Series

Blessed Are the Pure

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Probably anyone who has studied microbiology and hygiene understands the value of cleanliness to prevent sickness, but physical cleanliness is not the only kind of cleanliness. Spiritual cleanliness is even more important. Without it, no one can receive the gift of eternal life, but the question is, “How can an impure mind become pure?”

Jesus introduced the sixth step of the spiritual ladder that will lead a person into the kingdom of God in Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Purity of heart and life is developed as a result of living the spiritual experience of the first five beatitudes. The person who first of all recognizes his spiritual poverty and mourns over his sinful condition until God makes him humble or meek, and who has thirsted for a righteousness that he cannot generate and becomes merciful will then be purified from pride, malice, deceit, and other heart-defiling sins. There is no other road to purity of heart than the beatitude road, and the steps need to be taken in that order. This beatitude, like the others, is not introducing something new. It actually is a restatement of a truth that is as old as the plan of salvation.

In Psalm 15, David asks the question Who is going to be saved? “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill” (verse 1)? He answers: “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart” (verse 2). Upright walking, righteous working and truthful speaking from the heart are the outworking of a pure heart. The person who does these things will be saved.

After David had fallen into sin, he recognized that a divine miracle was needed in his life. Notice what he said in Psalm 51: “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom” (verse 6). Thinking of all the awful things he had done and how he had sinned, David said in verse 5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” He understood that he had been conceived and born in sin and because of this understanding, he continues in verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” David was afraid that because of his grievous sins, he had committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit and that he was lost. He pleads, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (verse 11). I know that my heart is wicked, lustful and impure, but Lord, I want a different heart. I want You to recreate my heart. The Lord heard his prayer and gave him a new heart and a new spirit.

Receiving a new heart and spirit is so important that Jesus said that unless it happens, there is no chance for any of us being saved. Speaking to Nicodemus Jesus said, “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ ” (John 3:3). Notice, a birth represents a new creation, like a new being is coming into the world when a baby is born. And here Jesus is saying that if you haven’t been born again, you won’t be in the kingdom of God. Nicodemus responded in verse 4, “ ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ ”

“Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ ” (verse 5). Unless you have been born, not just of water, but of the Holy Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You see, our hearts are impure, wicked, and unholy. The only way we can have a pure heart is by God’s creative power; He makes us a new creature. The apostle Paul talked about this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

If you and I are ever to have a pure heart, we must be a new creation. The Lord must create within us a clean heart, a new mind, and a new spirit. That is what being born again is all about. It is through the Holy Spirit that the heart is made pure. Many people are confused today about the work of the Holy Spirit. They think that the work of the Holy Spirit is the ability to do some kind of magic or miracles, or speaking in tongues, or doing some scientific wonder that unconverted people can’t explain. But the work of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus pointed out to Nicodemus, is to give you a new heart and a new spirit and to cause you to be born again. Unless that happens, Jesus said there’s no chance for you to be in the kingdom of heaven.

Only he who becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus can have a new heart, a new spirit, new thoughts, new feelings, new motives, all created by the Holy Spirit in that person’s mind. The wise man Solomon said in Proverbs 22:11, “He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.” The heart is the emotional center of a person, the fountain of life. The character and conduct are determined by the spiritual condition of a person’s heart.

The Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” What a person is in his heart determines the kind of a character he will have. It is for this reason that the wise man counsels us to guard our hearts. Notice what it says in Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Another version of the Scriptures translates it this way: “Keep your heart above all that thou guardest.” The heart is a fortress, a citadel that is to be guarded against the attacks of the enemy. The chambers of the heart should be most diligently and heavily guarded. Why? Because out of the fountain of the heart flows the stream of character and conduct. Our words and our actions are simply the result of what is in our hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” All the evil in our world has its source in an evil heart. The evil nature of the human heart is a part of our inheritance from Adam and Eve, our first parents.

When the Lord spoke to Noah after the flood He said, “And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done’ ” (Genesis 8:21). Notice, the Lord said the imagination of a man is evil from his youth. How evil is our imagination? How evil is our heart? Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” During His life on earth, Jesus made it very clear that the heart is the source of all evil. In Mark 7:21–23, Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness [licentiousness], an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

That was the cause of the terrible wickedness that came on the world in Noah’s time, before the flood, and brought the judgment of a world-wide deluge. The Bible says in Genesis 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” And continuing in verse 11, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

Jesus stated very clearly that this same condition of wickedness would occur in the world before His second coming (Matthew 24). Prophecy explains, to a large extent, the cause of the present tidal wave of crime and iniquity, hatred and lawlessness that is sweeping over all the earth today. The source of it all is the corrupt and unregenerate hearts of mankind.

The patriarch Job asked, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one” (Job 14:4)! No human being can bring a clean heart out of an unclean heart. No one is able to cleanse the heart. The purpose of the gospel is to tell the world that there is one power in the universe that can give you a new heart and spirit and make you a new creation. Jesus is the great purifier and cleanser from sin and that is the genius of the Christian religion. The core of the Christian religion is that when you accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit will recreate your heart and your mind.

All forms of false religion tend toward corruption. Purity of heart does not find any prominent place in the teachings of Socrates or Aristotle, or other heathen philosophers. The wisest and the greatest of them were impure and they knew it. They were corrupt in their teachings and in their practice. But the gospel will produce purity and holiness, not just on the outside, but in the heart. It brings the heart and the life into conformity with the divine law which is the standard of righteousness.

During His life on this earth, Jesus Christ was the very incarnation of purity. He said in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” They had no response. The Bible says that if we accept Him and hope to meet Him, we will be made pure as He is pure (1 John 3:3).

Only the pure in heart will see God. This purifying process cleanses our motives. When right principles are enthroned in the heart, then we will do what is right because it is right. The pure in heart aren’t controlled by sinful nature, only doing right because of policy or expediency, or to escape punishment, or for hope of reward.

Here is a question that many Christians should ask themselves, and many likely would be shocked by what they discover. Why do I obey God’s law? Is my obedience for the purpose of avoiding punishment, or because of an inborn love of what is good and right? This beatitude says that the pure in heart will see God. If my heart is full of sin, then my vision is beclouded and I cannot see or understand God. The disease of sin produces spiritual blindness and the Bible talks about that in many places (see 2 Peter 1; Revelation 3:17). Sadly, this spiritual blindness leaves you ignorant of your true spiritual condition.

Spiritual blindness is the reason that the majority of the Jews failed to recognize Jesus. Their spiritual blindness prevented them from seeing anything in Him that would lead them to desire Him and this is true with the mass of mankind today. It explains the reason why there are so many modern thinkers or philosophers who see Jesus only as a man. Oh, they may believe He was a very good man, but still only a man. To them, the beauty of His matchless character is no evidence that He is the Son of God. To them, Jesus is just the same as they are. You see, sin dims our vision of God. But when we have a vision of God, sin is revealed and we are given a vision of ourselves and our condition. The Bible says that without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). When Job saw the Lord, He said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). A vision of the Lord’s glory had the very same effect upon other Bible writers: Isaiah (Isaiah 6), Daniel (Daniel 10), Peter (Luke 6), Paul (Acts 26) and the apostle John (Revelation 1).

We can never know the blackness of our sin until we see the purity of the character of Christ. And once we really see that, the contrast awakens us to the realization that we need a complete change in character. We will say with Isaiah, “Lord, I’m all undone.” In response, the Lord says, “I will purge your iniquity and give you a new heart and a new mind.”

Jacob was a crooked dealer, a cunning trickster, a person that you would not want to do any kind of business with. His very name meant deceiver or supplanter, and he lived up to that name. But his character was completely changed one night when he wrestled with the Lord Himself (Genesis 32). He was a spiritually bankrupt man, but he was changed into a prince of God. What was the secret of the wonderful transformation that he experienced?

The apostle Paul had that same experience. It was the vision of the crucified One on the road to Damascus that transformed him into a different person and changed the whole course of his life. From that day forward, he sought only to behold Jesus and to be changed into His image.

Paul tells us that by beholding we will become changed (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face …” (Genesis 32:30). This is the secret of the wonderful transformation that must be accomplished in our lives.

Have you beheld the purity of Christ? The spiritual vision of God must eventually involve seeing Him face to face. We must see Him now with the eye of faith and then we will see Him in the kingdom of glory, because He has promised to His people, “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty” (Isaiah 33:17).

But when Jesus comes, only those who are pure in heart and have seen the beauty of His character in the present life will see Him face to face. They have seen God with the eye of faith in this life and they will be blessed with a vision of His immaculate loveliness when He returns and they will have fellowship with Him in the future immortal life. Everyone else will be calling for the rocks and mountains to fall on them (Revelation 6:16) so that they will not have to see Him. They will be destroyed by the brightness and glory of His person.

Friend, are you reading your Bible and studying to understand not just the words, but to see the character of Jesus Christ? How else will you know His character? You must become like Him if you are going to be with Him. The apostle Paul says, “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, last part). He says, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (verse 12, first part, KJV). Those who are pure in heart, in whom the Holy Spirit has created a new heart and a new spirit, only these will see Him face to face.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Sermon on the Mount – Have Mercy

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Matthew 5:7, gives us the fifth step in the ladder of spiritual progress leading a person to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Another translation reads, “Blessed are the compassionate, for they shall receive compassion.” Of all the beatitudes, this is one that causes us to search our hearts. How many times have I made cutting criticisms of someone? How many times have I passed prejudiced judgments before I had all the facts? How many times have I said or done something that has resulted in wounding somebody else? When we think about it, the prayer of the tax collector seems very appropriate. He said, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13, last part)! But the Bible makes it abundantly clear that there is a certain kind of person who will not be allowed any mercy in the day of judgment.

Without the experience of the first four steps it will be impossible for a person to experience the fifth step, because no person can really be compassionate in his dealings with others until he has first recognized his own spiritual destitution, mourned over his sins, become meek and humble in heart causing him to hunger and thirst for a righteousness outside of himself, which he cannot generate. Only when a person has experienced these things is he able to be compassionate or merciful to others who may be stumbling and making mistakes like himself.

Those who are spiritually blind do not understand their condition or need and they tend to become more unmerciful to those with whom they are dealing. The Pharisees in Jesus’ time were destitute of mercy and sympathy because they were proud in spirit. Remember, the beatitudes begin with the declaration, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

Having themselves never been humbled by a recognition of their own spiritual poverty, the Pharisees looked with contempt and disdain upon the weaknesses of others. Since they believed that they were perfect (Luke 18), they were harsh and even cruel in dealing with the imperfections of others. This spirit is sure evidence of what the Bible calls a carnal or fleshly mind, an unregenerate heart.

This spirit is characteristic of people who have not been born again for the spirit of Phariseeism is not something foreign to us, but is the natural spirit of human nature. In fact, this same spirit controls everyone who has not been made a new creature and a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3, 4). However, there are given to us promises, “… exceedingly great and precious promises” (verse 4) so that we might be partakers of the divine nature.

