GOD GAVE THEM UP

Photo taken by B Smith from the patio

 

 

261 - GOD GAVE THEM UP

NOVEMBER 10, 1963

Henry F. Kulp

Romans 1: 21 - 28 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

God has said that the visible things of creation, reveal the invisible God, so that all men are without excuse. Then, He brings out that when men knew God, they glorified Him not as God—were not thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. There was a definite decision on the part of man, not to do what God wanted. They didn’t want the God they knew, but they wanted a God for their own making. This was a deliberate choice.

1/  You see, they put God out of their knowledge. That was a definite thing. Then notice, it says the result was that their foolish heart was darkened—that darkness remains unto this day. Do you want to know how dark man’s heart has become? 

Perhaps it is nowhere better illustrated than in John 1: 5 & 10 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

Here God tells us how the mind and heart of man has been darkened. When the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, the horror of man’s condition was revealed for it says here—the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. That is why it was necessary to send John the Baptist to tell the world of the Light that had been turned on. For Christ was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. Yes, John the Baptist came shouting, God’s light is on, God’s light is on, and all the light did was reveal the blindness of man, because it takes more than light for man to see—it is necessary to have sight as well as light. 

If a man is in a room with you and he is blind. He doesn’t know whether the light is on or off. You can turn it off or on and he’ll not know the difference. So all the world of mankind was in darkness, and the light was turned on, but they couldn’t see Him, because they were blind—they needed sight. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ came, except a man be born from above, he cannot see. God has to give sight to man.   

2/  Verse 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 

God doesn’t consider the world’s wisdom to be true wisdom. God says it is foolishness. God is the Light. When men put God out of their lives, there was nothing left but darkness, and this darkness made the wisdom of man foolishness.

3/  Proverbs 9: 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

There we read the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The only true wisdom is found in God and to have this wisdom, the starting point is to know God. If we understand this we are on the road called Truth.

4/  Let’s think about this professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 

I Corinthians 1: 18, 19  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Here God says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God—then notice, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. God is going to make an end of all that is wisdom, of all that is wise today. God is going to destroy everything that is taught in the college and the university—God doesn’t want any of this world’s wisdom. 

Now notice, I Corinthians 1: 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Here Christ is made unto us wisdom. Now let us go back to the 20^th verse where it says, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world. This is all true because man is darkened—he is in darkness.  

5/  Beloved, human intellect is a terrible thing—as a matter of fact, I think we can say it is a dangerous thing. It is because man had his mind and heart darkened. He doesn’t have the Light of God, so therefore, he does terrible things.

6/  Let us stop and think a moment about the word, fool, God’s estimation of the human race, both of its philosophers, its religious leaders, its business men, is that they are fools. We don’t have the right to call any one a fool, but He does. He is the creator, and thereby He has the right to say that all men are fools.

7/  God has said, Isaiah 55: 8, 9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, for as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

8/  We recognize this principle in common physics, but are unwilling to recognize it in spiritual matters. If the whole distance to be measured is 10,000 miles anyone can see that it is foolish to argue over a quarter of an inch, or 3/16^th of an inch. But the difference between a low-grade moron and Einstein who was a brain as far as the world is concerned is less than a fraction of an inch, if you measure the difference from either of   them all the way to God. God is all-knowledge, and anyone who puts his feeble thoughts up against the all-wisdom of God is a simple fool, and that is what our text says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.  

9/  What did man do in his foolishness? He became an idolator.

Verse 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

They put God out of their knowledge and made an idol. Notice they changed the glory of the incorruptible God—that was a defiant act. It didn’t just happen. They deliberately did it. Here is the beginning of idolatry. Man started out as a worshipper of one God—the God of the Garden of Eden. Here we have a time when man starts to have many gods. Do you realize that religion is a history of mankind corrupting God? They started out worshipping idols that were like man, and finally ended up worshipping snakes. Do you want to see the final end of idolatry? 

Revelations 9: 18, 20  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Here religion will have such a hold on man, he will be filled up with idolatry that when one-third of the men are killed, they will still be clinging to their idols. How much darkness is in man. He needs the light—Idolatry is the proof of the darkness of man and his lack of wisdom. 

