I have one more subject in this series to look at and it is this the forsaking of Christ, or the forsaking of GOD's Anointing, if you will. For anointing as we have seen over and over in this blog deals with the Messiah in the old and Christ in the new language of our Bibles. After this short look into forsaking of the Christ I will step into another's shoes for a short time.
Forsaking of Christ,
Matthew 19:22 of 16-22 "Behold, a man came up to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" To this He said to him, 'Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.' He said to Jesus, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, 'You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The young man said to Him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, 'If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow (walk with) Me.' When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
Matthew 26:56 of 55-56 "At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, 'Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.' Then all the disciples left Him and fled."
John 6:66 of 66-71 "After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?' Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of GOD (Deuteronomy 18:15-20 of 15-22)." Jesus answered them, 'Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.' He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray Him."
1John 2:19 of 18-25 "Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, for they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. For you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (John 17's prayer) And this is the promise that HE made to us—eternal life."
Godly Sincerity Concerning GOD's Word
"For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ." (2Corinthians 2:17)
Godly sincerity concerning GOD's word is another characteristic that the LORD God's desires to mark us with by His grace. "For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity . . . we speak." The manner in which we relate to the word of GOD is to be our highest priority to our LORD. In the early church, some were already relating wrongly to God's word. "For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God." They were using the word of God even back then for self-gain.
The scriptures warn us about the temptation that people would face concerning inappropriate uses of the word. "There are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain" (Titus 1:10-11). Titus was warned of many in the church world who were rebelling against the message of GOD's word and His Gospel. They were into the meaningless chatter and religious deception that came from the legalists, who loved to lay the Law of Moses on people. It was necessary that these men be silenced with the truth, because they were undermining the spiritual well-being of entire families. They were teaching things that were biblically unacceptable. Their motivation was the financial advantage they could acquire by peddling untruths. So many today are tempted to go after the material gain that often comes from those who will easily buy into religious schemes.
Paul also warned about others who would be motivated by the power and influence that a cleverly distorted message might produce. "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves" (Acts 20:29-30). True disciples follow the LORD Who was Jesus. Furthermore, a true disciple wants to assist others in their quest to walk in agreement with Jesus. These deceivers wanted others to follow them. This threat would be two-fold. Ruthless unbelievers would "come in" from outside and from within the church. Also, "from among yourselves," men with an adulterated message would arise inside the church.
Godly sincerity is to characterize our treatment of the scriptures. We are to proclaim the truth. "But as of sincerity, but as from GOD, we speak in the sight of GOD in Christ." We are to proclaim the message that is from GOD (the Bible has suffered corruption over the years by it's translators), and do it in genuineness, knowing our GOD is watching.
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