If we are unconverted, if we have the spirit of the Pharisees, then we will use human standards to judge all who fail to come up to the standard that we have made. This spirit creates an atmosphere of selfish and narrow criticism and causes men to become self-centered judges and petty spies. Their own ideas and attainments are made the standard of morality by which they judge and condemn their fellow men who are not coming up to the standard that they have set.

If we are unmerciful, then we cannot obtain mercy ourselves. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” In this beatitude, there is restated by Jesus, not something new, but an old truth, an eternal and unchanging law. It is everywhere and always operative in nature and in human society. It has been called the self-acting law of retribution or, in simple language, “we get what we give.” What we give to others eventually comes back in full measure to us. Jesus stated this truth to Peter on the night of His betrayal. Notice in Matthew 26:52: “But Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.’ ” If you deal the sword to others, you will receive the sword from others.

How accurately this has been fulfilled in the history of mankind. The great kingdoms of the past have perished by the very weapons they used against others. Those who showed no mercy, received no mercy. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

If I am friendly to others, I will have friends in return. But if I give out enmity to others, I will receive enmity in return. Friendship bestowed upon others brings a reward in friendship. But if I deal out captivity, the sword, death to others, the same will return to me. It’s restated again, many times in the Bible. Revelation 13:10 says, “He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

Proverbs 11:25, literal translation, says, “The liberal soul [one who has a giving spirit] shall be made fat: and he that waters shall also be watered himself.” As Jesus said, even if you only give a cup of cold water to someone, you are not going to lose a reward. What you give to someone else will eventually come back to you.

A stingy person will eventually receive back in the same measure that they give. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

This is a natural, a self-operating law even in this life. And it is the law by which God will measure the reward that will be given to His servants. “And, behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work” (Revelation 22:12).

Jesus said that you will be rewarded for what you work out here, whether good or bad (Matthew 16). The apostle Paul stated the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:10. Jesus further developed this principle in Matthew 7:12, calling it the golden rule. It is the greatest of all codes of ethics and the basic principle of all true courtesy and genuine culture. Jesus said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” If we are merciful to others, we will receive mercy. If we retaliate, we will receive retaliation. If we are unjust with others, we will receive injustice ourselves. If we impart evil to others, that evil will return to us again.

Jesus also stated the golden rule in the negative when He said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:1, 2).

To be merciful is to show a person compassion, forgiveness, and forbearance. The merciful person does not nurse grudges nor does he brood over wrongs or show a revengeful spirit. He does not go about with a microscope hunting to find the mistake or the flaw in someone else’s character when he knows he has flaws in his own character. If we render judgment before evidence, then we can be sure that we will receive the same kind of judgment in return. In fact, prejudice is simply an abbreviated form for pre-judgment. Pre-judgment is the result of prejudice. This instruction regarding judgment is more evident in the principles of the fifth beatitude when we read Luke 6:36, 37, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Mercy includes having a spirit of forgiveness. In fact, this is so important that Jesus said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14, 15).

To receive mercy and forgiveness from God, I must have the same spirit toward those who have injured me. This law of reciprocity is stated in different ways in several places in the Bible. Paul says, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God” (Romans 2:1–3)?

Jesus illustrated this in a very striking parable that is hard for many people to read and accept. He said, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15–20).

Jesus gave His disciples explicit instructions about how they were to deal with someone who was sinning against them. They were to go directly to the person who had sinned against them and talk to them about it in an effort to resolve the matter. If the matter could not be resolved, then they were to take two or three others and talk to this person about the matter that was disturbing the whole church. If they would not listen to them, then the third step was to “tell it to the church.” The church then needs to labor with the brother or sister, but if they will not listen to the church at large and persist in living a sinful life, then let them live outside the church. As Peter was listening to this, he thought, if my brother sins against me, how many times should I forgive him?

In Jesus’ day the Jewish leaders had rules about how many times you needed to forgive someone. Some thought that three times was plenty. Peter thought that he would be very liberal and very forgiving in spirit. The Bible says, “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times’ ”  (verse 21)? Surely, if my brother hasn’t ceased to sin against me after forgiving him seven times, then I shouldn’t have to forgive him anymore, should I?

In response to that request, “Jesus said, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents’ ” (verses 22–24).

This person did not have enough money to pay his debt. The Bible says, “But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold [into slavery] with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all’ ” (verses 25, 26). Now actually, he never would be able to pay that big a debt and the master knew it.

And so it says, “Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii [that is, just a few dollars]; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison” (verses 27–30).

So this man was thrown into debtor’s prison until he should pay the debt. “So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (verses 31–35).

You see, if we do not forgive, then we cannot be forgiven. We must realize just how much we have been forgiven. As a result of my sins, Jesus Christ went to the cross of Calvary. That was the price that had to be paid to cancel our debt of sin; it is a price that we cannot pay. The only way that we could pay this debt is if we were to die eternally and never wake up. But to make it possible for us to enter the gates of paradise and not have to die eternally, Jesus Christ went to the cross of Calvary, to pay the price in our behalf and forgive our debt.

And, after having done that, if we do not forgive and exercise mercy toward our fellow servant, then Jesus said, our heavenly Father will not have mercy upon us, either. The Bible is very clear that the Lord is very merciful, even to His enemies because He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). James 5:11 says, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.

O friend, if you and I want to be forgiven, we must become merciful people ourselves, because the Bible says in James 2:13, that “judgment will be without mercy upon him who has shown no mercy.”

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Seek Righteousness and Be Satisfied

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It is a wonderful feeling to be satisfied. Unfortunately, in this world, many people never experience it. Many, having obtained riches, fame or pleasure, have confessed their lack of satisfaction.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who are hungry and thirsty. This is the fourth step in the ladder of spiritual progression. He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). To hunger and thirst after righteousness is the result of the spiritual experience of the first three beatitudes:

  • First the recognition of our spiritual poverty, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (verse 3).
  • This leads to heart sorrow for our spiritual condition because of our sins, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (verse 4).
  • And that leads us to an experience of meekness or humbleness; the leanness and nakedness of soul causes a crying out after God and His righteousness, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (verse 5).

Jesus said that the soul’s hunger for righteousness will be satisfied. A good appetite is a sign of life and health. If you have ever taken care of someone who is dying, it is very common that they will have no desire for food and will lose their appetite the last few days of their life. Only people who are alive hunger and thirst. A lack of appetite is generally a sign either of sickness or of failing health. Hunger and thirst grow less as life is diminished, but they increase as life increases.

When a person dies, hunger and thirst cease altogether, but a baby who is healthy, has an appetite that seems never to fail because it is growing. A good appetite is a great blessing because it is evidence that you have a normal, healthy body, and that makes life more worthwhile. Those who enjoy their meals have a much more satisfying life than those who eat just because they have to. Hunger and thirst are evidences of growth and development. No person can grow without a good, healthy appetite.

This is true not only in the physical realm, but also in the intellectual realm. It is only those who hunger and thirst for knowledge who continue to grow in wisdom and develop in intellectual power. We owe a great deal in our world today to those with an insatiable appetite for wisdom and knowledge. They have sought out and learned things, invented and discovered things that have changed our world. But many people, if not most, lose their mental appetite early in life, and then they no longer seek wisdom and knowledge; they just go through the motions of living. This is even true of many professional people – ministers, lawyers, teachers, physicians. There are many people who die mentally long before they die physically. This is a great tragedy, but we live in a tragic world.

Matthew 5:6 has a special reference to a person’s spiritual life and appetite. But here you have the very same principles that exist in the physical and intellectual worlds. Hunger and thirst are absolutely essential to spiritual life and growth. The person who has no appetite for spiritual things is spiritually dead and the person who has a poor spiritual appetite is spiritually sick. Only a normal, healthy Christian will have a ravenous appetite for the bread of life and the waters of salvation and will greatly enjoy his spiritual food and drink.

Unfortunately, most professed Christians today suffer from spiritual malnutrition, are spiritually weak and anemic, and it takes but little spiritual food to satisfy them. They are very particular, very picky, about what they eat, when they eat, and who feeds them. Many are kept alive only because they are being spoon-fed, for they do not have appetite and energy enough to feed themselves. This is a pathetic situation, especially when there is a great spiritual banquet spread for all, but this is not only a problem in our time. The apostle Paul addressed this very same situation when he wrote, “By this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12–14).

The person who is spiritually proud feels no need. He already feels perfectly satisfied, and therefore, he has no appetite for spiritual things. This was true concerning the Pharisees in the time of Christ. They felt no need, and so they received no benefit from the bread and water of life that Jesus freely offered to anyone who hungered and thirsted for it. Before Jesus was born, Mary, His mother, spoke about this very thing. In Luke 1:53, she said, “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”

When Jesus told the Jews that He was the bread of life, and only those who would eat His flesh and drink His blood could have eternal life, many were offended. It says they “walked no more with Him” (John 6:66). It was for this reason that the very first blessing in the beatitudes is pronounced upon those who are poor in spirit. These people feel their need and mourn for their spiritual condition. They will become meek, and lowly and gentle, and as they hunger and thirst for something they don’t have, their need will be fulfilled.

We see the same spiritual condition of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time in the Christian church today. The church feels neither hunger nor thirst because it is not poor in spirit. Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus predicted the condition of the Christian church in the last days, saying: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit [spew] you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:15–17). The church today does not recognize its spiritual poverty and does not mourn over its sins. It is not meek and humble, but rather proud and boastful of its spiritual wealth. It says it is rich and increased in goods and has need of nothing. Because of this, Jesus Christ, the Dispenser of the bread of life, is unable to feed the modern church; it is spiritually sick, has no appetite and does not realize her condition. Christ offers the church an abundance of food, but it feels well-filled and already satisfied.

The Lord describes His people in the last days as being naked and, at the same time, going about as if in a dress parade. The church has no divine covering for its sins, but through its religious rituals, it has provided for itself a garment. The Lord calls these garments filthy rags. “We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You” (Isaiah 64:6, 7, first part).

The Laodicean church thinks it is clothed, although the Lord sees their clothing “as filthy rags.” Jesus says, “Come and buy from Me … white raiment that you may be truly clothed” (Revelation 3:18, literal translation). They must be awakened for He offers them the wedding garment, His robe of righteousness, that will prepare them for heaven.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they were ashamed, because the garment of light that had covered their nakedness had left them. They did not want to appear in front of the Lord naked, so they sewed garments of fig leaves together to clothe themselves. But the Lord did not accept those garments. He provided them with garments made possible only by the death of a symbolic lamb.

The Lord wants to do in a spiritual sense for the modern church as He did for our first parents in a physical sense. He wants us to realize our nakedness, and then He wants to provide us with His righteousness that will cover us so that the shame of our nakedness does not appear (see Revelation 16:15).

Of all human cravings, there are none more powerful than the physical cravings of hunger and thirst. Any person or animal who is hungry or thirsty will make every effort to obtain food and drink. Have you read stories of individuals who could not get food or water for a long period of time? I read of a survivor who said, “I cannot even think about it, even to the present day, without rushing out to the kitchen to get a drink of water. To think of that terrible thirst, was just like a fire inside of me.”