10/  Let me show you how foolish man is in the vanity of his mind. Let me show you how his mind is darkened. 

Psalms 8: 6 - 8 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

Here God says, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands—in other words, this is what God did with man—He put them over the works that God had created. Notice the word, dominion, than God says thou has put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of sea. Here is man’s true dominion, but oh, what a picture we have in Romans 1: 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Oh, what darkness—here man worships the very creation that God placed beneath his feet—that is what idolatry is—worshipping that which man was to have dominion over.

11/  Now let us take a little more study on the matter of idolatry, Isaiah 44: 9, 10 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

They that make a graven image all of them are vanity. 

Now the word, vanity, is TOE-HOE and it means worthless. You have the same Hebrew word in Genesis 1: 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

And the earth was without form it means something that is worthless—so idols are worthless. Then it says their delectable things, and of course their delectable things are their idols, their pets, favorites, their treasures, but they are not of any value to them. These idols are their own witnesses, they cannot sing, they do not know, they do not have minds, they do not have eyes, they are good for nothing. 

 

12/  Then Isaiah shows how silly a man, an idolator is. We have here the process of god-manufacturing. First of all we have the smith—in the iron foundry, an annex of the heathen temple, and he makes a god. He works in the coals, and he fashioned it with hammers, and with his strength, he makes it. But he is hungry, his strength faileth and he is faint. Compare this with the one who made the body of Jesus Christ, who fashioned the body that God was to come in—Hebrews 10: 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

He doesn’t faint, He doesn’t get hungry, He is the one who never faints. Then he talks about another way of making an idol. The poor devotee of an idol, takes a Cedar, a Cypress or an Oak, which he probably planted with his own hands, many years ago, and he cuts it down and he sets to work with a line, a plane, a chisel, and he fashions it into the resemblance of a human being. Having done this, he places it in a shrine, a temple, and he falls down before it and worships it. What becomes to the rest of the tree? With it he makes a blazing fire to warm himself or to bake his bread. It is only by chance that part of the wood became an idol, part of it was burned up. So this idol cannot help him, it is just a piece of wood. 

Finally it is brought out in Isaiah 44: 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Verse 20 says that he feedeth on ashes, and to feed on ashes means there is no strength—nothing can be derived from ashes, but contrast this with the Bread of Life, the Living Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a difference between worshipping an idol and worshipping God’s Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  

13/  But did you ever notice, Colossians 3: 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Paul tells us covetousness is idolatry. 

There are those who make riches the object of their worship—they allow the idol to come between their souls and their regard for the possession of wealth and their regard for God’s approval and for salvation. They have a greater desire to be rich on earth than to be saints of God. What a silly folly this is. So many pieces of yellow metal to be an object of one’s life, for so many green-backs to be object of one’s life. These pieces of yellow metal, or these green-backs, they do not save, they do not do anything for the individual, for one leaves all this behind when he dies.

14/  Then there is the idolatry of rank and station. Some who despise wealth have a great high affection to have rank and station in life. They would even give their money, they would even give their wealth that they could be looked up to, that they could have authority, that they could be in a certain place in life. In some of the Sunday newspapers, we have what they call the society section, it has all the doings of those who are members of society. I remember, I had an aunt who when she came to our house, always wanted to see the social section of the paper, and she just longed to be part of society. This is an idol, this is a god for some people.

15/  Then notice, Romans 1: 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

God gave them up. Notice Romans 1: 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: God gave them up. 

And verse 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

God gave them over. 

You will see that it is three times that God gave them up. When they changed God’s way, God let them have their own way. This is God’s method. He gave us a free will, and He lets man have his own way if he insists upon it. When man put God out of his mind, and out of life and turned to idolatry, God gave him up.

At that point God chose Abraham, and built a race for Himself, and by a miracle He gave him Issac, and by a miracle He gave the world a new nation, and by that nation and a miracle. He gave us a Saviour. Notice, how He did this. He took one man who was part of this creation that turned its back upon God, Joshua 24: 2, 3 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

This man was a Gentile, for there were only Gentiles on the earth at this time, and this man was part of the devil-worshipping Gentiles, he worshipped idols, he went along with all of them, but God called him and he obeyed, and God said to this man that He was going to start a new nation.

