RETURN TO ME AND LIVE
By Greg J. Kornichuk
Foreword……….. Pastor Norman Glover
Introduction…...... Arise Oh Sleeping One
Chapter One…......The Mirror
Chapter Two....…..The Foundation
Chapter Three…....What Then is True Repentance
Chapter Four ....….The Rest of the Gospel
Chapter Five….......GOD’s Requirement of His Character In His People and
His Ministers
Chapter Six…........The LORD's Reproof and Course Correction
Chapter Seven…....Choices
Chapter Eight…......Revive US Oh LORD
Chapter Nine….......The Obstacle
Chapter Ten…........Choose This Day Who You Will Serve
Chapter Eleven.......Whose House is it and How Shall We Build It?
Chapter Twelve.......The Chief Architect - The Holy Spirit
Chapter Thirteen......If My People Who are Called by MY NAME
Foreword
First, I feel very humbled to be writing the forward in this book. I've known Greg Kornichuk for many years and recognize him to be a man of great integrity and honor. He is a student of the Holy Scriptures and has a passion for the proper building of His House according to kingdom principles.
This book he has written, in my opinion, has arrived on the scene at a very crucial period in our history. As we look around us and see "our world" crashing around us politically, financially, and more shockingly, morally and spiritually--I believe this book will be among many "voices" of the righteous who will bring prophetic warnings to the church in these last days. We are rapidly moving toward what the Bible calls the End of the Age (Matt. 13:49) when Jesus will come for those who have "washed their Robes in the Blood of Lamb! (Rev. 7:14)
Greg, in strong words of warning and admonition, has put his finger on the pulse of the church and found that many who are the leaders and "builders," are constructing the church out of "wood, hay and stubble" and not of "silver, gold and precious stones." (1 Cor. 11-13) He also, leaves a strong rebuke for those leaders who are "robbing" the saints for their own sordid gain.
I believe we are in the days where judgment is once again, swiftly, coming to the House of God! This book is a must-read for those leaders who are hungering and thirsting for Him and who desire to see revival once again come to our land.
Pastor Norman Glover
Sanford, Florida
Sept. 11, 2009
Preface
The LORD as our Father disciplines us because He loves us. His single motivation is that the peaceful fruit of His righteousness be reproduced in our lives, so that we might grow in grace and wisdom. Although we might not always understand the correction that is taking place in our lives and it is not always pleasant, if we will receive His chastening we will grow. If not, we will, after a time, become stunted, or worse, become hardened of heart. Therefore, the Holy Spirit with much patience and long suffering entreats our hearts to listen to His counsel, so that we do not suffer shame through disobedience. This is the way that we grow strong in the fear of GOD and His Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). He therefore, proceeds to exhort and admonish us first, then chastens us, then disciplines, then gives us stern warning and finally after a season punishes His children with the hope that they will finally repent and once again wholeheartedly seek His face. Having this thought at the forefront of our minds, like frontlets between our eyes, let us prayerfully consider what the LORD GOD has to say to us.
Our Lord Yeshua in the Book of Revelation admonishes, sternly warns us, then promises punishment to some of the seven churches if they do not repent and return to Him. Therefore, it is time to sound an alarm in this nation in which we live. We who are called by the Name of the GOD of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob must listen to the urgency of His cry and return to Him with our whole hearts. Thus says the LORD GOD;
"I know your works, your toil and patient endurance. I know you cannot tolerate evil men; and you tested those who claim to be sent out by Me but are not, and have found them to be liars. I also know you have endurance and persevered because of My Name and have not become weary .I have this against you, that you have disregard for, and put aside the love that was preeminent and foremost to you (your love for Me ). Remember then, from where you have fallen and repent and do the works that you did at first; but if not, I am coming to you and I will remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent...I know your works, that you have a preeminent name of being alive and are dead. Become watchful and strengthen the things remaining which are about to die, for I have not found your works as having been completed before My GOD. Remember therefore how you have received and heard and observe it and repent! If therefore you do not completely wake up, I will come as a thief, and never would you know the hour that I will come upon you...For you say, " I am abounding in material wealth and have acquired wealth and have no needs," and you do not know that you are the one in a distressful state and in need of mercy and in extreme poverty and you are blinded in your mind and spirit and are naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold melted in the furnace, purged of dross and tried by fire, and garments, that you may be covered unless the dishonor and the disgrace of your nakedness because of the lack of your chastity be plainly recognized; and ointment to anoint your eyes that you may perceive spiritually. As many are the sons of Gladness (The Bridegroom) I reprove and instruct with chastening. Therefore be sincerely zealous and repent. Behold! Know then that I stand at the door and am knocking. If anyone should be hearing My voice and opening the door. I will also be coming into him and dining with him and he with Me." (Rev. 2:2-5, 3:1b-3, 17-20)
Arise Oh Sleeping One
We as a collective congregation of the Most High GOD and as individual little stones, (temples of the Holy Spirit) have become quite comfortable with our apparent prosperity. However, we are quickly finding out that this wealth is at best transitory. The LORD spoke to me almost four years ago saying, "because this nation had turned from Me and made money its god I will destroy their god" and then about one year before the current economic crisis in this nation, He spoke to Me again and said, "I the LORD will cripple the economy of this nation because of the abominations that it has committed against Me." So here we are, even amidst so many voices who prophesied prosperity, abundance, and peace to the people of GOD. We are quickly finding out that our true riches don't lie in our 40lk's, but in Him. Those that have prophesied such things need to take heed and repent, but that's another subject. Therefore, the Spirit of the LORD cries out to us and says, "Arise oh, sleeping one, and rise up from the place of dead men’s bones and Messiah will pour upon you the light of divine truth even as the sun gives light to men aroused from sleep." (Eph.5:14 & Thayer’s Grk/English Lex. Pg.246a)
“Therefore spiritually perceive, being circumspect in regards to how you live and not as the foolish but as those with insight, redeeming the time (making wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good) because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15)
For the days are indeed evil and we have not walked circumspectly before the LORD our GOD and are in danger of missing the day of visitation of His Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).
