Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 5,410
Barriers Between You and God
Isaiah 59:1-3 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“1Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor His ear too dull to hear.
2But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He does not hear.
3For your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongue mutters injustice.”
The picture the Lord is giving me of this today is that of a human being, of human flesh, who is giving an impression that they are on level ground, in uniformity with the Word of God, and walking a straight path, but it is in appearance only. In reality they are living a double life, for in reality they are cunning, deceitful, sneaky, and devious. They are those who are living in sexual immorality and in adultery against their spouses, deliberately and habitually, while they will put on a performance that the opposite is true.
Even though they profess faith in Jesus Christ, they are living in a pit of sin, in a situation of the lowest quality spiritually speaking. For they are living opposite of the will and purpose of God for our lives, in willful, deliberate, and habitual sin against God and against their spouses. Instead of taking the opportunity to repent and to turn from their sin, they take the opportunity to indulge in what is of the flesh, and they continue to plunge into sin, to descend to the lowest level in their thinking and in their behaviors.
They Give Birth to Iniquity
Isaiah 59:4-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“4No one calls for justice;
no one pleads his case honestly.
They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch the eggs of vipers
and weave a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their deeds are sinful deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.”
But this is not about just one person, is it? This has reached epidemic proportions within the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely called “the church”). But so many of them are following after the ways of the flesh and not the ways of God. They are fixed in their ways and in their beliefs and practices, regardless of what the Scriptures teach. For they have attached themselves to the world and to big business and to partnering themselves with the government and with the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And so they compromise the Scriptures to win the world.
Therefore, many of them have gone the way of the world, and they have diluted the message of the gospel in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And many of their “pastors” are just cult leaders who are following the marketing schemes of worldly businesses in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world. So they spin their webs of deceit, and they tell lies to the people, in the name of truth, and so no one calls for justice, for justice is being outlawed, for it offends people who are living in deliberate and habitual sin. So they can continue in their sinful deeds.
Their Feet Run to Evil
Isaiah 59:7-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“7Their feet run to evil;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
8The way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their tracks.
They have turned them into crooked paths;
no one who treads on them will know peace.”
So, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, who by faith in Jesus Christ has denied self, died to sin, and who is now obeying God and His commands, as a matter of life practice, and so you are following the Lord wherever He leads you in doing and in saying what He commands, then those whose feet run to evil may be opposed to you. And they may come after you fiercely to try to discredit you by speaking lies against you. And they may twist the Scriptures to try to make you look like you are “the bad guy” while making themselves appear as the victims, so people will feel sorry for them.
For if you are a genuine follower of Christ, the gospel message that you speak will not bring them comfort, for it calls them to repentance and to obedience to God and to His commands. But they prefer a friendlier “gospel” which does not require that they deny self, die to sin, and obey God, in practice, in order to be saved from sin and to have eternal life with God. So, because they love their sin, they may attack you, hoping to sway you to give up the fight out of fear of what they might do to you. But the only one we are to fear is God, and to give Him only our submission and surrender.
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
Isaiah 59:1-3 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“1Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor His ear too dull to hear.
2But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He does not hear.
3For your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongue mutters injustice.”
The picture the Lord is giving me of this today is that of a human being, of human flesh, who is giving an impression that they are on level ground, in uniformity with the Word of God, and walking a straight path, but it is in appearance only. In reality they are living a double life, for in reality they are cunning, deceitful, sneaky, and devious. They are those who are living in sexual immorality and in adultery against their spouses, deliberately and habitually, while they will put on a performance that the opposite is true.
Even though they profess faith in Jesus Christ, they are living in a pit of sin, in a situation of the lowest quality spiritually speaking. For they are living opposite of the will and purpose of God for our lives, in willful, deliberate, and habitual sin against God and against their spouses. Instead of taking the opportunity to repent and to turn from their sin, they take the opportunity to indulge in what is of the flesh, and they continue to plunge into sin, to descend to the lowest level in their thinking and in their behaviors.
They Give Birth to Iniquity
Isaiah 59:4-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“4No one calls for justice;
no one pleads his case honestly.
They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch the eggs of vipers
and weave a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their deeds are sinful deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.”
But this is not about just one person, is it? This has reached epidemic proportions within the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely called “the church”). But so many of them are following after the ways of the flesh and not the ways of God. They are fixed in their ways and in their beliefs and practices, regardless of what the Scriptures teach. For they have attached themselves to the world and to big business and to partnering themselves with the government and with the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And so they compromise the Scriptures to win the world.
Therefore, many of them have gone the way of the world, and they have diluted the message of the gospel in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And many of their “pastors” are just cult leaders who are following the marketing schemes of worldly businesses in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world. So they spin their webs of deceit, and they tell lies to the people, in the name of truth, and so no one calls for justice, for justice is being outlawed, for it offends people who are living in deliberate and habitual sin. So they can continue in their sinful deeds.
Their Feet Run to Evil
Isaiah 59:7-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“7Their feet run to evil;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
8The way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their tracks.
They have turned them into crooked paths;
no one who treads on them will know peace.”
So, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, who by faith in Jesus Christ has denied self, died to sin, and who is now obeying God and His commands, as a matter of life practice, and so you are following the Lord wherever He leads you in doing and in saying what He commands, then those whose feet run to evil may be opposed to you. And they may come after you fiercely to try to discredit you by speaking lies against you. And they may twist the Scriptures to try to make you look like you are “the bad guy” while making themselves appear as the victims, so people will feel sorry for them.
For if you are a genuine follower of Christ, the gospel message that you speak will not bring them comfort, for it calls them to repentance and to obedience to God and to His commands. But they prefer a friendlier “gospel” which does not require that they deny self, die to sin, and obey God, in practice, in order to be saved from sin and to have eternal life with God. So, because they love their sin, they may attack you, hoping to sway you to give up the fight out of fear of what they might do to you. But the only one we are to fear is God, and to give Him only our submission and surrender.
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