Genesis 12: 1 - 3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

And it was to be this one nation that all the Gentiles were to be blessed, and then God built a middle wall of partition between this nation and the Gentiles. 

Ephesians 2: 11 - 13 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

16/  But in the next chapter, God takes us to the nation Israel, this miraculous nation that came from Abram who became Abraham. They, too, reached a point where they turned their backs upon God and God had to give the nation Israel, the Jews, and we have the final sum of it all in Romans 3: 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 

But praise God with man in this wicked terrible condition, God has an answer for it. The answer, of course, is the Person Jesus Christ. 

Romans 3: 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

   

AMEN

Ref: 11/10/1963 / 261 - GOD GAVE THEM UP / 08/22/2020

THE SPIRIT’S WITNESS

 

Photo taken by B Smith from the Kitchen Door

 

 

287 - THE SPIRIT’S WITNESS

JANUARY 31, 1965

Henry F. Kulp

 

Romans 8: 5 - 11 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Many people have had a great deal of trouble with this portion of Scripture, but actually God is not warning a believer here how he should live, but is making a distinction, He is making a contrast—a contrast between the saved and the unsaved.  A distinction between the saved and the unsaved—according to the Word of God, there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are saved and those who are unsaved. God will never, and never has divided people, into what the world calls educated nor uneducated, cultured or savage, rich or poor, high or low. These differences do not exist in the mind of God, but only in the mind of men. God just recognizes those who are saved and those who are lost.

1/   Our present text shows that the only difference God recognizes is between those who do not have divine life and those who do. There are those who are after the flesh and those who are after the Spirit. Every individual in the world is described by one of these two phrases—after the flesh or after the Spirit.

2/  It is sad, but true, that those who are in the flesh, walking in the flesh, are the last to suspect their condition. Their mind is enmity against God.

Romans 8: 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

This is brought out in I Corinthians 2: 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Then, of course, you have Jeremiah 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The hearts of men are deceitful above all things and incurably wicked. So he doesn’t really know his condition.

3/  Our text shows us four things about those who are unregenerate, those who are unsaved. 

First of all, and it is in verse 5 we have the description of their life. They that are after the flesh. Their life is fleshly. 

Secondly, we have a picture of their nature—they do mind the things of the flesh, and thirdly, we have an announcement of their state—they are in debt—and lastly, we have the mind of God about their condition. They cannot please God. 

Everything that is said of the unsaved man, can be contrasted with what we have in Christ. The description of our life is after the Spirit. We do not mind the things of the flesh, but the things of the Spirit—and rather than being in the state of death, we are in the state of life, and then the mind of God about our condition is that we please God. God is always pleased with those who trust His Son as their Savior. 

4/  Remember, this is not religion, for we go back to Romans 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

It is Christ. To be in Christ is to be spiritual—to be out of Christ is to be fleshly. We realize the flesh can have religion, but it doesn’t help it one iota. When one disobeys God as to His plan of salvation, he is not a child of God. Perhaps some of the strongest statements in the Bible concerning fleshly religion are to be found in the prophecy of Amos. 

Amos 4: 4, 5 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

But in order to understand what we are driving at, we must say a word about the back-ground of this little book. There had been a civil war after the death of Solomon—the ten tribes in the North were separated from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin in the South. Leviticus 17 says that there be no animal sacrifice, no animal offered except at the door of the tabernacle, which was now established in Jerusalem in the Holy City—the only city that God ever recognized. 

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.

This left the tribes of the North without any place to exercise their religious rites, and if you will take a close study of the Old Testament you will see that the more faithful people in the North trickled down to the South to obey God in worshipping—they went to the tabernacle or the temple there in Jerusalem and offered up their sacrifices, and many of these people who went down to the South remained to strengthen the Southern Kingdom. 

To counteract this trip southward, the northern authorities determined that there should be a place of worship within the confines of a northern kingdom that would enable the people to have their religion right there and not have to down to the southern section, so two places were suggested for worship and sacrifice. These two places were BETHEL and GILGAL. 

