Cuckoo kingdom talk at heart of Christian Nationalism

(new article tomorrow)

"Christendom" falsely teaches a doctrine called 'the priesthood of the Believer', trying to distinguish itself from Rome, which has a hierarchy of priests that represent God to the individual and through them you go to God.

"The Protestants moved away from Rome with the Reformation, they just didn't move that far in most areas," says Richard Jordan. "They said, 'No, you don't need a priest because every Believer is to be a priest.' 

"Well, I Peter 2:9 says, [9] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

"If you don't know how to rightly divide the Word you look at that verse and say, 'That's who I am.' The problem is you'll see that everything in that verse is back in Exodus 19:5-6, talking about the nation Israel: [5] Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

[6] And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

"God created that nation. They're a kingdom of priests; a holy nation set apart. This is the passage where, out in the world, it's called Christian nationalism.

"The world looks at Christianity and says, 'You're a bunch of Christian nationalists.' You're hearing that term more and more and it's a pejorative term the world looks at because the church goes out saying, 'We're carrying on the kingdom.'

"Riding here just this morning after our radio program (WYLL AM 560, Sunday 8:30-9 a.m.) the dude on next talked about how we're 'kingdom people.' In anybody's terminology a kingdom means you've got a king; a ruler, a political authority. A kingdom requires some territory to be ruled; a government.

"That word 'kingdom' communicates something and that's where that term 'Christian Nationalist' comes in. They are those who are literally trying to bring in the kingdom through the governmental structure, called 'Kingdom Now Dominion Theology.'

"Folks, you aren't a priest; you don't need a go-between. You're not a priest; you're a saint of the living and true God. You are accepted in the Beloved; you don't need anything to go between. Your relationship to the world is that of an ambassador, not a priest.

"When you start using this kingdom terminology, the world listens to you and that's what you hear constantly in Christian communication. You ask, 'Well, where's the kingdom that's being ruled?' and they say it's 'ruling in the hearts of men.' They're a bunch of weasly, spineless, weak, delusionary . . .

"That's why the church is irrelevant to the world. Because they're making out like they're something they're not and the world listens to them.

"This morning, in about 99 percent of the churches, this verse is being recited: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

[10] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread.
[12] And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

"There's not one Gentile in your Bible when Jesus is talking that would say 'our Father.' He wasn't the Father of any nation in the earth except Israel. God was the Father of only one nation in the earth and that's the nation Israel. No individual Gentile would ever come and say 'our Father.'

" 'Our Father which art in heaven.' You know where He should be? Emmanuel God with us. You go back to Joshua 3 when the Lord went before the nation Israel into the Promised land, He was called 'the Lord God of all the earth.'

"In II Chronicles 36 when He takes Israel and scatters them among the Gentiles in that 5th Course of Judgment, He calls Himself 'the Lord God of heaven.' He's been rejected and He's on exile. When He's called the Lord God of heaven, that's not a good thing for Israel. It's a bad thing, because He belonged in their midst.

" 'Thy kingdom come.' That's not talking about the church going somewhere. 'Thy will be done' where? In earth. There's a literal, physical, visible, earthly kingdom. So when you hear people talk about the kingdom, where is it? Well, it's not here!

"Then how can you be the kingdom? If you don't rightly divide the Word all this stuff ends up . . . He says 'Give us this day our daily bread.' You can't honestly pray that. Go check your pantry. You've got food spoiling in your refrigerator.

"Who did God give daily bread to in the Bible? You remember Him feeding them with manna? In Revelation 12, you know what He's going to do with some tribulation saints? Feed them with manna.

"Now, you begin to get a context of where this fits, not just who but where. 'Lead us not in to temptation.' That doesn't mean, 'Oh, God, keep me from watching porn on my computer.' There's a temptation in the Book of Revelation to take a mark. Remember that?

" 'Forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors.' You want God to forgive you on the basis of how you forgive others? That's called the law: 'If we forgive God will forgive us and if we don't, He won't.' That's an operating system of the law for the nation Israel in an earthly kingdom, specifically about a tribulation period. That's what that prayer's about.

"When you take it and say, 'Well, it doesn't really mean what it says' . . . I listened to a guy this morning talking about Elijah on Mt. Carmel and how the fire of God fell. He's saying, 'We need to be men of Elijah.' You mean you're going to call fire down? 'Well, no, really, God isn't sending fire.' Then how are you going to be like Elijah, because He did that with Elijah? When Moses and Elijah show up in Revelation 11, you know what they do? They bring fire down from heaven and it burns people up.

"Trying to make out like that's today makes you look cuckoo. Understanding right division helps you not be in the camp of people who try to take the Bible and make it say something it doesn't say. Because when people read what it says, they say, 'You're a nut!' Because this isn't what it said!"

