Seven Spiritual Lessons From Bible Animals

INTRODUCTION

God did not fill His Book with animals just so a Sunday School teacher could keep the kids quiet with a coloring page. The Lord uses animals like living parables because a man can argue with doctrine, but he can’t argue with a picture that stares him in the face. A sheep doesn’t pretend to be a wolf. A serpent doesn’t apologize for being subtle. An ant doesn’t complain about working while the sluggard sleeps. The Bible says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6). That is God telling a grown man to sit down and learn from a bug.

The problem with modern Christians is they want “deep” truth while ignoring the plain truth sitting right in front of them. They want to chase charts, podcasts, and personalities, while God is saying, “Look at the lamb. Look at the lion. Look at the dove. Look at the ox.” There is nothing shallow about God’s object lessons. The Holy Ghost can teach you more through a sheep and a shepherd than a seminary professor can teach you in a year of lectures if that professor doesn’t believe the Book. Jesus Christ Himself preached with animals and nature because truth is not impressed with your vocabulary.

So this is for the Bible believer who wants practical spiritual instruction with teeth in it. These seven animals are not random. Each one is a mirror. Each one exposes something in you. Some of them comfort you, some of them rebuke you, and some of them warn you. And if you are honest, you will find yourself in every one of them at some point. God’s creatures become God’s classroom, and the man who refuses to learn from the Lord’s lessons stays childish, proud, and easily deceived.

1. THE LAMB AND THE LESSON OF SUBSTITUTION

The first animal God uses to teach you is the lamb, and the lesson is substitution. A lamb is innocent, harmless, and defenseless, and that is exactly why God chose it as the picture of the Saviour. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he did not say, “Behold the philosopher,” or “Behold the moral example.” He said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). That is blood doctrine, not sentimental religion. God’s solution for sin was not education. God’s solution for sin was sacrifice.

All through the Old Testament, the lamb is tied to the blood. At Passover the Lord said, “Your lamb shall be without blemish” (Exodus 12:5), and then He commanded the blood to be applied, because the issue was not sincerity, it was satisfaction. God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). He didn’t say, “When I see your good intentions.” He didn’t say, “When I see your church membership.” He said, “When I see the blood.” That is substitution. Something dies in your place so you can live.

That lesson will keep you from two deadly traps. It will keep you from pride, because you can’t brag about being saved when your salvation required a slaughtered Substitute. And it will keep you from despair, because if the blood paid for all your sin, then the devil’s accusations are just noise. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). The lamb teaches you that God does not forgive by pretending sin is small. He forgives by judging sin in a Substitute, and that Substitute is Jesus Christ.

2. THE LION AND THE LESSON OF AUTHORITY

The second animal is the lion, and the lesson is authority. The modern world tries to turn Jesus into a tame religious mascot, but the Bible presents Him as a King with a roar. The Scripture says, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed” (Revelation 5:5). That Lion is not begging for votes. He is not running for office. He is not asking permission from culture. He has prevailed. That is authority.

A lion does not negotiate with prey, and Jesus Christ does not negotiate with truth. He speaks with final authority, and that it’s why the world hates Him. The world will tolerate a “Jesus” who never corrects anything, but it cannot tolerate the Lion who says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). When you are struggling, you need that Lion. When you are afraid, you need that Lion. When your mind is full of chaos, you need the sound of a King who is not confused.

The lion also teaches you something about spiritual courage. Most Christians are bold in safe environments and cowardly in public. They’ll talk tough around friends and go silent around enemies. That is not lion behavior. The Bible says, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). That boldness does not come from personality. It comes from being right with God and grounded in the Book. The lion teaches you to stop living like the devil is king. He isn’t. The Lion of Judah is.

3. THE SERPENT AND THE LESSON OF DISCERNMENT

The third animal is the serpent, and the lesson is discernment. The first creature in the Bible to speak to man was a serpent, and he spoke lies wrapped in half-truths. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1). Subtlety is Satan’s art. He doesn’t usually come in a red suit with horns. He comes in a friendly voice, a spiritual tone, and a question mark aimed at the Word of God. “Yea, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1) is the devil’s first sermon, and it is still his favorite.

The serpent teaches you that temptation often begins with conversation. Eve didn’t fall by tripping. She fell by listening. She entertained the dialogue. She let the serpent frame reality. That’s why the Bible commands you to be watchful. The devil will use media, friends, religious talk, and even “Christian” teachers to plant doubt. Paul warned, “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Notice where the serpent works. He works in the mind. That’s why a Christian who neglects Scripture becomes easy prey.

Now here is the part that will correct shallow thinking. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). He is not telling you to be wicked. He is telling you to be alert. A wise Christian does not assume everything labeled “Christian” is safe. A wise Christian tests spirits, checks doctrine, and watches fruit. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). The serpent teaches you that discernment is not optional. It is survival.

4. THE DOVE AND THE LESSON OF SPIRITUAL TEMPERAMENT

The fourth animal is the dove, and the lesson is spiritual temperament. God uses the dove as a picture of purity, peace, and the Holy Spirit. At the baptism of Christ the Bible says, “The Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him” (Matthew 3:16). That is not an accident. A dove is not a vulture. It does not feed on rot. The Holy Spirit does not feed on filth either. If you want fellowship with God, you do not cultivate garbage in your mind and call it liberty.

The dove also teaches you about peace. When Noah sent out the dove, it returned with “an olive leaf pluckt off” (Genesis 8:11). That was a sign of restoration after judgment. The world chases peace through distraction, but the Bible says peace is a fruit of the Spirit, not a product of circumstances. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22). If you are always stirred up, always offended, always agitated, always looking for a fight, you may be zealous, but you are not walking like a dove.

And the dove corrects the Christian who thinks harshness is strength. Some people mistake a bad attitude for boldness. Jesus said to be harmless as doves, which means your spirit matters. Truth without love becomes cruelty. Love without truth becomes compromise. The dove doesn’t weaken the lion. It balances the lion. The believer needs courage with

The Cross Demands a Choice

You either bow to it or stumble over it, but you can’t ignore it.

