Paul: 'Not how MUCH but what SORT'

Above my desk at home is a hand-made wooden plaque from Ecuador (where my family lived as missionaries in the early ’70s) that I inherited after my dad died and we cleaned out our family home in Loudonville, Ohio.

For decades, the plaque hung prominently in our kitchen. It says, “Only one life, Twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ‘To me to live is Christ.’ ”

I can testify that in my life currently, time is soaring by at a furious fast clip. If I am granted another decade of life, I imagine it will pass at an incomprehensible "blink of an eye." The message that rings louder and louder in my head is that kitchen plaque.

Paul writes in I Corinthians 3:13-14, “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. [14] If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”  

“Notice it’s not about how MUCH it is, but what SORT it is,” explains Preacher Richard Jordan. “What’s the quality? What’s the motive? What’s the heart that produced it and drives it?

“People have the idea that when they arrive at the judgment seat of Christ, they’re going to drag up their little bag of works with them to sit down and the Lord’s going to say, ‘Okay, whatcha got in the bag?’

“You reach in and pull out the best thing you’ve got. It’s all polished and ready and you’re proud of that thing because you’ve spent years building it, honing it, working it, getting it right, making it just what you KNEW God wanted it to be.

“You remember Brother Ted’s song about the Bible version issue: ‘Hold on, wait a minute, Lord, I spent my whole career teaching them that fire was heat lamp in the original Greek.’

“You know what the fire is? God said in Jeremiah, ‘Is not my Word like unto a fire?’ You remember Jeremiah said, ‘His work was in me like a fire; it just burned and I couldn’t contain myself.’

“When Paul says He’s going to ‘try it by the fire,’ he’s talking about the Word of God. The Word of God that goes in and tries a thing, and judges it, and identifies it, and sees whether it matches the doctrine.

“What we pull out of that bag that we thought was so wonderful is going to wind up just ashes. Because we got the idea that the thing to it all is that we just have all these wonderful things we did for God. Paul says that we are His workmanship. It’s not my work; it’s His work.

“What He’s going to be interested in rewarding is what He’s doing for Himself in my body of flesh, not what I’m doing. It’s about His life, not mine. He says, ‘You build in you the doctrine, because the words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.’ ”

*****

Paul precedes his advice about works that abide and works burned up, causing the Believer to suffer loss, with I Corinthians 3:10-12:

[10] According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
[11] For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[12] Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Jordan explains, “There’s going to be a lot of people who point to great buildings and great campaigns and great circulations, with thousands of this and millions of that, and say, ‘Look what we did for God,’ and when it comes under the scrutiny of the heat lamp of the Word of God it’ll all be gone because it’ll be wood, hay and stubble.

“You know what happens when you put that stuff in the fire? You get ashes. When you put gold and silver in the fire, it burns up any problems and leaves it all the better. That’s how you purify gold and silver. It’s heat that makes the diamond. You don’t damage it; you bring it to its perfection.

“The gold, silver, precious stones are identifiable in the Word of God so you’re sure to know what they are, and the wood, hay and stubble are, too. One lasts and isn’t destroyed and the other is transitory and soon goes away. One is eternal and the other is temporal.

*****

“One time when we lived in Selma, Ala., I heard a deafening boom and looked to see that our garage was on fire. The firemen came and in about 45 minutes they let the garage burn on down to the concrete slab because it was just a tinder box. I went out there the next day and, you know, there was NOTHING left! It was gone. Just a pile of ash and cinder and charcoal. We had a car battery in there and you couldn’t even find where it was! I thought, ‘Wow, fire is devastating. Everything gone just like that.’

“There are great portions of Christian lives that are not built according to the pattern of godly edification and are just going to come up blank at the judgment seat. There’s going to be a big blank spot there.

“Now, you know, there is a certain security in that. You wouldn’t want all those things hanging around your neck for eternity, would you? Paul says, [15] If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

“That fire is going to get all that stuff out of the records there. That’s actually a final element of God’s grace in securing you unto Himself because those things are just what they are in your life now. They are a waste and a blank.

“We need to fill our lives with godly edification, understanding who we are in Christ and building an appreciation for that into our lives so that is what lives in us and in our thinking process. Our mind is to be renewed day by day with that truth so that reality is what lives in us.

“All the judgment seat of Christ really does is demonstrate what is real and has been real all along. Wisdom, and the reason to know about it, is so you NOW can live in light of the reality there.

“A fellow asked me one time, ‘How’s it going to be with you at the judgment seat of Christ?’ Do you know that you’re supposed to KNOW how it’s going to be? Paul said, ‘This is my confidence, I’d rather depart and be with Christ which is far better than to be here.’

“When you have an understanding of what grace is, then you have that confident boldness and assurance and you can see your life now lived in light of that. The whole issue is, ‘Hey, it’s going to be manifest who we are out there so what should we do right now?’ Live like it. Live in the light of that reality.

“Your faith better not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God and that’s the whole key! That will allow us to work together in a realm of real appreciation and real service.