People who have become lost in the desert and have been without water for days, will see what they believe is water, but it is just a mirage. The water of life that Jesus offers is not a mirage. It is a well of living water (John 4:14). And this is our great need in the modern generation, a thirst for the water of life. We need a soul-hunger for the bread of life and thirst for the water of life. Those who hunger and thirst for these are promised that they will be satisfied.

If the modern church could be given a good spiritual appetite, she would not long remain in her present spiritual condition. The Bible records the story when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar: “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?’ … Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water [physical water] will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’ ” (John 4:10–14).

Jesus said to the Jews in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me will never thirst.” But then He spoke the following mournful words in verse 36: “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.” Friend, do you want something you don’t have or are you like the millions of spiritually proud people of all ages who are perfectly satisfied just the way they are? Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (verse 37).

You see, complete satisfaction is promised only to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. The Lord makes the following invitation: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully [diligently] to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:1–3, first part).

Complete satisfaction is still available; it’s still waiting in our modern, wretched, poverty-stricken, naked church as soon as we wake up and want something better than what we have. The blessing is pronounced on those who are hungry and thirsty, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” They will be completely satisfied.

If you feel perfectly satisfied right now, it’s time for you to pray and ask the Lord for a hunger and thirst for that which will bring perfect and lasting satisfaction, spiritually and intellectually; that which eventually will lead to eternal life. Jesus, standing and knocking at the door of the modern church, says to the lukewarm, self-satisfied church, Come, I have something for you. He says, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:18).

How is it with your life? Jesus says, Obtain gold from Me. Spiritual gold is faith. If you have faith, Jesus said that you can obtain everything you need, everything is possible if you have faith. But also, if you have spiritual gold, you have wealth. Spiritual gold is spiritual wealth. Spiritual wealth is love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:14). So spiritual gold is faith and love.

We need the white raiment, which is the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness that we must have to enter into the kingdom of heaven; the righteousness that no human being can generate.

We will need eye salve, the spiritual anointing that gives a person the discernment to see the deceptions of Satan, so that he may see sin and hate it and turn from it and have the ability to see the truth and to obey it.

Only Jesus can satisfy the deepest spiritual need of your soul, and He will, if you’ll come to Him. Jesus says these are what you need and you won’t be poor any longer. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.” Christ is our righteousness. He says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:37 KJV).

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Blessed are the Meek

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It has been widely taught and believed that the strongest and the fittest are the ones who survive. But there have been philosophers, as well as some Bible writers who have claimed that in the end it will be a completely opposite class who actually survive.

Many men who are considered to be the greatest in the world are actually proud and arrogant and many believe that you have to be this way in order to succeed and survive in this world. But Jesus stated something completely opposite from this. The third beatitude, found in Matthew 5:5 says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

There are eight beatitudes found in the Sermon on the Mount, steps in the ladder of spiritual progress. The first beatitude is “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (verse 3). If we recognize our spiritual poverty, that will lead us to mourn over our spiritual condition. The second is, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (verse 4). If we feel our need of Jesus because of our sins and we are grieving over them, we will not only receive forgiveness from Him, but we will also learn meekness, because He is meek and lowly in heart.

Spiritual pride cannot exist in a person who has passed through the experience of the first two beatitudes, for such an experience humbles a person who has been spiritually proud. Meekness is a synonym of the word humility. Some other definitions of meekness are: gentleness, peaceableness, modesty, humbleness, unostentatiousness. These characteristics are just the opposite of haughtiness and pride. Meekness also conveys the idea of submission to God’s will. The apostle Peter, who was present when the beatitudes were spoken, enlarges on this idea in his first letter. He says, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:5, 6).

It sounded strange to the people who first heard it, just like it sounds strange to many people today, because we’re used to hearing that it will be the strong and those who are most fit who will survive. But Jesus said that those who survive and inherit the earth will be the meek, the gentle, the unobtrusive, the humble. This actually was not a new idea but is stated several times in the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 37:11 says, “The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” And in Psalm 138:6, the psalmist wrote, “Though the Lord is high, yet He regards the lowly.” And again, Psalm 149:4, last part, KJV, says, “He will beautify the meek with salvation.”

The meek are blessed with a beautiful character, the character of the Saviour. The wise man Solomon said, “He gives grace to the humble [lowly]” (Proverbs 3:34, last part). So, those who are meek, those who are gentle, are under divine favor. This truth also is stated many times in the negative. The opposite of meekness is pride or haughtiness. Proverbs 16:5 says, “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.”

Proverbs 21:4 says, “A haughty look, a proud heart … are sin.” And then, “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife” (Proverbs 28:25, first part). You see, friend, the proud in heart are actually troublemakers, because they are sensitive and easily offended. They are always seeking to justify themselves and to defend their reputations. Their feelings of superiority make them feel miserable if they are not given the preeminence. Spiritually proud people are the cause of all the strife that has disturbed the peace and harmony of the church since the time of the apostles. The proud and haughty have ever been a disrupting element in the world.

Jeremiah said, “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken” (Jeremiah 13:15 KJV). How different it sounds from the philosophy of the world in which we live. Men and women in the world today, live by the principle that the strongest, the fittest, and the most proud will be the ones who survive and succeed. The world’s great philosophers and conquerors have not considered meekness a virtue. Most all war heroes have been proud and arrogant men. And this is the spirit that dominates the prince and god of this world and all the citizens of his kingdom. It was this principle that led Lucifer to revolt against the government of God back at the beginning of the sin problem.

Isaiah 14:12–14 says, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ ” I, I, I, I will exalt myself. It was the idea of self-exaltation that led to sin in the first place.

Speaking through a serpent, he deceived Eve into thinking that if she ate the forbidden fruit that she would become like God (Genesis 3:4, 5). And so, when Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit, their eyes surely were opened. They did gain a knowledge of good and evil, a knowledge of what we have known ever since – pain, suffering, loneliness, sorrow, death. Neither they nor we would ever have known any of these things, except they wanted the forbidden knowledge, just like many people want today.

In the 28th chapter of Ezekiel, speaking again of the devil, it says, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; … You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (verses 12, last part–15).

What was it that led to this iniquity, this sin at the beginning? Verse 17 says, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.” It was pride, self-exaltation.

There are only two roads for travelers. There is the broad, easy, liberal road. On that road the proud in spirit can travel to their own destruction and carry along anything that they like. But there is also a narrow road, a restricted way, in which only the meek, and gentle, and humble can travel toward eternal life and happiness. Meekness or gentleness, or humbleness is the only pathway to a high and holy estate, while pride and self-exaltation may appear to lead to temporary success in this world, but eventually will lead to ruin. In Proverbs 16:18 and 19, Solomon said, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

Jesus stated the same thing. Notice what He said in Matthew 23:12: “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled [abased], and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The eternal law of justice has been demonstrated in the past, in the experience of Lucifer and Michael, in the lives of Haman and Mordecai and in the lives of Saul and David.

Jesus was a perfect example of gentleness and meekness. He said unto the people, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Some people think that meekness means cowardice, just giving in to anything and being a pushover. It really doesn’t mean that at all. Gentleness and humbleness were two of the outstanding character traits of Jesus Christ. Concerning Jesus, the apostle Paul says, “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery [that is, a thing to be grasped] to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6–11).

Jesus, being equal with God, humbled Himself and came to this world as a man. And He came not just as a man, but as a servant of the human race. One of the last acts of His life was to act the part of a servant. Remember the story in the upper room on the night of His betrayal. At that time, it was the custom when entering a house before a meal for a servant to come and wash the feet of the guests. However, on this occasion there was no servant to perform this task and the apostles were too proud to do it. While they waited, Jesus arose and took off His outer clothes and girded Himself. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of His disciples. One after the other He washed the feet of all of them (John 13).

He has been described as a servant of servants. See what Jesus said in Matthew 20:25–28, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles [that is, the worldly people] lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you [that is, among Christ’s disciples], let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. Now this divine meekness that Jesus manifested was not at all related to timidity. It is not another name for fear, or anxiety, or weakness, or cowardice. In fact, the truly meek are the truly brave who alone can be calm in the midst of the storm, and not be easily ruffled or disturbed in spirit because things are going wrong. Meekness does not at all imply a negative, passive attitude that surrenders to any and every foe. Moses was declared to be the meekest man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12). And yet, when you read the story of his life, you find that he was a successful general of armies; that he faced the mightiest empire in the world at that time. He and his brother faced that whole empire alone and demanded that they yield to the sovereignty of the God of heaven.

Daniel and his companions were meek. They were humble and gentle, just like lambs, but when it came to moral principle, they stood their ground and they fought with the courage and boldness of lions. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused the authority of Nebuchadnezzar who commanded them to worship the golden image instead of the God of Heaven, even though it meant they were cast into the burning, fiery furnace. For Daniel, disobeying the king’s decree meant that he was cast into the den of lions. Meekness does not imply weakness. These brave men were not afraid to defy the decrees of the most powerful kings in the world at that time, whose word was law and whose authority embraced the whole then-known world.

After the crucifixion when the disciples saw what their Lord had done for them, their pride was abashed, abased, humbled. They could never strive for the highest place again. They knew that in the kingdom of Christ the highest position is for those who are the lowliest in servitude.

During the years of persecution and martyrdom, the disciples stood brave and firm for the truth, even though, as is recorded, 11 out of the 12 were martyred. And the one who was not martyred was banished to the isle of Patmos, after he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, in an effort to destroy him.

So, a meek person is not a weak person. In fact, meek people end up being the bravest people in the world. Abraham Lincoln was a very meek man, but also very great. His greatness grows with every passing year as people begin to appreciate more and more his character. Abraham Lincoln is said to have had a favorite poem that was entitled, “O, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?” Lincoln was a humble man, but no one could question his courage. No person would dare say that he was weak because he was meek.

Jesus is symbolized in the Bible as a Lamb. The outstanding characteristics of a lamb are meekness and innocence. But Jesus is also characterized in the Bible as a lion, the king of beasts and the monarch of the forest. Jesus was meek and gentle and at the same time He was bold, strong and courageous. He was filled with love for men’s souls and was willing to do anything so that they could have eternal life.

He did not permit Himself to fret over the trivial things that so often try our souls today. He was too busy with important things to pay any attention to insults which did not in the least affect the high and noble principles for which He stood. So Jesus submitted meekly to a traitor’s kiss. He submitted to be arrested by a mob. He submitted to be questioned by envious and hypocritical priests. He submitted to be condemned without any substantial evidence of any guilt. Pilate said three times that he found no guilt in Him at all and nothing to justify His death.