Introduction

The cross is not a decoration, and it is not a slogan, and it is not a sentimental symbol for people who like religious jewelry. The cross is God’s public execution of man’s pride, and it is heaven’s announcement that your righteousness is filthy rags, and it is the sharp edge where eternity divides. Men want a Christianity that is soft enough to cradle their ego and broad enough to include their sin, but the cross will not cooperate with that program. The cross does not negotiate. It does not ask how you feel. It does not adjust itself to modern taste. It stands like a wooden verdict in the middle of history and forces every soul that passes by to decide what they will do with Jesus Christ. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). That verse does not leave room for neutrality. If you are perishing, it is foolishness. If you are saved, it is power.

Most people try to avoid decisions that cost them something. They will postpone, compromise, redefine, rationalize, and distract themselves so they never have to bow. But the cross is a decision you cannot escape. You may ignore it in your mind, but you will meet it again at the judgment seat of Christ if you are saved, or at the great white throne if you are lost. The cross is the hinge upon which God swings His wrath and His mercy, and you do not get to walk around it as if it were a piece of furniture. The Lord Jesus Christ did not hang on that tree to become an inspirational story. He hung there to pay for sin, to satisfy justice, to crush the serpent, and to save sinners who could not save themselves. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). That is not poetry. That is payment.

And here is the part that offends modern religion: the cross does not merely invite you. It confronts you. It says you are guilty, you are condemned, you are helpless, and you need a Savior outside yourself. It tells the moral man that his morality cannot erase one sin. It tells the religious man that his religion cannot wash away one stain. It tells the intellectual that his education cannot answer death. It tells the rebel that his rebellion is suicidal. The cross demands a choice because it is the place where God settled the issue of sin, and you either receive what Christ did or you reject it and bear your own judgment. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:18). Already. That is the present condition of every man outside Christ.

1. The Cross Exposes the Real Condition of Man

If you want to know what God thinks about human nature, look at the cross. God did not send His Son into the world to congratulate mankind. He sent His Son because mankind was lost. The cross is proof that man is not basically good. If man were basically good, he would not have murdered the only sinless man who ever lived. Yet when God walked among men in perfect holiness, the world cried, “Away with him” (John 19:15). Religion conspired with government, and the crowd demanded blood. That is not an accident of history. That is the revelation of the heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).

The cross also exposes the bankruptcy of human righteousness. There were plenty of religious people standing around Calvary. There were priests, scribes, Pharisees, and a man with a title nailed above his head. And yet the only man on that hill who could save them was the one they were killing. The cross says you cannot climb up to God by effort, and you cannot scrub your conscience clean by rituals. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20). No flesh. That includes the most faithful churchgoer and the most disciplined moralist. If the law could save, Christ did not need to die. But He died, because you cannot.

And the cross exposes the seriousness of sin. Men treat sin like a mistake, a weakness, a preference, a personality trait. God treats sin like a crime. Sin is not an inconvenience; it is treason. Sin is what put nails through the hands of the Son of God. You can measure the ugliness of sin by the price required to pay for it. If sin could be dismissed with a shrug, God would have shrugged. If sin could be erased with a self-help plan, heaven would have published one. But sin required blood. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). That is why the cross demands a choice. It tells you sin is deadly, and you must either take God’s remedy or die in it.

2. The Cross Declares God’s Holiness and God’s Love

Modern religion likes to talk about love while ignoring holiness. But at the cross, God’s holiness is not softened; it is satisfied. God does not overlook sin. God judges sin. He does not pretend justice doesn’t matter. He fulfills justice. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Wages are earned. Death is not an accident; it is the paycheck of rebellion. And the cross is where God poured out His wrath on sin without pouring it out on the sinner who believes. He judged sin in the body of His Son. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10). That sentence is not sentimental, but it is salvation.

At the same time, the cross is the loudest declaration of love in the universe. Not the love of a soft grandfather who winks at sin, but the love of a holy God who pays the full price to rescue rebels. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While we were yet sinners. Not after we improved. Not after we proved ourselves. Not after we deserved it. While we were sinners. The cross is love that bleeds, love that suffers, love that endures, love that pays.

And this is why you cannot ignore it. If you ignore the cross, you are ignoring the only place where holiness and love meet without contradiction. The world wants love without judgment, but that is not love; that is indulgence. The world wants mercy without holiness, but that is not mercy; that is corruption. At the cross, God remains just and becomes the justifier. “That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). That is divine genius. God does not lower His standard. He meets it in Christ. So the cross demands a choice: will you trust what God provided, or will you cling to your own broken system?

3. The Cross Divides Humanity Into Two Camps

Men love the middle ground because it feels safe. But the cross destroys the middle ground. It creates two camps: those who bow and those who stumble. Scripture does not blush to say it. Jesus Christ is “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” (1 Peter 2:8). Not because He is rude, but because He is righteous. He offends pride. He offends self-righteousness. He offends religious hypocrisy. He offends the idea that you can save yourself. He offends the world’s love for darkness. The cross is the offense because it says salvation is by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

The same cross that saves the humble condemns the proud. Not because God enjoys condemning, but because pride will not come. The cross says, “Come empty.” Pride says, “I must contribute.” The cross says, “Believe.” Pride says, “I will do.” The cross says, “Receive.” Pride says, “I will earn.” That is why Paul said, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded” (Romans 3:27). The cross leaves no room for you to brag. A man who bows at Calvary has nothing to boast about except the blood. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

Jesus, Wine, and Alcohol: What the Bible Really Teaches and Why It Matters in 2026

Main Passages: John 2:1-11; Matthew 26:27-29; Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 23:29-35; Ephesians 5:18

Introduction

People keep asking the same question because the word “wine” in the Bible is used in more than one way, and modern Christians read the Book like it was written yesterday in a liquor store aisle. That is a setup for confusion. You open the Scriptures and you see warnings that sound like God is waving a red flag over the whole subject, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). Then you see passages where “wine” is associated with blessing, harvest, joy, offerings, and even a little medicinal use, and folks think the Bible is contradicting itself. It is not. The contradiction is in the reader, not the text. The Bible is precise, but you have to let it define its own terms and you have to stop assuming that every time you see the word “wine” it means modern, bottled, fermented alcohol.