Today is the day we must with all our hearts turn back to Him with a penitent heart, so that we do not become like the master of the house who did not keep watch for the thief. The thief came in broad daylight and seeing the weakness of his house, marked it, and came back at midnight while the master of that house was sleeping, broke in, and robbed him of all he had. He did not know until morning that he was robbed, but he could do nothing, because it was too late! This is the state of the House of GOD in this nation. Therefore with urgency in our hearts we must turn to the Lord Yeshua (Jesus), confess our sins of complacency, pride, and arrogance, before, we too, find our house robbed and we are left naked! The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 6:6-11, and 24:30-34 echo this very same thing!
His mercy is great, and He will forgive us if only will repent from walking in the light of our own wisdom, which is foolishness; and instead, committing all our ways to the LORD walk in the Light of His Presence. For if we do not do this soon, we, like the master of the house previously mentioned will be left bereft of any sense of His Presence in our lives and in our Congregations, and will most certainly be left naked and ashamed!
"This is the message we heard from Him and we proclaim to you; that GOD is Light and there is not any darkness in Him. If we say we have an intimate union with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and are not actively operating in the truth. But if we dwell habitually in the Light as He dwells in the Light we have intimate fellowship with one another (GOD), and the blood of Yeshua His Son is purging and acquitting us from our sin." (1 Jn. 1:5-7)
If we do this, we can discern the time of our visitation because we are walking in the Light of His Presence and will by no means be surprised like one surprised by a thief in the night.
Just as the oil soaks the wick of a lamp, so that when it is ignited it gives light to those in darkness, so must our spirits be saturated by the anointing oil of GOD, so that when His Word ignites the wick of our lamps, we may have His Light to walk by. Then, as His “lights,” upon many hills, we may be as beacons pointing the way of salvation to the lost. This is the meaning of Psalm 119: 105 which say, "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path". Without His Light and His Anointing we are blind and will never see our way to our Bridegroom or perceive the time of His visitation. For if we are blind, how can we be a guide to the blind who are themselves seeking salvation? Now is the time to purchase oil for our lamps while it is still daylight.
This can only take place if we acknowledge before Him our wretchedness, repenting in sackcloth and ashes from turning away from the way we are living. Then and only then as submitted, humble servants of the LORD will the Ruach HaKodesh be able to pour out the authority and power of GOD upon us so that we may do the works we have been ordained to do before the foundation of the world. We must keep in mind that this is for His Glory, His praise only, and not our own. For it is only through clean Vessels that clean water can flow and refresh the thirsty without making them sick. The LORD GOD is calling out to His Congregation in this nation to be His eyes, ears, mouths, arms, hands and legs by which He can reach out to this dead and dying nation. Then the people of this nation may truly witness the real Yeshua.
I tell you in no uncertain terms that the LORD is finished with white washed sepulchers hiding dead men’s bones, and the plastered facades that call themselves His people, and His Congregation, when they in fact do not do the things He commands. The LORD GOD is calling out a people who will abandon themselves entirely to Him. He is looking for a people who will say, “Here I am Lord, speak.” He is calling out a people who won't even take the time to slaughter the oxen, burn the wooden yoke and feed their family, but rather follow Him immediately. He is calling out a people who will hear His voice and follow Him wherever He goes because they love Him and will obey Him. Will we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying? Will we awake, hear the words of life, and indeed live?