“The way your sins and failures are going to be dealt with at the judgment seat of Christ is the way you and I--and God--deals with them in our life right now, because our sins have already been judged at Calvary and their full penalty and price has already been paid. Our sin, as sin, will not be the issue at the judgment seat of Christ.

“Grace will operate and be able to objectively evaluate our service, our conduct, our suffering and all the rest, and there will be an objective evaluation of it based upon who we are in Christ. And that’s no more and no less than the way we’re to operate in our own thinking right now.”

(new article tomorrow)

Daniel, 90, too busy for bread or bath

Daniel is around 90 years old when he gets a vision in Daniel 11.

“Once you get to chapter 11 of Daniel you can read what it says and yet it isn’t all clear yet. The reason it’s not clear is that the Lord hasn't opened it up yet; it isn’t all there yet,” explains Jordan. “He’s not a spring chicken anymore. He’s had a busy life of service for the Lord and for his king and his government.

“When Dan started out in chapter 1, he was between 14-17 years old. He goes through the 70 years captivity and that puts him between 84-87 and then you add another three years here.

“One of the questions you try to understand when you study the Book of Daniel is when Cyrus, king of Persia, took over in Ezra 1, he gave a decree for the people to go back to Jerusalem after the 70 years captivity is over with. Only a very small number--less than 40,000 of them--went back, which was a real heartache, and the question arises sometime, ‘Why didn’t Daniel go back?’

“By the time you get to chapter 10, Daniel is fixing to get another vision—no doubt one of the most critical, if not the most critically vision in his book—and then you understand the reason Daniel doesn’t go back into the holy land in Palestine; it’s because God had further revelations to give him in Babylon. Daniel stays because God has some more things to give him.

“Daniel 10:1 says, ‘In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.’

“In other words, Daniel got this thing and it was crystal clear to him what it meant.

*****

“In chapter 12:4, Daniel is told to seal the thing. The prophecy here is sealed up. That is, it’s fixed so people can’t get it and clearly understand it until the time of the end.

“Now, the reason you and I can’t put a lot of this prophetic stuff together all the time is because, folks, we don’t live in the times when these things are to be fulfilled.

“As that time comes onto the scene, and the closer you get to it, the more and more people will be able to understand these things, and the people for whom these things are written and intended for over in the prophetic program over in that tribulation period, they’ll be able to get it.

“The wise, chapter 11 says, will understand and God’ll show it to them. So for us, the time element is here.

“Chapter 10:2 says, ‘In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.’ There’s no indication what he’s mourning after, but no doubt it’s the condition of Israel, like in Nehemiah 1 and 2 when he heard about the condition over in Israel and how bad it was and he was real sorry and sad in the 

king’s presence.

“There’s no doubt it’s something like that. In verse 3, he says, ‘I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.’

“That verse is funny to me because that means he didn’t eat and he didn’t take a bath for three weeks. I guess that’d be a guarantee he wasn’t married!

*****

“There’s a point to make here. Daniel’s retired and he’s up in years, but you notice his spiritual activities haven’t diminished; they’ve increased. Here’s a fellow on a three-week fast. That’s a long time when you’re 30 years old, much less 90!

“It’s a three-week fast and he’s so engrossed in prayer and seeking the Lord’s face that he doesn’t even attend to personal needs for three weeks. Tremendous spiritual activity this man has.

“Folks, you ought to take example from that. When you retire, you ought not retire from the things of God. When you retire from public employment then you’ve got time to really get out and serve the Lord!

“I’ve told you about Brother Flemings down in Nacomas, Florida, and how, when I first heard him say, ‘I’ve been preaching 65 years,’ I thought, ‘Man, most people are ready to retire and quit when they’re 65 and he’s just going like a house of fire!’

*****

“Verse 4 says, ‘And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel.’ Hiddekel is another name for the Tigris River. The Tiger and the Euphrates is where Babylon was. And you notice he gives you the exact date.

“The critics say the Book of Daniel was written at a very late date and yet they never notice the fact that anybody that puts dates in there like that . . . Daniel dates the month and the year and it’s not a late date; it’s the captivity. It’s not something that took place 50-100 years before Christ. So the people who doubt the dates of Daniel just have to doubt the text.

“The passage goes on, ‘Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
[6] His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
[7] And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Then I lifted linen gird fine gold beryl polished.’

“That individual he sees there is different than anybody he’s seen before and that individual he’s seeing is really the Lord Jesus Christ!

*****

“Come over to Revelation 1 and compare the vision John had with the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll see that the two visions parallel and something’s really interesting here with regard to what Daniel is seeing.

“Daniel is getting a vision and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, but he sees Him in a very special way. He sees Him like nobody else in the Old Testament ever saw him. He sees Him like John sees Him in Revelation 1.

“Revelation 1:12 says, ‘And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.’ You compare that with Daniel 10 and you’ll see they’re almost identical. 

"In Daniel 10 He’s called ‘a certain man’ and in Revelation He’s called ‘the son of man.’ He’s got a girdle of gold in Revelation too, and Daniel says His face was lit up and had the appearance of lightning. Revelation says His head and hair were ‘white as wool.’ Light makes things white. His eyes were as a flame of fire.