The second reason people ask is because the most common arguments are emotional and tradition-driven. Somebody will say, “Jesus turned water into wine, so He approved drinking.” Somebody else will say, “Paul told Timothy to use a little wine, so it must be fine.” Then somebody else points out that drunkenness is condemned and tries to split the difference with a so-called moderation doctrine. But the Bible does not treat intoxicants as a harmless hobby that only becomes sinful after an invisible line is crossed. Scripture repeatedly frames alcohol as a deceiver, a corrupter of judgment, a danger to the weak, and a destroyer of families, ministries, and testimony. When God says, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright” (Proverbs 23:31), that is not a love letter to moderation. That is a warning aimed at the very nature of the thing.

The third reason this matters is because 2026 is not ancient Israel. We live in a culture that markets intoxication as personality, therapy, sophistication, and “self-care.” The alcohol percentage is engineered. The access is constant. The social pressure is relentless. The damage is measurable, and it shows up in broken homes, wrecked purity, wrecked finances, wrecked testimonies, wrecked nerves, wrecked minds, and wrecked churches that will rebuke everything except the “respectable” sins that sit at the table on Saturday night and sing in the choir on Sunday morning. So I am going to answer the question the way the Book answers it, not with excuses, not with loopholes, but with Scripture, common sense, and honest history.

1. What Does “Wine” Mean in the Bible?

The first key is simple. The Bible uses the same word for the product of the vine in different stages and forms. English does it, too. People say “cider” and they might mean sweet or hard. People say “wine” and they might mean fresh juice, fermented drink, or something in between. The Bible languages have the same range. That matters because a man can build a whole theology on one lazy assumption, and the most popular lazy assumption is that Bible “wine” always means fermented alcohol. It does not. That one assumption is the engine behind most moderation preaching, and once you pull that engine, the whole car stops.

The Bible itself gives you a definition that should settle a lot of the noise. “Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster” (Isaiah 65:8). New wine in the cluster is not a bottle of booze. It is the fresh product of the grape. The Book also shows grapes being squeezed directly into a cup. The butler said, “Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand” (Genesis 40:11). That is not a distillery. That is not a fermentation lecture. That is the vine’s fruit, fresh and direct, and Scripture is comfortable calling that product “wine” language in context. When you learn to read with that in mind, you stop forcing every passage to mean alcohol.

This is why the argument is never settled by shouting the English word louder. The Bible settles it by context. Sometimes the context is blessing and nourishment and harvest and clean joy. Sometimes the context is deception and sickness and woe and shame. The issue is not that Scripture is confused. The issue is that Christians are trying to baptize a cultural habit and then run to the Bible hunting for a permission slip. If a man starts with the desire to justify his glass, he will twist words. If a man starts with the fear of God, he will let the Book speak and he will take the safest path when the stakes are high.

2. “Wine” as Blessing Versus “Wine” as Biting Serpent

God is not against joy. God is against intoxication and deception. There is a difference between the fruit of the vine as God made it and the corrupting use of it as man abuses it. That difference shows up in the way Scripture talks. When God is warning you, He describes what intoxicating drink does to the mind, the eyes, the mouth, the heart, and the feet. “They have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way” (Isaiah 28:7). That is not “they had two ounces too many.” That is the effect of the substance. It bends judgment. It breaks spiritual seriousness. It makes a man careless with his soul.

Then you have the vivid, courtroom-level warning in Proverbs 23. “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Proverbs 23:32). The passage keeps going, and it does not describe a cute evening. “Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things” (Proverbs 23:33). That is lust and looseness. “Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea” (Proverbs 23:34). That is danger and stupidity. Then comes the addict’s lie: “When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again” (Proverbs 23:35). So when somebody tells you alcohol is morally neutral and only becomes sinful after some invisible line, you can hand them the Book and ask them why God talks like this about a “neutral” beverage.

Now put that beside the Bible’s clean joy language. God blesses with harvest and plenty. God gives bread. God gives fruit. God gives good things. The Bible can speak of the vine’s fruit as part of prosperity and gladness without endorsing intoxication. The devil’s trick is to use the blessing language of the vine to smuggle in the curse of the bottle. The Bible never tells a man to pursue intoxication. The Bible never frames intoxication as spiritual freedom. The Bible frames it as deception, bondage, and ruin. The safest reading is the honest one: the Book approves the wholesome fruit of the vine and condemns intoxicating drink as a snare that destroys judgment and testimony.

3. The Wedding at Cana: What Did Jesus Actually Make?

John 2 says Jesus turned water into “wine,” and that single chapter has been used to pressure Christians into drinking for generations. But you have to read what it says and what it does not say. It does not say Jesus drank it. It does not say it was fermented. It does not say He was providing liquor to intoxicate a crowd. It says He manifested His glory and the disciples believed on Him (John 2:11). The sign is about who He is, not about what men want to sip.

Then the steward says, “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10). People read “well drunk” like it means “drunk,” but the wording is about having drunk freely, not about being intoxicated. More importantly, the argument that “good wine” must mean “strong wine” is a modern assumption. In older usage, and in much ancient testimony, “good wine” can mean fresh, sweet, clean, and not biting. If you have ever tasted fresh grape juice

Redeeming Wasted Years
Awakening begins when a saint refuses to waste another season

Main Passage: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11, KJV)

Introduction

There is a particular grief that only a saved man can feel, and it is not the grief of losing his soul, because Christ settled that on Calvary, but it is the grief of realizing he squandered time that God meant to use. The lost man wastes years and calls it living. The saint wastes years and calls it backsliding, and even when the Lord restores him, he carries the shame of seasons spent half asleep. That is why Romans 13:11 hits like a trumpet in the night. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” (Romans 13:11, KJV). The verse is not written to scare the believer into thinking he will lose salvation. It is written to wake the believer up to the fact that he can lose time, lose reward, lose joy, lose fellowship, and lose opportunities that will never return.

God built the Christian life with urgency in it, because God built life itself with a deadline in it. People talk about time as if it were a river you can wade in forever, but it is not. It is a current that pulls you toward an appointment. The Bible says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, KJV). Numbering days is not morbid. It is wise. The man who refuses to number his days becomes careless with his soul. He drifts. He postpones. He says, not yet. The Holy Ghost says, now. Not tomorrow. Not after things settle down. “Now it is high time.”

