What does it mean to follow God? To tell you the truth, I don’t have a simple
answer to that question. I’m seventy two
years old, and I’m still learning. I
don’t believe it can be answered by one finite explanation, for we serve not a
finite God, but an infinite God. In
addition, we are not meant to follow after Him for just the here and now, but
rather for an infinite eternity.
Furthermore, if I were able to develop even a partial answer, it could
only be the answer that would apply to my life, for we are each different and
God’s plan for my life is going to necessarily differ, in some ways, from His
plan for the life of others. I could
give a simple pat answer like, “it means to love the Lord Thy God with all thy
heart, mind, and strength that you may glorify God in all your ways.” That’s probably a pretty good statement of
the essence, but the totality is something far more. Just when we think we have a pretty good
understanding of what it means to follow God, He comes along and blows us away
as He reveals another aspect of His nature that we had never seen before. It is not He that is changing, but rather our
understanding of Him that grows and changes.
He and His Word are the same yesterday, today, and forever. That’s why we can trust in Him from one
generation and time period to the next.
He doesn’t change with every breath of wind that comes along as mankind
does.
Part of the purpose of this present discourse, is to
attempt to open the eyes of our understanding to the deception of the lies
being spread through the ever growing apostate church of these perilous
times. I have written on this subject
before. However, it seems that the Lord
keeps leading me back to it to write more.
Perhaps this is for the heart of someone new to our website. So I endeavor to be obedient to Him in the
hope that somehow I may be used as an instrument to warn His people, and be a
watchman on the wall, that we will not be caught unaware, and led astray by
deception.
One of the great deceptions of the times is a new and
different gospel, having been changed from the true and biblical gospel. Unfortunately, there are preachers who are
more interested in increasing the numbers of bodies within their churches,
instead of increasing the number of truly born again souls. They tend to preach a feel good gospel that
centers on making the ‘seeker’ focus on how good man is, instead of how good God
is. This new age gospel seeks to make
you think that God’s purpose is to make you healthy, wealthy, and tolerant of
all things, good or bad. The ultimate
goal is to create a within these seekers an all inclusive mind that is so open
to all things to the point that it will fall for anything and stand for nothing,
even if it is contrary to the word of God.
I wonder how many lives have been ruined because they were presented
with a false image of God, depicting Him as some genie whose purpose it is to
make all things go smoothly for you, removing all trials, tribulations, and
hindrances to your personal desires of what you perceive to be happiness in
this life, as if this life was more important than your eternal life.
On the surface, this “all inclusiveness” appears so ‘right’
and ‘fair’ to the minds of many. But
they have forgotten that the God of the Bible is necessarily exclusive, not
inclusive. Remember what He said? “Thou shalt have no other gods before
me.” Remember what Jesus has done that
no other man has done or could do? He
willingly shed His blood on the cross giving His life, that whosoever will
believe on Him may have eternal life.
There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood, and only the
blood of Jesus was sufficient to wash away the sin of man. He is the only sinless man, uncontaminated,
or polluted, by the presence of original sin that came into existence due to
rebellion against God by the first man, Adam.
Remember the virgin birth of Jesus? He was conceived in Mary by the power of the
Holy Spirit, not by the seed of man? He is all God come down in the form of man
that we might know Him, and be redeemed through faith in Him. Saved by the grace of God: what Jesus did on
the cross and not by our own works.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 )
This I do know, following God is well worth the journey, no
matter what the cost may be in this world.
I say that knowing full well that there are many thousands of believers
who are presently being slaughtered merely for the fact that they will not deny
their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Jesus warned us that as He was persecuted in
this world, so too all who believe in Him will be. Jesus, God the Son, knew what His purpose was
to be from the very beginning of time. Yet, He willingly left the riches of
heaven, to come to earth in the form of a man, to give His life to save sinful
man. It boggles my mind whenever I hear
someone say, including myself, how can a loving God let bad things happen to
those who believe in Him? How quickly we
forget the bad things that happened to Him, the one who never sinned and never
deserved anything that befell Him in His earthly life. If He was not spared suffering and sorrow in
His earthly life, why should we think that we should be spared of suffering in
our lives?
He was ridiculed, spat upon,
reviled, shunned, rejected, beaten, and to top it all off, suffered the agony,
not just of physical death on the cross, but the horror of being defiled by our
sins, and thus the experience of what it meant to be separated, for the one and
only time, from God the Father. No
wonder He cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!” He had never done anything to deserve to
suffer such a fate. We, you and me, are
the ones that deserved every bit of that separation and unforgiveness from
God. But Jesus loved you and me first,
even before we turned from our sin; he took our punishment, He paid our debt
that we might be saved by the grace of God through faith in Him, God the Son. “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for
us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath
suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;[the willful practice of it] That he
no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men,
but to the will of God.” (I Peter 4: 1, 2)
My own words can never express what Jesus has done for us
better than the inspired word of God has so eloquently done. Let us read the explanation of what it meant
for God the Son to follow God the Father:
“Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no
reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men:
And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth;
And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philp. 2:
5-11)
Even Jesus, God the Son, being all God, but in the form of man,
was to live his life to follow God the Father, for the purpose of glorifying
God the Father. “Then answered Jesus and
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5: 19) Yet, we murmur and complain when life brings
trials and tribulations and sufferings into our lives. Stop and think for one moment of the greatest
sin that you believe you have committed.