5/  You should read the book of Amos and listen to the Prophet Amos, sent by God to cry out against these fleshly altars. The Lord spoke through Amos in the greatest example of irony and sarcasm. You just will not find a comparison to it anywhere else in the Holy Bible, or I believe in all of literature. If the words that I want to read to you are read in an ordinary tone the whole point of the story will be missed, but if the words are read with sharp and biting sarcasm, we’ll understand them better, for God said, through Amos, come to Bethel and transgress—God invites the followers of the northern kingdom who have set up this apostate altar and He says, come to Bethel and transgress—that’s right. Come and sin at Gilgal multiply transgression, and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three years, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven. Proclaim free-will offerings and publish them for it is just like you, O Israel.   

6/  And a little farther along in the book, God clearly indicates His deep hatred for human religion. 

Amos 5: 21 - 24 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Listen to Him—He says, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell, and this is about incense, in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them. Take away from Me the noise of your songs. 

Here God is crying out against fleshly religion—they refuse to go down to Jerusalem, the only place of worship. You can read the Book of Amos, and you can say of the northern kingdom—they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh, and to be carnally minded is death.

7/  It is well for us to recognize the difference between a man being in the flesh, and the flesh being in the man. I am not in the flesh, tho’ the flesh is in me. The unsaved man is in the flesh, and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. We, on the contrary, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.  And the proof of this is that the Holy Spirit dwells in us verse 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.   

8/  Now we come to the 10^th verse And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

And here we have a problem for some people, for it opens up and says, And if Christ be in you. 

The English form might leave some room for doubt, because we are accustomed to using the word, if, in the sense of a possibility of uncertainty, but we must not forget, however, that the word, If, is also used in a sense that carries great certainty with it. 

Let me tell you a story concerning two men who work in a certain office. Both of them make a telephone call at the close of the day to tell their wives that they will be working overtime. A third man hears both men’s conversations and he is a man who knows both men very well. 

The first man tells his wife, “I can’t get home until late because I am working overtime.” The third man hears this and says, “If you are working overtime, you are going to miss the poker game tonight.” The first man laughs and winks, acknowledging that he has lied. He is not going to work overtime. But the second man says to his wife, “I am very sorry, I can’t get home for dinner tonight, as there is some extra work, and I’ll be working quite late.” The third man knows this man is an honest man, and he says, “If you are working overtime, you will have a nice bit of extra pay at time and a half rates.” The phrase was used in both instances, “If you are working overtime”—the phrase as addressed to the first man, clearly implies that he is a liar—the phrase as addressed to the second man implies that he is telling the truth. It is in the latter sense that we must understand the 10^th verse. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Paul is addressing men and women who are saved—who are in Christ. The opening phrase of our text might well be rendered—and because Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. 

Here our mortal bodies come in view. The Holy Spirit that is in us guarantees our resurrection body. Some people read that 11^th verse to mean that He quickens our mortal body now, but our mortal body is a body that dies, for that is what it means—it is mortal—it is not immortal, and the 11^th verse says, the Spirit that raised up Jesus shall also quicken or raise up your mortal body. 

Notice, that is the future—shall do it—it is not done now, but it shall be done in the future, when you pass away from this present life and lay your body in a tomb, you are with the Lord, and your body will be in the care of God, for your body belongs to God, but at the present time it is a mortal body, it will still die. But our body is being watched over, taken care of, by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit Who raised Christ from the dead, will raise you. 

I hope you know that your body is cared for by the Holy Spirit, for He is in you. He is keeping you, He is using you, He is shedding the love of God abroad in your hearts.

I have received quite a lot of mail concerning the series of messages I preached on TV. Some of it has been about healings—how folks get so upset about this. 

One woman wrote me a long epistle, and she signed it a lay minister. She tried to inform me that bodily healing is in the atonement for today, and what a lot of nonsensical things she had to say, for if we go to II Corinthians 4: 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

We read, …Our outward man perish, and that word, perish, means to rot thoroughly or completely, and that is exactly what will happen and is happening to our bodies. Just do not wash your body at the present time and you will find that it is rotting. Do not take care of your body and you will see it is decaying, but if bodily healing were in the atonement, you wouldn’t have to clean your body and care for it—wash it up. 

