Spirit Willing But Flesh Weak

“And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” (Joshua 24:18-19 NKJV)
 

Why did Joshua not commend when the people said that they would serve the Lord God? Instead, he said that they could not server the Lord. The people of Israel remembered what the Lord had done for them from the deliverance from the hands of Pharaoh, letting them cross the Red Sea and Jordan River, to the dispossessing the land promised to the ancestors. So, they eagerly wanted to serve the Lord and meant it. It happened when Joshua delivered the farewell message to his fellow people just before he died.

Despite of the eagerness and devotion to serve the Lord, what Joshua said was true. We cannot serve the Lord even after we have been born again. Here, we need to understand that humans are three-fold, body, soul, and spirit. Our human spirit has been freed and made alive when we received Jesus Christ as Lord. So, we are willing to serve the Lord. However, our body is not yet redeemed and still under the influence of sin. Jesus said to His disciples at the garden of Gethsemane, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38 NKJV)

No, we cannot keep the Law of God although our spirit is willing. Our body is weakened by the desire of sin and inevitably fails. That is what Paul says in Chapter 7 of Romans. What he wanted to do is what he did not and what he wanted not to do, what he did. He cried out, “O wretched man I am!” The regenerated Christians serve the law of God in spirit but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25) However, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because He paid the full price for all the sins committed and committing (Romans 8:1).

Yes, we can keep the Law of God in Christ Jesus who is unqualifiedly supplying the dynamics to obey Him. We do not walk in the flesh but in the Spirit because we died to sin. We can refuse to sin in Christ, which is the first step to obey Him. Then, we can be clothed in His righteousness that enables us to stand before the throne of grace in confidence. The grace of God overflows out of unsearchable riches of Christ, the well of living water within. Only when we enter into the holy of holies we can serve God. Entering into the throne of grace is only possible through the way of the cross because without blood even the high priest was not permitted to enter the most holy place. The most sacred place is the picture of our human spirit where Eternal God dwells forever.

 

The Just Shall Live by Faith

O Lord, how long shall I cry,

And You will not hear?

Even cry out to You, “Violence!”

And You will not save.

Why do You show me iniquity,

And cause me to see trouble?

For plundering and violence are before me;

There is strife, and contention arises.

Therefore the law is powerless,

And justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. (Habakkuk 1:2-4 NKJV)

Why do inequity and violence seemingly predominant over justice in the world? Why are the wicked apparently prosperous and powerful whereas the righteous are powerless and reduced? That is the question many a people are puzzled, even Prophet Habakkuk.

The Book of Habakkuk is marvelously helpful to understand what the world is going on really. This is the picture of the real world. It is exactly the same as what our Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 NKJV) The righteous are surrounded by the wicked, says Jesus. The nation Israel was surrounded by the belligerent and aggressive pagan nations. The invasion of Babylonians was imminent when Prophet Habakkuk was in the ministry. Less a century ago, the northern tribes of Israel had been already trampled down by the Assyrians. And the invasion of the Babylonians was looming at any moment in his ministry.

God answers to the prophet that in the definite tone of voice the righteous shall live by faith, not by sight. “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV) Those who abuse the power and might upon the poor and powerless beyond the edge set by God shall be accountable before the righteous Judge of all. The proud shall be unendingly humiliated and shamed in due time. The destiny of the lawless has been set for the eternal destruction and separation from the grace of the Holy One.

There is no need at all to envy those who are ostensibly haughty and prosperous because the end comes unexpectedly and without warning. We see Christ who is sitting at the right hand of God until He put all things in subjection under His feet (Hebrews 2:8-9). Although we are living in the hostile world, there is nothing to worry or be fearful because Christ is the Lord of all. Living by faith is the most powerful means to demonstrate eternal life in our midst.

What or who can be against us if God is for us? “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8:31-34 NKJV) With such a confidence and assurance in Christ, we shall live by faith.

 

The Mystery of God

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-14 NKJV)

Why are there the epistles of apostles in the New Testament? All scriptures are written by the breath of God. Jesus still had many things to say to His disciples, but they could not bear them because He was not yet glorified. But when the Spirit of truth came, He guided them all truth. This is the preview of the New Testament. Peter, John, Paul, James, and Jude wrote the epistles and apocalypse. The words written by the apostles are authentic because the words were given by the inspiration of the Spirit of truth.

