John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
The heathen world are continually filled with hatred, anger and bitterness
toward others who have hurt them, cheated them, lied to them, betrayed them
and done all manner of evil against them. The Godless world walk in the
darkness of sin, shame and unbelief. You see, they have no hope for eternity.
This life is all they have. There is no hope, joy or peace of the blessed
promise of eternal life, by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When a loved
one dies in an unsaved family, there is no reason to rejoice, no silver lining
in the tragedy, because there is no hope.
Ah, but as born-again children of God, we always have a reason to rejoice, even in death. Isaiah 9:2, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” We have the hope of eternal life. Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” I love that word “promised.” I know that I am going to Heaven because God promised to save them who believe on Christ Jesus. 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Jesus is the light! Amen! If we keep our eyes on the light, we won't be in the dark!
I once heard that the average broken family takes 20-years to get back together. I believe it. Many families never get back together, but Jesus can make the difference if you'll let Him. Oftentimes best of friends become disgruntled with each other. Comedians Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were best of buddies, yet became disgruntled with each other, refusing to speak to one another for 20-years. When they finally reunited, they couldn't even remember what it was they had fussed over. It had been so long.
When I say to “keep your eyes on Jesus,” I mean abide in the Word of God as a born-again believer. If you're not saved, you don't even have Jesus! You must be a born-again Christian. And then as God's child, we must abide in Christ. We read in John 15:1 and 5, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ... I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
The great need in our churches today is fire in the pulpit to melt the ice in the pew. We need Spirit-filled pastors who are truth-filled pastors. Too many pastors merely know a bunch of knowledge from the Bible, but they don't have a burning fire in their heart. The prophet Jeremiah said God's Word did BURN IN HIS HEART AS A FIRE, and he just had to preach!!! Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” The Holy Words of God will burn in your heart to the same degree that you believe it!
Hebrews 4:2 says
the Jews in the Wilderness heard the Gospel preached by Moses for forty years,
but they had no faith, and so they perished in the Wilderness and went to Hell
forever. My friend, you can faithfully attend church your whole life and go
straight to Hell when the die. Our churches are filled with wealthy
politicians, doctors, lawyers, judges, airplane pilots and other professional
people, who only attend church for the social benefits and a structured
religious life, but they have never been born-again! They talk about following
Jesus, surrendering all to Christ, forsaking the world, having a relationship
with Jesus, inviting Jesus into their life, making a commitment to God and
turning their life over to Christ; but
THEY HAVE NEVER
OBEYED THE GOSPEL!!!
Many Professed Believers are Walking in Woeful Ignorance
Most believers who think they abide in Christ really don't. Abiding in Christ doesn't just mean you become a loving, kind and non-offensive religious person who knows a bunch of facts about the Bible. It means that God's Holy Spirit is working in your heart, teaching you THE TRUTH—opening your eyes, molding, convicting, teaching, guiding, comforting and angering your soul over sin and apostasy in the churches!!! It is frustrating to see Christian leaders eagerly going along with Satanic counterfeit Bible versions, a false plan of Lordship Salvation, the heresy of Zionism, 501c3 government control over the churches, homosexual marriages and other forms of apostasy in the churches today. Does anybody walk with God anymore? We read in Hebrews 10:29 that OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE!!! I am consumed with the Lord, are you?
If you're not sick and tired of the apostasy in today's disgraceful churches, you're not right with God. GET RIGHT WITH GOD YOU SORRY RASCAL!!! I don't know what God you're abiding in, but when I abide in Jesus Christ, I get mad over sin, I get burned up over UNHOLYwood, I get angry over the lackadaisical attitude of Christian leaders today toward 13 different Bible versions in the pews. I get upset over same-sex PERversion! I get really bent out of shape over the Satanic fraud of following Christ as a plan of salvation. Check and see, and you'll find it to be true... Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Alice Cooper, Brian Welch (Korn) and Bruce Jenner are all followers of Christ, and they're all on their way straight to Hell in unbelief, never having been born-again by the Holy Spirit of God. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. Jesus warned in John 3:3 that except a man is born-again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!!!!!!!
