The Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles and their modern day ministerial descendants all marched and continue to march to the same drummer Whose name is God and Whose Will is written in His Book of Truth (Jn. 17:17) known as the Holy Bible.  This almighty Creator of all things is the same yesterday, today and forever, Who is the Lord Who does not change, Whose Word is eternal, Whose Law (Genesis to Revelation) everyone who was ever born is required to obey (Mat. 4:4) and by which all will be judged (Jn. 12:44-50).  Which brings us to the title and focus of this series–faith toward God (belief in His Word–Rom. 10:17) versus denying His Lordship (His control over one’s life–Lk. 6:46).

As the Scriptures tell us, there is no measured response to His Word.  One is either all in or all out.  Belief in and denial of God (His Word) are not only exact opposites, but are also total in nature.  As Jesus told the church at Laodicea, in His eyes one is EITHER hot or cold, EITHER right or wrong, EITHER spiritually alive or spiritually dead, EITHER a saint or a sinner.  One who is both saint & sinner, hot & cold , right and wrong is, in the eyes of God, spiritually dead in that sin separates the sinner from Him (Isa. 59:2).  Contrary to universal church opinion, one can’t be “in Him,” can’t “walk with Him,” can’t “walk as He walked,” can’t “agree with Him” while being separate from Him.  God describes one who manifests those mind-sets as “vomit” (Rev. 3:16).  Recall that Jesus called a woman a “dog” for the same reason–disobedience to God’s Word.  The woman was a Gentile (goiim–heathen), as were all of her people (Mat. 7:6) and all who did not worship, believe and obey the Israelites’ God.  Christ’s calling the church at Laodicea “vomit” shows that being super religious has no effect on one’s standing with Him.  In the Lord’s spiritual realm, one is EITHER a saint or a dog/heathen.  A heathen is a heathen, regardless of his/her religiosity.  A heathen is anyone who does not obey God’s written Law/Word/Gospel/ Truth/Will–His Holy Scriptures.

In his epistle written to “those who are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called” (vs 1), the apostle Jude issued a dire warning concerning what was happening within God’s church in his day, and is still happening within professing Christendom today.  Jude wrote his epistle to God’s sanctified, preserved and called church.  Within a generation of the founding of the New Testament Church Satan had gained a following among many believers who had grown so complacent and comfortable that they were accepting what they were being taught at face value.  Hearing what they wanted to hear, they had failed to “test the spirits” (1 Jn. 4:1) of their leaders.  They had not noticed that those who were teaching the “the gospel” had “turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness,” thereby awarding themselves a license to sin.  Those in the local congregations had failed to stop them from spreading their deadly doctrine.  Why?  For the same reason modern churchites refuse to do so: they liked having their spiritual ears scratched.

The same Satanic doctrine Jude wrote about continues to reign supreme in today’s Catholic/Protestant church system.  The early church was being taught the same grace-based error as a lady I knew who said, “God doesn’t like sin, but He won’t do anything about it.”  Why?  Because God’s grace supposedly turns man’s sins into man’s righteousness.  Following each sin-replaced-by-righteousness phenomenon, the cycle is repeated continuously until the death of the sinner/saint, at which time Jesus gives him/her a final grace bath and sends him/her on his/her way to heaven.  What’s not to like about a religious system in which the reward for rebellion against God is righteousness, a mansion in heaven, etc?  In that system, the wages of sin is not death, but rather eternal life.  This Satanic theology had its beginning in a paradise called Eden where the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) convinced Adam and Eve that they could disobey God and “… not surely die.”  Though He would not like it, He wouldn’t do anything about it.  Eternal life in paradise was guaranteed.

God maintains total Lordship over the lives of His true saints.  His Lordship is manifested in His people through their OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD.  When we refuse to obey Him we do what our first parents did–WE EMBRACE ANOTHER GOD who tells us to ignore God’s Word.

We either hate Satan and love God or we love Satan and hate God.  MAN CANNOT DO BOTH AND BE A CHILD OF GOD (Lk. 16:13).  L.J.