A similar question and circumstance is seen in the Book of Ezekiel, and posed to him by the LORD in Chapter 37:1-14. I understand that the LORD is speaking to Ezekiel about the revival of the nation of our people Israel, but it does indeed have application hear. The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me by the Spirit of the LORD, and set me in the midst of the valley and it was filled with bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, Ben Adahm, can these bones live?" So I answered, '0 LORD, you know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, "0 dry bones, hear the Word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I AM the LORD.”
We are dry bones, very dry, because we are lacking the watering of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and have not fully trusted in the LORD our GOD and His Messiah. The false security that our apparent prosperity gave us as a wealthy nation has led us to this wretched dryness in the Spirit and has brought forth only wind without any viable and prolonged witness or testimony to the Lord Yeshua. We must allow the Holy Spirit to bring rebuke, correction, chastening, and discipline back into our lives so that we might be refreshed and renewed by the waters of Shiloh. We must not refuse this water of the Holy Spirit or "dry bones" will become our epitaph and we will never experience the times of refreshing nor revival that our Father in Heaven longs to pour out on us.
Through our actions, our false testimony, and our hypocrisy, we have baked ourselves very dry. We have caused the peoples round about us to blaspheme the Name of the blessed and only true GOD, and His Son Messiah Yeshua. This is because our testimony is full of religion, and very little fruitfulness of the Spirit. We are like a bucket used to draw water from a well that is full of holes and good for nothing! This is the problem before us as a people who name the Name of GOD and say with great conviction that His Spirit dwells within us. There is little or no evidence of His fruit in our personal lives, in the workplace, or in our homes, communities or as a corporate House of GOD in this nation!
The people around us, to be sure, are in darkness, but they are not blind to what tastes good and what tastes bad. The old expression, “I don't know art, but I know what I like,” holds just as true for how we represent our Lord: “A picture is worth a thousand words!” Yeshua said quite plainly, “you shall know them by their fruits.” Although this passage refers to false prophets, it illustrates the point and holds true for all of us. For it directly equates the heart of a man with the fruit he produces. This is a product of his character and the nature of the one he claims dwells within him. This is the very heart of what our Lord spoke to the disciples about when He said, "Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I AM the Vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." Jn.15:4-6 "Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but every bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them." (Matt. 7:16b-20)
So, we should not be surprised when the unsaved spit out of their mouths the bad tasting fruit of cookie cutter Christianity when they are peppered with headlines depicting adultery, homosexuality, wife beating, and misuse of money in the midst of the Christian Church. This pernicious behavior in GOD'S House must end now and forever, or He will cut down the tree(s) and cast it (them) into the fire. These things should never be named about any who are supposed to be filled with the Spirit of the LORD. Just because a mouse comes out of the cookie jar it does not make it a cookie! Thus, neither saying we are His branches make us so unless we are remaining in Him habitually and bearing the fruit of His Spirit. Therefore, it is not a question of whether or not GOD is able to make these dry bones live, but rather, will we hear His voice, obey it, return to Him wholeheartedly and be revived by His Spirit! It is far past sunrise and the darkness of night is drawing near. Therefore it is time to arise from the grave and come into the Light of the Son!
The Mirror
The only way that we will ever see a true and lasting national revival is if it starts with the people of GOD first. We must examine ourselves in the Mirror of GOD's Presence--Yeshua. There is no other method of judgment which will be true and without distortion. He is the only one who can correctly diagnosis, treat and heal us of our backsliding. So let us examine ourselves in His Mirror--Messiah Yeshua.
We have quickly forgotten the price that was paid for us! The dowry price paid for our redemption is the blood of GOD'S own Lamb, His Only Begotten Son: Yeshua the Messiah. We have fallen away from the simplicity of this truth, and the pure, childlike faith that we once held precious in our hearts. We have forgotten who we are in Messiah, and that we have been given title, warrant, and authorization which carries with it all the powers that come with being sons and daughters of GOD. (pg. 688a, Jn.1:12, the Expositors Greek Testament--W.R. Nicoli)
We are those who are supposed to be reborn, and those who are being conformed into likeness of Him through the working of the Holy Spirit. We are those who by the mercy afforded to us by the cross of Messiah, and who through His grace have received pardon for our sins. Thus we have escaped the wrath of the Fathers judgment which fell on Messiah instead of us and this because of the Father's unfathomable love toward all men. We must put ourselves in remembrance of these things!
I don’t think we have fully realized that we have become partakers of His Divine Nature and have escaped the corruption of this world with all its soulish desires. We must completely embrace the cross of Messiah, and put to death daily the works of the flesh. We must not flirt with the uncleanness of this world as we all to often do. Even worse, like a dog, some of us return to our own vomit or like the pig which has an outward appearance of being clean, (cloven hoofed but not able to chew cud) we too, fail to pass the test of cleanness. We outwardly portray piety toward GOD, but not allowing the Word of the LORD to find a place in our hearts so that it can change us, being unable to digest it, we have fallen into religiosity. We have more often than not become more concerned with the cleanliness of the outside of the cup than with the inside!