*****

“Why is it significant that what you see in Daniel is a comparison to what John sees? Think for just a minute. Was Daniel the only person who ever saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament? No, other people saw Him. Other people saw Him in a pre-incarnate appearance, if you’re familiar with that.

“You see, what Daniel’s seeing here, if you compare that with what John saw in Revelation; did John see a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in Revelation? He saw the glorified Christ. He saw the post-resurrection appearance of Christ. And what Daniel does here is he sees the transfigured post-resurrection appearance, as it were, of Christ. He sees the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that matches the glory that John sees in the Book of the Revelation. And it tells you something.

“It tells you there’s a connection between what Daniel is fixing to get here, and this information he’s going to get, and where you’re going to go when you go to Revelation. The last vision in the Book of Daniel starts out and it comes from the glorified Son of God in a post-resurrection appearance.

“Daniel had already seen Him crucified. Daniel 9:26 says, ‘And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.’

“And then, in the next chapter and the next vision, he sees Him resurrected. He has this resurrection appearance, that when go through it, it ushers you right into the beginning of the Book of the Revelation that carries you on through to the 70^th week of the Book of Daniel over there in Revelation. What you got there is the sort of connectors that connect together the two books.

*****

“From the beginning of the Book of Daniel, we know God was working on Daniel’s behalf when Daniel probably didn’t even know it. Daniel 1:9 says, [9] Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.”

“Daniel had a life that reflected the genuine nature of the commitment he had made. That’s why purity of life, not the sins of the flesh or the spirit, is so important. You need to have a sweet, gentle, loving, kind, outgoing spirit. Daniel had it and that validated his message. He showed the reality of God at work, so he’d already found some favor; already had some influence.

“There are number of people in the Bible who come to mind like that. Joseph found favor with Pharaoh, we’re told.

“Psalm 106 says, 43] Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
[44] Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:
[45] And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
[46] He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

“Isn’t that wonderful how God can do that? God sends Israel out there to be in captivity, but He made the society that held them captive love ’em and pity ’em and be kindly affectioned toward them. Why in the world did He do that? Because of His covenant.

*****

“Proverbs 16:7 says, ‘When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.’ When those people walked in the ways of God, even their enemies we’re influenced by it and were at peace with them.

“Paul says almost the same thing in a different way in I Timothy 2: [1] I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
[2] For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
[3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.’

*****

“Daniel wasn’t some rough, camel-hide-coated prophet over on the backside of the wilderness bellowing out rebuke. He was a man in the king’s palace, taking a stand. He takes a stand and God stands with him.

“I say to you, folks, that any commitment you ever make in the things of the Lord is going to be tested to prove its reality. It’s cheap to say, ‘I’m gonna do this for the Lord.’ The Lord’s gonna find out whether you mean that or not.

“The great saints down through the ages got tested—every one of them—to find out if the commitment was real; to prove the reality of it to themselves. God knows whether it’s real or not. But it's to prove it to you and those around you.

“James said, ‘Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
[4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’

“When I read Daniel 1:13, I say, ‘Man, there’s a man with confidence.’ You know something, folks, compromise results in doubt, but purity--that uncompromising commitment to do what God wants done--always brings confidence.

“When you’re sinning, you’re always looking over your shoulder and wondering if it will work. But when you just stand for the Lord and stand for what He says, you know what will happen? There’s confidence, that boldness to know, ‘Hey, the Lord’s gonna do it.’

*****

“Now watch what happens: ‘So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
[15] And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.’

“There’s a verse in Proverbs that tells you about that. Proverbs 3: 5-7 says, ‘Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
[6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
[7] Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.’

“Daniel knew what was going on and God honored him. He knew God would take care of him, and he knew if he just needed to keep a little color in his face and gain 10 pounds, it wouldn’t be any problem for the Lord to put on a pound a day no matter what he was eating.

“Daniel 1 goes on in verse 16, ‘Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.’

“That verse is important. That verse tells me that Melzar, when he put that old porridge in front of him and that glass of cold water, he put the beefsteak and the wine goblet down there too. He took that away and just gave them the other from that point on. Dan and the boys don’t eat the king’s meat.

“Verse 17 says, ‘As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.’

“Proverbs 22:29 says, ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.’ Listen, if you’ll be diligent in the little thing God gave you to do, and thank Him it’s a little thing and you’re not in over your head . . . Daniel and these boys put purity about everything else.

“My dear friend, purity is the main business of the Believer. It’s of first importance. Dan put it first and God gave him influence.

“There’s a verse in Jeremiah 45:5 that means a lot to me. It says, ‘And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.’

*****

“You want to have influence for the Lord? You just be faithful and uncompromising in your commitment to Him. If you’ll be faithful in the little things and be faithful, God will give you influence for Him.

“Verse 20 says, ‘And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.’

“How many days back in verse 12 did He prove them? Ten days. ‘He found them 10 times better than all the musicians and the astrologers in all his realm.’ You got to look at a passage in Psalm 119 with that.

“Psalm 119 says, [97] O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
[98] Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
[100] I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
[101] I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
[102] I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
[103] How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
[104] Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.’