We are all guilty as Christians of watching people at times instead of looking at Jesus. And to the same degree that you focus on the imperfections of others, their stinging words or hurtful behavior, you'll become bitter. Do you know that it only rains under the clouds? That's right! So if you want to survive the rains of criticism and gossip, live above the clouds where the Son of God is always shining! Here is one of my favorite Bible verses, which I'll bet you didn't know was even in the Bible. Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Amen! Jesus is the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
I feel sorry for all the people who criticize great men of God, failing to look beyond the men and see their great ministries for the Lord. There are no perfect preachers. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that anyone should excuse wickedness just because a Christian leader is doing a work for God. I'm not saying that at all. What I am saying is that a lot of church members become disgruntled because they focus on their pastor's human imperfections, mistakes and humanity. In some cases, the pastor's confidence in Christ is mistaken for personal pride. A pastor who preaches with authority, having a like-it-or-lump-it attitude in the pulpit, can quite easily by mistaken for arrogance. But it is godly confidence, righteous zeal, knowing that the Scriptures are 100% truthful.
I preach with confidence, making bold statement, and take an uncompromising stand against sin and heresy. Now that will seem like arrogance and puffed-up pride to someone who doesn't believe every word of the Holy Bible, but it is simply my confidence in the infallible, preserved, inerrant, perfect and inspired Words of God in the King James Bible. As born-again Christians, Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 that WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Literally, if you are saved, you are the only Jesus that someone may know. The same is true of me as a Christian. When Jesus walked the earth, He was the light of the world (John 8:12), but now that He has ascended into Heaven as our intercessory High Priest, we are the light of the world.
John 1:4-5, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” What an amazing Scripture! The light of Jesus Christ has been shone into the darkness of the world; yet man comprehend it not, blinded by the god of this world, Satan (2nd Corinthians 4:4). That's where we come in as Christians, whom the Lord referred to as the light of the world in His absence. It is our duty as believers to try to win souls, by preaching the Gospel (good news) of Christ crucified on the cross and risen. The Apostle Paul realized that preaching the Gospel was much more than just a privilege, it is the solemn duty of every born-again Christian, bringing eternal consequences if we shirk off our God-given responsibility. 1st Corinthians 9:16, “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
Satan has blinded the unsaved with the bogus lies of evolution, the philosophies of this world, manmade tradition, false religion and even a counterfeit form of Christianity that doesn't involve being born-again (which is epidemic in our churches today). I hear so many people talking about their decision to follow Christ, but there is no mention of the new birth. Salvation is not a process that involves reformation, rehabilitation or education; but rather, it is regeneration by the Spirit of God (John 1:12-14). Salvation is not a philosophy that a person adopts. When someone says that they “used to be a Christian,” what they really mean is that they used to ascribe to the principles of Christianity, but they were never born-again. Many people think being a Christian means to join an organization, like Roman Catholicism. That is not salvation.
Christianity is not an organization, nor is it a culture, nor is it a philosophy, nor is it a business as we have shamefully made it in the United States. Salvation is a supernatural miracle of God in response to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, believing the Good News (Gospel) that Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins, buried and raised up three days later. There is nothing else required to be saved, or stay saved.
I'm tired of false prophets, such as Pastor Jason Cooley in Minnesota, teaching that you can't just believe the Gospel and then live the rest of your life unaffected. Cooley misunderstands Biblical repentance to mean a change of character and conduct to be saved. This demands that a sinner reform in order to be saved. This is the same heresy that Pastor Aiden Tozer also taught for decades on Chicago's Southside. Tozer said there cannot be regeneration until there has first been reformation, but it is the other way around. Regeneration (being born again) comes first, and then the indwelling Holy Spirit changes the man.
In Tozer's and Cooley's plan of salvation, the burden of change is placed upon the sinner; but in God's plan of salvation, the burden of change is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the corrupt plan of salvation as taught by Pastor's Cooley and Tozer, a person must commit to change as a prerequisite to saving faith, which is a works-based salvation; but in God's simple plan of salvation, only faith is required for salvation, and then the indwelling Holy Spirit changes the man over time. So don't ever let anyone deceive you into thinking that a person must change their life to be saved, because that is dead religion.
It is God's indwelling Holy Spirit Who changes a man, if that man grows in grace and has proper mentoring. You cannot reasonably expect a new convert to mature into a fine Christian without any fundamental Bible teaching, Christian fellowship, hard-preaching and a solid New Testament Church to attend. America is saturated with religious organizations, religious social clubs and religious businesses, but there are few genuine churches anymore. Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” In this world of sin and darkness, we need Christians more than ever to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The best way to expose the darkness is to shine the light of God's Word! Darkness will always exist in the absence of light. END