Where then is the faith, the moral goodness, the intimate knowledge of GOD, the self control. Where is our unwavering trust through difficult times, our godliness, and above all our unconditional love for not only the brethren, but also for those who walk in darkness as we once did? If we recognize these things to be true, why do we walk as if we were still part of the world?
As we stand in His Light, Father's Mirror will allow us to see our blemished condition as He does. When we will allow Him to open our eyes, so He can apply the healing balm of the Holy Spirit, we will again be able to perceive the path of the LORD clearly. We can no longer walk with one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of GOD!
We are becoming an unfruitful vine, blind and forgetful of GOD's mercy toward us. The fruit of our branches is becoming sour to the taste, fit only for the foxes. Here’s the word of the LORD to Israel, "Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of the highest quality, how then have you turned before Me into a degenerate plant of an alien vine?" (Jer. 2:21) The apostle Paul puts it this way, "I therefore encourage you, I the prisoner in the Lord to walk worthy of the calling by which you where called…” (Eph. 4:1a) Therefore understand and know that it is this unfitness in our walk that the Lord is calling us to forsake. His testimony against us is self evident; in that, our own words and actions bear witness against us.
We have fallen away from the depth of the love that we had for Him when we were first betrothed to our Lord Yeshua. We claim to be alive but, our fruit is stunted, and we lack humility and brokenness before our LORD. We are fast asleep and are not watchful over the condition of our hearts, or of the days we are living in. For if we truly realized these things we would be living as if these were the last days of our lives on earth and not in the ease in which we do! We would be living as if the Lord Yeshua's return was tomorrow!
We are shamefully arrogant, poor, and bereft of the richness of GOD's character. We are caught up in everything else except what is truly important to Him, which is, His deep desire to develop within us the character and nature of His Son. However, we have become so blind to this that we can no longer see clearly; we don’t walk as we should, and as a result we are unable to properly guide others. Don't we know that such behavior will cause Him to vomit us out of His mouth? (Rev.3:16)
For those of you adhere to the doctrine once saved, always saved, and that the LORD would not break us off as unproductive branches if we continually ignore His repeated calls for us to return to Him, to do the works we did when we where first saved, then here's some food for thought…
Keep these two things in mind. One, these are the LORDS words on the subject, therefore any other opinion on this matter is irrelevant, and two, the argument that the individual was never really saved to begin with has nothing to do with the Scriptures that are to follow. That particular argument is more in line with Matt.7:21-23.
We had all better take a good hard look in the Mirror, wake up and stop walking as if having one foot in the world and one in the Kingdom of GOD is acceptable to our Lord Yeshua. For the LORD warns us and says, "Again, when the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand." (Ez. 3:20)
"But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked does, shall he live? All the righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die... When the righteous turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies." (Ez.18:24, 26)
“When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it." (Ez. 33:18, 19)
The New Testament Scriptures echo words of similar warnings. “Therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for If you do these things you will never stumble.” (2 Peter 1:10) (The things spoken of prior to the "Therefore" in the previous verses are the fruit of the Spirit which if are increasing in us will keep us effective and fruitful in our knowledge of Messiah! This will be the image reflected back toward our Lord Yeshua and what the world will see; the Mirrored representation of our Lord Yeshua's character and nature in our own lives.)
The word "stumble" that is used here means to fall into misery, wretchedness, and finally the Loss Of Salvation! (see pg. 556 col.a 2b ref) (2 Peter 1:10 Thayer's Grk./Eng. Lex.; pg. 727, col. a2, Bauer's Grk./Eng. Lex. Of the N.T. and other early Christian Lit). Let’s look at some other examples that further illustrate this.