“Ten times greater than the best brains Babylon had to offer! You know how? Sticking with that Book, being true to what God gave them to do.”

'Enlightenment, strength--find me another seat!'

Upon receiving a vision from an angel in Daniel 10, Daniel testifies that “when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb.”

“If an angel starts giving you divine information, the best thing to do is just look down and shut up,” says Jordan. “Daniel says that when the angel talked to him, ‘straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.’

“You know, folks, you hear people all the time say they communicated with an angel or something like that and they’re just nuts. Daniel said, ‘Man, it just took the wind right out of me. I mean, it just sapped all my strength. I became just limp.’

“Verse 18 says, ‘Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me.’ The angel speaks to Daniel and gives him the Word and the Word strengthens him. Then the angel said, ‘Don’t you know why I’ve come to you?’

“When Gabriel begins to give Daniel the information, he’s strengthened. Folks, there are two things that happen when prophetic truth is given out to Israel. No. 1, it strengthens them; it gives them heart strength and courage. No. 2, it enlightens them: ‘I’m come to make you understand; I’m come to make you know what’s going on.’

“There’s an interesting comparison between this passage and the Book of Ephesians. Paul prays for the saints that, ‘The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.’

“In another place in Ephesians, Paul prays, ‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’

*****

“Prophetic truth gave Daniel and the prophetic saints enlightenment and strength, and our truth does the same thing for us.

“Notice in Daniel 10:21 is a real touching thing: ‘But I will shew thee that which is noted (marked down) in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.’

“You see the angel’s attitude and estimation toward the Word of God? You know what that Book is? Jesus said, ‘Sanctify them by thy word, thy word is truth.’ Paul said ‘rightly divide the word of truth.’

"Daniel 11:2 says, ‘And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.’

“You know what Daniel had? He had copies of God’s Word and the angel said, ‘The copies you got there, Dan, and what I’m going to give you to write down, it’s gonna be true.’ That’s fantastic, isn’t it?

*****

“Isn’t it wonderful to know God gave you a Book and called it the truth and you don’t have to worry about error and mistake, or human opinion or viewpoint?

“The only absolute final authority in this universe is that Book and that’s why it’s different from every other book in the universe and that’s why the world hates it, can’t stand it, gets upset, gets it’s liver in a quiver every time you pull it out.

“You go get out here on the subway with a Playboy or a Hustler, or some other godless pornographic thing that doesn’t even have a name on it, and they’ll sit there and pant and look over your shoulder. But you sit there and you get an old black Book out and you hold it up and start reading it and you know what they do? They get all nervous.

“I took my seat on an airplane and the pilot came on and told us it was going to be a full flight. I had gotten my briefcase out and laid my Bible on the seat next to me. When the woman who was assigned the seat arrived, she put her bags up and looked at that Book and started looking for another seat!

“You know why that is? Something about that Book, man! That’s God’s Word. You know what a saint does? He picks that thing up and he loves it and it’s a friend.

“Look at that old Bible just wore out, coming all to pieces, the back coming off. That’s my friend, man. You know how it is with your Book, don’t you? You wear it out. That’s because you get familiar with your Savior. It’s the Word of truth.”

To live above this world

“It is true that as long as we are in this world the truth will cause division,” writes Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his 1963 book The Controversy. “Truth draws a straight line. Either you believe it or you don’t. It cuts right through business and social friendships and even family ties.

“Truth is the greatest divider on earth. Thank God, however, it is also the greatest uniter. It constantly reconciles bitterest enemies and brings together those once farthest apart . . .

“Let us take stock. Where are the Bible teachers of yesterday? They are vanishing fast. And the pastors: more and more their sermons are ‘devotional’ and ‘inspirational’ while their hearers long for food and light from the Word.”

*****

Paul writes in I Timothy 1:4, [4] Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.  

“When he says ‘don’t give heed to fables,’ he’s saying, ‘Don’t pay attention to experience-based, experience-oriented stories,” explains Jordan. “A fable is a story that teaches a truth based upon an experience. Don’t be a storytelling preacher. I don’t mean a liar, I mean a fellow who bases everything on human experience . . .

“The preaching of the Cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Romans 1:16 says, [16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

“Paul isn’t saying, ‘I’m not ashamed; I stand on the street corner and pass out tracts.’ He’s not saying, ‘I’m never embarrassed to speak up for Jesus.’ He’s saying, ‘That message I preach works for everybody who believes it and I’m not ashamed to have anybody believe it because anybody who will believe it, it will work for.’ ”

*****

Paul writes in Romans 8:32, [32] He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Quoting the verse, Stam writes, “He would have me live above this world—above all its sorrows as well as its ‘joys,’ and so asks me to have the greatest faith and leave it all to Him.

“You may have ‘whatsoever ye ask,’ if you will—and if you can get it! But I do not want to be so foolish to give away a dollar for a dime. I want to join Paul in singing that great doxology:

[20] Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
[21] Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

*****

In her 1916 book Christ and His Bride; An Exposition of the Song of Solomon, Cora Harris MacIlravy writes, “As we look up that shining, living way, and begin to see faintly that which has been provided for us, we cling to the Rock in abandonment, in closer fellowship and communion.

