Judging Correctly and Incorrectly

by Mike Ratliff

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2 (NASB) 

It is impossible to walk through one’s day without having to make judgments. In fact our Lord Jesus who made the oft misquoted and misunderstood command found in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 to “Judge Not!” also made the following command.

14 But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
19 “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:14-24 (NASB)

Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest

by Mike Ratliff

37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39 (NASB) 

3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12 (NASB) 

Hell is real. All who do not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity there. Those who repent and believe are those who ‘come to Jesus to drink.’ They believe as the Holy Spirit is poured out on them to the point that their lives are taken over by Him. Those who do will never experience hell. Instead, they come to Jesus and find rest for their souls. Those who do this are poor in spirit. They mourn for their sins. They are not proud, but meek. In their growing godliness they hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness to become manifest in them. They become more and more Christlike, therefore, they take on His character. They show mercy as He does. They become more and more pure of heart. They remove themselves from seeking their own. Instead, they become those who live to bring others to their Lord. Conversely, this holy and separate life does not cause them to find peace in the world. No, instead they are persecuted for righteousness sake.

The Authority of Scripture

by Mike Ratliff

12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) 

I have yet to encounter a person who has a problem with the gospel, the sovereignty of God, election, the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera who does not also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture.

It is a faithful saying

by Mike Ratliff

11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (KJV) 

It is a blessed thing to mediate on the reality of being in Christ. The enormity of that fact should strike us hard because those who are truly in Christ are those who also know they don’t deserve to be. The miracle of our salvation is incredible and the cost our Savior paid to save us is beyond our understanding.  Spurgeon understood this and wrote about it in today’s devotion from his Morning by Morning.

Hypocrisy

by Mike Ratliff

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1 (NASB) 

In this post we will look a something that all Christiaans need to take care to tourn from not only because not only are they “evil,” they are actually markers of a heart that is following hard after the flesh rather than God as a living sacrifice. This is, of course, hypocrisy. Our Lord gave us two good examples of this in Matthew 6:1-6 which is part of His Sermon on the Mount. 

For the truths sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever

by Mike Ratliff

1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; 2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 2 John 1:1-3 (KJV)

On this blog we have often discussed apostasy. Why? It is all around us. At this very moment it as if everything is upside down in our denominations. Those who preach outright heresies are lauded and have huge churches. Those who preach nothing but God’s truth along with the Law and Gospel as they also obediently reveal the truth about those in their huge ministries who are leading thousands of goats right into Hell, are also continually attacked by Satan’s seed. These minions of Satan accuse God’s men of being divisive, non-inclusive and racists because they refuse to bow the knee to their idol, Social Justice. However, the real reason they are attacked is their refusal to compromise on God’s truth. God’s truth is what each who are truly in Christ is given when the Holy Spirit comes to reside at that moment of regeneration and justification. This gift of truth is like our salvation being a most precious treasure because it counters all the lies the world has come to believe that keeps those who are not in Christ in darkness.

The love of our Lord for His people

by Mike Ratliff

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. John 13:1-5 (NASB)

My brethren, let us not take our salvation for granted or believe that we have in any way earned or deserved it. Our salvation is entirely God’s work from beginning to end and we are in Christ by His grace through faith as His gift (Eph. 2:8). That being said, who amongst us can honestly say that they are not in constant battles with their flesh and those battles includes who knows how many failures. That is why we have the throne of grace.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10 (NASB) 

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NASB)

What we must never forget is that our savior knows the truth about us yet still loves us. He knows about our sins and is waiting for us to confess them to Him at the throne of grace to be forgiven and washed clean which is what Jesus washing the disciple’s feet symbolized. Do not let our enemy defeat you because of your failures. Go to our Lord and confess your sins and get right with Him.

Will ye also go away?

by Mike Ratliff

66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. John 6:66-69 (KJV) 

Even though those of us who are in Christ would prefer it not be so, we are as Luther said, “Simul Justus et Peccator.” which means, in our justification we are one and the same time righteous or just, and sinners. Here is a link to R.C. Sproul’s explanation of it. It seems in my case that every time I find myself doing some very good Biblical research or exegetical work that I follow that up with, it seems to me as very sudden by-the-way, some sort of fleshly behavior that requires me to spend some time at the throne of grace confessing and repenting. It is at those times that I request God to take me home for I cannot stand myself behaving like I did before He had mercy on me. However, since I am still here it is obvious He is still working on me. I believe that apostates are those who’s faith was not genuine and when tests of their faith came upon them they could not take the pressure and so they walked away as John reported in John 6:66. Even though I don’t like it, I am positive that my failures are tests of my faith and God is using them to show me that I am not as mature as I thought I was, that is, He is keeping me humble. Those with genuine faith will remain as Peter told Jesus in John 6:68-69.  Below is today’s devotional from Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning for October 23, which is his take on this.

