The Distinction

Have you ever asked yourself what makes the sons different from all the many people who also inhabit the earth? When we look at ourselves on the outside, we look the same as any other human being. I know the conventional answer is that we are different due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is invisible and lives inside of us. How will the world know that God truly lives in us? How will they know we are not just religious fanatics believing in a legend of a man named Jesus who supposedly died for our sins?

John 13:34-35

34. A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you.

35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The scripture declares that Christ’s ownership in our lives is seen by our love for one another. If you were to examine your life right now, would you say that your love for the Body of Christ has made such a profound statement in the world that by it men know you have the Holy Spirit? Meditate on your answer before you respond and answer according to the following questions….

1. Do you ever lie on your brother or sister?

2. Do you listen to lies about your brother or sister? To bear false witness is not proof of the Holy Spirit in your life.

3. Do you encourage your brother and sister, not by mere words but by the example you live before them? For to live as a hypocrite before your brother or sister does not signify the ownership of the Lord in your life.

4. Are you one who sacrifices the desires of your flesh, that others might be strengthened or do you protect yourself from any persecution? This also does not signify the ownership of the Holy Spirit.

5. Do you live within the boundaries set for us in the Word of God?

6. Do you mind spiritual things rather than fleshy things or the things of the world? I write to you as an apostle in the Body of Christ, your brother and friend and a servant to the Lord. The Lord would have me write on this wise...

There should be a great distinction between the children of light and the children of darkness but we must admit that in these last days, the distinction between the two has become harder and harder to see. If we do not continue in the principles of our faith, which we have laid down along the way, there will cease to be any distinction at all. You ask how did this happen? Where did this begin? I answer, “It happened with every decision, we made as individuals to compromise an uncompromising gospel.” You see the boundaries of our faith are what separate us from the world. Oftentimes we see the boundaries of our faith as strict rules given to us by God through Jesus Christ when we should rather see them as the tools that distinguish us as the sons of God. The fleshy mind however, processes any boundary as a restraint meant to stop the desires of the heart. When we move in this vain, we are walking after the flesh which basically means to walk after the influence of the fleshy mind.

Romans 8:6-8

6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Tragically, it is this influence that has governed the church and led it astray; doing away with the principles of suffering, refusing the very notion of self-denial, manufacturing a flesh preserving doctrine. And though this doctrine has made church comfortable it has also accommodated the purpose of the enemy, which is to establish the mindset “No one is good and no one is evil, we are all children of God.” You can see the testimony of this in the growing heresies allowed in the church today. But those of us who truly possess the Holy Spirit know that no matter how comfortable the flesh seems, something is still missing in our spiritual growth. Our spirit man begins to yearn for the true message of the Kingdom. In our hearts we begin to question “What is exactly missing in me?” The answer is the strict discipline of both the spirit and body which is found in the original gospel of the Kingdom.

THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD

The chastening of the Lord is the raising of the Body of Christ. It causes us to discipline our minds, our bodies, souls and spirit to the will of God and not the whims of flesh. Many of us have children and as we raise them there arises moments when we must chastise them in some form or another. Why do we chasten our children? It is not because we want to see harm come to them or because we enjoy it, but we do so because we love them and we want them to learn while they are young how to conduct themselves in life. We want them to grow into law abiding, responsible citizens, therefore we teach lessons to instil such values and when they stray from these principles, we implement something to encourage them not to do so in the future. How much more does the Father love us? He does not want us controlled by the mind of death (the mind of the flesh) so He would instruct us to…

Romans 13:14

14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The life of Christ is a disciplined one and they that walk after it are disciplined as well. When we truly put on Christ we demonstrate the power He had over His own body. We walk in the attributes of the Holy Spirit which cause us to possess our vessels. And make no mistake, this power can be seen in every circumstance, situation or relationship we encounter.