“As our eyes look upward and are fixed upon the recompense of the reward, unseen arms bear us over the hardest places and plant our feet upon the next higher step, which to us appeared so inaccessible. We feel the everlasting arms carrying us upward, upward, while we can only cling to the Rock, hide away in His pierced side, love and adore Him for the ‘Exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think.’

“Not only are we protected, but there are rivers of water flowing out of the Rock, and the Rock follows us. All through our journeys in the wilderness here below, the Rock, Christ Jesus, follows us as we drink abundantly of living waters.

“In Him is all we need, and if by faith, we take that place and abide there, we shall have everything that God has for us, and we can have it no other way. It is not easy to go up that shining way, but it is blessed. It is not an easy path, but it is wonderful; and it becomes more wonderful as we more fully understand that we are upon the stairway, which will bring us from earth to Heaven, from weakness and humiliation to strength and glorification.

“O precious clefts, O wondrous secret stair, which can only be found when new vision is given at the new birth! . . . What strength and power, what refreshing and holy swiftness are to those who ever abide in the clefts of the Rock, and hasten upon that hidden stair, which their Beloved has set up for them through the shedding of His own blood.

“He calls her to set her face steadfastly toward Him, to run with patience the race set before her, looking away to Jesus who alone is the Author and Finisher of her faith. As she steadfastly obeys, she hears His voice speaking to her. ‘Thy countenance is beautiful, thou art fair, My love; there is no spot in thee.’ "

How long it took Mary to come around

In Luke 1 and 2, Mary is more than willing to be the mother of the Messiah, but in her son’s public ministry she stood among those who thought Jesus Christ was insane and deranged.

When Jesus was out teaching in Mark 3, for example, Mary and His half-brothers were among those who, when they heard Christ’s words, thought He was “beside himself,” meaning mad in the head or off His rocker.

“They don't believe in Him and they're not believing what He's saying, and that’s why He says, ‘Hey, the people who aren’t my kinfolk are the people who believe me,’ ” explains Jordan.

“Mark 3:31:35 says, [31] There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
[32] And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
[33] And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
[34] And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
[35] For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

“Another unmistakable rebuke is in Luke 11:27-28: [27] And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
[28] But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

“Now there's a verse somebody should ask anybody who wants to worship Mary about! This woman sees Christ and says, ‘Man, your momma is a wonderfully blessed lady,’ and Jesus says, ‘No, no, no, really the one who's blessed is the one who believes on me.’ ”

*****

“It’s not until Acts 1:14, when the ‘little flock’ of Believers is gathering in the Upper Room after the ascension of Christ, and before the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, that Mary and the brothers come around.

“While Mary was willing to be the mother of the King, she didn't want to be the disciple of this despised Nazarene from Galilee, and she didn't want to stand with Him in that.

“Like I said,  every time Mary appears in the Bible—in her personal life, in her attributes and in the things she does—she represents not just herself individually, but is a picture of the nation Israel. She's a personification of what God is doing with the nation at large.

“They do come around, but it's just fascinating that it takes so long. In Mary’s life and those of ‘his brethren,’ they get this great start, then they fall away, but then they come back and get it in the end.

“Mary's life and the life of Christ’s brothers demonstrate that life of Israel—there's some sorrow coming for the nation, but for those who believe, in the end there's going to be this great glorious fulfillment of God's purpose.”

*****

Among the Book of Proverbs’ fascinating aspects is how both wisdom and folly are personified as women. When wisdom speaks, for instance, it’s in three different formats.

First she speaks in the city; in the streets to the leaders of the nation. Then she withdraws herself and talks in private. She builds herself a house and goes into her own chamber and talks to just the people who are willing to come into her house. And then she sends her emissaries out into the city to invite other people into the house.

“There’s going to come a time in Israel when Wisdom will cry in the streets and do what she does in the latter part of Proverbs 1 (beginning in verse 20), which is to talk to the religious leaders of the nation and say, ‘Come and repent because the wrath of God’s coming, and if you don’t get right and hearken to me, the wrath of Almighty God is going to destroy you,’ ” explains Jordan.

“When they don’t hearken, Wisdom cries again (in Chapter 8). It’s from her house that she cries and invites people, ‘Psst! C’mon over here, I want to talk to you!’ and they go in the house.

*****

“Of course, all of that is exactly what happens in the earthly ministry of Christ. He starts out publicly in the streets calling the nation to repentance. Then, in the middle part of His ministry, about Matthew 11 and 12, He withdraws, and just at the point in Matthew 12 when the Pharisees and Sadducees—the religious leaders—begin to develop a plot to kill Him, He withdraws Himself from them.

“In Matthew 16, Peter says, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus says, ‘You’re right; don’t tell anybody.’ Isn’t that strange?

“He goes up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John and is transfigured from them, and they see His kingdom glory and majesty and, as they’re coming down from the mountain, He says, ‘Now you guys have seen it, but don’t tell anybody.’

“Wait a minute! Before, they’d been going around saying, ‘Hey, He’s here! He’s here! Trust him!’ Now He’s saying, ‘Psst! Come over here guys. Let’s regroup.’