Mansion in the sky

"This month’s back-to-back heavy rain was especially distressing for three multimillion-dollar mansions on the edge of a bluff in Dana Point (CA), a stunning and pretty wealthy city, where the average home value is more than $1.5 million and the median household income is almost $120,000," reports Fortune magazine, posted to Yahoo News today.

A doctor by the name of Lewis Bruggeman owns a home on Scenic Drive, closest to the landslide. He told a local CBS station, “The house is fine. It’s not threatened. It will not be red-tagged.

“The city agrees that there’s no major structural issue with the house right now,” Bruggeman said.

"His home is a really valuable one. It’s estimated to be worth roughly $16 million, according to several publications. On Zillow, the four-bedroom, six-bathroom, and more than 9,700-square-foot home is estimated to be worth approximately $14 million (on Redfin, it’s more than $15.5 million)."

*****

John 14 begins: [1] Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

[2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

"When Christ says He goes to prepare a place for you, He’s not saying, ‘I’m going to heaven to build a bunch of houses for you,’ " explains Richard Jordan. “We sing that old hillbilly song, ‘Just give me a cabin in the corner of glory land,’ and somebody will argue, ‘No, I want a mansion over the hilltop!’ which is from another old hillbilly song.

"One of my favorite old gospel songs was, ‘And I shall go to dwell on Zion’s hill': Some day beyond the reach of mortal ken,

Some day God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.

“But there’s a lot of stuff in the hymn book that isn’t good doctrine. When Christ says, ‘I go to prepare a place for you,’ He’s not talking about going to heaven and working for 2,000 years on building you a house to live in, like another old song goes. I know, that’s sentimentalism, but it’s unscriptural sentimentalism that turns into superstition.

“Think about how foolish that. The second person of the godhead could step out on the platform of nothing, speak a word and a universe is created. Why would He need two thousand years to create a home for you?! The sentimentalism is just kind of foolish. People argue, ‘Yeah but, He’s designing an intricate . . . ’

“How could He design anything more intricate than the creation you live in? Study the atom; study the science of our creation. The deeper scientists are able to dig into creation, or biologists into biology creation, the more complicated it becomes. It doesn’t get simpler. And there’s that creative complexity that’s designed in creation.

“When He says ‘in my Father’s house are many mansions,’ He’s talking to His apostles about the temple He’s going to build in the kingdom and the fact there’s a group of people who are going to dwell with Him in that temple—those who come out of the Great Tribulation and go to this temple and serve there.

*****

"If you go back to John 11 you see the word ‘place’ is not always used in a geographic sense. It can be used in a moral sense or, in this case, a spiritual sense.

John 11:47-48: [47] Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
[48] If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

“They’re not talking about how they’re going to come down and kick us out of ‘our house.’ They’re talking about their position of rulership in the nation Israel. So when Christ is talking in John 14, He’s using that word place in that kind of an idea: ‘I’m going to go create a position for you.' The fact He’s not talking about a physical location is demonstrated in the verses that follow.

*****

"The temple the apostles are seeing is called 'my house' in Ezekiel 43-45. When it says ‘in my Father’s house,’ there are many mansions in that house. The reason he says that, if you look at Ezekiel 40, is because that’s exactly what’s in the house.

“Ezekiel 40: 2-3: [2] In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

[3] And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

“The frame of the city is that thing Psalm 104 talks about; the beams of His chamber being laid. But at this point, after the Second Advent, those beams are now exposed. The city hasn’t come down yet, but the foundation is laid out for them to get there.

“Ezekiel begins to measure the environs there and lay out the measuring line and the measurements. Verse 9: ‘Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward. And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.’

“Notice that concept about the little chamber? You go down through this passage and you find there’s all kind of little chambers being built in this house and these chambers are little cubicles built into the wall.

“You can see it in the tabernacle of Solomon in I Kings 6. The people who ministered in the temple had their living quarters there.

"I Kings 6:5: [5] And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

“You remember how John the Baptist’s daddy lived off in another town and had to go up to Jerusalem (when his course came) to serve in the temple for that week?

"David divided the priesthood up so every tribe of the two sons of Levi went twice a year to Jerusalem to work for a week in the temple. They’d come in on a Sabbath and leave the next Sabbath in the order of their course.

“Well, they didn’t have to go rent rooms at the downtown Hilton while they were there. They had rooms provided for them in the temple—those little chambers. But they weren't chambers like a Motel 6.

"These things were decorated with cherubim and gold. They were mansions, gorgeous places befitting the temple of the God of all the earth; the God of Israel.

“When they rebuild that temple in the Millennium they’re going to have those chambers in there. They’re going to have all these dwelling places. . . A mansion is where a ruler lives."

Devouring the palaces of Ben-hadad

(new article tomorrow)

"The Gentile nations that tend to Israel and minister to them during the tribulation period get a blessing. The ones who don't get a curse and when you look at those who don't, they're around Palestine.