I am sure when you have your resurrection body, you will not have to do these things. Their won’t be a market for cosmetics, their won’t be a market for deodorants, their won’t be a market for perfumes, and all different scents. I am sure in the resurrection body we won’t have to shave. In our resurrection body we will not have to comb our hair, but our bodies are mortal right now. They are subject to death, but because the Holy Spirit, Who is in us, is life, the mortal body will become immortal when it is resurrected from the grave. It will be changed like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

9/  Actually this text is telling us more than just the fact that our mortal bodies will be made immortal, be resurrected and made like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. His teaching to us at the present time is that there is resurrection life in us, even though we are living in mortal bodies. That is the reason why Galatians 2: 20 is so interesting. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God – Oh, that you might understand the doctrine of the faith of God. 

All of Romans 8 up to this point is dependent upon the faith of God. Right now, the life which we live is by the faith of God. That does not mean that God puts faith in us, but rather that He is the One Who is faithful, the One Who is dependable. He will perform what He said He will do. 

Go over to Galatians 2: 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ—the dependability of Jesus Christ. 

It is the difference between subjective and objective faith. Objective faith is the faith that we have—we have faith in the One Who is to be depended upon. But subjective faith means One who is worthy of being trusted. How do I know I am justified when I believe, have faith in, Jesus Christ? Because He is faithful. He will do what He says He will perform, and right now, He has given us eternal life, and we are living this eternal, resurrected life right now.

10/  Even our prayer life depends upon the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I John 1: 9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we confess our sins…How do we know this does any good? The Scripture goes on to say, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Because He is faithful, we know when we confess our sins, He purges us from our everyday activity and gives us fellowship with Him, so all is dependent upon the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ.    

AMEN

Ref: 01/31/1965 / 287 - THE SPIRIT’S WITNESS / 08/21/2020

ACCESS TO GOD

 

Photo taken by B Smith from the Patio

 

274 - ACCESS TO GOD

May 3, 1964

Henry F. Kulp

 

Romans 5: 1 - 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

God starts this chapter out by talking about justification, and I wonder if you realize that justification is everything. When you have justification, you have all that an individual needs. You might say, what is justification? Justification is the Lord Jesus Christ calling you something that you are not. You are not holy, but God calls you holy. Justification is God accounting to you be in possession of something you do not have. You do not have holiness, but   God counts you as being holy. 

1/   Then we have another word, the first word is justification, the second word is peace—justification by faith we have peace with God. This is not the peace of God, this is the peace with God. 

When the Lord Jesus had finished His work on the cross of Calvary he was received back into Heaven. Then God held nothing against the human race. Jesus Christ died for every man. God is not standing over man as a great judge, waiting to whip him. God, right now, has His arms outstretched, and He says come to me in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is peace with God. Jesus Christ made this peace. 

Colossians 1: 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Notice the word, made. He made it by the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary. There on the cross, God put your sins on Him, He paid the price of redemption. It is all done. 

Now notice the 22^nd verse In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

In the body of His flesh through death to present you how? Holy. That is justification. We poor, miserable, sin-stained, lost and undone, presented to God Holy. That is justification.

2/   I want you to recognize something. Since the blood flowed on Calvary, God is not charging sin to man, He is inviting man to come to salvation. There is a great deal of difference in that. You can go to any man, women, or child on the face of  the earth, and tell him that Jesus Christ died for him, and if he will believe, instantly, he will be made a child of God. We don’t have the right to go around charging man with sin—our business is to invite them to Christ. The very worst of sinners can be saved. This is the Gospel.   

3/   Notice our ministry today, and God presents it so clearly to us. 

II Corinthians 5: 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Here is a truly remarkable thought. You may not have noticed it before but notice it now. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of what? The word of condemnation?  Are we to go around and rail on sin? No, notice, He hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We have no right to come to any man and condemn him. For that man is in the place where you were if you are saved now.  And God didn’t condemn you, but you have a right, a duty, to go to that man and plead with him to be reconciled today. That is the ministry that we have. It is the ministry of reconciliation. Anyone who is saved can exercise this ministry. God’s arms are outstretched, and invites every man to come. 