“When He does go outside to talk to people, He says, ‘From now on I’m only going to talk in parables so you guys can’t understand it. People in my house over here, they can understand it.’

“And He says ‘the kingdom’s going to be taken from you,’ meaning it’s going to be taken from the religious leaders of Israel and given to a nation that brings forth the fruit thereof.

***** 

"He says, ‘Fear not, little flock, it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,’ and He literally builds within the nation Israel a new nation; within the house of Israel, a new house. A house where wisdom’s going live.

“And then, as in Proverbs 1, He sends His spirit down on them and then He sends His emissaries out of that house in the early Acts period to cry once again and to entreat. And in Proverbs 9, they go out and say, ‘Hey, there’s dinner at home. Come and dine. All is ready.’

"You have parables in Matthew about the feast and the dinner that’s there, and you have them going out on the highways and in the hinterlands.

*****

“David personifies wisdom as a person, and when it speaks in Israel it’s going to follow this pattern so that when you get over to Matthew, and that generation that Proverbs 30 says is going to show up—there is a generation that does these things—when they show up, John the Baptist identifies them and then you see Wisdom cry in the streets, then go into the house, then send out the apostles and the ‘little flock.’

“It’s that prophetic sense that Proverbs 30:1 and 31:1 are talking about; in the day when Wisdom speaks in their midst that this book will come into its own.

“David gives four purposes the proverbs were collected together to accomplish. The first purpose, which is to know wisdom and instruction, is amplified in Chapter 1: 7-9. The second purpose, to perceive the words of understanding, is amplified in Chapter 1:10 to the end of chapter. The third purpose, to receive guidance in judgment and equity, can be found in Chapter 2. The fourth purpose is ‘to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.’

“Beginning in Chapter 3, all the way down to the end of Chapter 9, or at least to the end of Chapter 7 (chapters 8 and 9 is a monologue where Wisdom speaks again), you have the focus on that fourth purpose.

“David was the most concerned . . . You know when you give your kids instruction, you got some things you want them to know about. You tell them to do this, this and this, and, ‘This one here, man, we need to talk about!’

“The most demanding one of these things—the one that David wanted Solomon to know the most about—is the one that God through David and Solomon wanted the ‘believing remnant’ in the last days to know the most about. The message was, ‘Have subtlety. Have the ability to know and have knowledge and discretion.’

“And that’s the reason that all through Chapters 3-7 . . . that’s where that stuff about that ‘strange woman’ comes up. That strange woman, folks, in Revelation 17, is that religious system.

“Part of the seduction is that thing in Revelation 2:14 and 2:20, where that woman Jezebel seduces the servants of God to commit fornication in the context of religion.

“What the Proverbs were going to do for Israel, and what they will do for the Believers in Israel, is give them the capacity to stay out of Satan’s trap and not step into the snare of the Adversary. That’s what Paul’s epistles do for us.”

(new article tomorrow)

Paul's Author on canvas in epistles

“Why are the words of Christ according to the gospel records any more the words of the Lord Jesus than those recorded in Paul’s epistles?” asks Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his 1963 classic The Controversy. “Christ Himself left no writings behind. Does not Paul say again and again that his teachings are the words of Christ? . . .

“Our opponents’ quotation of I Timothy 6:3-5 to prove that we should put greater emphasis on the words of the Lord Jesus than on the words of Paul, act as a boomerang, for this passage is but another proof that the words of Paul were the words of the Lord Jesus. Referring to his own instructions to Timothy, the apostle says:

“ ‘If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing . . . ’

Stam writes on the next page, “. . . So deep is the antipathy of some religious leaders toward the Pauline message and those who proclaim it that they will simply lie low each time their falsehoods are exposed and await an opportunity to strike again. This is Satan’s strategy, for it is easier to believe a lie one has heard a thousand times than to believe a truth he has never heard before.”

*****

In II Corinthians, Paul is put in the position of having to defend himself when the Believers in Corinth conclude he’s a fraud and illegitimate. He argues in II Corinthians 3:2, ‘Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.’

“The people are saying, ‘Prove it, prove it, prove it,’ and Paul says, ‘You’re it! You’re the letter of authenticity!’ ” explains Preacher Alex Kurz. “Verse 3:3 says, ‘Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.’

“Paul is the canvas but who is the author of this particular letter? Jesus Christ, as the Author, has written something upon the canvas of Paul’s heart, which demonstrates the Corinthians are literally the letter of authenticity!

“Do you know when you write a letter, the author actually bears the character of the writer? Do you understand why Paul says Christ is the one who is manifestly declaring something? When Jesus Christ uses Paul’s heart, Christ is inscribing His own character upon the canvas of Paul’s heart.

“You know what Paul’s saying? ‘You read my life and my ministry and you will see the reflection of the character of Jesus Christ. You will see born upon my life the very thinking that Jesus Christ has toward you. That’s the letter of authenticity.’

