In addressing the perilous times of the “last days,” Paul warns about
those who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Jordan explains, “There’s
this whole system of guilt that drives and runs an uncertainty that’s
pushing—ever learning , always looking for answers but never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth. Why? Because they’re looking at the form and not
the reality. They’re looking at the performance-based acceptance
program—legalism, the law—as opposed to an acceptance God gives you in Christ.
“ . . . Acceptance not because of who you think you are and what you can do because
you focus on yourself, but because of who Christ is and what God has done in
Him, and who God has made you in Him.
“I Corinthians 1:30 is such a wonderful verse on redemption. Paul
writes, ‘But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’
“I don’t know about you, but
in my life on a regular basis, day in and day out, I have to look to the Lord
and say, ‘I need wisdom. I need to know how to deal with this.’
“I know what pressure is and I know what it is to sit with
something and not know what to do. So I go down into my study and sit in my
chair and I say, ‘Lord, I’m going to start with Romans chapter one and read all
the way through to the end of Philemon; I know the answer is in there
somewhere.’
*****
*****
“I was watching a segment of Dr. Phil asking a guest, ‘What are you
proud of?’ and the guy told him about the kids he teaches at school. Phil
said, ‘No, I mean what are you proud of about YOU?’ The man didn’t have an
answer.
"Dr. Phil said, ‘Well, we’re going to give you some things to be proud of about you.’ I thought, ‘You know, that teacher had the right attitude to start with.’ What do you have to go strutting around being proud about yourself?
"Dr. Phil said, ‘Well, we’re going to give you some things to be proud of about you.’ I thought, ‘You know, that teacher had the right attitude to start with.’ What do you have to go strutting around being proud about yourself?
“People say, ‘Shouldn’t I have a good self-image?’ You? REALLY?!
Let’s put you on Jay Leno because you could be good on the comedy circuit. You
don’t need a good self-image; you need a proper self-image.
“You need to understand who
God’s made you in Christ. Outside of Jesus Christ, there isn’t anything good
that’s going to come. That’s the problem. Men become lovers of themselves.
*****
*****
“When you understand the righteousness God's given you in His Son, do you realize what that does as you see your failures? Instead of being condemned by the goofs in your life, and shocked by them, overdrawn by them,
you say, ‘This a waste of time in my life because that’s not who I am! Why am
I wasting my life with this?! That’s what Christ died to put away!’
“You begin to deal with it; I begin to look at it. I begin to
objectively evaluate it. I begin to say, ‘That doesn’t belong in my life and I need
to put it off by putting ON Christ—His attitudes, His actions.’
“I find I need to preach the gospel to me more than anyone I know.
Sanctification is to have purpose and meaning in life. Redemption is to have
liberty and freedom. That’s what God gives me in His Son and that’s a reality
of who I am.
“These people (in II Timothy 3) are ever learning and never able
to come to know that. Why? Because they’re focusing on what they’re doing and
what others are doing, rather than who God’s made them in Christ. That’s the
essence of grace—what God has accomplished for you through the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
“That truth enters into every aspect of your life—where you lived this
past day and where you’re going to live in the week ahead. It’s designed to
live there in those details of your life. It’s designed to live in you and out
through you for others to catch the aroma of.
*****
“II Timothy 3 represents
Paul’s look into the future.
“Verse 5 says they have ‘a form of godliness, but deny the power
thereof.’ Now what’s that talking about? That isn’t talking about the world out
there. Paul’s talking about the way it will be in the church as the world goes
on. Self begins to take over. ‘Form of godliness’ is talking about the church—it’s
that external religious performance—as a form.
“It’s form, or external religious performance, denying the power
of the internal reality. Where’s the power of God? It’s in the gospel given by
Paul; it’s in the Crosswork of Christ. It’s not out there in politics; it’s not
in the pocketbook.
“It’s my faith resting in the reality of who God has made me
through the Crosswork of Jesus Christ—when Jesus Christ died to put away all my
sins; put away everything that’s wrong with me and has dealt with it, and
there’s a finality to it. Then there’s the reality of His resurrection life.
“It’s what God’s already done for me. I don’t have to go try and
find it. I don’t have to seek it. I don’t have to work it up or pray it down. I
don’t have to go rededicate my life once a year. That’s who I am. I just need
to relax and live in the reality of who God says I am wherever I find myself
day in, day out.
“Paul says in that same verse, ‘from such turn away.’ That’s
saying, ‘Don’t be a part of that kind of system; that kind of activity.’
“Verse 6 says, ‘For of this sort are they which creep into houses,
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.’
“He’s not picking on silly women and he’s not saying all women are
silly. What he’s talking about is, ‘You’re not using your mind, silly!’ You’re
being captivated by the form, by the outward things; it’s the old wives tales
kind of thing.
*****
“Paul says in Romans 7 that when he tries to do good works in the
energy of that flesh, God won’t take it. God says all of our own righteousness
is like ‘filthy rags.’ The moral law of God keeps pointing out that there isn’t
any ability in this flesh of ours to stop sin or to produce works God will accept.
“When you get saved, you’re spiritually circumcised and your soul
and your body are cut loose; you’re set free. Now your soul’s no longer the
slave of sin. You’re crucified with Christ and your body is reckoned dead.
“In Galatians 5: 16-18, Paul advises Believers, “This I say then,
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
“I Corinthians 15:56 tells us, ‘The sting of death is sin;
and the strength of sin is the law.’ Paul writes in Romans 7:25, ‘So then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.’
“Where does the sin get its strength? It’s the law that gives sin
its strength.
Paul argues in Galatians 3:3, ‘Are ye so foolish? having begun in
the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
“Nobody thinks they’re going to be perfected by doing evil things,
but the flesh can do some GOOD things that give a person the idea they’re going
to be perfected by the good things they do.
“You know what Paul said about his religion and all the good things he
could produce walking in the flesh, keeping himself under the law? He said it’s
just dung—horse manure. You see, he lost all his confidence
in what he could do on his own.
“Walking in the flesh has to do with a motivating factor that says
you do good things in order that you can please God on your own. That’s the
law principle.
“The motivating factor when you walk in the Spirit is recognition
of your position in Christ and wanting to walk consistent with that position,
and that’s grace. You walk under the grace principle. It’s about getting in line with what God’s
doing today in the world and in your life, not in what YOU are trying to do.
“As Paul puts it in Romans 8:1, ‘There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit.’
“Victory is obtained by objectively being occupied with who God’s
made you in Christ. ‘With the mind, I shall walk with God.’ ”
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