The Spirit speaks of truth because He does not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He speaks. Truth is what man desperately wants to hear. In the New Testament, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of church, the mystery of righteousness, the mystery of lawlessness have been revealed and explained. Apostle Paul says that he wanted to be considered as the steward of the mysteries of God. “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:1 NKJV)

The mystery of God is not unsolvable conundrums or enigmas but knowledge which can be revealed by God only. The mystery of church is revealed and manifested in the Book of Acts since the coming of the Spirit. The mystery of righteousness is revealed and documented in the Epistle of Romans. The mystery of lawlessness is revealed in the Epistle of Thessalonians. The mystery of Christ is revealed in the Epistle of Colossians. The mystery of peace is revealed in the Epistle of Philippians. The mystery of love is explained in the Epistle of John.

The Spirit also revealed things to come, which is written in the Book of Revelation. The Spirit glorifies Christ the Son of God and takes what is His and declares it to the apostles. So, we have now all the truths written and documented by the pen of the apostles who spent so many days and nights of thinking, meditations, and revelations.

The Testaments are not only the knowledge of the Father and God of Christ Jesus but also the revelation of the secrets of life. Man does not live by bread alone but by the words coming of out of the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3). Christ is the bread of life for man. Where do you go when you’re weary and tired? What do you do when you’re in want? Run to Christ, the eternal sanctuary of grace and righteousness. The mystery of Christ is revealed to man. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The throne of grace is in you, the hope of glory. He not only forgives your sins, but strengthens, enlightens, and electrifies you with the power of resurrection. Christ died for you in order to be your dynamics of life now and forever. He is your Shepherd, so you’re not in want, says the Psalmist.

“The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever. (Psalm 23 NKJV)

 

Understand Times and Seasons

“But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” (Mark 13:9-10 NKJV)

What does the end time look like? Surprisingly enough, it will be as perfectly usual as the days of Noah. The imminent judgment of God was at hand in Noah’s time. While Noah and his families were building the ark, the people were eating, drinking, and marrying and being married. That is the picture of what is really going on right now. There is nothing wrong in eating, drinking, and marrying at all. They are the perfectly normal activities in every human societies and communities. The real problem is that they did not take heed to the warnings of God’s impending judgment which was repeatedly announced and demonstrated by Noah and his life of witnessing so long years.

The flood of Noah is the landmark of what would be happening to all people on the earth. While people live as usually and normally as yesterday and today, the judgment of God comes so suddenly and stealthily that no one can resist or delay of its coming. Jesus says that He will be coming like a thief at night. No one knows the time of His coming. But when He comes, He comes like when a woman travails she travails. There is no way back at that time. Once He comes, it is it.

 Although the people on earth live usually and ordinarily throughout the centuries and centuries since the flood of Noah, it doesn’t nullify the upcoming judgment of God. No one knows the time of His coming, even the Son of Man. However, the signs of the end times are given for us to be ready and prepared for the Lord’s coming. It is so significant to understand it in Christian living not to be fooled or deceived at all. The signs are deception, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and troubles. Many has come in the name of Jesus and deceived many. But the end is not yet, so do not be troubled, because these are beginnings of sorrows, says Jesus (Mark 13:3-8).

The scripture is not written in the chronological order. It is all blended together both time and eternity, judgment and salvation, and blessings and curses. Prophet Isaiah says that it is the way how God teaches His children, saying “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10 NKJV) The end time has already begun even in the first century. We have all the evidences of false and evil teachings intruded in the church which are recorded in the epistles of the apostles. Many false messiahs has come and deceived so many believers even now. Look at the Mormons, the Jehovah’s witnesses, the Scientologists, the Moonies, and many others.

“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7 NKJV)

The deceivers have already been working throughout the centuries and centuries. Then Jesus jumps to the signs of the end time. The gospel must first be preached to all nations, and then will the end come. “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” (Mark 13:9-10 NKJV) This scene of prophecy is for the nation Israel. See the word synagogues, not churches which means the last tribulation to the descendants of Abraham. By this time, the remnants of Israel will return to the Lord and saved through the price of death.