“The issue isn’t the outward appearance. The issue is what Paul is doing and putting up with and sacrificing for a group of ungrateful Believers. The stamp of Christ’s hand, the finger prints of Christ’s ministry, the proof that Jesus Christ is working in Paul’s ministry is stamped on Paul’s heart.

*****

“God wrote on tablets, walls, in the ground--but did you know God also writes in the heart? There is a fascinating parallel in Jeremiah 17:1: ‘The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars.’

“What does it mean for God to inscribe? The point of a diamond can cut glass, but do you know what a pen of iron does? This is a description of God permanently inscribing and engraving the sins of a nation on their heart.

“Verse 13 says, ‘O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.’

“In John 8 we cannot say with absolute certainty what the Lord Jesus is writing on the ground, but if we look at the context in chapter 7, we know what the Lord Jesus is trying to do. He’s constantly looking for faith in His messiahship. In Jeremiah 17, this might be the clue that could shed light on what Jesus Christ is writing on the ground.”

*****

Stam writes, “Those who would join with the Modernists in following the earthly Jesus should listen to the inspired apostle when he says: ‘Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.’ (II Corinthians 5:16)

“It is the message of the exalted Lord through Paul himself to which he refers when he says: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.’ (Colossians 3:16)

(new article tomorrow)

Lessons wasted on oblivious dodderers

We're told in Matthew 12:38 that “certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees” answered Jesus saying, “Master, we would see a sign from thee.”

“They’ve been watching Him heal people, cast out devils, giving them sign after sign after sign, and yet they’re saying these signs are not enough,” explains Jordan. “Of course, they had just tried earlier in the chapter to tell Him He cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub and He then lectured them, scolding them for saying such a thing.

“Jesus responds in Matthew 12:39-40, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [40] For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’

“Isn’t that fascinating? What is the sign of the prophet Jonas? That he was resurrected. There’s going to be one who comes back from the dead and you know who that is? The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

*****

In Luke 16, the rich man who went to hell because he didn’t believe God’s Word to him tells Abraham about how he’s got five brothers on the way to hell.

The passage reads, [27] Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
[28] For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
[29] Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
[30] And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
[31] And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Jordan explains, “There’s some symbolism here with regard to the nation Israel. You remember that woman at the well in John 4 who had five husbands? Those things have to do with the apostasy of Israel back in II Kings 17.

“This rich guy represented the apostate leaders of the nation Israel and he’s worried about his brothers now. His character hasn’t changed, his mindset hasn’t changed; he’s still a willful rebel against God and has no confidence that the Word of God is enough. What he’s requesting there in verse 30 is, ‘but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.’

“Notice how he says that. When you talk about the resurrection, you have to deal in prepositions. There’s the resurrection OF the dead and the resurrection FROM the dead. A resurrection FROM the dead means there’s some people who come up from where the dead folks are.

“The resurrection OF the dead would be all the dead folks come up. See the difference in that? So when Christ talks about it, consistently He talks about the resurrection FROM the dead because everybody doesn’t come up at the same time.

"There will be a resurrection OF the dead, that is all people are going to be resurrected, but when He talks about specifics, it will be FROM.

“This guy says, ‘If one went unto them from the dead, then my brothers will believe.’ This has been the problem all along with these characters. They demand some special evidence; they’re not going to believe the evidence that was given to the ordinary man. They want something real special. We’ve run into these characters before.

“Does this guy’s brother believe Jesus when He comes back? No. What do his brethren do in the early Acts period? They reject Christ in His resurrection, just like this guy rejected Christ in His incarnation.

*****

Talking about the deeply corrupt state of Israel, Hosea 7 says, “They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneeded the dough, until it be leavened.
[5] In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
[6] For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
[7] They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.”

Jordan explains, “The baker can go to sleep because the die is cast. The leaven has leavened the lump. They are all hot as an oven. They’re just burning up. What are they burning up with? With the lust of depravity.

“They’re burning up with all these sinful things—the falsehoods, the thefts, the adulteries, the robbings. All of these things that have overtaken the nation. The swearing, the lying, the stealing, the killing, the committing fornication . . . They’re just FILLED up, burning with that lust and depravity.

*****

"Go to II Peter 2:12-13 and watch how the nation’s described: 'But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

[13] And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.'

“If you want to see an illustration of what happened that day in Israel, think about our culture today. People sporting themselves, bragging about their wickedness, their sinfulness, and if you call it into question, what do they do? You’re the enemy, not them.

“Whether it’s stealing, lying or cheating, whatever it is, immorality in all kind of ways, they sport it. When a guy is out sporting, he’s out bragging about it, making money off of it.

“Who in the world in our culture makes more money by doing less than sports players and entertainers? They contribute absolutely no wealth to the community; they contribute entertainment, not wealth.

*****

“Here’s the whole thing in Verse 14: [14] Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

“When he talks about ‘having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin,’ you understand there’s a thing about sin that gets to be so controlling? The wages of sin is death. When sin brings forth its fruit, it’s death. Hebrews says that there’s ‘pleasure in sin for a season.’

“Brother Reynolds down at the mission used to say, ‘People talk about the ‘finest product of the Brewer’s Ark.’ You ought to come down here and see the finished product.’