“For if GOD did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of GOD: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, If You Continue In His Goodness. Otherwise you also Will Not Be Spared. “Rom.11:20:21.”And you who where once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight, If Indeed you Continue in the Faith, Grounded and Steadfast, and are Not moved away from the Hope of the Gospel which you heard." (Col. l: 2l-23) "...he who overcomes shall not be hurt by second death. ..To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no knows except him who receives it...And he who overcomes and keeps My works until the end. To him I will give power over the nations. ..And I will give him the morning star He who overcomes. I will make him a pillar in the Temple of My GOD, and he shall go out no more, I will write on him the Name of My GOD and the name of the city of My GOD. And I will write on him My new Name...To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Rev. 2:11, 17, 26, 28; 3:12, 21)
If these verses are not sufficient then I will give you two more. The first is from the Book of Exodus, the book detailing GOD's plan of salvation and a detailed account of the building of GOD's House. Here in this second book of the Holy Scriptures GOD speaks to Moshe and says, “Whoever sins against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” (Ex. 32:33) Then in the Book of the Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, the book detailing the final redemption of GOD's people amongst other important prophesies, Yeshua echo’s the same words, saying "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life: but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Rev.3:5)
So we see two things here, one is that eternal security is only eternal if we remain in Yeshua, continuing in Him as at the beginning of our walk with Him and continually overcoming to the end as He did. Overcoming as it is used here means complete victory, and utterly vanquishing the enemy. The second thing is, if we do not do these things we shall be as a branch, an unfruitful vine broken off, cast into the fire to perish. We must pay heed to what we see in the Mirror of His Presence, listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying and receive the correction that He, with such mercy, grace and abundant love desires to bring to us as a people. If we will do so, He will revive us. If we will break up the hardened soil of our hearts, obediently listening to His voice, He will revive us with an out pouring of His Spirit and not just upon us alone, but also upon this entire nation! This will bring great glory to Him and leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is GOD and that His Son is Messiah Yeshua! How awesome is our GOD that He desires to do this? How wonderful is the love of our GOD and His Messiah!
Here is the focus, the work of the correction that the Holy Spirit wants to bring us to: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: "Fear GOD and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For GOD will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, for good or evil." (Eccl.12:13, 14)
What is this commandment that He gives us? It is this: that we love Him and obey Him and that we love one another. For if we love Him we will obey Him and show ourselves to be His friends and His obedient servants. This work can only occur in our hearts when we surrender ourselves completely into His care and allow Him to be our Father. As our Father, He desires us to do this for us.
With the fear of GOD, comes not only wisdom but the awesome realization of His holiness and what it means. Be Holy because I Am Holy. This kind of holiness means more than what most Christians think holiness is. The kind of holiness GOD requires is simple. We are only required to walk in the Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit that Yeshua sent to us can do the work of conforming us to His likeness and image without our interference. This accomplishes two things. One, we as individuals become "little costly stones, “stones squared on all sides; which manifesting His glory, can be built together and fit together perfectly by Him who is the Master Architect of His own House. Only when this happens can we as a people of GOD mirror the image of The Only Begotten Son of the Father here on earth as Yeshua desires.
In the following verses which Paul writes to the Congregation in Rome we have an exact image of the character and nature of the Son which the Spirit of Messiah desires to work in us. Let us then, examine ourselves in the Mirror of His Presence to see if these be so in our lives.
"I plead with you therefore, brethren by the mercies of GOD, that you present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to GOD, your reasonable sacrifice. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of GOD." ..."Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, continuing steadfast in prayer; distributing to the needs of chasideem (saints), given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Bear in mind to do what is good before all men. If possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved do not avenge yourselves, set aside your wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the LORD. Therefore " If your enemy is hungry feed Him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so you will heap coals of fire upon his head the blessing you return in place of the evil he intended for you shall be shame for him, and recompense for his evil; thus GOD repays the man for the evil works of his own heart; and perhaps he is brought to repentance: the man's heart being pierced through by an evil conscience. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom. 12:1, 2:9-21)
How can we say to the world which is full of darkness, “follow me as I follow Yeshua” when the Light of His Presence doesn't burn fervently in our hearts? How can they see the Way to the Life when we are not wholly committed to walking in that narrow way ourselves? How can they see the gentleness of our Father's eyes if there is insufficient light to see the Lord's nature in us? Certainly this is not because of His lack of power to do the work, but because we have covered ourselves with the unclean things of the world, like a lamp covered by a bushel basket, our light is diminished and has insufficient luminosity to be seen and thus be able to guide anyone! We must return to the LORD our GOD or we will surely suffer shipwreck. The word which Paul speaks to the Corinthian Congregation applies here,
"...each ones work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each ones work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, like someone whose house and all their belongings are consumed by the fire but they themselves escape barely, smelling like smoke and scorched by the flames, yet so through the fire. Don't you know that you are the temple of GOD and the Spirit of GOD dwells in you? If anyone defiles the Temple of GOD, GOD will destroy him. For the Temple of GOD is holy which you are! (1 Cor. 3:13-17) Let us therefore return to the simplicity and the purity of the faith. Let us return to the way by which we came and follow the guide posts back to our first love--Yeshua!
The Foundation
There is no other foundation but The Foundation: Messiah Yeshua who is also The Cornerstone, The Costly and Precious Stone, the bedrock of GOD'S redemption for mankind; to the Hebrew first and then to the gentiles. There is no other way into eternal life but through the Gate of GOD's sheepfold: Yeshua; and there is no other Name which GOD has given by which mankind may be saved. He Messiah Yeshua is The Lamb of GOD, who was slain before the foundation of the earth. He is not only GOD's Lamb, but He is the kinsmen redeemer and the Great High Priest. He is both the one who shed His blood to make atonement for the sins of all men, past, present, and future, once for all, and He is also the High Priest of GOD who presents His own blood before the Father, in the heavenly Holy of Holies. He is the Head over the Household of GOD, the Chief Architect, and Creator, and in Him is the whole House of GOD held together.
