In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.

Jeremiah 33:16

The message of holiness must flow out of the place of the Holy Spirit, or not at all.  The message may be preached from other places, but there is no life of righteousness outside of the flow of the Holy Spirit.  Only in the depths of Him is the message complete, is is whole, and is it pure.

There is a ditch, you see, on either side of the road.  There is a an error in not going far enough as well as going too far.  The difference between being “religious” in a controlling and hypocritical sense and that of being right is the Holy Spirit.

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We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:12-15

We must be clear.  We are not to judge those outside of the church, but we are called to judge those inside it (1 Corinthians 5:12).  Those outside are sinners, and we expect them to act like sinners.  If they sin, it is their nature to sin, and we do not do well if we point fingers at the unregenerate, just as we do well not to fit into them, for there is no fellowship between light and dark.  Likewise, when we enter into soulish, or carnal, judgement against a brother, failing to discern the Lord’s body, we do sin.  Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30).  He did not use His own mind or understanding to judge, but He judged according to the Spirit, and was right when He prophesied judgement on the Pharisees, on Jerusalem, and on the cities that would not hear His Gospel.

Yet, Paul made it clear that the man of the flesh cannot receive the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned.  Not will not, cannot.  Jesus said it this way, that those who are not born again cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3-5).

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And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

John 1:16

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:14

We understand that it is by God’s grace that we are saved.  It is not our own efforts, but is His efforts.  It is only by coming with no merit of our own, but as sinners who sin, with no excuse or righteousness of our own merit, and by coming to the bloody cross with our own souls, that we enter into Christ’s life within.  It is only in the fullness of that finished work that we have any life whatsoever.  Paul called any efforts besides simple faith in the cross to be “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1).

On the other side of this is Jesus’ Words, saying, that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we will in no way ever enter the Kingdom.  He said that the gate was small, and the the road to life was hard and narrow.  Only a few find it.

Between these two places on either side, which we could call ditches, we find the road.  Narrow as it is, it is still the road, and it must be traveled.

When we learn to preach the fullness of His Grace hand in hand with the narrowness of the road, we will have begun to understand the finished works of the cross.

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See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8 NIV

You see, we are not of this world, if we will only believe.

This world consists of the things that can be seen, can be touched, can be handled.  Hence, Paul writes of the rules and restrictions of this earthly life that we are no longer subject to, calling them, “Do not handle!  Do not taste!  Do not touch!” (Colossians 2:21).  These are the ordinances of this life, and have no bearing on the life of a Christian, having no proper benefit to any man, ultimately.

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I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Ephesians 3:16-17, portion

There’s something about the flow of the Spirit, the intimacy of His love.  Lost in the embrace Beyond words, raptured in the embrace of His flood.

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But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Galatians 6:14

The freedom from this life is the freedom from all of its desires, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  Yet, this is not asceticism, or the simply turning away from the things of the world, as if to nothing, but it is turning to a greater thing, a thing of true worth, and a thing of lasting enjoyment.

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Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.

Psalm 36:5-6

What can compare to His love?  What can we measure against it?  For, His ways are Eternal in the heavens, and His word is Eternal?

Every sentence in the Book is true, it is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line.

What other way is there to the Father, except through Christ?  Except walking in His Way, walking in His Words, His Truth, and living His Life?

Where else would we go, for He has the words of Eternal Life! (John 6:68).

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But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Galatians 5:16

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

The best, and most perfect way, to live is free from sin.  This is why God gave His law through Moses, so that we might know life, and fellowship with Him.  The Fall is what happened, and corrupted all of the creation.  The Cross is what enabled us to live free from sin, and the desires of the flesh.

We are told, quite simply, to “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).  This, to Paul, was his practical instructions on how to live without sin.

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For the clergy to organize themselves with one rank over another until they are finally headed up by a president is a manifestation of the antichrist spirit, regardless of how wonderful and necessary it may seem. It is nothing but human reasoning taking the place of the Word.

William M. Branham, “A Resume of the Ages”, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages

Did you know that you can have all the form of “Church”, and not have God?

Let’s take a little walk down history lane.  1 Kings 18 shows a good “church service”.  Two of them, in fact.  Two churches, on the same hill-top, eaching having services.  One service was the first church of the Baal prophets, complete with altar, worship service, sacrifice, and even wood.  I hear they sat somewhere near 850 faithful, plus the general congregation.  The second, was the much smaller one.  It wasn’t nearly as fancy.  In fact, I hear it was all wet.  But, they too, had their altar, their wood, their sacrifice.  And, they only had one minister, instead of the hundreds.  But, they seemed happy, so why not let them be?

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They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

After the day of Pentecost, after the outpouring of the Spirit, and after the 3000 who were saved in an afternoon through Peter’s stand and preaching, this short verse describes what they considered important.

This verse has several similar to it in the New Testament, as a word study on such words as “devoted” demonstrates, but it is the first, listing four parts that were what they “devoted themselves to”.  Whether it was an exhaustive list is not the point, but simply that these four were important enough to be mentioned.

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