When a saint awakens, he does not merely feel bad. He gets up. He stops making excuses for his spiritual sleep and he refuses to waste another season. He begins to redeem what can still be redeemed. The Bible says, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16, KJV). That is not poetry. That is marching orders. You do not redeem time by wishing the past away. You redeem time by waking up in the present, cutting off the dead weight, and obeying God while breath is still in your lungs. That is what this essay is about, not a sentimental reflection, but a call to get up, get straight, and get busy while the night is far spent and the day is at hand.

1.The Lie of Someday

The devil has a gospel for backsliders, and it is not atheism, it is delay. He does not need a saint to deny Christ. He only needs him to postpone obedience. The devil whispers, you will pray later. You will read later. You will witness later. You will get serious later. And then later becomes never. That is why Paul says, “now it is high time.” (Romans 13:11, KJV). The Holy Ghost attacks the lie of someday. Someday is the cemetery of good intentions. Someday is where sermons go to die. Someday is where Bible plans get buried. Someday is where callings get strangled.

A saint can waste years without committing some public scandal. He can waste years by simply being distracted. He can waste years by drifting into entertainment, comfort, routine, and spiritual laziness. He still believes the right doctrine, but he is asleep to the weight of eternity. He becomes like Samson who “wist not that the LORD was departed from him.” (Judges 16:20, KJV). Samson did not lose his calling in one moment. He lost it in a pattern. He played with sin until he could not tell the difference between strength and weakness. That is what delay does. It dulls discernment. It makes the saint think he can keep sleeping and still wake up strong.

The cure for someday is now. Not legalism, not emotional hype, not a new personality, but obedience in the present moment. When the prodigal “came to himself” (Luke 15:17, KJV), he did not schedule repentance for next month. He rose and went. Awakening begins when a saint refuses to waste another season. The first step is not a grand vow. It is getting up today. It is saying, I will not live another week the way I lived the last one. I will not keep postponing what God already told me to do.

2.Sleep Is Not Innocent

Spiritual sleep looks harmless until you measure what it costs. A sleeping saint is not at rest. He is exposed. He is vulnerable. He is easy prey. The Bible says, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6, KJV). That verse is written to believers. It proves believers can sleep. And when believers sleep, the enemy works. He plants bitterness. He plants secret lust. He plants indifference. He plants resentment toward authority, resentment toward responsibility, and resentment toward truth. Sleep is not neutral. It is a battlefield condition.

The tragedy is that many saints confuse sleep with peace. They think calmness is spiritual health. But spiritual health is not a lack of conflict. Spiritual health is alert obedience in the middle of conflict. A believer can be calm because he has surrendered to drift. He is not fighting temptation because he stopped resisting. He is not praying because he stopped caring. He is not witnessing because he stopped seeing people as souls. That is not peace, that is numbness. That is why Paul says “awake.” It is not a suggestion. It is a command.

Sleep also wastes seasons because it wastes opportunities. There are moments God gives a man to speak, to serve, to repent, to build, and to bear fruit, and those moments are not guaranteed to repeat. The Bible says, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1, KJV). The saint who sleeps assumes tomorrow will always arrive with the same strength, the same chances, the same open doors. But doors close. Health changes. People move. Time runs out. Sleep is expensive. It spends what cannot be recovered.

3.The Clock That Cannot Be Rewound

Romans 13:11 says, “for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11, KJV). That is one of the simplest statements in Scripture and one of the most sobering. Every day you live you are closer to meeting Christ. Whether you are a faithful saint or a drifting saint, the meeting is still approaching. That is not meant to terrify the believer about hell. It is meant to sober him about account. The Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, KJV). The judgment seat is not for condemnation. It is for evaluation. It is where wasted years show up as loss.

The world thinks time heals everything. The Bible teaches time exposes everything. The longer you live, the more your choices become your character. The more your habits become your direction. A man can waste a season and tell himself he will make it up later, but the clock does not rewind. That is why the Psalmist prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” (Psalm 51:12, KJV). David could be forgiven, but he could not undo consequences. He could be restored, but he could not erase the past. Forgiveness is real, but time is still time. Redemption does not erase yesterday, it redeems today.

This is why awakening is urgent. You cannot go back and fix the wasted years, but you can stop wasting the years ahead. God is merciful enough to use what remains. He can turn a late start into a strong finish. He can turn a broken man into a useful man. He can take a saint who has been asleep and make him watchful. But the saint must get honest. He must stop pretending sleep is harmless. He must stop telling himself he has unlimited time. He must live like the day is at hand.

4.The Grace That Restores the Wreckage

If this essay were only a whip, it would crush men. But Scripture does not only convict, it restores. God does not call a saint to wake up so He can mock him for sleeping. God calls him to wake up so He can use him. The Bible says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give

God Doesn’t Need Your Opinion, Just Your Obedience

Submission beats speculation.

Introduction

This generation is drunk on opinions. Everybody has a take, everybody has a platform, everybody has a “thread,” everybody has a commentary, and everybody thinks their feelings are a form of authority. Men will argue for three hours about what God “really meant,” and never obey one plain sentence He actually said. They will debate Genesis, mock Revelation, psychoanalyze Paul, and rewrite the words of Christ so they can keep their darling sin and still claim the name of Christian. They will discuss theology like a sport and treat obedience like an optional accessory. But the Bible never taught that God saves men so they can become religious philosophers. God saves men so they can become servants. “Ye are not your own… For ye are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Bought people do not get a vote. Bought people get orders.

The first sin in the universe was not adultery, drunkenness, or theft. It was self-will. It was “I will” against “Thou shalt.” It was a creature deciding he would be his own authority. That is why rebellion is so serious. It is not merely breaking a rule. It is challenging the throne. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23). Witchcraft is trying to control reality through another spirit. Rebellion is trying to control your life through your own spirit. Both say the same thing: God will not rule me. And that is why God does not need your opinion. He demands your submission. “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7). Not negotiate. Submit.