This is the foundation of our faith: Yeshua the Messiah crucified for our sins and the sins of the world. Why then, have we stopped walking in the power of the cross which is able to truly transform us and those whom we are called to declare the cross of Messiah? Where is the power and authority in our witness? What has happened to us and our witness? Why is there such a lack of power and authority in our witness? The reason can be summed up in these words. We have trivialized the foundation of our faith: the cross of our Lord. We have taken it for granted in our lives and in doing so we have lost our love of the fear of GOD. Consequently, it has directly affected our ability to declare the gospel with authority, or do any of the works associated with the declaration of His word! We have managed to clog the plumbing so to speak, and have thereby restricted the flow of the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Israel had the same problem, for they too lost their fear of GOD. When the LORD GOD descended on Horev great dread fell upon the people; so much so, that they told Moshe, "you go and hear GOD for us, for why should we perish; for who has heard the LORD speak from the midst of the fire and lived as we have?" The LORD heard the words of His people and said, "They are right in all they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children forever!" (Deut. 5:22-29)
We, in this nation, as a people who are supposed to be representing who He is through deeds and words have acted out the same way! We have lost our fear of GOD and most shamefully disregarded the commandments which He has written on the fleshy tables of our hearts. It is only through faithfully doing what He has commanded us that we show our love for Him; for as the Scriptures teach faith without works is dead, so when we are walking in obedience to what He has written upon our hearts, we in turn are loved by the Father through the Son who manifests Himself to us. If we keep His commandments we are able to abide in Yeshua's love just as He abides in the Father's love. As a result of this obedience toward Him we show ourselves to be friends of our Lord, because we have kept the commands He has given us to do.
This is Yeshua's commandment to us which is the sum total of all that the Holy Scriptures teach; "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for His friends. These things I command you, that you love one another." (Jn.14:21; 15:10, 14, 12, 13, 17) This is very center--the heart of the matter: the reverential fear of the LORD GOD. This is the essence of Yeshua's atoning work on the cross. It is only in the laying down of our lives first for Him, and then for each other that His love for us, His love in us, and working through us can be manifested to the world through the cross of Messiah Yeshua our Lord. Amen!
We must pick up our cross as He did and follow Him where He leads and allow Him to place His yoke upon our necks. This is the main reason we are so ineffective in the Kingdom and why our witness lacks believability. We talk about the cross, about picking up His yoke, but like the Pharisees, we too often ask others to do what we ourselves are not willing to do and thereby manifest hypocrisy and not reverence toward GOD! We do not reverentially fear Him enough to pick up our crosses and follow Him wherever He leads. This is the foundation of sacrificial love, the power of our witness and why because we do not walk in this that we come across as hypocrites!
Perhaps we should attend a few less conferences, a few less camp meetings, and put aside the over abundance of coddling, constant stroking and be the man or woman of GOD we are supposed to be. It is time to stop licking our wounds and put on the Lord; who hanging on His cross, disregarded His own agony to see to the suffering of the man hanging next to Him.
My brothers and sisters it is time to strengthen ourselves for battle, to be courageous and pick up our cross and enter into the battle with relish and without any fear. Perhaps we need to spend a lot more time in His Presence pursuing that which is much more profitable for our spiritual growth! Maybe we should do a lot more taking of what we have been freely given and giving it freely to the lost. Perhaps we should stop building multi-million dollar edifices and take all that money, time, effort, and truly invest it in GOD'S Kingdom.
Finally, we must first and foremost, give back to the Holy Spirit the authority that we have usurped from Him, which was given Him by the Lord Yeshua to raise up His House. We must therefore repent in sackcloth and ashes and ask forgiveness for our sin of pride and self will. Perhaps then He will be gracious to us, forgive us and fill our hearts with the love of the fear of Him. Then and only then, we will once more preach the cross of Messiah with power and authority. This then is the Rock of Foundation: Messiah Yeshua is the fullness of all of who and what GOD the Father is: His character, nature, eternality, power, authority, wisdom, majesty, mercy, grace, truth and above all He is the fullness of His love. Yeshua is He in whom the Father manifested and expressed Himself. He is the Great I AM, sent in flesh, blood and bone to be cleft for us, crucified for the sin of man. He is the Rock cleft by Moshe in the desert which poured forth life giving water to the multitude of families and livestock whom GOD delivered from Egypt. He is this same Rock who later was cleft for us, who poured out His Holy blood, and hanging accursed for the sins of men, gave life to all who would trust in Him. He is the Salvation of GOD Most High.
