Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
A person can be sincerely telling the truth -- OR -- they can sincerly believe that they are telling the truth all the while being deceived by the lie instead. The person who believes the lie is probably deceiving others by their sincerity as well, believing this to be faith, even though they may not be aware of it. For such is the strength of the dillusion that God sends them for not wanting to receive the love of the truth and for believing the lie instead.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
In any case, Discernment is necessary. Sincerity is not a reason to doubt nor to believe what anyone (including ourselves) says. In other words, just because a person says they believe and are sincere where it concerns the affairs of the heart, their words and sincerity just doesn't make it so (Jer. 17:9). There is only one place to judge a man (including ourselves) from, and that is on the basis of the word of God alone, which includes in it Jeremiah 17:9 ....
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
We need to discern the persons fruits, not their sincerity. In Matthew 7:17-21 Jesus says that we will know them by their fruits!
It is not holding fast to some religion, nor is it acquired through keeping or obeying the Dead Letter of the Law, but by honoring the Spirit of that Law. What comes natural to someone in this life becomes even more so in the Spirit. Love flows like a river to those who love God, to those who do so by keeping His commands intact by way of their following hard after the Spirit.
Claiming to know and/or love the truth is one thing - but receiving it (i.e. Having Him) by yielding to it and living by it is quite another. For this we must be born again and receive power from on high! It is through our KEEPING of His words, and not in the mere KNOWING of them, that brings Him and His Love into our hearts, and changes us into new creatures. Therefore, in order to determine IF we are expressing True Love towards God (i.e. the kind of Love that is based upon the revelation of Him) or not, we must First and Foremost see if we really do Love God the way that He says we are to....
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
I know a woman who is a strong Christian, but she had let her gaurd down and was momentarily confused (concerning the way of salvation) by someone who professed how much they loved Jesus. She didn't know what to make of it, because they sounded so -- Sincere! Yet their sincerity was doing much damage to the testimony of Jesus. They seemed to be saved and to love Him, and yet they wanted us to believe them on the basis of their own sincerity alone towards Christ.
What this woman didn't take into account at the time was how this sincere person was continually associating themselves with practicing homosexuals and sexual deviants (by living-in with these well-known fornicators) and even calling them friends, along with a wilful and eager participation in yoga lessons and the like.
How can this be??? she asked herself. How can any Christian who professes Christ do this??? For example: How can someone who says they really believe in God, sincerely love Him, and are going to heaven when they die, continue to shack-up or even live-in with known fornicators, regardless of any excuse for their doing so???
What this woman needed was to simply use the discernment that God gave her in order to rightly determine (i.e. Judge) where this persons words (i.e. their fruit) were coming from. She merely needed to use the words that God wrote in her heart; and are reflected in the Scriptures, in order to discern what is and what is not of God with, and make her decision based upon what He said, and simply leave it there....
Hebrews 5:13-14 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Does this mean that it makes OUR Love towards God the basis that determines whether or not we get to heaven??? It was on this same basis that this established Christian had allowed herself to be be temporarily deceived by this sincere sounding person. It wasn't until she sat down and took into account what this person was not only saying but doing, and compared it to the black and white of God's word, which in turn blew away her confusion.
In discerning rightly, she merely took what the other person said, believed in, and did, and weighed those words along with those deeds in the balance of the word of God in revealing the way that people express their outward fruits of an inward reality. In discerning rightly, she realized you can't have both inward realities in operation at the same time (the world, the flesh and the devil verses God), and this other person wanted to express the life-style of both of them at once. What this person was doing and not doing spoke louder than their words....
James 3:12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Are we keeping HIS words? Some of those words of His include, "Flee from all manner of sin and fornication" (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Cor. 6:18-20; 1 Cor. 10:14). This doesn't just mean that we are to give up having sex with those who aren't our spouses, but that we are to flee it altogether and have nothing at all to do with it. Being made holy by the truth, we are not so much as to be tainted by it, in our knowingly being associated by it in any way, no matter what the reason. As born again Christians, we are no longer our own, but having been bought with a price we belong to Him now. Therefore we are to part company with those who refuse to repent of doing such things....
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
The person I'm talking about was one who was associating themselves with homosexuals and whoremongers, somehow believing that by being in contact with them (even living in with them at times) was showing them how much this person loved Jesus and Jesus loved them. But as we saw (and there's lot's more where that came from), we are to have nothing to do with evil of any kind....
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
It's not our job to make friends with the world! We came out of the world! We are to preach the Gospel, the truth out of love - out of love for them and for God, in order to bring them out of the world and into the light as well. I can assure you that if we are found keeping His commands, then those who hear our message will either have to repent of their sin, flee from us and/or turn to others (like the person who say they sincerely love Jesus, but whose fruit show otherwise) in order to lay hold of their worldly ambitions and fleshly teachings.
The only PROOF of Love that I know of is the kind that KEEPS His words. They Keep His words because they love Him. The proof of their love is seen in their obedience to what He says. Although many sincerely profess Him to be their Lord, they do not obey Him as the Lord. They do not understand what being LORD really means or says....
Luke 6:46-47 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Only the person who KEEPS His sayings is the person who builds their house on a rock, because they are the ones who prove they love Him by keeping His words! To Obey Him is what causes us to have Discernment and endure in the face of the enemy. His word is the light that lights our path!
After being dealt with by the cross there can remain no Old Man. This (our sin-nature) is what kept us from pleasing God in the first place. We cannot please both Him and us - it is impossible! Christ and His finished work alone has satisfied God completely, therefore we can please Him only in our coming to Christ. Only our being IN Christ is what pleases Him. So either we have been crucified with Christ and have fled the world along with this world's lifestyles, and tell others of the Gospel, or we haven't.
To Know Him is to Love Him, and to Love Him is to obey Him. That is why Christians Love Him with first commandment love. To know Him as God and His words as God's word we cannot but love Him, for this is the knowledge He gives of Himself given through the Holy Spirit contained in the saving Grace of actually Knowing Him as once being dead but now is alive and well and sitting upon the throne of glory. This kind of intimate knowledge is somewhat reflected by a husband and wife on their wedding night. Anything coming short of this just doen't cut the mustard!
Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him...
Faithful ministers of the word of God must stand up and oppose them in good time, so that their folly being made manifest, they may stop and go no further. Christian meekness is as far from cowardly passing over sin and error, as from anger and impatience. The sharpest reproofs must aim at the good of the reproved; and soundness in the faith is most desirable and necessary. Many profess to know God, yet in their lives deny and reject him... yet let us not be so quick to fix this charge on others, ever being careful that it does not apply to ourselves as well.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
The entire object of this message is to realize that one must FIRST continue in/keep/obey the words of God BEFORE they can Prove they Love Him (John 8:31-32; 14:23) thus Proving they belong to Him. It's easy for anyone to say they love God, but only those who know Him as He is; in Spirit and in Truth, love Him more than life itself. They Prove they know and love Him by forsaking all for Him! Why? Simply because HE says so! This is what fulfills Christ's First commandment Love, and the Father's will! There is no closer bond than this! Eternal life is to receive Him by having and holding Him personally!
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
May God bless you in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Biff & Suzanne