Hebrews 12:8

8. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

God does not require anything of the world, or I should say the children of Satan for they are not God’s hence they cannot live by His requirements. God looks at them and feels pity and compassion for a creature on its way to total damnation. But when the Father looks at us He sees Himself in us which makes Him know we have the ability to please Him. He has set the boundaries by which we are to live as a form of restraint. Yes, it is a restraint from damnation. He is encouraging us even now to be not weary in well-doing, to endure to the end in His statues and His will. If we continue we shall wear a crown. We must not be content with merely being called Christians but we must exemplify this inheritance daily throughout our lives. Yes, there will be self-denial; there will be forms of suffering, tests and trials. There will even be a separation from some we love but this is why Christ calls our plight a cross for it signifies suffering.

Matthew 10:38

38. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

In my contending for the faith I must guarantee that within my lifetime the teaching of the cross will continuously be taught as part of the doctrine of Christ. Many ministers have abandoned the teaching of the cross. This abandonment has produced hollow, wanton saints and I refer to them as saints for the sake of description. You see when we remove the teaching of the cross a man will receive salvation but after that experience, he will go and find his own life. This is what Jesus says concerning such…

Matthew 10:39

39. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Many Christians have found their own life and are living according to their own righteousness and this is why the world ceases to believe in our salvation. Even in their limited knowledge of Jesus, the world understands that He is holy. They know if we confess to have Him, then we should be holy also. But the truth is many of us secretly envy the people of the world and desire to live a life free of accountability as the world seemingly lives. This envy causes us to take advantage of any opportunity to live carnal. This is seen in some minute things such as:

A. How we dress

B. Our conversations of choice

C. Our recreational activities like the music and movies we enjoy.

I have stated to you before that our regressing in God came about over a period of time through compromising the truth for a lie.

OUR MINDS AFTER THE LIE

Any rejection of God’s truth is an acceptance of a lie.

Romans 1:25

25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Paul is ministering to us the effects of changing the truth of God into a lie, which is also to compromise the truth of God for that which is acceptable by flesh. Paul says, “They worshipped and served the creature…” Man is that creature, self is that creature. The truth is we were created to worship God and not ourselves but when we reject that truth we begin to worship the image of ourselves in our minds. This is why pride so easily exists in us because the mind has accepted a lie.

Often we are fortified in our prideful minds believing it speaks the heart of God. In actuality, it is just our mind influenced by self-serving pride. The truth of God then becomes dimmed or foreign to us and we cannot see the Word of God for what it is; life preserving. Oftentimes I have heard people say they have a check in their spirits; I have even used this terminology myself from time to time. Let us examine for a moment what is meant when one says, “I have a check in my spirit.” If they were to define their check, they would most likely say, “I can’t put into words what I feel but I know God is making me feel something about this situation.” This sounds so much like God and yes, He will put an unction in us sometimes but many times what we feel is not God at all. It is just our fleshy mind, which has been formed over the years through different experiences, and we now confuse it for the counsel of God. God gave us His Word to govern us, to help in our decision making process but when our decision making is dictated by our emotions and not the Word of God, it is easy for the devil to give an unction also. How does this tie in with the message on distinction? Because like the people of the world we have begun to ignore the bible as our source of enlightenment and replaced it with our own emotions believing they are gendered by God. I have also seen this process breed separation in the people of God. We are so suspicious of one another believing we are justified due to some emotional check we have in our spirit that is not always supported by scripture. Yet we walk in the separation believing that it is excused by God because He has supposedly given us a “check”. Brethren, the Father warns us of the serpent, not of one another for He told us to love one another as fore stated in the first scripture of this lesson. Let’s not make a god of our emotions that we would follow them rather than the spirit of God for the scriptures state:

Romans 8:14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

The leading of the Holy Ghost distinguishes us from all others and we must hold dear to this truth inside of our decision making. To be led by the spirit, however, is also to be led by the Word. The reason many people depend upon a “check” is because they have not studied the Word to try the spirit to see if it be of God. It becomes so easy for these to be led astray because as we said before they can no longer separate truth from the lie.

Romans 1:22

Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.

Brethren, we know nothing about God without God. When we cease to believe this we create our own route to God, one that has exalted the flesh and excused failure and sin. This is described by Paul in the book of Romans as idolatry.

Romans 1:23

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed beasts and creeping things.

This form of rebellion is not sanctioned in the Word of God but our human emotion will come up with all sorts of things and deem it as God. Is there a punishment for such actions? Of course there is due to the fact that we have put aside God’s truth and come up with our own.