Then reflect and remember what hurt, pain, and loss it brought into your
life because you had to suffer the consequences of your own choices and
actions. Remember the sadness, despair, and maybe even physical pain or loss
that you suffered, and you know you can’t blame anyone but yourself. Now double that by an infinite number of times
and more; maybe now you can begin to understand just a fragment of what Jesus
suffered on the cross when the sins of the world were cast upon Him, through no
fault or sins of his own, but by choice because of his great love towards
mankind.
What does he want in return – only our acknowledgment that
He alone has made this great sacrifice, and that we would invite Him into our
heart to be our personal Lord and Savior!
We are to confess our sins, repent [turn from our willful and wicked
ways], and by the grace of God, not by our works, we are granted salvation. Then he instructs us further, through His
inspired word, how we are to follow in obedience to the Lord our God:
“…., work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure:
Do all things without
murmurings and disputings:
That ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
In the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Holding forth the word of
life; ….” (Philip. 2: 12 – 15)
In other words, we are to
live out each day of our lives with the purpose of doing that which is pleasing
in the sight of God. “And whatsoever ye
do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” (Colossians 3: 23)
As followers of the Lord our God, we must be diligent to
study His word that it may become a living part of us. If we spend no time in the word, to learn of
Him and His ways, how can we obey him?
How can we become doers of the word, and not just hearers as He has
commanded us? “And hereby we know that
we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar
and the truth is not in him. But whoso
keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we
that we are in him.” (I John 2: 3-5)
We can not love the world and follow God at the same
time. We will be double minded, and a
house divided can not stand. “Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (I John 2: 15 –
17) “Hereby know we that we dwell in
him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father
sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that
God hath to us.” (I John 4: 13 – 16) The
bottom line according to God’s word, not according to any man’s opinion, is the
following: “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.” (I John 5: 12)
God does not wish for any to perish, but that all would
come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every follower of the one true God of the
Bible is commanded to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Ezekiel chapter 3, if we speak
the truth of the word of God, and the people will not listen, because they are
a rebellious people, then their blood is on their own head. But if we know the truth, but fail to tell
and warn the people, then their blood is on our heads. It is the responsibility of every Christian
to speak the truth of the word of God in love, whether people will listen or
not. Success in the eyes of God is based
upon our willingness to be obedient unto Him, not upon whether the people
choose to listen, believe, or obey, when once they have been informed and
warned. “But when I speak to you, I will
open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord
says,’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them
refuse; for they are a rebellious people. (Ezekiel 3: 27)
Knowing the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
receiving him as personal Lord and Savior is the greatest gift that man can
ever receive. However, we can only tell
others about Him that they may choose to receive and believe. No one can be argued into believing, or
forced into receiving Him. It has to be
a personal decision, to want to know God, to hear his voice, and follow after Him
and Him alone. The gift of God is
eternal life, beginning in the here and now, and continuing into eternity when
we see Him face to face. This precious
gift, worth far more than silver or gold, is wrapped up in one beautiful
package, the person of Jesus Christ. He
is offered to all. He waits just outside
the door of your heart. All you have to
do to receive Him is open the door of your heart and invite Him in. Following God thereafter is a day by day
decision to fear (respect), love, obey, trust, and learn from Him. He will perform the transformation within us,
as we yield ourselves to do his will and not our own, through the power of the
Holy Spirit. The miracles of God are not
seen only in the times that He miraculously delivers us from trials,
tribulations, and sufferings, but many times in the way He is right there with
us to carry us through them, using the refiner’s fire to melt and mold us more
and more into his image.
Be not deceived by the new feel good gospel of the
preachers that are all too willing to tell you what you want to hear for their
own profit and aggrandizement, but will not tell you what you need to hear
concerning your need of repentance and forgiveness of sin. They are focused on their own worldly profits
in the here and now, instead of your need to confess your sin, repent, and seek
forgiveness that you may not suffer the judgment of God. They won’t mention sin lest they offend you;
thereby reducing their numbers, and thus negatively affecting the lining of
their money hungry pockets. Their focus
and yours too, will become the love of the things of this temporary world,
rather than the peace of the Lord in the here and now, and the greater riches
to come in eternal life in Heaven. The
Lord already forewarned us not to be deceived by the preaching of another
gospel other than the Biblical gospel.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians
1: 9)
Yes, God is love, and a sign of His great love for us is
that He will judge and discipline us when we are rebellious, in an effort to
get us to turn from our wicked ways, which can only bring us harm. He wants us to turn our hearts back to Him
that we may abide under his protective covering once again. Every earthly father will discipline his child
out of love for him. So God, our Father,
will chastise His children, or else God will make Himself a liar, and God can
not lie. God will not wink at sin, or treat his children as fatherless children
who go undisciplined, unloved, and become increasingly more rebellious children
who refuse to learn to behave, not even for their own good.
Oh Father God, we praise and thank you that you never give
up on us. Help us Lord to wait patiently
upon you, that we may see your hand at work in our lives and in the lives of
others. Help us not give up on each
other, but continue to pray without ceasing, interceding for one another as you
continually intercede for us. We do
believe Lord, help thou our unbelief.
Teach us Lord, for thy ways are higher than ours. Let us not trust in our own opinions,
intellect, or reasoning abilities, but trust in the word of God, which is more
powerful than a two-edged sword, and goes out to accomplish that which it was
sent to do, and does not return void.
When things seem hard, help us Lord not to blame you, or murmur and
complain. Instead, with each new trouble
and trial, help us to turn our hearts to you and ask, “Lord what do you want me
to learn through this?” Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (I Corinth
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