Amos 1: [2] And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

"The reason Jesus Christ goes through Syria, Damascus the capital, and Gaza, the Philistines, Phoenicia where Tyrus is (verse 9), Edom (verse 11) and Ammon (verse 13) and Moab (chapter 2)--He's literally tracing the first leg of the Second Advent as He 'comes in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,' " explains Richard Jordan.

"This is one of the important passages that helps you see the flight path the Lord Jesus Christ is going to cover in that actual Second Coming of His, and He starts up in Damascus and comes down that sea coast.

"Amos 1 is picking up where Joel left off in chapter 3:

[3] Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
[4] But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

"Back in Jeremiah, He told Israel, 'I'm going to use the Gentile nations to punish you and when I'm through using them to punish you, I'm going to punish them.'

"Here's what He's going to do: 'because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron . . .  ' In other words, because they persecuted Israel, the cruelty of their attack, they didn't just kill them--a threshing instrument is when you just completely destroy something and they used it in the most heinous attacks. They come in and defile God's land and God says, 'Because of the way you treated my land, I'm going to pour out my wrath; I'm going to send fire.'

"You see that little word 'Ben' in Ben-hadad? In Hebrew that means 'son.' Hadad, that's 'the god of the sun.' You go to chapter 5 and you'll see Him talk about Molech.

"What He's going to destroy are the pagan gods those Gentiles are worshipping, that they've been following and that have been convincing them to destroy Israel. They hate Israel for a religious reason.

Verse 5: [5] I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.

"You bar the door to keep the enemy out and He said, 'I'm going to break the bar; I'm going to break their protection down and I'm coming in.' 

"When you cut off somebody you kill them. 'The inhabitant from the plain of Aven,' we saw that back in Hosea. Aven is the valley of wickedness.

"It goes on, 'and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.'

"The people who are in there ruling, trying to run things . . . It's interesting, by the way, this is one of the verses that helps you identify where Eden is. There's that phrase and you say, 'What did He put that in there for?'

"Because when God looks at that land being run by those Gentiles, that's the land that belonged to Him. Adam and Eve were placed in a garden eastward in Eden. Eden is the whole territory of the Middle East. It runs from the Mediterranean all the way over to the Euphrates. It's a crescent kind of shaped thing.

"If you take that word Eden and look in a concordance and find the places where it's mentioned, you'll find locations and then you can see the perimeters of where that land is.

"The reason He says it this way is they've taken this land that belonged to God that He's had this plan for and they've turned it into a den of wickedness. Satan has tried to take over; in Deuteronomy they're called the 'sons of belial', occupying the land.

"Now, Kir is where Syria originally came from. So, He's just going to beat them back into their original situations."

God's desire in seeing us broken

David writes in Psalm 3: [1] LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

[2] Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
[3] But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
[4] I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
[5] I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

From a commentary on the website Blue Letter Bible:

At the writing of this psalm David was in a great deal of trouble. His own son led what seemed to be a successful rebellion against him. Many of his previous friends and associates forsook him and joined the ranks of those who troubled him (2 Samuel 15:13).

b. There is no help for him in God: David’s situation was so bad that many felt he was beyond God’s help. Those who said this probably didn’t feel that God was unable to help David; they probably felt that God was unwilling to help him. They looked at David’s past sin and figured, “This is all what he deserves from God. There is no help for him in God.”

i. Shimei was an example of someone who said that God was against David, and he was just getting what he deserved (2 Samuel 16:7-8). This thought was most painful of all for David — the thought that God might be against him and that there is no help for him in God.

*****

Richard Jordan explains about the psalm, “The psalmist could have just as easily been talking about Job of old: ‘People look at me and they see what’s going on in my life and they say, There’s no help from God for him; he’s so far gone even God can’t help him!’

“Paul says, ‘You know, those voices of condemnation and accusing are going to come because you’re conscious of who you are in you, and when you focus on who you are in you, you know what happens? Romans 7:

[22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
[23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
[24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“You see, it’s an inner struggle. There’s a spiritual battle that goes on but for faith. The victory is an inner victory, seeing the invisible reality. Hebrews 11 says Moses won the victory over Pharaoh by ‘seeing Him who is invisible.’ It was by faith, looking at the truth of God.

“Paul says, ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’

“When you have your ‘I’ moments, they’re really not ‘I’ moments. They’re moments where you need to be learning ‘I can’t do this!’ And when you see, ‘I can’t do it!’ that’s what Galatians 2 told you.

“You only learn two things in all of your Christian life: ‘It’s not I, it’s Christ.’ And when you get into the, ‘The deliverance isn’t here; I can’t do it!’ you say, ‘WOAH, I need to look at Christ! Because HE can; because HE did!' ”

*****

Paul writes in II Corinthians 4:6-7: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

“In antiquity the earthen vessel was nothing but a cheap expendable clay pot," explains Alex Kurz. "Why's God deliberately determined to do something by placing Himself within the clay pot? Why does God seek to do it with clay?