Jesus was made the subject of jest and ridicule by corrupt king Herod and his court. He also endured the mocking injustice of a weak, vacillating Roman judge. He submitted to being scourged, to be spit upon, to be insulted, and to be mocked by Pilate’s soldiers, and finally, to be crucified, the most cruel and ignominious death that was available in those days. All without the least sign of resistance. Yet, this was the same Jesus that so often demonstrated that he was not afraid of any man, or group of men, or devils.

He calmly faced the raging demoniacs and threatened the Pharisees and Sadducees with unflinching courage. With eyes flashing with indignation, He drove the merchandizing traffickers from the sacred precincts of the temple with a scourge of small cords that seemed to them like a flaming sword of divine justice and vengeance.

So, while He was meek, He was bold and courageous, and made no compromise with evil or evil doers, regardless of rank or position. Jesus wants to recreate your heart, your spirit, into the image of His own character, if you will surrender for Him to do this. He wants to make you meek like He is. Will you consent to have Him do it?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Journey with Jesus

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An oxymoron is defined as a self-contradictory statement or saying. Many of the greatest truths that Jesus taught seem to be self-contradictory, like the beatitude that says, “Happy are those that mourn.” In other words, happy are the sad.

The second beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). It sounds just as strange and paradoxical as does the first beatitude. It is seemingly contrary to the accepted views of all mankind in every age of human history. It is not our custom to envy those who weep or to congratulate the broken-hearted. We usually pity them and offer them our sympathy. We write them letters of condolence and we are thankful that we have escaped that terrible situation. But Jesus pronounces a blessing on the mourners. He declares them to be happy and sets them apart as a special, privileged class. Now, before we look at that, we need to understand one thing. This beatitude does not have universal application and is not all inclusive. It does not embrace every person in the world who mourns, regardless of the cause, because there is a mourning that will know no comfort. There are burning tears that will never be wiped away and a bitter anguish that will never be appeased.

Jesus was very clear about this when He said, “But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). That there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is also mentioned in Matthew 13:42 and again in verse 50. Over and over again Jesus warned that there was coming a time when many would experience a sorrow for which there would be no healing and no consolation. Jesus warned, “The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:50, 51).

Again, in Matthew 25, the same warning is repeated when He said, “Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 30). There is coming a time at the end of the world when, sadly, some people are going to say, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20)! Those who are finally lost will have a sorrow that has no comfort. There will be no alleviating their bitter anguish. There can be no real, lasting comfort for the person who refuses to separate from sin, who refuses all the overtures of the God of heaven for mercy if you will repent. If you grieve away the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, then there’s no way for you to be comforted.

The apostle Paul talks about a sorrow for which there is no comfort. He says, “Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

This sort of sorrow does not bring comfort; it brings death. Today, there are millions of people whose sorrow is borne of remorse, not because of their conduct, not because of their sins, but because of the personal loss that has resulted from their conduct. They do not hate the sin; they love the sin. What they hate is the result. Jails, prisons and penitentiaries are filled with mourners of this sort, but their mourning does not lead to any blessed results.

Then there is a large class of pessimistic people who mourn. One Christian writer described them as people who glory in gloom and misery. There are those who are veritable gluttons for wretchedness searching for despair as bees search for honey. They are never so happy as when they feel that they have a perfect right to be miserable and they are never so miserable as when they feel duty-bound to be happy.

We cannot study the beatitudes and understand them until we recognize that they are inseparably connected. Each one is an advanced step on the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven, forming links in a chain of spiritual growth. They constitute the steps of a ladder that lead to the kingdom of blessedness. Blessed mourning is that which comes as a result of a person’s recognition of his spiritual poverty. Remember, the first beatitude is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Those people who recognize their spiritual poverty and see their sinful condition say like the apostle Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24)?

Realizing their condition and mourning with true heart sorrow that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, and in need of divine help will open the way for them to be comforted. The apostle Paul describes this sorrow that brings comfort and happiness. He says, “Even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing” (2 Corinthians 7:8, 9). “For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (verse 11).

Godly sorrow is sorrow for the sins that have destroyed our peace and which have caused the indescribable sufferings of the One who paid the redemption price. Comfort is needed only where there has been grief. There can be no comfort if there has not first been discomfort. There can be no healing until a person recognizes that they have been wounded. Heart sorrow is the essential spiritual preparation for pardon. And pardon is the prerequisite for comfort and happiness. Whom Christ pardons, He first makes penitent. And penitence is a heart sorrow for sin, a brokenness of spirit because of conscious failure.

The Bible gives many examples of godly and ungodly sorrow. For instance, the patriarch Job, when he ceased trying to justify himself and began to recognize his sins and to mourn over them, his captivity was turned around and he was blessed above anything he had before experienced.

The same is true in regard to Isaiah the prophet. In his agony of soul over the sins of his life, he speaks of himself as being a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).

Recognizing this condition, it brought him to the dawn of a new day, the doorway to happiness. He was anointed as a messenger of the Lord.

There also is the example of King Saul who did not repent of his sin of rebellion, but mourned because the sin cost him his throne. He only made a forced confession when there was no other course open to him. But a forced confession does not bring forgiveness. His mourning over his rejection as king brought him no comfort. His was not a sorrow for sin, but like many who have broken the law, he was only sorry for the consequences of his sin.

David, Saul’s successor, also committed sins. Comparing their lives, it appears that David committed sins just as great as did Saul. The difference was that David was truly sorry, not just for what he had done, but he realized that he was totally wretched and in need of a recreated heart. He knew that without it he could never be saved. David feared that he had committed the unpardonable sin.  He pled, “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness” (Psalm 51:14). “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (verses 10, 11). He recognized his condition. He was wretched, miserable and undone, and unless the Lord created within him a new heart, a new spirit, he was lost. His repentance was accepted. The consciousness of the enormity of his sin caused him to suffer very keenly and in brokenness of heart he cried out, “O Lord, give me a new heart.”

Jesus said to Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (verse 5). In other words, unless you have a new heart, a new spirit, you cannot be saved.

Judas was another mourner. Judas mourned over the great sin of betraying his Lord and Master. His remorse was so terrible that it drove him to murder himself. However, it was not of the godly sort that brings comfort. He was sorry for the consequences of what he had done, but he never repented for the sin itself.

Peter sinned almost as grievously as did Judas. He betrayed Jesus Christ on the same night, but his remorse was great, and his grief led to genuine repentance, repentance not just for the consequences, but for the sin itself. The result was that he was comforted and blessed. Jesus is the only source of true comfort, and if you want to experience that comfort you must go to Him, asking for the gift of repentance and a desire to be born again. True repentance and sorrow for sin can only come as a gift of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of repentance (Acts 5).

It is sorrow for our sinful condition that will be comforted. Jesus is the only source of comfort, and therefore all mourning should lead us to Him. In fact, Jesus has given an invitation to people who are mourning because of a bereavement. Maybe you have lost your father or your mother or your wife or your husband or a child, and you are bereaved and mourning. Jesus invites us to come to Him and receive comfort.

In Isaiah 61 there is a prophecy of the work of the Messiah, the Christ. Messiah from the Hebrew, Christ from the Greek, both mean the Anointed One. Jesus applied this prophecy to Himself. It says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified” (verses 1–3).

Notice, the work of the Messiah was to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all that mourn, to give them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He still wants to do this same work today, but this world has a problem. It seems we lack a consciousness of sin which can only be brought about by a vision of the character of Christ. Recognition of sin is a result of recognition of God and this must be followed by genuine heart sorrow and repentance. This present generation is but little disturbed or concerned over sin. Multitudes of people have so far lost their sense of right and wrong and are virtually amoral or non-moral. Moral and spiritual standards have been trampled underfoot until, to the majority of people, nothing is considered sinful or wrong anymore. Such an attitude always produces a spirit of pride and self-appreciation which makes its possessors feel that they are rich and in need of nothing.

Today’s world is actually similar to the world in which Jesus lived, in that there are few people who feel their poverty of spirit enough to mourn over it. There are many who feel that somehow, they lack something, but a mere recognition of that lack is not enough. The blessing is only promised for the convicted sinner who takes the matter seriously, grieving over the situation until the remedy is applied. His godly sorrow must turn his footsteps toward Him who is anxiously awaiting to supply all of his needs. The knowledge of our need is valueless unless it leads us to the One who can provide the solution. There is comfortless sorrow rampant in the world today, because godly sorrow over sin has almost disappeared from among men, yet comfort in sorrow of any kind and for any cause is awaiting those who renounce sin. The heavenly blessing embraces all the sorrows that afflict mankind as long as it comes as a result of mourning over sin, which must be experienced first.

The ultimate fulfillment of comfort will come in that blessed realm where sin and all of its results are no more. Jesus came to redeem His people and take them to a better land as described in Isaiah 35, verse 10. It says, “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

We look forward to that time when there will be no more sorrow. Revelation 21:4 says, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” For sin, the cause of suffering, will at last be done away (Revelation 20).

The time is coming soon when sin and sinners will be no more and when that time comes, everything will be clean in God’s universe. If you want to see it, you must be cleansed from your sins, not only forgiven, but cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). For concerning it, “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27).

Then the saved will experience the ultimate fulfillment of the promise that the mourners will be comforted, for they will be in that better land where peace and joy will reign forever.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Blessing of Humility

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How much money does a person need? Many poor people believe that they would be happy if they were well-fixed financially and many who are comfortable believe that they would have less worries if they had more money. The Jones family wish they were like the Ritzes, and the Ritzes wish they were wealthy like the Vanderbilts. So, Jesus’ teaching is a great paradox to what we tend to think. What did Jesus mean when He said, “Happy are the poor?”

Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord revealed the following information to the human race several hundred years before the birth of Christ. “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).

The One who inhabits eternity, says, “I dwell with the one that has a humble spirit.” In Isaiah 66:2, He says, “ ‘All those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord. ‘But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ ”

So, the Lord says that He looks on the person who is humble. There are many Bible texts that reveal that a person who is proud is not known by the Lord. After Mary, the mother of Jesus, was informed by the angel Gabriel that she would become the mother of the Messiah, she says, “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state [poor person] of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. … He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty” (Luke 1:47, 48, 53). God has promised to help those who are poor and are of a contrite and poor spirit, but the rich are sent away because they don’t feel any need.

In Revelation the 3rd chapter, there is found a description of the Christian church in the last days. It says, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit [spue] you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—” (verses 15–17).

These people are rich in material things, but spiritually they are “miserable, wretched, poor, blind, and naked.” After Job obtained a vision of his spiritual poverty and he stopped trying to justify himself, his misery and wretchedness came to an end. The Lord delivered him from the problem that the devil had brought upon him. His captivity was turned into victory and he experienced happiness again in his life.

We see the same thing in the life of the prophet Isaiah. When he recognized his spiritual poverty, he cried out, “Woe is me, for I am undone” (Isaiah 6:5)! He sensed his spiritual imperfection which now appeared to him in a new and hideous light. This changed attitude made it possible for God to cleanse him from his sin and then to use him as a spokesman for others (see Isaiah 6).

