Adonai your God is compassionate and merciful; he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.” 2 Chronicles 30:9
This is the cup the Father has given me; am I not to drink it?” John 18:11
The message today is simple, and more of the same. There is a little word we always seem to miss or ignore, the word “IF.” We know God is merciful and compassionate and full of grace. But those things are not for everyone, they are for the ones who return to him. In other words, hear and obey him. It was this way in the beginning and has always been like that, nothing has changed with God.
What has changed is man and the teachings. As I read through the old testament, it keeps hitting me between the eyes this whole thing of how one King obeyed, the next did not. And the outcome of both. When obeying there was peace in the land, or if another kingdom rose up against it, they were easily defeated, many times without the Israelites even doing a thing.
But when they started to disobey and follow idols and fake gods, Lord Adonai destroyed them. Much of the old testament is about exactly this.
The second verse says a lot also, “this is the cup my father gave me, am I not to drink it?” Like everyone else in life, Yeshua could have disobeyed. And if he did disobey he would have been like the fallen angels who became demons. And the world would be a much darker place without the hope of the helper the Holy Spirit whom Yeshua sent.
Yeshua could have disobeyed, but then again, no he couldn’t. Not because he did not have a choice, but because he loves his Father and only does what the Father asks of him and shows him to do.
We also need to get to this point with God where we know in the back of our minds we can disobey. We have the choice. But that our disobedience will not work out for our good, nor the good of others. Where your obedience will end perfectly no matter how bitter of a cup the Lord has given you to drink. As said many times, we grow in our sorrows and pains and suffering. When times are good and everything is going well, we really do not learn anything worth knowing.
This does not mean you should seek suffering, but it does mean we should not run from it and try to hide from it, but instead embrace it and grab ahold of the Lord and hang on tight. Seeking every bit of wisdom he will give you from the tribulation he put on you, or allowed upon you.
Also keep in mind there is a difference between self inflicted trials, adn those from God. Most people only suffer from self inflicted trials because they do not understand the make up of our human bodies, both physical and mental. And if we do not learn these small things, how can God show us the big things? That would be like trying to teach a 1st grader advanced algebra.
We must learn as we go. And the first step is to know or understand the small things, things we can learn and change on our own. But when the doctrine you have tells you a lie, and you believe the lie. You have no chance to learn these little things, you take the easy way out and remain in your sin.
Many times God has shown me about how many times in history the bible has been changed and or the doctrine the men tell us from said bibles. With the point being the doctrine of men these days is nowhere near the truth. And actually never has been, because the truth is in Yeshua, not the doctrine of men. It always amazes me how we confuse the two as being one in the same. That somehow our church system is the same thing as knowing God. I also played that game for 40 some years and it never changed me. What did change me was when I came to understand this thing called obedience to the voice I was hearing was all powerful and something we must obey. And that through obedience to this voice, he cleans you up and makes you Holy. With some people it is a fast process, others it is slow. With me it was slow, mostly because I did not understand this truth because all the many different churches I went to thinking they were truth and showing me the way, never told me this one thing. NEVER. And it is the first step in becoming right with God and working out your salvation through obedience. Because no man can obey a law unto righteousness, or a man teacher. But every man can obey the laws if they have the Holy Spirit and obey what he tells him.
This is the point Paul was making about how we are dead to the law, but alive to the Spirit. He was not saying it in a way that we will still sin and to not worry about it, and just believe because you said the singers prayer you have the Spirit now and are saved. Believe that lie if you want to, but it is what is keeping you from achieving something incredible with God. Something so much larger than you, it cannot be understood until you receive it. Keep in mind the power and glory of God are beyond understanding and comprehension by us as humans. Even when you really receive the Spirit, and you will know when you do. Because there is a difference between the Spirit “leading you” into all righteousness. And when you are there and cleaned up so he can live in you, and guide you. When I went through this, I did not understand what it meant ot have the Spirit until that day I felt it. The Spirit gave me a power I never had before to overcome and I was in love with God and the power he gave me like never before. It was then that I understood so much more about the scriptures, and he keeps teaching me to this day, some new things, some retaught.
This last point I cannot stress enough to you. IT is you do not know until you know. You think you know and have salvation because of your religious beliefs. But as it is written and spoken by Yeshua himself, “you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God unless you are born again of the Spirit.” Nicodemus did not understand it, nor will you. That is until you actually receive it. And the evidence or fruit is how you live your life from then on. You will see it as the most amazing life ever, and come to love the truth. But that same truth makes others to hate you. Knowing the truth puts you at a higher level than them, and they will be jealous, and it also convicts them of their evil doing just because you have changed and no longer do what they do. Just know the people hate the truth.
So it seems you are going in the wrong direction, and kind of you are because you are going the opposite direction as the others. But they are remaining on the wide path leading to death, where you are now searching for the narrow path leading to life, and VERY FEW find it. Make sure you are one of them who finds it. And again, you will know when you know that you found it. But it cannot be known or taught before then. The real secret is what Yeshua keeps telling me. Hear him and obey him in every aspect of your life, he will make sure you get there as long as you obey him. This has a 100% success rate. God is not biased and likes some and hates others because of prejudice. The judgment is strictly based on this one thing, did you do the work to clean yourself up so the Holy Spirit can live in you, or not? You do not get into the Kingdom of God unless you are a=born again!