“The earthen vessel expresses something about the character of who we all are as humans. It communicates our frail, fragile state. We’re vulnerable, we’re susceptible. We have hairline fractures, all of us. We have little chips and cracks and fissures and scratches and flaws.

“Sometimes, though, we convince ourselves that to be a good Christian we need to polish the vessel up a little bit, right? We sometimes think we need to present ourselves as precious vessels of shiny, vigorous strength; vessels that are self-controlled with this quiet, rugged individualist character. 

“God says no. God deliberately wants us to go through a process of brokenness. He wants us all to face the emotional battering.

"The Apostle Paul describes the psychological trauma; the emotional pressures and stresses. Paul recognized, ‘I am a failure!’ over and over again. God says that’s okay. God says, ‘That’s my design!’

*****

“God knows we’re made of dust and we’re filled with flaws and blemishes. We do make mistakes and we’re going to fail Him over and over, but that doesn’t result in defeat. What we discover is that's exactly the way God's designed to do what He’s trying to do!

“It is now IN the weakness, IN the brokenness, IN the place and point where we abandon who we think we are and we can stop . . . what a joy it is not to have to worry about trying to live a phantom Christianity where I’ve got to make myself strong and viable and present myself to God as somebody who’s always in control. NO!! God says, ‘I don’t want you to be in control!’ 

“Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:27, [27] But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty 

“Do you ever feel foolish? Do you ever feel like you made a mistake and you wish you could get a do-over; a mulligan? You lament, ‘Man, I wish I could go back and change things.’ Listen, God has chosen the foolish things. That’s you.

 “Is it a good thing or bad thing to be foolish? It’s consistent with what God’s doing. Always remember that. When you fail that is not indicative that you’re operating against the will of God.

“God factored it into the equation, the formula, the need for you to be a failure. Now, shouldn’t that maybe help take some of the pressure off? You see, religion is like a vice grip. It says, ‘You’ve got to get right, get clean, get better, improve, make yourself worthy, present yourself.’ In Christ, though, it’s just, ‘Let it go; be who you are.’

*****

“When Paul says in I Corinthians 2, ‘And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling,’ is he saying he’s an inferior Christian because he was weak? Is he saying, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t have the courage; I don’t have the boldness’?

“He says, ‘Listen, I am terrified sometimes. I’m terrified by the situations taking place.’ Is that a good thing or a bad thing? God has you right where He wants you. Remember, God’s going to confound the things that are mighty by using the brokenness.

“You’re beat up, battered, bruised, don’t have all the answers and God says, ‘I’ve got you right where I want you.’

“Paul says in I Corinthians 4:10, ‘We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.'

“Over and over again he talks this way, especially when he writes to the Corinthians, because the Corinthians were victimized by the ‘selfie culture’; by the ‘me’ mentality: ‘Look at me, self-absorbed.’

“II Corinthians 11:29 says, ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?’ Paul was honest with himself: ‘I’m not the poster child of immense vigor and personal strength. I don’t always have this spiritual fortitude. Sometimes I fail and I fail again and I fail miserably. I am weak and I am offended and I am frustrated, and sometimes I want to throw my hands in the air and pull my hair out.’

“That’s a good thing, though. It’s okay. You’re an earthen vessel, aren’t you? Who do you think you are? Who do you think I am? The sooner I adopt and claim my status as a weak earthen vessel then God has me right where He wants me.

 *****

“Of course, Paul really sums it up best in chapter 12. It’s fascinating if you study the Corinthians, to them weakness was abhorrent—‘You don’t want to present yourself as a fool; you want to have respectability! You don’t want to portray yourself as not being in control; you want to have the bull by the horns!’ Paul says, ‘That’s not who I am because I want Christ to be magnified.’

“In II Corinthians 12:9, Paul writes, [9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

“God’s process is you’ve got to die to yourself that the life of Christ might be made manifest. We want to take shortcuts, right, because our DNA won’t allow us to be weak, foolish and offended? God says that’s part of the formula!

 “The power of Christ is perfected, not when you’re in control, but when you're at the point of the most desperate need. We’re left with nothing but who? Christ. Paul said, ‘I want to win Him. I want to have fellowship with His sufferings. I want to be made conformable unto His death. I want to win Christ.’ Wow!

“In the next verse he says, [10] Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

“Listen, only a lunatic can talk like that! Who here enjoys infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses?! Paul doesn’t say, ‘I enjoy it,’ by the way.

*****

“We have to have a renewed way of thinking about life. Life is not an enemy. Adverse circumstances are not an enemy. We have to renew the way we interpret what's happening in life, and when life beats us to a pulp, whether it’s physically, psychologically, emotionally, economically, we can go through the whole gamut. 

“Why does Paul say, ‘For when I am weak then am I strong’? That’s the difference between living with the eyes of the flesh and ‘having the eyes of our understanding enlightened.' You see the difference there?

