Last of a Breed
continued

The Bible Transcends Culture

 

The Bible transcends culture, is rooted in eternity, and yet is cast in history and time. Most of the culture in which it is cast is an extremely slow-paced culture, moving at the pace of a slow walk as Jesus moves along the thoroughfares of Galilee, jostled by milling throngs, moving at the pace of camels crossing deserts, of camp fires, of caravans, tents pitched to keep out the sun with the patriarch sitting in the tent door as the Lord as two angels approach, and a pace at times going at the breath-taking speed of a galloping horse.

 

And yet… Gabriel travels at a speed so much faster than the speed of light that the speed of light is slower than a snail’s pace. That too, is in the Bible, in Daniel 9.

 

The Bible’s truths are eternal. They speak of a better land that is coming, of a Messiah who would save from sin. They speak of a depth of relationships unknown to today’s society.

 

An Art and Science Almost Unknown Today

 

However, to study the Bible has become an art and science almost unknown to today’s speed-oriented society, where if a computer does not boot up at a record speed it has to be sold for one that does. 

 

A Whole New World

 

When one enters the Bible, he enters a whole new world, a world that is anchored in eternity and grounded in time and history-a world that of necessity moves slowly, even in the comprehension of its deep truths. It is a world of patriarchs, of prophets who wore camel’s hair garments, girt about with a leather girdle, of a man who spent 120 years building a massive ark. It is a time in which things are repeated over and over, something that is an abomination to current practice.

 

It is hard slogging for many, for the truths are beneath the surface, and finding this gold, these jewels, requires the miner’s strength, patience and fortitude. It requires strength and patience to dig deeply, to plow slowly, to find treasure. It is not a six-second program to instant Bible knowledge. It carries its own pace. It bows to no man. It requires time, patience, power, strength, and will-a will that will not be daunted, a will that will press on to the knowledge of God, to a knowledge of the truth, and that quality of soul possessed by God’s own children, if one is to find that treasure called salvation.

 

Those who find the treasured truths of God, of eternity, become part of the “last of the breed,” “the remnant of her seed,” the last generation that still serves and honors the God of the universe…

 

The “Called Out Ones”

 

The church is the ekklesia, the “Called Out Ones.”  The ones whom Christ has called into discipleship.

 

 Called out to Whom, or what? Called out to Christ. Called out from what? Called out from the world and all that is opposed to Christ.

 

Come, Take Up the Cross, and Follow Me

 

Christ calls, “Come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21. 

 

We are called out of this world to follow Christ alone. This is the condition of discipleship. We come, hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own psyche, our own life, our own soul. Luke 14: 26.  Christ is above all, and demands complete and undeviating loyalty, faithfulness, and commitment. Christ is the Cornerstone Who determines and shapes and directs all else.

 

Forsaking All For Christ is the disciple’s Security

 

The forsaking of all else for Christ is the disciples’ security from satanic attack.  The insulation provided by meeting the conditions of discipleship laid down by Jesus-If any come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his won psyche also, he cannot be My disciple-protects us from satanic power and influence. We are in the protected zone of Christ’s protection due to absolute self-surrender.  

 

We cannot be Christ’s disciples until we have completely given ourselves to Him without any reserve, without any tie of influence that may bind us to human influence alien to Christ-be it father, mother, sister, wife, children, or our own psyche.

 

God’s Claim

 

“”If any man come to me,” Christ declared, “and hate not [love less than God] his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, be cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Again, Christ declares, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”

 

“This is God’s claim. He will accept nothing less than this. He is God. He is our Creator. We are bought with a price, and what a price, even the precious blood of the only begotten Son of God! God owns us. By creation and by redemption we are his. He holds out the only terms upon which we can be saved. We are to love God with all our heart and mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.  Only whole-hearted service will be accepted by God, and for this life-service, he gives us all heaven. “Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 

 

To Be A Christian Is To Become a Disciple of Christ

 

“In fulfilling God’s claims, we are only giving back to him his own. All who would be saved must do this. It is essential for all who would possess heaven’s treasure to understand and practice this principle. It may seem to those who, like the young man, are in high positions of trust and have great possessions, that it is too much to give up all and follow Christ. However, this is the rule of conduct for all who would win heaven. To be a Christian is to become a disciple of Christ. This means obedience, and nothing short of this will be accepted. Self-surrender is the substance of the teachings of Christ.  Often is it presented and enjoined in language that seems authoritative, because there is no other way to save man than to cut away those things which, if entertained, will demoralize the whole being.” YI 5-27-97.

 

We Cannot Be His Disciple Unless We Hate Our Own Psyche

 

Our own psyche is one of the biggest hindrances to Christ living out His life within us. “Those whose hearts have been moved by the convicting Spirit of God see that there is nothing good in themselves. They see that all they have ever done is mingled with self and sin. Like the poor publican, they stand afar off, not daring to look up so much as their eyes to heaven, and cry, “God, be merciful to me the sinner.” Luke 18:13, R.V., margin. And they are blessed. There is forgiveness for the penitent; for Christ is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’” MB 8,9.  

Hate That Old Psyche

 

That old psyche, born of the flesh, must be hated before we make any progress in discipleship of Christ-that psyche which has been molded for years in our past, shaped by interpersonal human relationships and experiences that cripple, twist, devastate, and inhibit us, creating and forming in us traits and responses alien to Christ and His kingdom.

 

Let My Psyche Be Your New Life

 

Jesus is saying, Hate that old psyche-crucify it, and accept My omnipotent psyche, overshadowing, protecting, guiding, nourishing you. Find out all about My psyche from the Holy Spirit and My Word. Let this be your new life, unleashing in you the omnipotent power of My presence. 

 

In this way, Christ lifts us out of our lives into new life, new wine, new horizons of His kingdom.

 

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world thru lust.” 2 Peter 1:4.

 

Jesus is saying, the great things of faith that you read about in the bible, particularly in Hebrews 11? These are the kind of experiences that I want to unleash in you.

 

God is Greater than Our Hearts

 

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

 1 John 3:20.

 

When under terrible assault and we know that our experience has been one of complete self-surrender to Christ, we are protected through the yielding of our psyche to Christ: God is greater than our hearts. This is critical for the soon coming Great Tribulation.

 

When we surrender to Christ absolutely, we become His fortress, held in a revolted world.

 

The Chambers of the Protection of Christ and Holy Angels; Tried Singly, Not in Groups

 

In Christ, we are in the chambers of His protection.

 

“When tempted to sin, let us remember that Jesus is pleading for us in the heavenly sanctuary. When we put away our sins and come to Him in faith, He takes our names on His lips, and presents them to His Father, saying, “I have graven them upon the palms of my hands; I know them by name.” And the command goes forth to the angels to protect them.  Then in the day of fierce trial He will say, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”  What are the chambers in which they are to hide? They are the protection of Christ and the holy angels. The people of God are not at this time all in one place. They are in different companies and in all parts of the earth; and they will be tried singly, not in groups.  Every one must stand the test for himself (RH November 19, 1908),” 4BC 1143.   

 

Not only are we called alone, and must follow alone, but we shall be tried alone, not in groups. It is first and foremost, above all else, Jesus and me. The entire Bible rests upon this foundation. Christ is the Rock of Ages. For eternity past when there existed no “Structural hierarchy”, there was Christ. Christ is God, the I AM.

 

 We are called out to Him, and Him alone.