The Present Truth

CHAPTER FIVE

Jesus is the Way

To enter into the ministry without being disciplined into the mind of Christ is to embark on a journey into destruction and devastation to both you and the people you influence.

For many years I was allowed to observe the mind of some traditional leaders. I was amazed at the magnitude of deception and captivity they displayed. You see, I once attributed this deception solely to their lack of knowledge, but the Lord said differently. He caused me to realize that such monumental deception was due to the lack of regard and respect for the Word of God they already knew.

I feel here a need to insert that this principle is most real in every sense of its application to the knowledge of the truth.

For instance, we here at Bible Teachers have received in-depth revelation of the Word of God. Therefore, we tend to attribute the sinful lifestyle of others in the Body to their lack of knowledge. However, the Lord is very specific in this matter. He declares that the knowledge of God in our infancy is powerful enough to gender righteousness. Thus, the catalyst for sin in the Body of Christ is not a lack of deeper revelation, but the rejection of the revelation that has already come.

You see it is obedience to every word that comes from God that maintains righteousness in us. Sin is a transgression of the basic laws of God. It is failure to obey His word. It is not possible to neglect the simple basic truths God has given us and expect a deeper revelation to bring us into righteousness. This in itself was a revelation for me, because I used to wonder about those who had not heard some of the things we have heard of God, seeing as how the knowledge of such seemed to have purged us of our sins. But once again the Lord was faithful.

He caused me to understand that there were some who had been receiving these truths since the conception of the ministry, but are still to this day living in sin. It is not the Word alone that purges sin. But it is our love for God and man and obedience to the Word that cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

I am very concerned that we do not follow after the examples of those who failed to maintain the heart and mind of God while in pursuit of servitude.

Furthermore, the Lord will not allow a spirit of enlightenment if you do not reverence the Word you have already received from Him. Eventually, you will reach a place where comprehension of the Word will be foreign to you. He will not illuminate the depths of the truth.

Consequently, you will be left to discern its meaning with your intellect. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the present truth. Otherwise, that truth runs the risk of being perverted by the lust and pride you created in your heart. We can talk about exploring the deep things of God and continuously seek after the knowledge of the Holy, but until we submit to the present truth, we will never know what it means to really serve the Lord. We will always fall short of real servitude. We will never experience the Jesus ministry.

The ministry of Christ is only operated through love and obedience to the Father. There is no other way to obtain it. Consider the testimony of the Lord.

John 14:21; 23-24

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . .

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

It is frightening to think that many of us who have become partakers of the grace of God could not love Jesus Christ. However, the Master says, the proof of our love is in obedience to His Word. It is through this obedience that the Lord will manifest Himself. Thus, it also follows that without this obedience; the Lord will not manifest His presence in our daily lives or ministries.

John 16:26-27

26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

Now this is so simple, yet just simply not believed. The Father will work a measure of Christ’s ministry through us if we love and obey Him.

It is also obvious that the Father equates love with obedience. The Lord clearly states that our love for Him and the Father is manifested in our obedience to the Word. You must accept that there is no other way to reveal your love. You cannot escape the necessary obedience required to manifest Christ. God will not fellowship with us while we walk after the flesh which simply means that your soul uses the body to disobey or dishonor God. I do not mean that God will not deal with us while we walk in darkness because He will, but it will not be fellowship. It will be chastening and if necessary, judgment.

1 John 1:6-7

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Our fellowship with one another relies on us walking in the light, which is the Spirit. Even the fellowship we desire to have with our loved ones depends upon us walking in the Spirit. But our pride separates us from one another. Jesus is the Way. God sent a life, which is a light to show the way to Him.

Now, do not expect God to come into our negatives (sin and self-pity). God will never fellowship with us in darkness, neither will He console us while we are in darkness. He will demand that we come back to the light to find Him. Christ is the way to God. He is the vine that we must abide in. It is not the chastening of the Lord that brings self-pity and depression. It is the fact that we wither away from the vine.

We are feeling the pressure of God’s gaze at us in the flesh: meaning a sinful disposition. We feel His fiery indignation because we are walking in disobedience to Him. “All you have to do is agree with Christ. I am watching you,” says the Lord.

God’s response could be simply, “Hell is hot and eternal.” This is all God has to say. He is God. He will not compromise with our negative disposition. He simply will not fellowship with us in darkness. Jesus is the one who died. Regardless of the situations or reasons, God will not accept anything that is not in Christ.

“When will you reverence me as God? You reverence your emotions, your reasons and your justifications. I am God. I am a living God. You can get away with that with Buddha, Krishna and other gods but I am a living God.”

Chastening comes in every Son’s life to make him better or stronger. Chastening is inevitable, but judgment comes when God is rebuking pride and ego. Our arrogance speaks on this wise, “I know God’s Laws and I know the consequence for sin, but I am still going to do what I want to do.”

This mindset causes the judgment of God to come. Ask Adam. He had the same mind in the Garden. Ask Cain. He had the same mind concerning sacrifice. The list goes on and on and in all cases the judgment of God followed this mindset. But knowing all this, why do we still walk in these mind-sets; because we believe the conversation of our imagination.

Walking in Darkness

When you walk in darkness, the god of this world will blind you to the truth. Then the deceitfulness of the sin will cause you not to hear God. God is not going to come to where we are. We must go to where He is. You may be at a place where you challenge God with an attitude that says, “Until you deal with this, I am not going to move.” But God says we are to move when He speaks.

When the Lord comes, He backs us up against the wall so that the only way we will accomplish what we are trying to do is in Christ. God is going to make sure of that. He will not allow us to be successful doing for Him in the flesh: walking in darkness or void of the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Lord will keep a thorn in the flesh, to guarantee that we never accomplish our purpose without walking in Christ.

Iniquity does not hold us. We hold it. God has a route to destroy the pride in us.

You may think that you have traveled so far from God, but the truth of the matter is, we are only as far away as our humility and obedience.

Mary Banks, Servant of our Lord