"That’s how God's going to confound the mighty, because it goes against all that we instinctively believe about what we’re supposed to be doing. God says, ‘Stop doing; start being.’

“Religion tries to convince, ‘You’ve got to do it; you’ve got to do to get.’ God says, ‘It’s already done; you already have.’ Wow, we can rest, but we can have a different way of pursuing.

*****

"When II Corinthians 4:6 says God ‘hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, but we have this treasure . . .’ the treasure is the ministry; the Good News of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

“The treasure is this knowledge of the glory of God; the plan and the design and the purpose of God Almighty. It’s the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“God entrusts all of that to a bunch of vulnerable, susceptible clay pots who are going to feel the hurt, the pain, the trauma and are going to fail. God says, ‘That’s a good thing.’ Why? ‘That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.’

“The message is, ‘Get out of the way.’ That’s what Paul is saying to the Corinthians and, quite frankly, that’s the key to having meaning and fulfillment in life—the sooner we get out of the way.

“The excelling power of God is when He deliberately equips us in the realm of the inner man to do something while we’re an earthen vessel, so that He is free to do something IN and THROUGH us.

*****

“II Corinthians 1 says, [3] Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

[4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
[5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

“That’s the excelling power of Almighty God! Our Father who personally desires to carry us through the circumstances. It’s when He can function as a ‘Father of mercies,’ as 'the God of all comfort,' that He is happy, because He literally desires us to go through this process of being broken. We’re not alone.

 “II Corinthians 1: 6 says, ‘And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.’

“That’s what Paul means when he says ‘faint not.’ Don’t surrender, don’t quit, don’t abandon ship. Don’t wave the white flag of surrender. The excelling power of God is the ability to endure, because God’s design is, ‘I want you busted, I want you broken, I want you to be that earthen vessel.’ Why? ‘Because I’m trying to do something here!’

*****

“Verse 9 says, ‘But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.’ Having a ‘sentence of death in ourselves,’ means we abandon the ‘selfie life;’ the ‘me’ approach.

“Death leads to complete trust and reliance on what God is teaching us. You see why it’s necessary to be a busted and broken container? Because our 'Father of mercies,' what He wants us to do is render 'self' dead so now we’re left with Him.

“Verse 10-13: [10] Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

[11] Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
[12] For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
[13] For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

“The sooner we abandon 'self'--our own independence and self-sufficient reliance--the sooner we now do what verse 13 says. We operate with the spirit of faith. ‘So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’

“It may look one way, but God says, ‘Here’s the eternal reality.’ Faith, by the way, is ‘according as it is written.’ Jesus Christ is the capital ‘W’ word of God. We have the small ‘w’ word of God; the life of Christ is nothing short of believing by faith obedience what God has written and said about what He’s doing.”

Trust ends fear and doubt

The headline, "How to trust no one in four easy steps," came up on my news feed recently. It struck me how that's definitely an objective goal for some people. It seems to be a way of coping for some unsaved individuals?! They teach themselves not to trust anyone to somehow make life better for themselves.

Some psychologists say there are six basic emotions--anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. Famous psychologist Robert Plutchik (1927-2006) once named eight, which he grouped into four pairs of polar opposites--joy-sadness, anger-fear, trust-distrust, surprise-anticipation.

One of the top themes heard today is how you can't trust anything anymore. You can't trust Trump, Biden, the news, the media, any government, any corporation,  the CIA, the FBI, the FDA, FOX News, the CDC, U.N., the food and water supply, the pharmaceuticals--it's now absolutely endless! 

*****

(here's an old post on the subject and I will have a new article tomorrow for certain)

By my count, the word “trust” or "trusteth," etc., appears in the King James Bible 186 times. The vast majority of Psalms include the issue of trust.

David writes in Psalm 91, [2] I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
[3] Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
[4] He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

A favorite verse from the pulpit is Psalm 118:8: "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."

Another favorite is from Proverbs 3: [5] 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.

Paul often spoke of trust and, in one of the most-used verses in gospel-giving, he writes to the Ephesians: [13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

*****

Robert C. Solomon (1942-2007), a renowned American educator and philosopher and author of 40-plus books, had many thoughts about the nature of trust and how he believed “many people are blind to it.”

Solomon observes, in a compilation of quotes from him, “Trust is not bound up with knowledge so much as it is with freedom, the openness to the unknown . . . Trust opens up new and unimagined possibilities . . . True, trust necessarily carries with it uncertainties, but we must force ourselves to think about these uncertainties as possibilities and opportunities, not as liabilities. . . Trust is a skill learned over time so that, like a well-trained athlete, one makes the right moves, usually without much reflection.”

II Samuel 22 says, [29] For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
[30] For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
[31] As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
[32] For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?
[33] God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
[34] He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
[35] He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
[36] Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
[37] Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.”