Speculation is cheap. Obedience costs something. Speculation lets you feel spiritual without being sanctified. Speculation lets you talk like a Bible believer while living like a worldling. Speculation lets you criticize everybody else without dealing with your own heart. But obedience changes a man. It humbles him. It breaks him. It makes him useful. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). God would rather have one obedient saint than a thousand loud opinions. Submission beats speculation every time.

1. The Bible Is Not a Discussion Board

God did not give you the Scriptures so you could run a debate club. He gave you the Scriptures as the final authority. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God… that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Notice the destination. Not furnished unto all good opinions. Furnished unto all good works. The Book is not given to increase your argument skills. It is given to straighten your walk. If a man reads the Bible and comes away prouder, louder, and meaner, something is wrong with him. The Bible humbles a man who believes it. It does not inflate him.

The modern world treats truth like it is negotiable. “My truth” and “your truth” and “their truth.” That language is straight from hell because truth is not personal property. Truth is God’s property. “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). If God’s word is truth, then your opinion is either aligned with truth or it is a lie. There is no neutral ground. The Bible says, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). That includes you when your opinion disagrees with what God said.

A Bible believer does not sit in judgment over the Scriptures. He lets the Scriptures sit in judgment over him. The Book is a sword, not a pillow. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword… and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible does not ask your permission to convict you. It cuts. And when it cuts, the right response is not, “Well, I see it differently.” The right response is, “Yes, Lord.” 2. Saul Proves That Partial Obedience Is Disobedience

King Saul is the poster child for men who think God accepts their “interpretation” of commands. God told him to destroy Amalek completely (1 Samuel 15:3). Saul went out, fought, and then kept what he wanted. He spared Agag and kept the best of the sheep and oxen, and then he had the nerve to say he obeyed. “Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD” (1 Samuel 15:13). That is religious talk. That is church language. That is a man lying with a Bible vocabulary.

Then Samuel delivered one of the sharpest rebukes in all Scripture: “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (1 Samuel 15:14). In other words, your excuses are louder than your obedience. Your compromise is making noise. You can talk about obedience all you want, but disobedience has a sound. It always bleats. And Saul tried to cover his rebellion with spiritual reasoning. He claimed the animals were for sacrifice. That is the classic move. Disobedience dressed up as devotion.

Samuel answered him with the verse that should be burned into every Christian’s conscience: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). God does not want your religious performance as payment for your rebellion. God wants your submission. Saul lost the kingdom because he loved his own judgment more than God’s command. “Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee” (1 Samuel 15:23). When men elevate opinions above obedience, they forfeit usefulness.

3. The Flesh Loves Theory Because It Hates Authority

The flesh can talk all day. The flesh loves conferences, podcasts, arguments, speculation, and “deep” discussions that never touch the heart. The flesh loves anything that gives it the feeling of spirituality without the pain of repentance. That is why some people will spend hours studying prophecy charts and never deal with bitterness. They will quote Greek words and never forgive their brother. They will argue over manuscripts while hiding pornography. They will debate Calvinism while neglecting prayer. They are not interested in obedience. They are interested in being right in front of men.

But the Bible exposes the root. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). The flesh is not neutral. It is an enemy. And because it hates submission, it prefers speculation. Speculation keeps God at a distance. Obedience brings God close. Speculation lets you remain the judge. Obedience makes you the servant.

That is why the Lord said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). Notice the order. Do, then know. Obedience brings understanding. Disobedience clouds it. Many men do not “see” truth because they do not want to obey it. They are not confused intellectually. They are resistant morally. The light is not the problem. The heart is the problem. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). A man who loves darkness always has an opinion about why the light is wrong.

4. Real Faith Obeys Even When It Doesn’t Fully Understand

Faith is not mental agreement. Faith is trusting God enough to obey Him. Abraham did not get a full explanation when God told him to go. “By faith Abraham… obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8). That is submission. That is a man moving with God’s word as his compass, not his feelings. The flesh wants a full map, a guarantee, a comfort package, and a safety net. Faith steps out because God spoke.

Seven Things Jesus Said That Still Shock the World

INTRODUCTION

The world doesn’t hate Jesus because He taught people to be kind. The world hates Jesus because He spoke like God. The modern crowd likes a “Jesus” who is a gentle life coach, a harmless mascot for religion, and a silent statue that never corrects anybody. But the real Jesus Christ in the King James Bible is not a mascot, and He is not impressed with man’s opinion. He did not come to negotiate truth with sinners. He came to declare truth to sinners, and when He opened His mouth, the words landed like a hammer. “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46) was not flattery, it was shock. When Christ spoke, conscience woke up, devils trembled, hypocrites panicked, and the religious establishment started sharpening nails.

The reason His words still shock the world is because they expose what the world tries to hide. The world wants a religion that never mentions sin, never mentions judgment, never mentions hell, and never claims exclusive truth. Jesus did all four. He talked about hell more than most preachers ever will. He told religious people they were lost. He said the heart was filthy. He said God demands repentance. And He claimed to be the only way to the Father. Those are not the statements of a bland moral teacher. Those are the statements of either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord.

So what follows are seven things Jesus said that still rattle the modern mind. They are shocking because they contradict the spirit of the age. They offend human pride, human religion, and human lust. They cut across politics, culture, academia, and entertainment like a sword. But they also provide life, because “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). If you want a Jesus who never shocks you, you don’t want the Jesus of the Bible. You want a counterfeit.

1. “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN” (JOHN 3:7)

The first statement that still shocks the world is simple and brutal: “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Not “you should consider it,” not “it would be good for your mental health,” but “must.” Christ looked at Nicodemus, a religious man, a teacher, a ruler, and told him he wasn’t fit for the kingdom as he was. That shocks people because it demolishes the idea that religion makes you right. The world thinks if you’re sincere, decent, and spiritual, God will grade on a curve. Jesus said you need a new birth, not a new hobby.

This statement offends pride because it levels everybody. It says the drunk needs it, the moralist needs it, the church member needs it, and the preacher needs it. Nobody enters God’s kingdom by pedigree, tradition, or morality. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). That’s not a sermon illustration. That is a divine requirement. It means your old nature cannot be patched up and dragged into heaven. It must be replaced by spiritual birth.