Something similar happened to the proud-spirited Simon Peter when he fell at Jesus’ feet. In Luke 5:8–10, it says, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.’ So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.” Notice, immediately when he acknowledged his condition, Jesus commissioned him to be a fisher of men.

The apostle Paul was once a proud and haughty Pharisee, but when he was changed he acknowledged himself to be “the chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). When he acknowledged his sinful condition, he was elevated to become the chief of the apostles. So, recognition of our real spiritual condition and need is the first step in the beatitude ladder of spiritual progress that leads to the kingdom of heaven. In the first beatitude Jesus said, “Blessed [that is, happy] are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

The person who is proud in his heart has not yet taken the first step toward the heavenly kingdom. Recognition of sin, the crying out for pardon, for cleansing from guilt, are the beginning of the pathway to Zion and to happiness. There can be no blessed or happy state where there is unconfessed and unforgiven sin. Isaiah 48:22 says, “ ‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’ ”

So, a contrite, a humble, a penitent spirit is the first qualification for citizenship in the kingdom of God and for service in the cause of righteousness. Jesus, our Saviour, was this way Himself. Notice what He says concerning His own character: “I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).” He was not proud. Notice what the apostle Paul says about the humility of Jesus: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery [a thing to be grasped] to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). This example of humility by Jesus, the majesty of heaven and king of the universe, is one that no human being could ever match.

In Jesus is an example of unparalleled humility. Jesus said, “I am lowly in heart.” He might have stated this beatitude in the negative. Instead of saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He could have said instead, “Unhappy are the proud in spirit.” It would have been true. Of all people, the poor in spirit are the most happy, and the proud-spirited end up being the most miserable. The proud in spirit are exceedingly sensitive to every little slight or wrong, real or imagined, that causes pain and discomfort. The proud in spirit are touchy and easily offended. They are miserable night and day because of hurt feelings and are often too selfish to be happy. The only remedy for spiritual pride is the crucifixion of the proud, selfish flesh. Those who are dead to sin do not become offended. The apostle Paul said, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:2, 11).

Dead people are not sensitive. The psalmist wrote, “Great peace have they who love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165 KJV). Offense naturally thrives where sin abounds. It was a proud and sensitive angel who committed the first sin. And the more he sinned, the more sensitive he became. We live in a world where all are suffering with proud flesh. Sinful flesh is always proud. It was impossible for Jesus to keep from offending His hearers because they were so sensitive and proud in their spirit. At the close of one of His sermons, almost everybody fled from Him (see John 6). The Pharisees were continually offended at His teachings. In fact, even the disciples were often grieved. Truth always offends those who are in error and sinners resent their shortcomings being pointed out.

However, a person who is poor in spirit can be corrected, and if willing to be corrected, then they are in position where they can be blessed. Jesus illustrated the contrast between the poor in spirit and the proud in spirit in a story. He told about two worshipers who went up to the temple to pray. “He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’ ” (Luke 18:9–14).

Notice, the Pharisee did not pray to God. Jesus made it very clear that he prayed a boasting speech to himself. It was not even a prayer at all, but a boast of his inbred and acquired righteousness. He did not even make a request. He simply thanked God that he was everything that he should be. He was grateful that he was different from others, especially from the poor publican.

The publican, however, was poor in spirit. He recognized his spiritual poverty. He cried out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He alone was justified and justification leads to happiness because the Bible says that when we’re justified by faith, then we have peace with God.  Oftentimes we don’t realize that this same spirit of Phariseeism is the common spirit in Christendom today. The first beatitude is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This beatitude is very up to date because pride of spirit, self-sufficiency is more prevalent in the Christian world today, perhaps, than ever before. Phariseeism is not extinct. In fact, when Jesus speaks of the condition of the Christian church in the last or remnant phase of its existence, it is described as a church with a Pharisaical attitude. As already seen in Revelation 3:15–17, this attitude leads Christians to believe they need nothing when in reality they have need of everything.

The spirit of Phariseeism is the natural spirit of human nature and it is just as prevalent now as in the days when Jesus was among men. The church in its present condition is proud in spirit. Its members do not recognize their spiritual condition; in fact, they even boast of their spiritual wealth. In their own estimation, they are rich and increased in goods. They believe they are ready to go to heaven when in reality, they are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked, spiritually, and the Lord says, “I’m about to vomit you out of My mouth.” In other words, you are about to commit the unpardonable sin.

The message that describes the spiritual pride of the last-day church also provides a complete remedy. Notice what Jesus says to the church of the last days: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (verse 18). He’s talking about spiritual gold and spiritual clothing, and spiritual eye salve. The gold, spiritual gold, represents the amount of faith and love a person has. Gold enables a person to get whatever they want. In the spiritual world, faith enables you to get whatever you need. In the physical world, if you have gold, you are wealthy. In the spiritual world, if you have love, you are wealthy. The Bible says that love is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:14). But Jesus also says, “Buy from me white garments.” The Bible says clearly in Revelation 19 that the white garment is the righteousness of the saints that is imparted to them by Jesus Christ.

Then there is the eye salve which is needed today more than ever before. The modern church, in its own attitude and condition, shows that we are in desperate need of eye salve, which is the ability to discern and tell the difference between good and evil. The solution to our situation is to see and behold the character of Jesus Christ. The more we see in Him, the less we will see to esteem in ourselves. Just as soon as the modern church changes its attitude toward its own condition and needs, Jesus will abundantly supply His people with the pure gold of faith and love. The robe of His spotless righteousness and the anointing with the spiritual eye salve will restore spiritual vision to be able to tell the difference between good and evil.

There is a poverty that makes rich. There was another church described in Revelation that was a very poor church. They, as well as everyone else thought that they were poor, but notice what Jesus says about them: “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9).

Spiritual wealth awaits those who feel poverty-stricken in spirit. Many of the poorest people in this world are spiritually rich. In the same way, many of the richest people in this world are moral paupers and spiritual bankrupts. True riches, those that the Lord wants to give you, are the heritage of those only who recognize their spiritual need. The Bible says, “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them who love Him” (James 2:5)?

Paul says, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), there dwells no good thing” (Romans 7:18, literal translation). Whom Christ pardons, He first makes penitent. If you have a sense of your deep soul poverty, if you know that you have no goodness of your own, you may find righteousness and strength by looking to Jesus. Notice this promise that was given to the poor in spirit. It reads, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Do you recognize your spiritual poverty, and would you like to exchange that poverty for the riches of His grace? It does not matter what your past experience has been or however discouraging your present circumstances might be. Come to Jesus just the way you are – weak, helpless, and despairing – and you will find that He will take you in. He said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). While you are a great way off, He will come to you and impart to you His righteousness that will change everything in your life. Trust Him!

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Sermon on the Mount – The Law Magnified

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Most people who have read the first two books of the Bible know of a famous mountain called Mount Sinai where the ten commandments were spoken and written by the finger of God on tables of stone.

In Isaiah 42:21 KJV it is predicted concerning the Messiah, “He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” In other words, the law would be seen as if viewed under a magnifying glass.  Jesus did that very thing when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon has been called the Decalogue of the New Testament or the Mount Sinai of the New Testament, because in this sermon delivered by Jesus we look at the law under the magnifying glass of the Lawgiver to understand in detail the true spirit and nature of the law of God.

Jesus’ sermon, found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is a statement of eternal truths by Him who is the truth and therefore the author of all truth. It is a proclamation of the eternal realities of the kingdom of heaven. This sermon has been studied because of its matchless beauty, but more important than the beauty of it are the basic, fundamental principles that it contains. It is an unabridged edition of the law and contains a summary of all truth and has been called a miniature Bible. It is made up of quotations and restatements of the truths of the Old Testament or restatements of its truths. It seems that Jesus selected the most priceless gems out of the writings of all the prophets and set them down in a way that even children can easily understand.

This sermon has also been appropriately called Christ’s inaugural address because in it, Jesus enunciated the principles which are to control the administration of His eternal kingdom, the kingdom of glory. In His sermon, Jesus outlines the qualifications for heavenly citizenship. He points out very clearly who will be in heaven and who will not be there, laying down the conditions by which we can expect to enter the kingdom of heaven. All the citizens of the heavenly kingdom will live in harmony with these eternal principles.

Consider the setting of this sermon and the significance of the occasion, because this was the very same day when Jesus ordained His twelve disciples as the twelve apostles (see Luke 6). Jesus had spent the entire night before in prayer, and in the morning He had selected and ordained the twelve apostles who were to constitute a cabinet to help Him administer the affairs of this spiritual kingdom. They were to be His special ministers or ambassadors.

This particular sermon was not only the greatest of all sermons, but it was preached to a very large audience, a very interesting audience that the Bible says was composed of people from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond Jordan (Matthew 4:25).

The congregation that listened to this sermon when it was first preached was made up of all classes of men, women, and children, representing every condition of life. There were proud Pharisees there as well as poor fishermen. There were rich rulers from the palace and poor peasants. There were the wise and there were those who were uneducated and ignorant. There were those who were believers and there were those who were doubters. There were many races of men and various religious creeds represented in the audience. So, it was a cross section of humanity listening to this sermon and all had gathered there because they had feelings of great expectancy. This gathering had a special atmosphere because the fame of Jesus had filled the people with new hopes and aspirations.

The people hoped that He was the Messiah and they expected Him on this occasion to proclaim His mission as the Messiah, to make an announcement regarding the setting up of His kingdom. In fact, they were looking for the least excuse to proclaim and crown Him king. Jesus’ disciples shared these feelings of expectancy. Their thoughts were also filled with visions of future glory, power, and wealth, because they believed that the nation of Israel would become the central power of the world and that they would be the center of a world-wide kingdom.

The expectation of His audience gave to Jesus the subject or the theme for His sermon, which was the kingdom of heaven. It was His purpose to correct the popular conception concerning the nature of His kingdom that He had come to establish, for the conception that the people had formed completely unfitted them to receive Him and His teachings. The only kingdom that the Jews seemed to know anything about was an earthly temporal kingdom. The disciples had the same conception of Christ’s mission. In fact, they never lost it during the whole time He was on earth until after Pentecost when they finally got their thinking partially straightened out.

There is danger today that modern Israel, the Christians of today, will become so thrilled over the prospects of the coming kingdom of glory to be established at the Second Advent of Christ that they will lose sight of the spiritual phase of His kingdom, which must be first established in the individual’s heart.

None of us can ever enter the kingdom of glory until the kingdom of grace has entered our heart. Until the first phase of the kingdom of heaven is accomplished in our lives, we can never enter into the second phase. The first phase of God’s kingdom is the kingdom of grace that Jesus established by dying on the cross. The second phase of God’s kingdom will be the kingdom of glory that will be established when He comes again.

The Sermon on the Mount, then, is a summary of the Bible. The beatitudes constitute a prologue to Jesus’ sermon and like the ten commandments or Lord’s prayer, they are of universal application. They appeal and apply to all races and to all ages.