Regarding the trust one can and should place in God’s Word, Richard Jordan emphasizes, “When you come to a book that you can trust, instead of it disappointing you when you doubt it, you realize the problem was you, not it. You discover that as you keep studying it, you begin to trust it more and more.

"When you hear me talk about trusting the King James Bible, that’s not because I had some tradition to do that. That comes from 55 years of just reading it every day, studying it for what it is and letting it commend itself to me. I tell people all the time, ‘You should believe the bible you’re reading. You should let it tell you about itself.’ ”

*****

If you think about it, are there many themes more prominent in Christian hymns than trust and all that comes with it? In the end, it's everything!

In the great old hymn from 1891, "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place," author Eliza Hewitt (a Philadelphia teacher who wrote many Christian poems in her convalescence after a boy she disciplined struck her in the back with a heavy slate, giving her a spinal malady that ended her career and made her a shut-in) boasts,

1. My faith has found a resting place,
   Not in device or creed;
   I trust the ever-living One,
   His wounds for me shall plead.
   • Refrain:
     I need no other argument,
     I need no other plea,
     It is enough that Jesus died,
     And that He died for me.
2. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
   This ends my fear and doubt;
   A sinful soul I came to Him,
   He’ll never cast me out.
3. My heart is leaning on the Word,
   The living Word of God,
   Salvation by my Savior’s name,
   Salvation through His blood.

According to a biography on Hewitt, "As an invalid for an extended period, she developed a love of God and the Scriptures, and the hope of sharing with others in written form. She wrote Sunday School literature and children’s poems. She wrote a poem for her pastor during this time entitled 'Winning Souls for Jesus' and it was placed in the corner stone of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church of West Philadelphia. 

"Her condition eventually improved and she was able to return to an active life in Christian ministry. She wrote 'There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today' after getting her body cast off and being allowed a walk in the nearby park, in thankfulness at the joy of being able to get about again.

"She was very committed to reaching children through Sunday Schools and attended the Methodist Camp meetings in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. She worked with the Methodist District Superintendant’s wife, Emily Wilson, on the hymn poem, 'When We All Get to Heaven.' "

*****

Thoro Harris, regarded as one of the most prolific African-American hymn writers of the early 20th century, reveals in his classic from 1931, All That Thrills my Soul, “He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, In my blessed Lord I see . . .  On His strength divine relying, He is all in all to me.”

Making Jesus everything, trusting in Him for our all, was a constant theme in Harris’ hundreds of Christian songs. In Hide Thou Me, He writes, “O what a Friend is Jesus sure anchor for my soul, So tender, true and gracious, I'm safe in His control.”

In another classic of his from 1914, More Abundantly, the refrain goes, “All from Him receiving,
Yield to Him your all; Jesus will accept you When to Him you flee; He will grant His blessing more abundantly.”

*****

Minister Howard A. Walter (1883-1918) is the author of the hymn, "I Would Be True, For There are Those Who Trust Me." A book on hymn origins reveals, "In July of 1906 Walter was teaching English at Waseda University in Japan. He sent his mother a poem he had written called 'My Creed.' In the poem he expressed the feeling that motivated him as a Christian: 'I would be true, for there are those who trust me.'

"His mother was so impressed with the sincerity of the poem that she submitted it to the editors of Harper's Bazaar, who published it in 1907. Three years later it was seen by Joseph Pee who saw its possibilities as a hymn. Although a tune was running clearly in his mind, Peek was unfamiliar with the techniques of musical composition and got an organist friend to write it down while he whistled. 'I Would Be True,' one of the outstanding youth songs of all time, is one of the few hymns that mention the word 'laughter' as a Christian attribute."

*****

A great hymn from 1887, written by John Sammis, is "Trust and Obey." Of the hymn's origins, "The inspiration for this hymn began in 1886 when the composer of the music, Daniel B. Towner, was the music conductor during one of Dwight L. Moody’s renowned revivals. Towner offered the following testimony cited by Moody’s musical partner, Ira D. Sankey, in his biography, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns: 

“Mr. Moody was conducting a series of meetings in Brockton, Massachusetts, and I had the pleasure of singing for him there. One night a young man rose in a testimony meeting and said, ‘I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.’ I just jotted that sentence down and sent it with a little story to the Rev. J. H. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister. He wrote the hymn, and the tune was born.” 
The lyrics are:

1. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
   What a glory He sheds on our way!
   While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
   And with all who will trust and obey.
   • Refrain:
     Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
     To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2. Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
   But His smile quickly drives it away;
   Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
   Can abide while we trust and obey.
3. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
   But our toil He doth richly repay;
   Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
   But is blessed if we trust and obey.
4. But we never can prove the delights of His love
   Until all on the altar we lay;
   For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
   Are for them who will trust and obey.
5. Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
   Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
   What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
   Never fear, only trust and obey.