4/ Hebrews 4: 16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

That Jesus Christ is upon the throne of grace—not the throne of condemnation. We do not have a ministry of condemnation—we have a ministry of reconciliation, and all who believe, have peace with God, for Christ has made this peace.         

5/   You say that is something that it causes you to go out and live the way you want. No, it doesn’t. Not if you really understand. Not if you appreciate in your heart what God has done for you—it should be a motivating force for you to live for Jesus Christ. Let us show you something else here. 

Colossians 1: 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

In the body of His flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblamable. 

Do you realize that Jesus Christ even takes your blame? I wonder, do you ever praise Him for that? You might say, I want to be blamed for what I did. But the Lord Jesus Christ was blamed for what you did, and what if you go out and do it again? Don’t do it again, because if you do it again, He’ll be blamed for that too. You are unblamable. Jesus Christ has taken your blame. What a wonderful thought this is.

6/   Notice, Romans 5: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

You see, by Jesus Christ we have access, we have access to the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ, and only by Him. This access into the holy place is by the blood of Christ. I want to show you that. 

Let us go to Hebrews 10: 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 

All of these words are connected with blood. We are justified by blood. The price of justification is the blood of Jesus Christ. And if we want  access with God the Father, and boldness to enter into the holiest, it is by the blood of Jesus Christ, and the modernists want to do away with this blood—they ridicule it. They say we don’t want that slaughter-house religion, but here it is—if you want to have access with God the Father, it must be by blood. Blood is the important thing—there is nothing else beside that.

7/   Among men they have secret societies, and you have to know how to get into these secret societies. Sometimes it is just a sign, sometimes it Is just a word, sometimes to get into the place, you have to know a secret entrance, but whatever the entrance or access into this secret society is, you have to know it. We also have to know how to have access to God, and there is only one way—that is access into the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

John 16: 7 - 9 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Jesus Christ said, when the Holy Spirit is come, He will convict, reprove the world of sin, not sins. It is singular, and of righteousness and of judgement. Of sin, singular, because they believe not on Me. It is not a sin question today, it is a Son question. What are you doing with God’s Son? He has made peace, if you will believe on Him.

8/   I wonder if you appreciate this wonderful privilege of having access to God. Did you ever read in the Bible and study how access to God was under the Old Covenant? Under the Law? And then compare it to what you and I have in Christ today. When God prepared Israel for the coming of the Law, He revealed to them that He was holy and could be approached only one way. Read the Books of Moses and see how carefully God revealed the access to Him was to be in only one way. 

Exodus 19: 12 - 13 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

When God came down on Mt Sinai, He warned Moses that the people must be far from the mountain. And thou shall set bounds for the people round about saying, Take heed that ye do not go up into the mountain, nor touch the border of it. Whosoever shall touch the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch it, but he shall be stoned, whether beast or man, He shall not live. 

So you notice the only one who had access to God at that time was Moses, and the people were down at the base of the mountain, and this evidently did not satisfy them, so when Moses didn’t come down in what they thought was a reasonable time, they went to Aaron and said, Make us gods that they may lead us. They were not satisfied with this access up to this time. Their access was in a man by the name of Moses, but today, our access to God is in Jesus Christ. 

Then, when the law came, have you ever thought about access then? Did you ever realize that of the Levites, the tribe of the priests, only the descendants of Aaron could touch the sacrifices. Their cousins supplied music and other parts of the priestly service. Then at the hour of sacrifice, the priests slew the lamb brought by the sinner, while the sinner leaned over the gate, his hand on the animal’s head, and confessed his sins before God. After confessing his sins, the sinner watched the priest offer the sacrifice for him. First the priest went to the altar, offered the sacrifice, then walked a few steps to the lever (lay’ ver) where he washed his feet. Returning to the altar, he took the blood of the animal in a bowl and placed it on the North side of the altar toward the tabernacle itself. Taking a censor filled with sweet-smelling incense, he walked into the tabernacle, but only into the first room, the holy place, and there he offered the incense, at its special altar. The altar stood just before the great vail, the one that was torn in two, when Christ died on the cross. At that point the priest could proceed no farther. 

Then, finally, once a year, one man, the high priest could go beyond the veil of the temple on the great day of atonement when he went in with the blood. This was the climax of their access to God. But now all this pageantry taught that man cannot come to God in his own way. He must come to God in God’s revealed way, the divine way. 