John saw the vision of returning of the remnants of Israel and recorded in the Book of Revelation. “And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:” (Revelations 7:4 NKJV) “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” (Revelations 14:1 NKJV) These mean of Israel altogether one hundred and forty-four thousand will be preaching the gospel to all the nations during the seven years of tribulation period. Then shall the end come. Christ Jesus will return in glory and honor as the Lord of lords and the King of kings with the loud trumpet calls and thousands and thousands of angels.

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31 NKJV)

Knowing and understanding the signs of the end time lead us to watch and be alarmed because no one is not allowed to know times and seasons. “And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Acts 1:7 NKJV) Each believer shall experience the coming of the Lord Christ Jesus instantaneously at the last breath. So, indeed we’re living in the end time.

One obviously reasonable reaction to the knowledge of the end time is readiness and steadfastness in the faith of Christ by diligently seeking the truth day and night, by being filled with the Spirit, and by buying the time of opportunity to obey the commandment of God, love one another.   

 

Come As You Are

“and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.” (Deuteronomy 30:2-3 NKJV)

How does God react to the returned sinners? No matter how man went far away from God and how deep he fell down, it could be recovered with just one condition, which is repentance and contrition. Is it not the good news? There is no one left without hope in Christ. It is also true that there is no hope unless he repents and changes his mind and attitude. Reading and understanding the stories of the people of Israel after the deliverance out of the slavery of Egypt, we wonder how could they keep on complaining over and over again. However, it is true that they complained about the circumstances, blessings, and even authority.

It seems almost to be mysterious for such a nation whose inheritance was rich and blessed as the descendants of Patriarch Abraham to be fallen and lost like the unbelieving pagans. Look just what happened for them in Egypt, the wonders and signs which no one could perform than God Himself. They were right there in the midst of the supernatural plagues inflicted so intensely and heavily upon the Egyptians. They even walked through the Red Sea just like a dry land as God rolled up the waters and made stand still until they passed through. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were all drowned and no more. They were even guided and protected by the strange cloud by day and the fire by night. That indicates obviously the presence of the Jehovah God in their midst. Daily provisions were faithfully fallen from heaven above, the manna forty years.

Nevertheless, they were always behaving like nothing happened to them at all. They were in slavery four centuries. Under the yoke and enslavement of King Pharaoh and many generations passed, they forgot their identity as the descendants of the patriarchs. They not only complained about everything, but also they wanted to go back to Egypt, the land of slavery. This shows the exact picture and pattern of Christians who are experiencing barrenness and drabness in the life of faith. This is our experience exactly. They just sustain the lives because of the grace and mercy of God and thus are not satisfied in full. This is the most difficult lesson for Christians to learn, saying “Why am I not satisfied although I serve God, going to church, singing hymns, and giving offerings?”

However, there is always hope in God who forgets everything when they return to the Lord because He is able to blot out the stains of sin with the blood of Christ. When an adulterous woman was brought to Jesus by the accusers, He commanded to stone her from the one who is without sin. Then, being convicted in heart, one by one beginning with the oldest all went out. There was Jesus left alone and the woman standing in the midst. Jesus saw her and said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:11) All her sins are forgiven by the word of Jesus. From now one, sin no more, says Jesus. That’s the good news. All people can start a whole new life by the faith in Christ Jesus. The Samaritan woman did. The demon-possessed man did. The disciples did and even Paul. There are thousands and thousands of thousands who have found the new life in Christ Jesus.

Jesus invites all people to come unto Him and drink the real food out of rivers of living water. God knows that we are heavy laden and weary. So, He offers us the true rest by coming back to Him with contrite heart and thanksgiving. We don’t need to clean ourselves first and then come to Him. As a matter of fact, no one can clean himself by any means. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse and wash away our sins. Therefore, come unto Christ just as you are.

Ye who are troubled and burdened by sin,
Come just as you are;
Come to the Savior, a new life begin,
Oh, come just as you are.

Come just as you are,
Oh, come just as you are;
Give up your sin, let the Savior come in,
And come just as you are.