Self-talk of the Savior

(new article tomorrow--switch-up in meds for the fluid trapped behind my eardrum has me dead asleep)

John 17, the longest recorded prayer of Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry, takes the reader into the very heart and mind—the inner thinking and intimacy the Son shared with His Father.

Verse 5: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."

Verse 24: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

"What’s so notable is Christ doesn’t claim anything of His own. Instead, He says, 'The Father gave me. It’s the Father’s will. I’m doing the Father’s will.'

“So what you’re going to find in this prayer is the Lord Jesus Christ in communion with His Father about the plan the godhead had in eternity past and how they’ve worked it out through history and now they’re at that crucial moment; that lynchpin moment in which everything is going to hang," explains Richard Jordan. "He’s being obedient unto death; even the death of the Cross.

*****

“If you ever wanted to see the internal self-talk of the Savior . . . if you ever wanted to see someone go through the very depths of life, struggles, difficulties, injustice, betrayal, criticism, hatred—not deserving any of it. . . ‘They hated me without a cause,’ He said. He’s conscious of it, and yet able to do it with steadfastness, joy of heart and complete victory.

“When Paul says, ‘Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,' here’s the mind that was in Christ, and this is one of these rare occasions where you literally listen to Him express . . .

"One of the things you do when you pray is you open your heart up. One of the really valuable things about verbal prayer (audible) is that when you pray with one another (as husband and wife, or with other members of the ministry, etc.), you get to hear what’s on the heart of the other person.

“Sometime we are real conscious of that so we try to pray, not to God, but to one another. Grace allows you to be real and honest with people.

"The thing that makes you put up a mask and try to hide your failures is not grace. That’s the law. That’s a performance.

"When someone’s accepting you based on your performance, then you have to be sure your performance is acceptable. But when you have a relationship with someone, and this is a rare thing--when the Scripture talks about loving one another, and walking in love, this is the goal!

"It’s to be able to value and esteem a person the way God does and not based upon your evaluation or expectation, but based upon God’s statement about who they are and what the relationship is.

*****

“Theology just tramples this passage in John and it’s a crying shame. But this one writer, he titled a commentary book on John 17, ‘Take Off Your Shoes Because You’re On Holy Ground.’

"There’s really that kind of sense of sacredness about what’s going on here because the Lord literally opens Himself up to allow you to look into His heart and His innermost, intimate conversation with His Father.

“The Lord constantly was in a mode of prayer. It’s not strange that He would end His ministry with His apostles in that way. When you go back to, for example, Luke 3, in His baptism, it’s in the midst of praying that He goes and is baptized of John.

“When He selects the apostles in Luke 6, He’s up praying all night beforehand. When He’s on the Mount of Transfiguration, it’s an evening of prayer and then that. The very last words that came out of His mouth while He’s on the earth on the Cross was a prayer.

“Look at Psalm 31. The Lord constantly lived in communion with His Father but His prayers were intelligent. They were based, not upon emotion or just circumstantially, but they were communing with His Father about His Father’s will.”

Psalm 119 the way David thought

"There's really only one Bible character whose life fits what's in Psalm 119, because in the psalm he describes himself, his experiences and how the Word of God related to them. When you take them all together, they don't fit all these other (Bible writers people suspect).

"Look at verse 17, for example: [17] Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

"Thirteen times in the psalm, verse 23, for example, "[23] Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

Verse 38: [38] Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

"He calls himself 'thy servant' all down through the psalm. Now, that title is used of David in the psalms and of nobody else," says Richard Jordan.

"If you look at Psalm 19, a psalm of David, verse 11: [11] Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

"That's the first time that title's used and it's used by David of himself.

Verse 13: [13] Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

"Psalm 27:9, a psalm of David, says, [9] Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

"Every time 'thy servant' is singular, the individual, is in the psalms, it's David.

In Psalm 89 the Lord talks: [35] Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

[36] His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.
[37] It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

"In the Book of Psalms, God Himself calls David His servant. Verse 20: [20] I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

Psalm 119:49: [49] Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

"David uses the title himself, God uses the title of David, and there's no doubt David is the servant. 

"When you look at the way he talks about himself, the terms that he uses and the experiences that he portrays, these things fit David and really don't fit anybody else. 

Psalm 119:2: [2] Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

"You see the expression 'with the whole heart'? 

Verse 34: [34] Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

"That expression is used in about a half-dozen places. The only one who uses that expression in the Book of Psalms is David. You're listening to David talk. This is the way he thought."

Mountain lingo

Ezekiel 36: [4] Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;

[5] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
[6] Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:

"I love the way He starts out. You know, if you walk around talking to yourself, or talking to the trees or to the ground, somebody might think you're a little bit funny," says Richard Jordan.

"The Lord literally sends a message to the ground, to the mountains and to the country of Israel. You see, it's the literal, physical, visible, earthly land.

[8] But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
[9] For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:

"He's talking to the mountains, the fields and all the different parts of the land and says, 'You belong to me; I've got a plan for you.'