One time in India, there was a large crowd who gathered at a railway station to see Mahatma Ghandi and to hear him speak. After greeting the people, he opened a New Testament and he read to them the beatitudes and then he said, “This is my message to you. Act upon it.” That was all the speech he made on that occasion, but that was enough.

The eight beatitudes constitute a ladder, an advancing road of Christian experience. They contain natural and logical steps in spiritual growth and development that take us into the kingdom of God. The word beatitude comes from a Latin word which means blessed or happy. So the beatitude ladder is a blessed ladder – a blessed or happy experience. It is similar or synonymous with the words consecrated, or hallowed, or happy, or sacred, or holy. Only a consecrated, holy people can enter the kingdom of heaven. And the journey must be made by way of the beatitude ladder. You start on the first rung, and then advance up the road. Each beatitude leads to an advanced step. It is called the way of holiness (Isaiah 35) and it leads eventually to Zion. The result is that those who travel this ladder will obtain joy and gladness. They will return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isaiah 35:10).

This way, however, as Jesus pointed out in His sermon, is a narrow way. In fact, Jesus said that there will be few people compared to the world population who find it. The great majority will go down a broad way which leads to destruction. (See Matthew 7:14.)

It is a narrow way that leads to eternal life and Jesus points out exactly what that way is. It excludes all evil and all evil doers. It is a path, a narrow way, for the righteous or the just and it has ever-increasing illumination until those who walk in it reach the perfect day of spiritual light and experience.

Blessed is a word that Jesus used many times in His Sermon on the Mount. This does not refer alone to joy and happiness, but to that higher joy which is the result of divine favor. What Jesus came to give us is infinitely greater than that which we had been seeking for ourselves.

One of the first things that we notice when we read the beatitudes is that true happiness is the result of a holy character rather than that of outward conditions or circumstances. Remember, the word translated blessed could be translated happy. It says in Matthew 5:2, 3, “Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ ” God has always had a special regard for the poor in this world. Notice what the mother of Jesus said in Luke 1:46, 47: “And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.’ ” The mother of Jesus and His earthly father, were poor people.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Friend, until we recognize our need and acknowledge how spiritually poor we are, we will never come to the Lord for the help that we need. In verses 52 and 53 Mary said, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”

The rich went away empty because they didn’t feel need of anything. One of the first requirements to be saved is that you feel your need of salvation. As long as you are proud and self-sufficient, there’s not very much that God can do for you. But when you feel your need and ask for His help, the Holy Spirit will come into your life and start to recreate within you a new heart and a new spirit.

In the second beatitude Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). We may wonder how a person can be happy if they are mourning.

But notice what Paul wrote: “Even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:8, 9, first part). Repentance is sorrow for sin and turning away from it. This concept is misunderstood today. Those who are not sorry enough to turn away from their sin have not yet really repented.

“I [Paul] rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (verses 9, 10).

The difference is that people in this world are sorry when they get caught in their sins, but godly sorrow is when a person is sorry because they have committed the sin and realize that they have done something against their heavenly Father and have done something that caused Jesus Christ to go to the cross. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. When you understand the consequence of sin and the price Jesus Christ paid for your sin, you will never be able to enjoy sin again. You will then have godly sorrow for sin and will not want to have anything to do with it. You will not just be sorry that you got caught.

“For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (verse 11). There are many people today who have never been sorry for their sins. They have never really mourned or repented for their sins, and yet, they somehow think they are going to the kingdom of heaven.

This is a second step in the plan of salvation. Those who walk up the narrow road must not only feel their need, but must come to the place where they mourn, repent for their sins. But they do not remain there, for there is another step. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Now the meek people do not inherit the earth as it is today. Today, we live in a world that is controlled by force, a world where the strongest become the richest and the most powerful. But the time is coming when there will no longer be proud people. Malachi 4:1 says, “ ‘Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

The day is coming when the meek will inherit the earth. A meek person is one who is gentle and humble.

Jesus does not ask of us anything that He has not demonstrated Himself in His own life. He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Jesus wants to deliver us from all pride and from all self-importance. He wants to help us to become meek. Through His Holy Spirit He wants to recreate within us a new heart and a new spirit so that we will be gentle, meek, and humble as He is. Then we will be in a spiritual condition, where, when the world is made again and the kingdom of glory is set up, we will be able to inhabit the earth made new.

The fourth beatitude says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? In 1st John, the apostle talks about how righteousness defines and demonstrates which people are really children of God and which people are children of the devil. It is not our profession that determines whose children we are; it’s the life we live. Notice what John says in 1 John 3:4–10, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

“Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” However wicked a person may have been, if they hunger and thirst for righteousness and desire to be recreated and born again, the Lord Jesus promises that their desire will be filled and they will be satisfied.

Jesus then said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). James says that there will be no mercy for the person that doesn’t show mercy (James 2:13). Are you merciful? That is the next step in the road that leads to heaven.

Friend, follow these beatitudes that will take you up the narrow road that leads to the kingdom of heaven. If you are willing to walk that narrow road, when Jesus comes back your journey to the kingdom of heaven will be complete. If that is what you want, if that is what you choose, that will be your destiny.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Life Sketches – Heaven-born Peace

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Often people wonder why bad things happen to good people and why God has allowed millions of His faithful followers to be martyred by governments or various religious groups over the years.

Just before Jesus was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said to His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master’ (John 13:16). If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (John 15:18–21).

People who do not understand God, have a problem believing the one who comes to them with a message from God. When that message is diametrically opposed to the way they are used to living, they object to having their sins reproved. Just a few days before the crucifixion, Jesus again warned His disciples that they would be persecuted and delivered up to the synagogues and prisons. Although they would be brought before kings and rulers for His name’s sake, it would be an occasion for a testimony. They need not worry beforehand how to answer the charges, because they would be given an answer at that time which their adversaries would not be able to contradict or resist. They would even be betrayed by their family members and some of them would even be put to death. (See Luke 21:12–16.)

This prophecy by Jesus was fulfilled in a marked manner. In fact, there were multiple attempts to kill all the apostles, and all but John met with violent deaths. Because God had more work for John to do, he was miraculously delivered from a violent attempt on his life.

After the resurrection, Jesus predicted that Peter would glorify God by dying a martyr’s death. Notice what He said in John 21:18, 19: “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.’ This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ ”

That prediction was fulfilled right to the letter. When Peter was old, he and the apostle Paul both yielded up their lives as martyrs for Christ in the city of Rome, as seed for a vast harvest of millions of saints and martyrs since that time. About the time of Paul’s second arrest in Rome, Peter was also apprehended and thrust into prison. Peter had made himself especially obnoxious to Nero because he had had great success in exposing the deceptions and defeating the plots of Simon Magus, the sorcerer who had followed him to Rome to oppose and hinder the work of the gospel.

Nero was a believer in magic, and therefore he was greatly incensed against the apostle and was prompted to order his arrest. The emperor’s malice against Paul was also heightened by the fact that there were members of the imperial household, Caesar’s household, as well as other persons of distinction who had become Christians in the city of Rome as a result of Paul’s being a prisoner there for two years prior to his arrest.

Because of his malice, Nero decided to cut Paul’s life short as soon as he could find a plausible pretext for so doing. Nero’s mind had been so impressed by the force of the apostle’s words at his last trial that he deferred making a decision in the case. Paul was neither acquitted nor condemned. However, the sentence was only deferred, and it was not long before a decision was reached and pronounced that consigned the apostle to a martyr’s grave. Being a Roman citizen, he could not be subjected to torture. Therefore, he was sentenced to be beheaded.

Peter, being a Jew and a foreigner and not a Roman citizen, was condemned to be scourged and crucified. In prospect of this fearful death, the apostle remembered his great sin when he had denied Jesus during the time of His trial. His only thought was how unworthy he was to be put to death in the same manner as was his Master. Peter had sincerely repented of his sin and had been given a high commission by the Lord, but he could never forgive himself.

The two apostles, Paul and Peter, had been separated for many years in their labors because of their different commissions. Peter’s commission was to preach the gospel especially to the Jews. Paul had been commissioned to preach the gospel especially to the Gentiles. But the time and place of their martyrdom was similar, both in the region of Rome. Peter entreated his executioners as a last favor that he might be nailed to the cross with his head downward. His request was granted and, in this manner, died the great apostle Peter.

Paul was led in a private manner to the place of his execution. His persecutors were alarmed at the extent of his influence and were afraid that converts might be won to Christianity even by the scenes of his death. Few spectators were allowed to be present. But even the hardened soldiers, who attended him and listened to his words saw with amazement that he was cheerful, and even joyous, at the prospect of such a death. His spirit of forgiveness toward his murderers and his unwavering confidence in Christ right up to the end, proved a fragrance of life unto life to some who witnessed his martyrdom.

More than one person erelong accepted Christ due to Paul’s witness. To the latest hour of his life, Paul demonstrated the truth of what he had written to the Corinthian church. It says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels [that is, the gospel] that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18).

In his life, Paul demonstrated the truth of which he spoke and wrote, which gave such convincing power to his preaching and to his deportment. The prophet Isaiah said, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

Paul experienced heaven-born, heaven-generated peace. It was written on his countenance, and responsible for winning so many souls to the gospel. Paul had what so many desired and did not have.

As Paul walked toward the place of his execution, he did not see the glimmering sword that was so soon to make him a martyr, nor did he see his executioner. Rather, his mind was in a conversation with the Eternal, saying, “O, Lord, You are my comfort, and You are my portion. When will I embrace you? When will I see You for myself with no dimming veil between?” Since his conversion, Paul had carried with him the very atmosphere of heaven. Everyone who had associated with him had seen this. They had felt the influence of his connection with Christ and the companionship of angels. “The unstudied, unconscious influence of a holy life is the most convincing sermon that can be given in favor of Christianity.” Sketches from the Life of Paul, 331. Allowing yourself to get into an argument may simply provoke opposition, but a godly example has a power that is impossible to completely resist.

Paul lost sight of his own sufferings, but he was concerned about his associates that were with him. He knew that in a few minutes he would be leaving them to cope with prejudice, and hatred, and persecution; so he endeavored to strengthen and encourage the few Christians who had accompanied him to the place of his execution. He repeated to them the exceeding precious promises given to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. He assured them that nothing would fail of all that the Lord had spoken concerning His tried and faithful ones. He assured them as he wrote to Timothy, “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Christians might be oppressed for a little season with heaviness because of manifold trials and temptations. They may be destitute of earthly comfort, but they can encourage their hearts by those words. That day will come, the glad morning of peace. The perfect day will come. Paul declared to his brethren that it had not appeared to those who lived in the times of the Old Testament, the great and good things that were going to be given to those who believed in Jesus. Those who lived in Old Testament times desired, he said, to see the things that we see, and to hear the things which we hear. But they died without the sight or the knowledge. The greater light which we have received since Christ has come has made us more accountable because we know more.

Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches” (Luke 16:10, 11)? Again in Luke 12:47, 48, Jesus said, “That servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

Christians can behold the ladder that Jacob saw, the ladder that stretches from earth to heaven. That ladder represents Jesus Christ, who connected this earth with the infinite resources of heaven. Paul, looking toward the future, saw that there would be men and women in future ages who would not consider or hold their lives dear to themselves, but they would hold aloft the banner of the cross amid the dark mazes of infidelity. He heard in his mind these witnesses to Jesus as the Son of the Most High God, the Saviour of the world. He heard the martyrs’ shout of triumph, their fearless testimony for the faith that they know is true. It fell upon his ear from the rack, the torture chamber, the stake, the dungeon, from the dens and caves of the earth where, as he wrote, “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:37, 38).

With a continually increasing assurance, he heard the Christian of future ages saying, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” He knew that for him there awaited a crown of life. He knew the promise that Jesus gave in John 6:40 where He said to the Jews, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Jews wanted deliverance from the Romans. They wanted a Messiah that would set up a temporal kingdom in this world. When Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, the Jews interjected, “This man is against Caesar because He calls Himself a king.” And Pilate said to Him, “Are you a king” (John 18:37, first part)? And Jesus said, “You say rightly that I am a king.” But “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (verses 37, last part, 36).

The kingdom that the Lord came to set up is a kingdom of righteousness. It is a kingdom that is established in the heart. Until the heart is cured from the leprosy of sin, no person can be given the gift of eternal life. For this reason, Jesus said to the Jews, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20, 21).

The kingdom of God is within you; it has to do with a change in heart, a change in spirit that is worked out by the Holy Spirit. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was not a physical kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom, one of righteousness.

Revelation 11:15 says, “The seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ ” The time is coming when the nations of this world will all come to an end and Christ will establish a kingdom that will last forever (Daniel 2; Revelation 11). That was the kingdom that the apostle Paul was looking forward to. He was looking forward to that time when the Lord would come and he would be given a crown of life. He would be resurrected. Therefore he wasn’t afraid to die; he knew that death was just a moment of silence and darkness until his Lord would return and take him and all the other saints out of this world.  He says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6–8).

It has been almost 20 centuries since Paul, the aged, poured out his blood as a witness for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. No faithful hand recorded for the generations to come the last scenes in the life of this holy man, but inspiration has preserved his dying testimony. Like a trumpet peal his voice has rung out through the ages, nerving with his own courage thousands of faithful witnesses for Christ, and awakening in thousands of sorrow-stricken hearts the echo of his own triumphant joy.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Life Sketches – The True Gospel

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So many people seem to be satisfied with what this world has to offer until something catastrophic happens to them or their loved ones. They cannot endure to know the truth about the controversy between good and evil that is raging behind the scenes, so they usually turn away with disdain and often anger from anyone who dares to speak about it. There has never been a time in history when the situation was different.

From the judgment hall of the Roman Caesar, Paul was returned again to the Mamertine Prison, knowing that he had gained for himself only a brief respite. He knew that his enemies would not rest until they had secured his death, but he knew also that the truth had triumphed for the time. He was content in the very fact that he had proclaimed a crucified and risen Saviour before that vast throng who had listened to his words. That, in itself, was a victory for the gospel.

A work had begun that day which would increase and prosper and which the emperor of Rome, with all of his pomp and power, would seek in vain to destroy or hinder. The apostle’s speech had gained for him many friends and he was visited by some persons of rank. There were some people who accepted the gospel that day as a result of his speech. But there was one friend that the apostle Paul wanted to see more than anybody else during these final days of his life, and that friend was Timothy. To Timothy had been committed the care of the church at Ephesus, and because of this he had not been with Paul when Paul had made his final voyage to Rome.

There was great affection between this youthful laborer and the apostle Paul. Timothy’s conversion had occurred earlier through the labors of the apostle Paul, and the apostle decided that he was going to write a letter to Timothy and ask him to come as soon as possible to Rome.

Paul said to be diligent in coming quickly and not delay. However, in case Timothy did not arrive in time, the apostle decided that he must not delay writing his dying testimony which is recorded in 2 Timothy 4:6–8.

He says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all those who have loved His appearing.”

In addition to his dying testimony, Paul desired one last time to counsel this young minister and give him the charge that is still repeated today when ministers are ordained in Christian churches. That charge is found in 2 Timothy 4:1–5. It says, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Paul predicted that the time would come when Christians will not endure the truth, sound doctrine, and they would get for themselves teachers who would turn away their ears from the truth and be turned aside to fables. It is the duty of a Christian minister to hate and reprove sin and at the same time to manifest pity and tenderness for the sinner. That is a difficult attainment.

While we must be careful that we do not have undue severity toward a wrong doer, at the same time, we need to understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin. We need to have Christlike patience and love toward the erring, but at the same time there is danger of manifesting so great tolerance for error that eventually the person who is living in sin will consider himself undeserving of reproof and will reject it as an uncalled-for hardness.

We need to be careful that toleration of the sinner does not degenerate into toleration of sin. Godliness leads to brotherly kindness, and those who do not cherish the one will surely lack the other. If a person blunts his moral perceptions so that he becomes sinfully lenient towards those whom God condemns, the time will come when he will commit a greater sin by using severity and harshness toward those whom God commends. Paul says that the time is going to come when Christians will not endure sound doctrine. Here he is not talking about people who are atheists, or agnostics, or openly irreligious; he’s talking about professed Christians who have indulged inclination until they are enslaved by their own ungoverned passions and led away with various kinds of cravings or lusts (see 2 Timothy 3).

In His ten holy precepts, God has given a rule for man’s life, a law in which, Jesus said, not even part of a letter would be changed as long as heaven and earth should last. Jesus said in Luke 16:17, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle [a part of a letter] of the law to fail.” That law is still the Christian believer’s rule of life. That law is still, today, the sinner’s condemnation. That law is that which Isaiah says the Messiah would come to make honorable and magnify, and Jesus did magnify the law. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus showed that the law of God is based on the broad foundation of love to God and love to man. Jesus showed that obedience to the precepts of that law comprises the whole duty of man. In His own life, Jesus gave a perfect example of obedience to the law of God.

Jesus showed that the requirements of the law extend beyond outward acts. The law takes countenance of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:27–30).

God’s law involves not only the actions of the body, but also the thoughts and intents of the heart. Today, we are living in a world where the enemy of all righteousness has taken almost the entire world captive. And he has led those who call themselves Christians to make void the law of God and excuse sin. The popular belief of millions of Christians today is that because we are carnal, we can’t help but sin, so we will sin and confess, sin and confess until Jesus comes.

Paul foresaw that people would turn away from the plain, searching truths of God’s word and that they would have itching ears and heap to themselves teachers that would present to them the fables that they desire, an easier gospel. These teachers would trample under their feet the fourth commandment and end up trampling the whole moral law.

The Creator of the world is insulted by those who claim to be His children while they transgress His law and Satan laughs at the success of his plot against the human race. We are living in a time when there is a growing contempt for God’s holy law. There is an increasing distaste for religion. There is an increase of pride and love of pleasure. Children are disobedient to parents, contrary to the fifth commandment. People are self-indulgent. The thinking people who are watching what is going on in the world are alarmed, asking what can be done to arrest the evils in society.

Paul told Timothy to preach the word whether people will hear or whether they will not, because a transcript of the will of God is contained in the Bible. It reveals the only safe principles of action to reform or to save society. It is an expression of divine wisdom and opens to the reader’s understanding how to solve the great problem of life. Those who listen to it will be directed in the right way.

It is absolute madness and insanity for men to attempt to change or even question that which has come out of the mouth of God. After infinite wisdom has spoken, how could we have any doubtful questions to settle? How can we have any wavering probabilities to adjust if we’re interested in eternal life?  The only thing to do is ask, “What has God said, and how can I obey?” Obedience is the highest dictate of reason as well as of conscience. But there are millions of people today listening to other voices and willing to follow other guides whose messages have been turned unto fables, and they trust them.

Sadly, on that final day, those who have trusted in fables will meet with infinite loss. How is it with you? Is your life being organized and lived according to the word of God, or are you trusting in popular fables? We are living in a time when fatal errors like deadly poison have so tainted the morals of a large part of the human race that they have no certain hope of eternal life. Can you hear the voice of duty?

In his last letter to Timothy in Ephesus, Paul predicted what would happen in the last days of this earth’s history, the time in which we are now living. He said, “Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1–5)!

Paul said there would still be religion and people would have a form of godliness, profess to be Christians and go to church in the end times. Looking at them from the outside, people of the world will believe that they are Christians, but Paul said that while they do seem to have a form of godliness, they deny its power.

What is the power of godliness? Paul explains this clearly in his letter to the Romans. He said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ ” (Romans 1:16, 17).

If a person is living by faith after receiving the gospel, his life will change. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3, 4). You will know if you are walking according to the flesh or according to the Spirit by the life that you are living. To walk according to the Spirit is to have your life in harmony with the law of God.

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal [unconverted] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (verses 5–7). It is impossible for the unconverted person to obey the law of God.

Never argue with somebody who says they cannot obey the law of God, for they are right. But what happens if a person is converted? Paul says, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (verses 8, 9).

Those who are converted and walk in the Spirit will have the power to obey the law of God. That’s what the new birth is all about and it can happen in your life. (See Romans 8 or Romans 6.)

Paul was concerned that there were people in his day who perverted the gospel. He wrote to the Galatians: “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6, 7). And then to the Corinthian church, he wrote, “If he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it” (2 Corinthians 11:4)!

The different gospel is the gospel that allows people to live according to the flesh, and still think that they are going to be saved. He said, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness [licentiousness], idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:17–21).

Those who practice such things, Paul said, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who are living like that are not yet converted and have not been born again and do not display the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, but rather the fruit of the flesh.

O, friend, how is it with you? There are millions of Christians today who have a false hope of salvation. They think that they can live in sin, and as long as they just confess their sins in the moment of their death, somehow everything will turn out all right. This was not the teaching of Jesus or His apostles.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11).

O, friend, have you been washed? Have you been forgiven for your sins and been justified by the Lord Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you being sanctified and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life so you can be ready to meet the Lord when He comes back to this earth? Don’t accept any other gospel that teaches you that you can live in sin, and yet go to the kingdom of heaven. You must choose to renounce sin in all its forms, repent of it, confess it and forsake it if you want to be in God’s kingdom. Nothing that defiles will be inside the city (Revelation 21:27).

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Life Sketches – Convicting Testimony

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What would you expect to happen if those who were guilty were to pass judgment and determine the sentence of the innocent? This is not a foreign occurrence and has happened many times in this world. The Bible records several famous instances of this happening in the life of Jesus and also in the life of Paul.

When Paul was set free after his first imprisonment in Rome, the Jews were still determined to rid themselves of what they considered a nuisance. Everything that they had tried had failed. More than once they had plotted to assassinate him, but their efforts had always come to naught. They had tried to get him convicted in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, and in Rome, and every attempt had failed. However, they never ceased trying to find a way that they could end his life because of their hatred against the gospel of Jesus Christ that he proclaimed wherever he went resulting in many people, both Jews and Gentiles becoming Christians.