For the love of Christ controls us

by Mike Ratliff

14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NASB) 

We be liars if we told all who would listen that every day was a great day and that because we are in Christ we never stumble nor reveal to others how vulnerable or weak we really are. However, the closer we walk with Christ the fewer should be those periods like that even though, sadly, we shall never be free from them until we are freed from this flesh. This being so, we should look at the tremendous love and affection we have received from Christ. None of us deserve it nor did we do anything to earn it. Yes, I have had a few try to tell me they did indeed make that decision for Christ all on their own with no help from the Holy Spirit. I often wonder if those who told me that are still “walking the walk.” In this morning’s devotion by Charles Spurgeon in his Morning by Morning he tells us how much we are blessed and what is expected of us.

The Goal of Life

by Mike Ratliff

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 1 Corinthians 9:24 (NASB) 

I was searching for topical references in the NT that dealt with how Christians are to remain properly focused during times of great pressure and confusion. I have always believed that God has given me a role in my ministry to see through the confusion and go the root of the issues and then point His people to the truth. Yes, there are times we get our eyes on issues that are obviously being caused by evil people trying to use lies and deceit to gain power over those they view as mere “serfs” in their economy. We can become overcome with anger or fear or whatever emotion our enemy is trying to use against us if we focus on these things instead of seeking the real goal of life knowing that our omnipotent God is fully in control of all things at all times.

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

by Mike Ratliff

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 (NASB) 

I have shared this before, but will do so again. When I first began this ministry, Possessing the Treasure, I was absolutely shocked not at the push-back against the Biblical truths I posted, but from where the majority of that push-back came. I had always assumed that those outside of the “Church” who hated God and hated his truth being presented as absolute would the ones who would be the most vicious and obstinate in their attacks, but I was wrong. The vast majority of the push-back, the back-stabbings, the most vicious, and absolutely evil attacks on the direct, clear meaning of God’s Word, exegetically and contextually presented here as God’s absolute truth came from what I would call “Religious Christians.”

Are Christians Saved by Making Decisions for Christ?

by Mike Ratliff

11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:11-17 (NASB) 

Look at the passage at the top of this post (Romans 10:11-17). I remember memorizing v13 several years ago when I was in Evangelism Explosion training. We pulled that verse out of Romans 10 and used in part of our gospel presentations. Does this passage show us the human side of the order of salvation? Start in v15. Preachers of the Gospel must be sent. Then from v14 we see that the preachers are to preach the Gospel. Then people hear the Gospel. As they hear the Gospel they believe. Then they call on the name of the Lord and are saved. It is very important that we see that belief comes before a person calls on the name of the Lord. Now let’s compare this with another passage.

If The Foundations Are Destroyed What Can the Righteous Do?

by Mike Ratliff

14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, Ephesians 6:14 (NASB) 

Temporal focus is deadly for Christians. We know that God’s will for us is our sanctification, (1 Thessalonians 4:3) but we tend to let our focus drop from God to self. Our flesh is insidious in its desire to drive us to partake of the world and its ways for self-gratification. Our enemy knows this; therefore his temptations are often rooted there. No one is immune or exempt from this. In fact, God uses this battle to test His saints.

The Good Shepherd

by Mike Ratliff

11 Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός. ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων· John 10:11 (NA28)

11 I am the Good Shepherd. The good one lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

In our post from February 28th, The Son of Man is the Good Shepherd, we looked closely at John 9 and the Lord’s healing of the man born blind. This caused a large confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders who could not refute the healing, but refused to believe that Jesus was from God because He healed the man on the Sabbath. Jesus absolutely refused to conform to their religious expectations in any way. There was not one iota of compromise in His method of ministry in order to be as “inclusive” as possible. No, after the fact, after these men had cast the man whom Jesus had healed out of the Synagogue, Jesus found and as we see in John 9:35-41,  this man believed and worshiped our Lord, but those who refused to believe, our Lord confronted further saying that they had no excuse for their unbelief since they claimed to believe the Law and the Prophets, which our Lord was fulfilling with His life and ministry. Then in John 10:1-6 He makes it very clear that all leaders like them are false shepherds of the people. He makes it clear that the true sheep hear the voice of the true shepherd and follow Him, referring to Himself. Now we come to John 10:7-21.