"He's going to bring the nation back and put them in that land. So, we're talking about a real situation; we're not talking about some spiritual things that come along later.

[16] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[17] Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
[18] Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
[19] And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
[20] And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.

"Verses 16-20 is kind of like a flashback where He says, 'Here's what they did to you; they polluted you and I treated them like a removed woman. I'm going to cleanse you by taking them out, but then I'm going to cleanse them and bring them back, but I won't bring them back until their clean.'

"What happens in most of theology and most Bible teaching in most churches and religious systems is they ignore the literalness of this and they say, 'Well, it's not literal, it's a spiritual thing.'

[21] But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.

"The motivation behind all of this is God's glory; He's got some things He's accomplishing, some things He's going to do through Israel.

"The issue here is sanctification for a nation. He's setting apart the nation Israel in order to use them for the purpose of demonstrating to all the other nations of the world what it's like to have Him as their God.

*****

"The reason a violinist can make crystal glass break is because the instrument is able to duplicate the frequency the crystal vibrates at with an intensity that shatters it.

“That’s a physical phenomenon, but when the Bible refers to the mountains singing at Christ’s return, in Ezekiel 36 for an example, I’m not so sure that’s all just figurative talk.

“And when He comes back, all of creation’s going to ‘sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.’ (Psalm 68:4)

“Notice it didn’t say sing praises about Him. You can’t talk to God if you don’t know Him. Lost people can’t sing praises to God until they’ve called upon His name—until they’ve gotten saved.”

No other way but 'the way'

"Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses and 176 is 16 times 11--1611 as in our 1611 King James Bible. It's a psalm about the Word of God. Every verse except three refer to the Scripture, under 10 different titles.

Psalm 16:11: [11] Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. "That's the joy that you get out of God's Word," explains Richard Jordan.

"The 176 verses are divided into 22 paragraphs. In verse 1 you see the Hebrew letter and the English equivalent alpha. In verse 9 you have Beth. The reason it's in 22 sections is it's called an alphabetical psalm. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. There they are.

"Twenty-two in the Bible is a number associated with wisdom and guidance. Eight is the number of resurrection. Jesus said, 'The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.'

Hebrews 4:12: [12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

"So you have a lot of symbolism associations that way all packed into this psalm.

"You see the symbol in front of verse 25? That little-bitty mark is a tittle. When it says in Matthew 18 'every jot and tittle', that's what Christ's talking about. In verse 153, that Hebrew letter's the jot.

"One hundred and seventy-one of the verses talk about something related to the Scripture. Verse 1: [1] Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

"The Bible is called 'the way'; it's called 'the law'. Verse 2: [2] Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

"It's called 'the testimonies'. Verse 4: [4] Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. 'Precepts' is another title for your Bible.

Verse 5: [5] O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 'Statutes' is another title.

Verse 6: [6] Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. 'Commandments' is another title. Verse 7: [7] I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. 'Judgments' is another title.

Verse 9: [9] Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 'Thy Word' is another title.

Verse 81: [81] My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Verse 89: [89] For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Verse 105: [105] Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Verse 160: [160] Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

(to be continued and below is an old post on 'the way')

John 14: [5] Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? [6] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

"That term, that little expression 'the way' became sort of the shorthand description of the followers of Christ," explains Jordan. 

"Acts 16:17: [17] The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

"In chapter 18 when Apollos shows up at Ephesus, the passage reads,

[26] And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
[27] And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
[28] For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

“That term 'the way' has picked up sort of a personification to it. In Acts 24:14, when Paul is giving his defense before Felix, he says: [14] But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
[15] And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

“The way, the doctrine Paul followed, they called heresy. When Christ says, ‘I am the way,’ what He's talking about is, ‘I am the way to the Father; I’m the way to God!’

"And that’s the whole issue about 'the way' of God. The whole issue is how do you get to God? You get to Him through Jesus Christ, no other way.

“Hebrews 10:19-20: [19] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

[20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

“He’s talking about the New Covenant. The new and living way is in contrast to the old ministration of death in the Mosaic law. What the Messiah’s going to do is He’s really going to get them to God. He’s bringing the disciples to a place where He’s going to talk to them about the New Covenant.

“He’s saying to them, ‘Here’s the whole scope of what ought to keep your heart from being troubled. That’s what we’re doing. I’m going to go away and I’m going to come back and you’re going to reap benefits over here because I am the way; I’m the one who’s going to provide this new and living way that’s going to accomplish that. I’m the truth. Thy Word is truth. I’m the life.’

“By the way, without Him there is no life. He’s the Creator. Everything in life is about Him. He said, ‘The words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.’

"The real issue there is in life is He’s the resurrection and the life. He’s already told them that in chapter 11. He’s the way because He’s the truth. He’s the truth because He’s the life."

"The great proof of the fact that He is the truth and the way is that He’s the life. It all hinges on His resurrection. His resurrection says sin has been put away by the sacrifice of Himself.”