The story that he would tell of his encounter with Jesus Christ in person on the Damascus road was convincing. It was an eyewitness testimony backed up by a change in his life that nobody could contradict. Those who did not accept this testimony became furious with rage because of the effect that it was having all over the world and resulted in the Jews’ determination to find some pretext by which they could cause him to be killed.

Rome, at that time, was involved in a terrible fire, for which Nero was blamed. Deciding to clear himself, he caused the Christians to be blamed for instigating the burning of the city. This gave opportunity for the Jews to lay a plot by which the apostle Paul was blamed for instigating the burning of the city of Rome. Again, he was to appear before Nero on trial for his life.

At this time, Paul had the prospect of almost certain death. First because of the aggravated nature of the crime charged against him. Second, because of the prevailing animosity toward the Christians which had resulted from their being blamed for burning the city. Then last, because of the very character of Nero himself, who was attempting to relieve himself of the real blame for the fire for which he certainly was responsible.

It was customary among both the Greeks and the Romans to allow a person in this situation who was accused to have an advocate, an attorney, present his case in a court of justice to plead in his behalf. By force of argument or impassioned eloquence, and appeal, entreaties, or even tears, such an advocate could often secure a reversal of the sentence, or if he failed in that, at least have the sentence mitigated to avoid a severe judgment.

But in this case there was no man who ventured to act as Paul’s counsel or advocate. He had no legal counsel. He had no friend at hand, even to preserve a record of the charges that were leveled against him. There is no written human record of the arguments that he urged in his own defense. Among the Christians who lived in the city of Rome, there was not one who came forward to stand by him at this time.

Down through the centuries, thousands, probably more accurately, millions of Christians have been in similar situations with no legal counsel and all manner of accusations being made against them. There have been many courts in which a person needed to prove their innocence, but how do you prove that the accusations are false? How do you prove your innocence? Now it’s one thing if you are considered innocent until you are proved guilty. It is entirely something else if you are considered guilty unless you can prove your innocence. Even if you are innocent, it may be very difficult to prove it.

However, if you are a Christian and find yourself in a situation like this, you do have Someone who has promised to never leave you or forsake you and to help you. For the apostle Paul, though all humans had forsaken him, he was aware that Somebody had stood by him. Writing to Timothy he said, “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion” (2 Timothy 4:17).

Here we see the faithful apostle standing before Nero with no counsel, no human help, standing all alone accused of an aggravated crime in a pagan court having to defend himself. But, unseen by his accusers, there was One who stood with him and strengthened him that the preaching might be fully known.

Here was Paul standing before Nero. How striking would be the contest and the contrast. Nero was a person who had the very height of earthly power, wealth, and authority and had also participated in the lowest depths of crime and iniquity. This man, Nero, before whom Paul was answering for his faith, stood unrivaled and unapproached in the world. There was no one in this world to question his authority or resist his will. The kings of the earth laid their crowns at his feet. The most powerful armies marched at his command. The ensigns of his navies betokened victory. His statue was set up in courts of justice and the decrees of senators and the decisions of judges were but the echo of his will. Over a hundred million subjects bowed in obedience to his mandates. The name of Nero made the world tremble. To incur his displeasure was to lose property, liberty, and life. His frown was to be dreaded more than the pestilence, and yet while he was surrounded by all this earthly pomp, wealth, and authority, and reverenced as a god in human form, he had the heart of a demon.

Before this man seated on his throne, stood the apostle Paul, a calm, aged prisoner, whose face told of the peace of God that reigned within. He was without money, without friends, without legal counsel, brought from a loathsome dungeon to be tried for his life. The apostle Paul had lived a life of poverty, of self-denial, and of suffering. He had a sensitive nature which thirsted for love and sympathy, but all he had was grave misrepresentation, reproach, hatred, and abuse, like his Master. He had been a homeless wanderer in this world. He had lived and suffered for the truth’s sake. He had sought to relieve the burdens of others around him. He had sought to exemplify the life of Christ in his life. Who can imagine the contrast between these two people, Paul and Nero, face to face, the youthful monarch bearing upon his countenance the shameful record of the passions that surged within?

We see in this picture the result of opposite systems: opposite systems of education, opposite systems of philosophy, opposite systems of training. On one hand you have the life of unbounded self-indulgence, and on the other you have a life of utter self-sacrifice. Here were the representatives of the two religions, Christianity and paganism – the representatives of two theories of life – the simplicity of self-denying endurance, ready to give up life itself if necessary for the good of others, and on the other hand, the luxury of all-absorbing selfishness that counts nothing too valuable to sacrifice for momentary gratification.

Here also were the representatives of two spiritual powers – the ambassador of Christ and the slave of Satan. Their relative positions showed to what extent the course of this world was under the rule of the prince of darkness. The wretch who sat upon the throne, his soul stained with the crime of incest and matricide robed in purple. Before him stood the purest and noblest of human beings, to be judged for his life, a man who is despised, hated, and fettered. Around them was a vast throng gathered to witness the judgment scene. Again, the Jews urge against the prisoner their old charges of sedition against the government and heresy, and both Jews and Romans accuse him of instigating the burning of the city.

While they vehemently urged their accusations, Paul stood there with no shade of fear or anger. The judges beheld this man with surprise. They had been present at many trials and had looked upon many criminals, but never had they seen a man who had such a look of holy calmness as did this prisoner before them. The keen eyes of the judges, accustomed to searching for character in the human face, search the face of Paul for some evidence of crime, but in vain.

Finally, the apostle Paul, after he had received all of the accusations, was allowed to speak for himself.

As he looked, not just at Nero and his accusers, but also at the large crowd of people that had gathered to watch his trial, he decided to lift once more before the wondering multitude, the banner of the cross of Christ. And with more than human eloquence and power, he began to explain to them the truths of the gospel. His words were true, clear, and convincing, overthrowing error and falsehood, and the people in that company had never before heard anything like this.

They had come to hear the utterance of a feeble and aged prisoner, but they heard words that were destined to shake nations.  Paul’s speech on this occasion, was endowed with power that would through all time influence the hearts and lives of men. He later wrote to Timothy, “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear” (2 Timothy 4:17). Paul was stirred with a longing to see these people receive the truth of salvation, and he had an intense desire that they would not perish. He lost sight of the occasion and of the perils that were surrounding him, and of the terrible fate which seemed so near, and he looked to Jesus, his Advocate, his Intercessor in the courts above.

He pled with them and showed them that there was an Advocate that they had at the throne of God and pointed his hearers to the fact that an infinite sacrifice had been made on behalf of the fallen race. He presented before them man in his true dignity and value, because an infinite price had been paid for his redemption. Provision had been made that every human being might finally be exalted to share the throne of God and to become an heir of immortal riches. Not only this, but by angel messengers, earth and heaven were connected, and all the deeds of men, both good and evil, were open before the eye of infinite justice. As he was explaining this to them, there was no trace of fear. There was no sadness or discouragement on his countenance. He was strong in his conscious innocence. He was clothed with the panoply of truth, and rejoiced that he was a son of God. His words were like a shout of victory above the noise of the battle.

He told them that the cause of truth to which he had dedicated his life is the only cause that can never fail. He may perish for the truth’s sake, as would millions of human beings, but the gospel will not perish, because God lives and reigns, and eventually the truth will triumph. As he speaks to them, his countenance is lighted up. They see that he is not afraid of anything, perhaps realizing now that he is on God’s side of the question. Through this trial, the gospel message found its way into minds that had never before heard the truth. Never had Nero listened to any speech like this. Never before had the enormous guilt of his life been revealed to him as it was revealed that day, because the light of heaven pierced the sin polluted chambers of his mind and soul. He was terrified. He quaked with terror at the thought that there was a tribunal before which he, the ruler of the world, should be arraigned, and where his deeds would meet a just reward. He was afraid of the apostle’s God, and he dared not pass a sentence on Paul, against whom no crime, no accusation, had been sustained.

Nero had a sense of awe and as he was thinking about it, heaven opened before his mind, the truth of what the apostle Paul had been saying, and for a moment it seemed that the peace and purity of heaven would be something desirable. That was his moment of mercy. That was the moment, when, if he had made the decision, he could have turned his life around and chosen to repent and confess his sins and follow Jesus.

For a moment, the hope of eternal life was offered to probably the most wicked man in the world at that time, but the offer was only for a moment. Catching his composure, he gave orders for Paul to be returned to his dungeon. When the dungeon door was closed, that was the end of the opportunity for the emperor of Rome to have eternal life. Never again would there be a ray of light or mercy from God that would shine into his darkened soul.

It was not long after this that Nero sailed on his expedition to Greece, and there he disgraced himself and his kingdom by the most contemptible and debasing crimes and frivolity. He returned to Rome with great pomp and engaged in scenes of revolting debauchery, but in the midst of the revelry, a voice was heard out in the streets and a messenger was dispelled to enquire of the matter. The messenger returned with the appalling news that Galba, at the head of an army, was marching rapidly upon Rome. Insurrection had already broken out in the city and the streets were filled with an enraged mob, threatening death to the emperor.

The wretched tyrant, who was just as cowardly as he was cruel, was completely unmanned. He sprang up from the table at which he had been feasting and drinking and overturning it in his blind terror, he sent the costly wares to the floor, dashed to fragments. Like one beside himself, he ran here and there, saying, “I am lost. I am lost.” He did not have, like the faithful Paul, a compassionate God to rely upon in his hour of peril.

He knew that if he was taken prisoner, he would be subjected to torture. So considering how he might end his miserable life with as little pain as possible, he asked for poison. When the poison was brought, he was afraid to take it and called for a sword, but he was also afraid to use it on himself. Then, disguised in women’s clothing, he rushed from the palace and dashed through the dark, narrow streets to the Tiber River. But as he looked into its depths, his courage failed again.

One of Nero’s friends that was with him, suggested that he escape to a country seat a few miles away where he might find safety. So, concealing his face, he leaped on a horse and succeeded in making his escape, but the senate had passed a decree declaring Nero to be the enemy of his country and condemning him to death. The sentence that was passed against him was that he was to be stripped naked, fastened by his head to the pillory, and scourged to death. When he found this out, the monster, who had delighted to inflict death upon Christians by most inhuman torture, shrank with horror at the mere thought of enduring like torture himself. In a groan of despair he said, “What shall I do?” In a few moments he knew he would be under the power of his enemies. Terrified alike by the thought of suicide or torture, he at last let a slave help his trembling hand force a dagger into his throat and perished at the age of 32.

God in his infinite mercy bears long with the transgressors of His law, but He keeps a record of the impiety of nations and individuals. Long is mercy tendered toward us, but when our guilt reaches a certain limit, which God has fixed, then mercy ceases her pleading and the ministration of wrath begins.

Friend, every one of us has a case at the bar of God. What will the sentence be when your number comes up?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.