random verses out there from 1 John. Some say that's only talking about habitual sin, or continuing in sin. Does it say that? It doesn't say that! We should be letting the Holy Spirit search our hearts DAILY, no, every MOMENT, to see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me, try me, David cried in the Psalms.
Speaking of David in the Psalms, John Wycliffe around 1360 AD wrote,
"So our Lord the Father of heaven had mankind in hell, that was glassine: that is to say, brittle as glass. To break it he brought such a little red worme, that was our Lord Jesus Christ - as David saith the one & twenty Psalme: Ego sum vermis & non homo - I am a worm & no man. And with his blood he delivered man kinde."
Wycliffe knew about the little red worm, the "tolath" in Hebrew תּוֹלַעַת, used for its dark crimson dye; this particular worm, common in Israel, attaches to a tree, lays her eggs, when they hatch they feed on the mothers blood for 3 days, then she dies. The red dye from the towla was also used on the High priests robes. What a perfect type of Christ used in Psalm 22! I know Wycliffe said Psalm 21 but chapters were different in the 1300s. Point being, the BLOOD of Christ shed for us on that brutal cross is what paid for our sins, and largely we are ungrateful. Should we not WANT to serve Him who died such a death, and offered such a sacrifice? Why would so many take Christ so lightly, and then look for excuses TO sin rather than seek the power to OVERCOME sin, and be done with it?
The Holy Ghost is calling for the church to be brought back unto the LORD God of their fathers.
"And take heed what ye do. Let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Do this in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, with a perfect heart, and ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren. This do, and ye shall not trespass."
Thomas Watson (1620-1686) had this to say about Godly sorrow for your sin:
"1) Some are naturally of a more rugged disposition, of higher spirits, and are not easily brought to stoop. These must have greater humiliation, as a knotty piece of timber must have greater wedges driven into it.
(2) Some have been more heinous offenders, and their sorrow must be suitable to their sin. Some patients have their sores let out with a needle, others with a lance. Flagitious (extremely wicked) sinners must be more bruised with the hammer of the Law."
Oh how the LORD has used that verse from Jeremiah with me: His word like a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock to pieces. The sinner MUST be broken. You must be made to see the gravity of your offenses before a holy God. How do you react to a festering, stinking pile of poop? How about a rancid, rotting, dead thing? It's overpowering. It's overwhelming. You can't stand the stench of it. It makes you sick. THAT is what OUR SIN is to Almighty God! It's why Jesus says to the Laodiceans he will spew them out of his mouth. He says that to a professing church, NOT the world. But a worldly church.
Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
He ain't saying that to the world, to unbelievers. That's addressed to the church, yet I've heard only ONE sermon in 38 years as a believer where the preacher used it to address the church! All the rest were for salvation messages to the lost. It's a sobering thing when you think of Jesus OUTSIDE of His church knocking to get in. That's exactly what this implies. You all pushed Him out, pushed Him away if you're living like this Laodicean church was. Rich and in need of nothing. You got it all. You're comfortable in your nice glittery church, with the smooth minister speaking soothing things. He or she won't offend you very much because after all, you're their meal ticket.
So many churches won't preach against sin, won't preach on hell; afraid to preach on prophecy and end times. They don't preach the blood, or if they do, it's used out of context like a magical formula. It's all entertainment, self esteem, pop psychology, all kind of false teachings. Fourth dimension. Not in the Bible but it's being preached. Paul Yonggi Cho came up with that. Biggest church in the world in Korea, but he teaches new age junk. Speaking something into existence is reserved for God Almighty, the Creator YAHWEH, and when people do it, that's an OCCULT practice! Visualization, manifesting dreams, etc - all this is unscriptural junk that's crept into the church and taken root there.
Thank God there ARE still some churches out there preaching the truth, and living it. HalleluYAH! But it's a remnant.
Christians who embrace all these false teachings are dabbling in hell fire, gambling their very souls, and only the LORD most High knows if they are saved, but so as by fire, and their works shall be burnt up as the wood, hay, and stubble that they are. Not everyone who says LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of the Father. There'll be many who even say, we prophesied, and cast out devils, and did many wonderful works, and the Lord Jesus shall profess to them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
BROUGHT THEM BACK TO THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS
Do you want to test the LORD with your shallow profession, embracing sin, and aligning yourself with the world and vanity? Shall we test the LORD by seeking THINGS, blessings, materialism, heaping up treasures of Laodicea against the last day when God shall judge the hearts of men by His Gospel? You'll be judged by the Word of God, not the teachings of your church or pastor - so it be best if your church and pastor line up with the Word.
Repentance, holiness, falling upon the mercy of God, weeping over your vile sins, getting a revelation of what Christ did for you on the cross, shedding his blood like that red worm: just receive Him, and eat of Him, drink of Him; crucify your flesh with its affections and lusts. No one time little cute prayers all innocent. Pray without ceasing. Cry out in agony for your sins, open your heart that the Holy Spirit put His conviction on you, so that it truly bothers you. It SHOULD bother you. If your sin don't bother you, you ain't getting a true revelation of God.
Seek Him till you get that repentance, till you turn from your wicked ways, till sin becomes so disgusting to you that you renounce it, and flee far far from it.
The time is short. Return to the faith of the fathers, the faith of the Apostles, the true faith of the Gospel.
Luke 24:26-27,
"Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Behooved is binding, essential, necessary. Absolutely essential that Christ suffer, and die, and rise from the dead. And that repentance and remission: repentance be preached. Paul told King Agrippa that men "should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." (Acts 26:20)
Revelation 2:5
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
AMEN
