PLEASING JESUS

"...but the disciples rebuked them... But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, 'Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:13, 14.

As you may know, I have undertaken to build a platform to publish my next book traditionally. God can use what I write for Him to whatever extent He desires. One day, however, while in prayer, which has been the case much during this present season of my life, the thought occurred to me that I could accomplish two things at the same time. I could share some answers I have been receiving in my prayer closet through a video series, while also building a platform for my next book, which is nearing completion.

Pleasing Jesus: Proclaiming Truth and Love

If I may ask, my dear readers, as a Christian, what is it that makes you want to get up in the morning? There are those duties and responsibilities for some of us that seem to steal our lives. Then come the commission and even commands from our Lord Jesus, as in Matthew 28, “Go therefore and make disciples... teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." There are two great commissions, the first is evangelism or soul-winning. The second is to disciple our brethren, particularly those in greater need, to mature in the faith. As I understand it, there are children, young men, and fathers from 1 John 2:12-14. As Christian people, we are to walk as Jesus walked. Jesus was always the truth (or the truth in human form). As such, he could prick a person's conscience, infuriate and belittle, or comfort, call to repentance and faith, or even antagonize. This is important - Jesus is always truth and Love.

Recently, in prayer, I was drawn to pray for an individual I am just getting to know. On one side of my thinking is the sovereign will of Almighty God, but on the other is Jesus' heart that wept for the lost on the day before His trial, rejection, crucifixion, scourging, and sacrificial offering. These things have been weighing on my mind since recording my 2nd episode. I have prayed that while recording, God would speak to my heart. And I may not read my words all the time, but I would have so many gaps where I speak extemporaneously and am filled with the Holy Spirit. During one of those gaps, the idea came to me, and the question arose in my heart, "Why did two-thirds of the angels never fall?" And like so many other times, recently, the thought just occurred, like so many unanswered questions over the course of my life - "the grace of God."

Pleasing Jesus: Proclaiming Truth and Experiencing Love

There is that group of faithful believers who, by the grace of God, understand that God is sovereign. Free will is more than a myth; it is a deception formulated in the mind of Lucifer, who fell by taking matters into his own hands, so to speak, and exercised the first free will that immediately turned to bondage, slavery, and ultimate blindness of mind and soul. Why did Lucifer fall? The only answer I can give is God's sovereign will. Why did one-third of the angels fall and two-thirds remain faithful, and they will through all eternity? God is sovereign!. At this point, the faithful believer faces a conundrum that can lead to unfaithfulness if we are not careful. We can become hard and allow ourselves. to receive a teaching that is true, but can become a hardness of heart. God is sovereign as found in Exodus 33:19, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim..." "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

Why did Jesus say in Matthew 7:13, 14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." God is sovereign, but it is no less true that, in what we cannot comprehend, God is equally loving, merciful, and forgiving. It was John Knox who said, and I am sure he cried, "Give me Scotland, or I die." My dear readers, we should never allow ourselves to become hard through the teaching of God's sovereign grace. We can make thousands of choices that have no moral implications, and we are free to do so. Nevertheless, sin is separation from God, and the sinner thinks himself equal with God. Satan chose to separate himself from God through pride; all of mankind is born of our father, the devil. Human beings, as we are, who are not God, nor are we like Him, because we have no glory of holiness apart from His grace. Here is a truth that should make us cling to God's sovereign grace while weeping for the many lost to eternal damnation. Pleasing Jesus, it is God's grace that will hold the holy angels for all eternity as they have beheld the Son of God crucified. Pleasing Jesus, redeemed sinners will be held equally, not by any will of our own, but baptized into the undeserved grace of God that all God's creatures receive, be it Holy Angels or lost sinners.

Here is the undeniable realitiy, apart from God's grace, be it sinner or Holy Angel, no created being, even those made perfect as we are told in Hebrews 12:22, 23, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect..." can be holy apart from God's sovereign grace. Apart from God's grace to save sinners or hold holy angels never fallen, we would all choose our own unholy will over that of God Most High. If that reality does not make us humble and weep for the lost, nothing will.