And today it is the same thing—there is only one way to have access to God, and that is in Jesus Christ and through His shed blood. Do not think that you can come to Him in any way you feel is right. God has set down the conditions under which you can have access to Him.   

9/  Romans 5: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Now we have another word in this verse that is very important—it is in the word, stand. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. The word, stand, is the word, FIXED, and of course, this is eternal security. I think I won’t spend a lot of time on this, this morning, but I want you to see that we are saved forever. We are fixed in this grace forever. I don’t understand why some people who claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ don’t want to believe in eternal security. They all want social security, and I think this is far better, much better. I think it is a thousand times better—a million times better. Eternal Security is to know that when you are in Christ, you are in Christ forever. Notice, this grace wherein we stand, or are fixed.

10/   Now notice the rest, And rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The word, glory, is the word, EXULT, is a better translation than simply, rejoice. And exult, is a sort of bubbling over, when you exult over something, you are bubbling over inside. It is a nice word, I like it, and we exult in hope of glory. In other words, we are bubbling over inside in hope of glory. We have come to that place where Heaven is so real to us, that we rejoice.  We bubble over inside every day in the fact that very soon we will be in Glory. I recognize we don’t all get to this place, but we should. 

Someone told me the other day of a Christian who went to a doctor because of a very severe pain. After all the examinations and tests were in, the doctor had to tell this person that they had cancer. This person said, Praise the Lord! and the doctor hasn’t gotten over it yet. Heaven was so real to this person, Glory was so real that they were exulting in it—they were bubbling over inside because of it.      

11/   Let me show you a verse that brings this out so clearly. 

Hebrews 10: 34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

These people were persecuted. Their goods were taken, their homes were broken up, they had to go into dens and caves to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were glad in the midst of it. They were glad, first of all that they were permitted to suffer. They were glad they could share in the sufferings with other believers, because they had a testimony for Jesus Christ. They were willing to have everything spoiled. Why? Because they weren’t interested in today, they were interested in the future.

12/   Every time I think of this, I think of the time I read of the French kings who had some of Christians as prisoners in the middle ages. I think it was the Huguenots, but I’m not really sure. They were Christians in France. They had to meet in dens and caves, but they got so numerous that the king said he would do something. He sent word to warn them that they would be slain. His soldiers came back to the king and told him, You know, O king, these Christians don’t care anything about your edict so go ahead and kill them, because, they said they will go right to glory. Well, he said, go back and tell them they are going to suffer the most intense persecution I can think of. They came back and said they didn’t care for that either, because they say, the Lord Jesus Christ died and suffered for them, and they are glad to suffer for Him. What are you going to do with that kind of individual? What could you do with these folks? There wasn’t much this king could do. But that was the early Christians. I know we are not like that in this 20^th Century. I wonder if you rejoice, if you exult in the hope of the glory of God.  

13/   Starting with Romans 5: 3 and running into the 5^th verse we have four words that follow each other logically. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Four words, let me show them to you. Tribulation, patience, experience, hope. These are four words that follow each other in God’s plan and method. 

The first is, we glory in tribulation. Remember, he said in the 2^nd verse we rejoice in our hope of glory. But look at the 3^rd verse and see how it begins—not only so that, but there is something else—what is it? We glory in tribulation. But do we? That word, glory, is the same word as exult, we exult in tribulation. And I’ll give you another word of tribulation—it is the word, trouble—that is what tribulation is—it is all sorts of trouble, and we rejoice in that, we exult in that, we bubble over inside because of that? Yes, you say, but I don’t. I am sure I don’t know many people who do. I know early Christians did, and I wonder what is the matter with us in this day and age, for we do not rejoice in tribulation. 

I wonder if you recognize that God has a plan. When God wants to give you something, we’ll say, a great blessing, He has to wrap it up in trouble, and I wonder if you realize that when God permits trouble to come into your life there is something wonderful in it. And when you see that, you will be able to glory in that thing that is so hard.  

        

AMEN

Ref: 05/31/1964 / 274 - ACCESS TO GOD / 08/14/2020