And it shocks the world because it means salvation is not self-improvement. The world loves therapy and self-care because it keeps the self on the throne. The new birth dethrones the self. It makes a man confess he is lost and helpless. That is why proud religious people hate it. But Jesus didn’t stutter. “Ye must be born again.” The world is still shocked because it still wants to enter God’s presence without becoming what God requires.

2. “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE” (JOHN 14:6)

The second statement that shocks the world is the exclusivity of Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). That verse detonates every religion on earth that offers another route. The world today worships “tolerance,” which is just pride with a smile. It says all faiths are equally valid and truth is personal. Jesus said truth is a Person, and that Person is Him. That shocks the world because it refuses to bow to pluralism. The world calls that arrogance, but it is only arrogance if it’s false. If Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, then to say He is the only way is not arrogance; it is reality. The doctor who tells you there is only one cure is not arrogant. He is truthful. But the sinner doesn’t want a cure; he wants permission. The world wants a Jesus who will share the throne with Buddha, Muhammad, Mary, science, and self. Christ refused. He said, “no man cometh… but by me.” That is a closed door to every other gospel.

And this is why men try to soften Jesus. They retranslate Him, reframe Him, and rewrite Him, because His exclusivity ruins their spiritual marketplace. But you can’t edit God out of His own Book. Jesus didn’t claim to show the way. He claimed to be the way. The world is still shocked because it wants many roads, and Christ said there is one.

3. “EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH” (LUKE 13:3)

The third statement that shocks the world is His insistence on repentance. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Modern preaching tries to remove repentance because it is unpopular, but Jesus made it unavoidable. He didn’t tell sinners to merely “accept themselves” or “follow their heart.” He told them to turn. Repentance means you change your mind toward God and sin, and that change results in a change of direction. It is not penance. It is not reform. It is the inward turning that produces outward fruit.

This shocks the world because the world worships autonomy. The world says you have a right to define your own truth, your own morality, your own identity. Jesus said you are accountable, you are wrong, and you need to repent. That is offensive because it puts God above man. The sinner wants God to approve him. Christ demands the sinner come to God on God’s terms. “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15) is not a suggestion; it is the King’s command.

And it shocks the religious world too, because repentance exposes hypocrisy. It’s easy to criticize others while excusing yourself. Jesus didn’t permit that. He said the axe is laid at the root. He said men must turn or perish. No therapy can erase that warning. No church tradition can dilute it. Repentance is the doorway that pride refuses to walk through, and that is why the world still flinches when it hears it.

4. “WHOSOEVER LOOKETH… TO LUST… HATH COMMITTED ADULTERY” (MATTHEW 5:28)

The fourth statement that shocks the world is how Jesus defines sin. “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). The world thinks sin is only what you do with your hands. Jesus says sin starts in the heart. That shocks people because it makes them guilty even when they think they are “good.” A man can avoid the physical act and still be filthy inside. Christ exposed that internal corruption, and the modern world hates it because the modern world is built on lust marketed as freedom.

Jesus went further. He didn’t just condemn actions; He condemned motives. He didn’t just condemn murder; He condemned hatred. “Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). That means the heart is the battlefield. The world can clean up behavior for appearances, but only God can judge intent. That’s why Scripture says, “For the word of God… is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Christ preached that kind of holiness because He is holy.

Is Salvation a Process or a One-Time Event?

Introduction

The confusion on salvation is not because the Bible is unclear, it is because men are dishonest with the Bible. The flesh loves a system where you can boast, measure yourself, judge others, and keep people on a leash with uncertainty. So they take Bible words like “saved,” “salvation,” “sanctification,” “endure,” and “overcome,” and they dump them into one pot, stir it with tradition, and then serve it as a religious stew that tastes holy but poisons assurance. The result is predictable. You get churches full of people who say they love Jesus but never know if they are His. They are constantly trying to “stay saved,” constantly checking their performance, and constantly living in fear that one failure sends them to hell. That is not Christianity. That is bondage with a cross necklace.

The Bible teaches that salvation is a one-time event the moment a sinner believes the gospel, and it also teaches that God then works in that saved person over time. Those are not contradictions. That is the difference between justification and sanctification, between your standing and your walk, between being born and growing up. A baby is born in a moment, but he grows for years. Nobody says a child was “partly born” for twelve months. Birth happens once. Growth happens after. In the same way, salvation is a completed act of God in response to faith in Christ, and the Christian life is the ongoing work of God in the believer.

So when someone asks, “Is salvation a process or a one-time event?” the correct Bible answer is this. Salvation in the sense of being justified, forgiven, redeemed, and placed into Christ is a one-time event. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). But salvation in the sense of God saving you daily from the power of sin, maturing you, correcting you, and conforming you to Christ is an ongoing work in time. The Devil wants you to mix those two until you cannot tell the difference, because when you cannot tell the difference, he can steal your peace, weaken your testimony, and make you doubt the Book every time you fail.

1. The Bible Says You Can Be Saved in a Moment

When the Bible talks about a sinner being saved, it speaks as a decisive act, not a slow climb. The Philippian jailer did not get a twelve week course and a probation period. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” and the answer was immediate and direct: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). That is not “believe and then prove it for years and maybe you will be saved.” That is a one-time transaction based on Christ and received by faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ said the same thing with eternal clarity. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Notice the verbs. “Hath” is present possession. “Is passed” is a completed transfer. The passage does not say he is slowly passing from death to life. It says he has crossed over. That is the new birth. That is salvation as an event.

The Bible even defines the content of what must be believed. Paul said, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel… how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Salvation is not faith in your faith, faith in your sincerity, or faith in your future obedience. Salvation is faith in the finished work of Christ. When that faith is placed in Christ, God saves the sinner then and there.

2. Salvation Is Not Earned or Maintained by Works

If salvation is a process earned by steady obedience, then grace is a lie and the cross is reduced to an assist. But Scripture does not talk that way. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:5). Mercy does the saving. Works do not. That verse does not say God saved you because you started doing better. It says He saved you because He is merciful.