“A brother asked me the other day if I’d ever heard the old Southern expression, ‘That dog won’t hunt.’ I said, 'Yeah, I use that expression a lot.' He just heard it so he was trying to put it into his vocabulary and I said, ‘Here’s another one I like: All the devil's apples have worms.’ Think about that. You know what’s worse than finding a worm in an apple? Finding half a worm.

*****

“Hosea continues, ‘Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.’

“He’s in the mirror going, ‘Here’s one, here’s one, here’s one.’ Now, what happens when you get salt-and-pepper hair? Usually you’re becoming an old man. His is like this old dude, yet he knoweth not.

“Israel has become like some oblivious old man who’s wasted his life and is just doddering around and doesn’t know what’s happened. And the thieves are pickpocketing him, taking his stuff. When it says 'he knoweth it not,' it’s not like he's got Alzheimer’s. He’s just oblivious to what’s happening.

“Well, verse 10 is the problem: ‘And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.’

“The pride of Israel testified to his face. In spite of all the problems, though, their pride kept them from hearkening to the Lord. You know what the middle letter of the word ‘sin’ is? It’s the same middle letter in the word ‘pride.’

“God says in Psalm 81, [11] But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
[12] So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. He says, ‘I would but you would not.’ Why not? Pride. Trusting yourself, making yourself the son of Satan.

“Paul writes in I Timothy 3:6: [6] Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

“What was it? Pride. The pride of Israel testifies. Right in their face you can see, they won’t turn to the Lord because of their pride. That’s what did that to Israel. God’s seen that before.

*****

Hosea continues in verse 11: 'Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.' Like a silly dove without heart. I love that. They light here, light there, go to Egypt, go to Syria. By the way, you can take that verse in I Timothy where it talks about ‘silly women’ and kind of get a definition right here.

“Verse 12 says, [12] When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

“Notice how it says ‘as their congregation hath heard.’ They had heard from God what He was going to do to them if they did this and He said, ‘I’m going to chasten them.’ Now, where did they hear that? That’s what Leviticus 26 was all about; those five courses of chastisement God said He’d put them through.

“That fifth one was there and that’s what is fixing to come on them. He said, ‘I’m going to spread the net out on them; I’m going to bring them down and I’m going to do exactly to them what I promised them I’d do.’

“Watch how it ends for them in verse 13: [13] Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

“How ungrateful, how stupid can you be? God redeemed them, brought them out of Egypt, bought them for His own and they lie about it. I mean, that’s like being brain dead, but that’s what they were spiritually.

*****

“Verse 14 says, [14] And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

“They’re screaming, ‘Lord, it hurts! We’re having problems, there’s inflation, there’s difficulty in the streets, people robbing us, there’s all these derelicts! Help!’

“It says ‘they assemble themselves for corn and wine.’ You remember Gomer in chapter 2 when she got all those blessings from Hosea but said her lovers gave them to her?

“God’s saying, ‘They came together to get provisions and they rebelled against me. They’d say, Lord, help!, and I’d come help them and what happened? They'd turn on me again. They have not cried unto me with their heart. It wasn’t faith; it was pride.’

*****

“So, verse 15 says, [15] Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

“God says, ‘I’ve come in and bound them up, tried to heal them and restore them, yet they imagined mischief against me. Every time I try to help them, it just makes things worse and worse.’

“The chapter ends in verse 16 with, [16] They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

“That’s a metaphor used back in Psalm 78 about Israel. A ‘deceitful bow’ is a bow that the guy who’s going to shoot it pulls out and thinks is going to work but it deceives him. It lets him down. It just becomes useless. He thought it was going to work but it disappoints him.

“Look at Psalm 78: [57] But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
[59] When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel.

“When Hosea says ‘their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue,’ that’s Psalm 73. ‘This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.’

“You remember back in verse 11 how they called to Egypt? Egypt is down south, king of the south, and Syria is king of the north. They’re going to be carried away among the nations, among the Gentiles, and it’s going to be a derision to them.

*****

“The Gentiles are going to mock them for their stupidity; the greatness that they had and how they fell. The whole problem was their heart. Jesus said, ‘Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’

“David was a man after God’s own heart. While his flesh would get the best of him, his heart was aimed at the Lord and never went after idols. Now, Solomon came along and his heart went after the ‘strange gods.’ That’s why his kingdom was taken from him, destroyed. It’s a heart issue with Israel and all those verses in Ezekiel and Isaiah say the problem is the heart.

“What Hosea is doing is saying, ‘Look at all this terrible stuff that’s coming; all this social calamity that’s coming. The destruction and fall of the nations. The reason for that is the depravity of the culture and when you return, you don’t return to the Lord, you return to this false stuff that won’t help you.’

“Now, that’s a lesson. Israel is God’s nation and America’s not God’s nation. Our Founding Fathers were not Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or anything close to the caliber of that.

"The old Calvinist notion of ‘divine right of kings’ and ‘manifest destiny’ is just a bunch of Calvinistic hooey, but ‘righteousness does exalt a nation and sin is a reproach,’ and if you want to see the reproach it brings, a chapter like that in Hosea will help you.”