Aug 19
11
Spiritual Prostitutes
The Lord calls Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, the Great Whore. (Rev.17) The mystery of Babylon is that her citizens do not see her or themselves as spiritual prostitutes. Spiritual prostitution is committed anytime and every time anyone tries to pay God for His favors. The glorious person and accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our only and full ground of acceptance before God. Anything else offered to barter God’s approval, whether it be in hand or heart, is of that great whore Babylon. If we attempt to approach God with our good works or our good intentions we are committing spiritual prostitution and proving ourselves to be the offspring of the Mother of Harlots. Add anything to Christ, ANYTHING, and you are on a futile mission to allure Him into the fornicating land of Babylon. He will not go there.
Coming to Christ with nothing but our sin, leaving all our righteousness behind requires a miracle of grace in regeneration. It remains a mystery to the natural man. Someone might say; ‘but my sin is too great’. This too is nothing but Babylonian self-righteousness veiled in false humility. Would you be more fit for salvation had you not committed such a grievous offense? No, my friend, you would not. Another may think; ‘I don’t know if I am committed enough’. Again, spiritual prostitution. You will never win God’s favor by the depth of your commitment. Come to Christ just like you are. Come with all your hypocrisies, all your shallow insincerities, and all the ugliness of your sin. It’s all you have.
Our commitment will deepen, our love will grow, and our faith will mature only as we see that these things have absolutely nothing to do with our acceptance before God. Our acceptance is found only in the Beloved.
Don’t be seduced by the harlot of Babylon. She is the ‘strange woman’ of Proverbs 5. She is full of deceit. “Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house. Her end is bitter as wormwood”. In contrast to this great whore is the chaste bride of Christ, a virgin. May God be pleased to show us and make us to differ.
Astonished, bewildered, and overpowered!
(Octavius Winslow, “From Grace to Glory” 1864)
The unregenerate man does not worship the God of the Bible. Worshiping a god of his own imagination, he rears his altar to “THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Divesting the God of Scripture of His divine perfections . . .
His holiness,
His justice,
His truth,
His power
His wrath —
he completely undeifies Him, robbing Him of His glory.
But when he is born again, lo! the God of the Bible bursts upon his new-found vision and his wondering gaze, as a ‘newly revealed God’.
Clothed with new attributes,
arrayed with new perfections,
bathed with new glory,
standing in a new relation —
the new creature falls down at His feet in adoring admiration and love, exclaiming, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You! Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes!” Never did . . .
the being of God, appear so true,
the perfections of God, appear so glorious,
the character of God, appear so great,
the government of God, appear so holy,
the relation of God, appear so endearing — as now!
Born into a new world, the GOD of the new creation unveils to the eye as infinitely, ineffably lovely!
Like a being born and grown up in a dark mine, and brought to the earth’s surface to gaze upon the sun in its noontide effulgence — the new created soul is astonished, bewildered, and overpowered by the splendor, glory, and greatness of the being, character, and perfections of Jehovah!
The god of modern religion?
by Don Fortner
“The Lord does whatever pleases him
throughout all heaven and earth,
and on the seas and in their depths.” Psalm 135:6
The very foundation of our confidence
and faith in our God is his sovereignty.
Were he not sovereign, absolutely, universally
sovereign, we could not trust him implicitly,
believe his promises, or depend upon him to
fulfill his Word.
Only an absolute sovereign can be trusted absolutely.
We can and should trust our God implicitly because
he is sovereign.
Nothing is more delightful to the hearts of God’s children
than the fact of his great and glorious sovereignty.
Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most
severe troubles, and when enduring the most heavy
trials, we rejoice to know that our God has sovereignly
ordained our afflictions, that he sovereignly overrules
them, and that he sovereignly sanctifies them to our
good and his own glory.
The God of the Bible is utterly unknown in this religious
generation. A God who is not sovereign is as much a
contradiction as a God who is not holy, eternal, and
immutable. A God who is not sovereign is no God at all.
If the god you worship is not totally sovereign, you are
a pagan, and your religion is idolatry. You would be just
as well off worshipping a statue of Mary, a totem pole,
a spider, or the devil himself as to worship a god who
lacks total sovereignty over all things.
The god of this generation no more resembles the
sovereign Lord of heaven and earth than a flickering
candle resembles the noon-day sun.
The god of modern religion is nothing but an idol,
the invention of men, a figment of man’s imagination.
Pagans in the dark ages used to carve their gods out
of wood and stone and overlay them with silver and gold.
Today, in these much darker days, pagans inside the church
carve their god out of their own depraved imaginations.
In reality, the religionists of our day are atheists, for there
is no possible alternative between a God who is absolutely
sovereign and no God at all.
A god whose will can be resisted,
whose purpose can be frustrated,
whose power can be thwarted,
whose grace can be nullified,
whose work can be overturned,
has no title to Deity.
Such a god is not a fit object of worship.
Such a puny, pigmy god merits nothing but contempt.
When I say that God is sovereign, I
am simply declaring that God is God.
He is the most High, Lord of heaven
and earth, overall, blessed forever.
He is subject to none.
He is influenced by none.
God is absolutely independent of, and
sovereign over, all his creatures.
He does as he pleases,
only as he pleases,
and always as he pleases.