I have heard the gospel preached, but not often with the power, authority and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. For without the Spirit of GOD going forth with the word that is preached the yoke of slavery unto sin is never broken! The Foundation laid by GOD for man's redemption is the Messiah Yeshua. The preaching of the cross of Messiah Yeshua for the remission of sin is the Gospel of our Lord. It is only when we stop trivializing and taking the atonement that our Lord made for us for granted that we will be able once more to speak the gospel with power and authority. Then these dead bones that we spoke of will spring to life and true revival will sweep through our congregations as well as our nation.
What then, does His gospel declare to man? The gospel declares what GOD requires of man, and through the Torah, He identifies our sin as sin. Then Scripture teaches; the Torah as our Schoolmaster leads us to Messiah. Therefore, the Gospel is the preaching of the cross, which is the satisfying of the just requirement of GOD's Torah (the complete written expression of GOD's teaching for a just and righteous life which states that if a man shall do them he shall live.). No man has ever accomplished this requirement but one, our Lord Yeshua; everyone else has fallen short of GOD's glory. All of the Holy Scriptures are in agreement, there are none who are righteous in the eyes of the LORD, and all men have sinned.
If there is any one thing that will cause more people to stumble and give them a false sense of security, it is a false or incomplete gospel. That gospel will lead them straight into the jaws of hell fire. A false conversion is devastating, for the person has believed something that makes them think that they have been made right with GOD when they are in reality still walking in darkness and a slave to the prince of this world. The false prophet who has preached this lie is not any better off, for he has been swallowed up by the false gospel he himself has preached, and like quicksand swallows up the unwary traveler. Such people become twice the sons of hell that they once were, falling deeper into the darkness of sin, and further from the light of Messiah. This is the havoc sown and the devastation reaped because of the incomplete or false preaching of a gospel other than that which our Lord Yeshua commanded us to speak. Therefore, we must preach the full truth of the cross or our words will lack power, authority, and anointing. No anointing, no Holy Spirit, no Holy Spirit present to go forth with the words, no chance for the heart to be pierced, or the seed to be planted which allows for true repentance to take place.
GOD desires two things in this matter, one that we thoroughly understand what the Gospel is, and two, that we properly communicate it to others so that His Holy Spirit can go forth with the words of truth. If the word of truth is received into the good soil of a good heart it will grow, and hopefully bear much fruit. If it falls onto rocky soil or the hard pack of a well traveled road, and it is rejected, so be it. The important thing to remember here is that we spoke GOD's word according to what was given us by the Spirit so the Spirit of the LORD could do His work. We must return to the pure simplicity of this message for it is the command and the commission that we have been given by the King of kings and the LORD of lords! The command and commission states, "all authority has been given Me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them into the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and know, I AM with you always, to the end of the age, Amen.” (Matt. 28:18b-20)
In the next chapter we will see in great detail what repentance unto salvation really entails so that we will be completely enabled by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the commandment given us by our Lord.
What then is True Repentance?
I put this chapter in this book for two reasons. One, too many followers of “The Way” don't know what the gospel is. Two, for those of you who do understand what the gospel is, it is my hope that the words written here will re-ignite the fire in you that you once had, that you should shake the dust from off yourselves and Go Preach It!
So what then is true repentance and what are we repenting from? What is the fruit of true repentance and why do I need to repent? How are we able to repent, believe, and have faith in what GOD says?
Before these questions are answered, I want to make it perfectly clear that the Almighty GOD is not indebted to man, it is quite the opposite! I do not mean to imply we are able to repay the LORD for our salvation, only that we sometimes act as though the LORD owed mankind something!
This question about salvation may seem to be overstating the obvious, but I believe it needs to be declared with zealous exhortation. It seems to me, that all too often we take our salvation for granted because of our lack of reverential fear for the LORD our GOD because we have not acknowledged in our hearts that He is The Sovereign of the universe. The Sovereign LORD GOD is not someone we simply put on hold and say to. “I’ll get back to you in a minute." All too often this is our posture toward Him, which is extremely disrespectful, rude and contemptuous behavior toward the one who we say is our Father and is GOD the LORD!
"I AM He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." (Is. 43:25)
GOD does what He does based on His just and righteous nature which is founded on and established in the sacrificial death of Messiah Yeshua, the Lamb of GOD who takes away the sins of the world! Yeshua is His expression of the unconditional love that He has for humanity. We must recognize, as He opens our understanding to these things, that all His judgments against mankind, are based upon His indictment of sin against us, that this indictment is without prejudice and is absolutely true.