Paul goes further and nails the coffin shut on human boasting. “For by grace are ye saved through faith… Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). That is not complicated. If a man could keep himself saved by obedience, he could boast. He could say, “Christ saved me, but I kept me.” That turns the believer into his own savior after conversion. It is pride pretending to be holiness.

The Bible also shows what happens when people try to blend law and grace. “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). That is not teaching that a saved man loses salvation. It is teaching that the man who seeks justification by law has stepped away from grace as the means of justification. You cannot mix them. Either Christ saves you, or you save yourself. The Bible’s position is settled. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28).

3. Justification Is Instant, Sanctification Is Progressive

Here is where the honest Bible student draws clean lines. Justification is God declaring you righteous in Christ. Sanctification is God working righteousness out in your daily life. The first is your standing. The second is your walk. The first happens once. The second continues until you see Christ. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Peace with God is not a reward for long-term improvement. It is the result of justification by faith.

But after a man is saved, the Bible commands growth. The believer is told to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Growth is real, and growth takes time. That does not mean salvation takes time. It means discipleship takes time. Maturity takes time. Victory takes time. Learning the Book takes time. Learning to walk in the Spirit takes time.

This is why the Bible can speak of believers as already sanctified in one sense and being sanctified in another sense. Paul told the Corinthians, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 6:11). That is positional sanctification. You are set apart in Christ. But the same Bible commands practical sanctification in your conduct. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). One is what God did to you in Christ. The other is what God does in you as you obey.

4. The Bible Uses “Salvation” in More Than One Sense

Part of the confusion is that the Bible uses the word “salvation” in different time frames. Sometimes it refers to your past conversion. Sometimes it refers to your present deliverance from sin’s power and from trouble. Sometimes it refers to your future redemption, when your body is changed and you are finally like Christ. If you pretend the word only has one use, you will misread half the New Testament.

The past sense is clear. “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9). “Hath saved” is completed. The present sense appears when Paul speaks to believers about working out what God has worked in. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). He does not say work for your salvation. He says work it out, because God is already at work in you. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). That is growth and obedience flowing from salvation, not earning salvation.

The future sense is also explicit. Believers are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). That is future salvation in the fullest sense, when the body is

Why Do Christians Still Struggle with the Flesh After Being Saved?

Introduction

A man gets saved and expects everything inside him to line up like soldiers at inspection. He thinks the moment he trusts Christ, the old desires will pack their bags, the bad habits will evaporate, the temper will vanish, and the mind will suddenly sound like a hymnbook. Then the first real temptation hits, and he finds out his old nature did not die quietly. It is still there, still loud, still stubborn, and still capable of making a fool out of him if he lets it. That shocks a lot of people because they were sold a fantasy version of Christianity where salvation is presented like a complete personality transplant. The Bible never promises that. The Bible promises a new birth, not an instant glorification.

The truth is that salvation is real, complete, finished, and perfect in Jesus Christ, but God did not save your flesh. He saved you, and the “you” that got saved is the inner man, the soul that trusted the Savior, the spirit that was dead and is now made alive. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). But the body you live in is still the same body with the same appetites and the same weaknesses. Paul said, “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:20). He did not say it to excuse sin. He said it to explain the war.

So the question is not whether a Christian should struggle. The question is why the struggle exists and how God expects you to deal with it. The Bible answers that plainly, and it answers it in a way that preserves assurance without excusing sin. God will not let you pretend that grace means you can live like the Devil. But He also will not let the Devil convince you that every battle proves you were never saved. The struggle is real, the warfare is normal, and the victory is available, but it is never found by trusting your flesh. It is found by trusting God’s word and yielding to God’s Spirit.

1. Salvation Changes Your Nature, Not Your Flesh

When you got saved, you did not get a new body. You got a new birth. Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). That verse alone crushes a mountain of confusion. The flesh produces flesh, and it stays flesh. The Spirit produces spirit, and that is where the new life begins. You were not renovated. You were regenerated. God did not improve your old nature. He gave you a new one.

That is why the Bible speaks of “the new man.” “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That new man is real, and it is created “after God,” not after your upbringing, not after your church background, and not after your personal discipline. But the Bible also speaks of “the old man.” “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him” (Romans 6:6). The old man is judged at Calvary, and in God’s record that old man has been sentenced. But the presence of the flesh means you still carry around the old ways, the old reflexes, and the old cravings, and you will have to learn, by practice, to live out what is already true in Christ.

A saved man therefore lives with two realities at once. He is complete in Christ and still capable of sin in the flesh. He is accepted in the Beloved and still has to mortify the deeds of the body. He is a child of God and still has a body that wants to act like a hog in a slop trough. That is why Paul can say, with full confidence, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), and in the same Bible he can also warn believers, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (Romans 8:13). One is your standing. The other is your walk.

2. God Did Not Save the Body Yet, and He Told You So

A Christian struggles with the flesh because the redemption of the body is future. That is not a guess. That is doctrine. Paul said believers are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). That is why death still happens, sickness still happens, exhaustion still happens, and temptation still happens. Your spirit is sealed, your soul is saved, but your body is not glorified yet. You are living in a temporary tent that leaks.

That is why Paul calls the body a battlefield. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He does not say, “Not much good.” He says, “No good.” If you ever want a verse that destroys self confidence, there it is. The flesh can be trained, restrained, and disciplined, but it cannot be trusted. It is not the seat of righteousness. It is the seat of appetite. If you feed it, it grows. If you starve it, it whines. If you pamper it, it takes over. And if you try to make it holy, it will turn holiness into pride.

This also explains why the Christian life is not about perfect circumstances. If God’s goal were to make your earthly life comfortable, He could have done that by removing every temptation. Instead, He leaves you in a world that tests you and a body that pulls on you so you will learn dependence. That is why the Bible says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Sight wants immediate results. Faith trusts God through conflict.

So the war is not proof you are lost. The war is proof you are alive. A dead man does not fight sin. A lost man can be religious, but he is not at war with his own flesh in the spiritual sense because he is still ruled by it. When God saves a man, He puts a new nature inside him, and the moment that new nature shows up, the fight begins. That is why Paul describes it like civil war inside one body.