None can thwart him.
None can resist him.
None can change him.
None can stop him.
None can hinder him.
He declares, “Everything I plan will come to
pass, for I do whatever I wish.” Isaiah 46:10
“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back
his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” Daniel 4:35
Divine sovereignty means that God sits upon the
throne of universal dominion, directing all things,
ruling all things, and “working all things after the
counsel of his own will” (Ephes. 1:11).
God’s sovereignty is irrefutably revealed in
the eternal predestination of all things.
God chose certain men and women in eternity to
be the objects of his saving grace and predestinated
those elect ones to be conformed to the image of his
dear Son (Rom. 8:28-29). Before the world began God
sovereignly determined that he would save some, who
they would be, and when he would save them. Having
determined these things, our great God infallibly secured
his eternal purpose of grace by sovereign predestination.
Eternal election marked the house into which God’s
saving grace must come. Eternal predestination marked
the path upon which grace must come. And sovereign
providence led grace down the path to the house at
the appointed time of love.
God’s indisputable sovereignty is conspicuously revealed
in the salvation of sinners by his almighty grace (Rom. 9:8-24).
God chose to save some, but not all. He gave Christ to die for
some, but not all. He sends his gospel to some, but not all.
He gives his Spirit to some, but not all. He causes some to
hear his voice, but not all.
He planned it.
He purchased it.
He performs it.
He preserves it.
He perfects it.
He shall have all the praise for it.
“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Psalm 115:3
Let us, therefore–
believe him confidently,
walk with him in peace,
submit to him cheerfully,
serve him faithfully,
and honor him supremely.
A fictitious god?
Winslow’s, “The Enmity of the Carnal Mind”
“The carnal mind is enmity against God.”
Romans 8:7
How completely this declaration sweeps away
all the fancied reverence and admiration for God
which floats before the imagination of the carnal
mind in its profound slumber! The carnal mind may
own its belief in the existence of a god. But what
God? Plainly not the God of the Bible; but a deity
of its imagination.
The god of whom he has thus been dreaming, is not
the God of Scripture, but the god of his own creation!
He is not the holy God whom the Bible makes known;
of whom Jesus is the living and visible embodiment;
but an imaginary being clothed with attributes, and
administering a government harmonizing with the
corrupt tastes and sinful propensities of his carnal mind.
Away with your religion of nature, of sentiment, of poetry!
The god whom you profess to adore and worship is not
the God manifested in Christ, whose justice and holiness,
whose wisdom and truth, are blended and harmonized
with grace and love in the cross of Calvary.
“Anyone who hates Me hates My Father as well.” John 15:23
Of what value is your fancied admiration of God’s
character, while yet hating, despising, and rejecting
the Son, who is the “radiance of God’s glory and
the exact representation of His being”?
Your heart is a stranger to holiness, and your mind
to peace, while prostrate before a deity of your own
imagination; a fictitious god!
There is nothing in your creed; nothing in your vague,
shadowy, unreal conception of deity, to fix your thoughts,
to soothe your spirit, to allay your fears, to awaken your
affections, and to inspire your hope. Your altar is reared,
and your incense is offered, but it is to the “unknown god.”
Jesus Christ is completely sufficient!
(author unknown)
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power!” Colossians 2:9-10
One of the great tenets of Scripture, is the claim that Jesus Christ is completely sufficient for all matters of life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4)!
He is sufficient for:
creation (Colossians 1:16-17)
salvation (Hebrews 10:10-12)
sanctification (Ephesians 5:26-27)
and glorification (Romans 8:30).
So pure is He, that there is no blemish, stain, spot of sin, defilement, deception, corruption, error, or imperfection in Him! (1 Peter 1:18-20)
So complete is He, that . . .
there is no other God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5)
He is the only begotten Son (John 1:14, John 1:18)
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him (Colossians 2:3)
the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him (Colossians 2:9)
He is heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2)
He created all things—and all things were made
by Him, through Him, and for Him (Colossians 1:16)
He upholds all things by the word of His power (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3)
He is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15)
He is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3).
He has no beginning and no end (Revelation 1:17-18)
He is the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29)
He is our peace (Ephesians 2:14)
He is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1)
He is our life (Colossians 3:4)
He is the living and true Way (John 14:6)
He is the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)
He is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)
He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2)
He is Captain of our Salvation (Hebrews 2:10)
He is the Elect One (Isaiah 42:1)
He is the Apostle and High-Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1)
He is the Righteous Servant (Isaiah 53:11).
He is the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:17)
He is the Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14)
He is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 54:5)
He is the God of the whole earth (Isaiah 54:5)
He is the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)
He is the Light of the world (John 9:5)
He is the Son of Man (Matthew 20:28)
He is the true Vine (John 15:5)
He is the Bread of Life (John 6:48)
He is the Door to Heaven (John 10:7)
He is the Sovereign Lord (Philippians 2:10-13)
He is Prophet, Priest and King (Hebrews 1:1-3)
He is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9)
He is our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4)
He is the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5)
He is the Rock of Salvation (Psalm 62:2)
He is the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13)
He is the Counselor and Comforter (John 14:26)
He is the Messiah (John 4:25-26) and
He is the great I AM! (John 8:58)