Then once we have heard the charges against us, and the adjudication the truth that the gospel yields, as spoken by someone filled with His Holy Spirit and under the anointing of the Spirit, we will either acknowledge His words to be true or false. Based upon our response to these words of life that where spoken to us, we judge ourselves worthy of eternal life or of eternal damnation. There is no middle ground! This is not to say that this maybe the only time we’ll ever hear the gospel, or that the Lord Yeshua will not try again to draw us into His sheepfold. For we know GOD takes no pleasure in the death of any man, but rather He desires that all men should come to the knowledge of salvation unto eternal life in His Son Yeshua the Messiah. However, we must understand this: tomorrow is promised to no man; today is the day of salvation! We should therefore consider carefully that the day we hear the gospel maybe our last hours alive on earth.
Once having heard all the truth that the gospel entails, we can never, at the time we appear before GOD's Throne say to Him, "I never knew about your salvation."
This is why we must keep to the simplicity of the preaching of the cross which has at its heart the shed blood of the Lamb of GOD, Yeshua the Messiah for the remission of sins. The truth of the gospel is simple and pure and must not be polluted with human wisdom or repentance will never take place. The simple truth is: it is the cross and nothing but the cross of Messiah that sets us free! There is nothing more and nothing less that will absolve us of the penalty of the death sentence that is against us. Through this one unfathomable act of love that the Father exhibited toward humanity, as is it is expressed through the laying down of the life of His only begotten Son, who suffering the full fury of GOD's wrath has reconciled both Jew and gentile, slave and free, male and female, people of every race and color to Himself. In Yeshua and Yeshua alone are we saved and in no other name on earth or in heaven do we have salvation!!
"...And You with very deep love have saved my soul from the pit of destruction, for you have thrown all my sins behind your back...Thus says the LORD GOD " For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more...He will turn, He will show us mercy; He will trample our iniquities; and you will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Is. 38:17; Jer. 31:34; Mi. 7:19) The LORD promises to do all this if, we will simply agree with Him, the Judge of the Universe and confess before Him our guiltiness because of our sins; then He will show us mercy.
"Come let us reason together says the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be as red as crimson, they shall be as wool!" (Is. 1:18)
In order to understand the true nature of what repentance is, we must understand what the charges against us are; "And also the Splendor of Israel does not lie nor repent for He is not a man that He should repent." (1 Sam. 5:19). Thus we know that the charges against us are true and without prejudice. Now let us answer the whys and wherefores of repentance.
1. Man disobeyed and rebelled against the LORD in Eden. “And the LORD
GOD commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it in dying you shall surely die." (Gen.2: 16-17) With this one single act of disobedience toward GOD all men received the death sentence in every generation; like some malevolent, aberrant death gene passed down from generation to generation, all men would hereafter be spiritually stillborn and have a life span that decreased from one thousand years to seventy. When this happened not only did Adahm and Chava (Adam and Eve lose access to direct fellowship with GOD, but all men thereafter suffered the same loss, and we were no more clothed with the glory of GOD.
"For since through Adahm came death, through the Son of Adahm also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adahm all die, even so in Messiah all shall be made alive." (l Co. l5:21-22) If we say to ourselves, "I am not to be blamed with Adahm's sin," very well then, hear the word of the LORD on this matter: "When they sin against You (the people) for, there is no one who does not sin...For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." (2 Chron. 6:36a; Eccl.7:20) So the Judge of heaven and earth deems that argument irrelevant. "The soul that sins shall die...but every man shall die for his own sin." (Ez. 18:4, 20; 2 Kg. 14:6b)
2. All men have sinned and are therefore without excuse. There is no man who is innocent of sin! All the commandments have been broken by all men; if we break one of His commandments we've broken every single one of them!
"Do not think that I came to abrogate the Torah and the Prophets but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you till heaven and earth pass away, not one yud or stroke of the scribes pen by no means pass from the Torah till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one the least of these commandment's and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven...For whoever shall keen the whole Torah. and yet sins in (one of the commandments) he is guilty of all (sinning against the whole Torah)...Cursed is the one who does not abide by all the things that have been written in the Book of the Torah to do them." (Matt. 5:17-19; Ja.2:10; Deut. 27:26)
3. Man is completely unclean before GOD, the King and only Righteous Judge and Potentate of the Universe. When Isaiah appeared before the LORD in His Throne Room, in the Presence of pure holiness Isaiah declares without reservation and absolute conviction of heart; "Woe is me! For I am utterly destroyed; for I am a man of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the LORD of Hosts."(Is. 6:5) The apostle Peter after seeing the work that Yeshua did described in Luke 5:8-9 does pretty much the same thing after recognizing that he like Isaiah is standing the Presence of pure holiness. He too like Isaiah falls to his knees and cries out with the same conviction, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man."
4. We are all charged with unrighteousness before the LORD GOD and His Messiah Yeshua!
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man is great in the earth, and that the intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen.6:5-6)
So great is the propensity of man's heart toward evil that GOD was grieved in His heart.
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