3. The Bible Says There Is a War Inside You

The Bible does not romanticize this thing. It calls it what it is: war. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Galatians 5:17). That is not a personality quirk. That is not a phase. That is a constant opposition between two natures with two different appetites. The flesh wants the world, the self, and the easy path. The Spirit wants holiness, truth, and obedience.

Paul describes the same conflict in Romans 7 with painful honesty. He says, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). That is a saved man talking. That is not an atheist. That is not a pagan. That is an apostle. And God put it in the Bible so every believer who gets shocked by his own weakness can see that the struggle is normal, and the answer is not despair but dependence.

Notice that Paul does not solve the problem by claiming he is fine. He does not solve it by denying the battle. He cries out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). Then he answers, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). Deliverance is not you learning to be amazing. Deliverance is you learning to lean on Christ. The Christian who thinks he has graduated beyond temptation is about to fall hard. The Christian who knows he is weak is the one who stays close to the Savior.

So if you want a Bible explanation for why Christians still struggle, here it is. God put two natures in one house, and until He redeems the body, there will be conflict. The flesh never becomes Spirit, and the Spirit never becomes flesh. They stay contrary, and you decide daily which one gets the driver’s seat.

4. Grace Does Not Remove the Battle, It Gives Power to Win It

A lot of people misunderstand grace. They think grace means God lowers His standards and pretends you are fine. That is not grace. Grace is God giving you what you do not deserve, and then giving you the power to live what you could never live by yourself. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us

Journey Through the Bible – Leviticus

7 of 100: The Poor Man’s Offering

Leviticus 1:10–13

God provides access regardless of wealth.

INTRODUCTION

Leviticus 1 is not a museum of primitive religion. It is God laying down the rules of approach for sinners who want to stand in the presence of a holy God and not get consumed. By the time you reach Leviticus 1:10–13, the Lord has already shown the bullock offering, the blood at the door, the fire that consumes all, and the sweet savour that rises when the sacrifice is accepted. Now He makes something crystal clear that every generation needs to hear because every generation drifts into the same kind of spiritual snobbery. God does not price the altar like a luxury boutique. He does not charge admission based on the size of a man’s herd, his bank account, or his last name. When the Lord says, “If his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats” (Leviticus 1:10), He is opening the door wide enough for the poor man to walk through.

That does not mean God lowers His standards. That is where people get clever and slip into heresy. God’s mercy is not God’s compromise. The poor man is not excused from holiness. He is not allowed to bring a sick goat just because he is struggling. The same chapter that gives the poor man access also repeats the standard, “he shall offer it a male without blemish” (Leviticus 1:10). That means the Lord is teaching two truths at once. First, God is no respecter of persons. Second, God is no respecter of excuses. A poor man can come, but he must come God’s way. The offering may be smaller in earthly value, but the principle is the same: substitution, blood, fire, and acceptance by God.

This is one of the cleanest pictures in the whole Bible of how salvation works. Rich men do not buy their way in. Poor men do not beg their way in. Everyone comes through blood. Everyone comes by a substitute. Everyone comes to the same altar. And the greatest shock of all, the offering that grants access to God is never measured by the worshipper’s net worth, but by the worth of the sacrifice. That is why the Gospel never says, “Blessed are the rich.” It says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). And that is why the Bible can say, “God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith” (James 2:5). Leviticus 1:10–13 is not a side note. It is God preaching the equalizing power of atonement.

1. GOD BUILDS A DOOR FOR EVERY SINNER

The passage begins with a simple phrase that carries a thunderclap of mercy, “If his offering be of the flocks” (Leviticus 1:10). The Lord is acknowledging reality. Not every man owns a bullock. Not every household has the same resources. Some men work their hands raw just to keep a few sheep alive. Some men can barely afford a goat. And God does not say, “Too bad.” God says, “Then bring what you can bring, and come to Me.” That is grace without compromise. That is mercy without bargaining.

This destroys the lie that God is only for the powerful, the educated, the polished, and the impressive. The Lord put the altar at the door of the tabernacle so a man could not miss it, and then He put multiple lanes into that altar so a man could not be blocked by poverty. Later in this same chapter the Lord will go even lower in cost with the turtledoves and young pigeons (Leviticus 1:14), but right here He is already telling you that the altar is not reserved for the elite. The tabernacle is the center of Israel’s worship life, and God makes sure the poor man is not locked out of it.

But do not miss the bite of it. God is not only generous, He is confrontational. He is saying, in effect, that if a man stays away from the altar, it is not because the Lord refused him access. It is because the man refused God’s terms. Plenty of people love to blame God for distance that their own pride created. Leviticus says the door is open, the altar is ready, and the path is provided. The poor man can come, so the rich man has no excuse, and the rebellious man has even less.

2. THE OFFERING CHANGES, THE WAY DOES NOT

The bullock offering in Leviticus 1:3–9 and the flock offering in Leviticus 1:10–13 are not two different gospels. They are not two different plans of salvation. They are the same doctrine shown at two different economic levels. The offering is smaller, but the method stays the same. The worshipper still brings a substitute. The worshipper still identifies with it. The worshipper still sees blood. The worshipper still sees fire. The worshipper still watches the sacrifice become a “sweet savour unto the LORD” (Leviticus 1:13).

That is exactly how God works in Scripture. He will adjust the circumstance, but He will not adjust the standard. He will make a way for the weak, but He will not redefine holiness. That is why the Lord can say, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) and still say, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). The mercy is wide, but the way is narrow. The access is offered freely, but it is not offered casually. God does not accept whatever you feel like bringing. He accepts what He prescribed.

And that is why every modern attempt to invent a new way to God is spiritual treason. Men want access without blood, worship without judgment, forgiveness without repentance, heaven without a cross, and Christianity without Christ. Leviticus will not tolerate that kind of talk. The Lord says you can come with a bullock or you can come with a sheep or you can come with a goat, but you will come by sacrifice, and you will come by blood, and you will come to the altar, or you will not come at all.

3. THE POOR MAN STILL OWES GOD PERFECTION

The flock offering repeats the same requirement that the bullock offering carried, “he shall offer it a male without blemish” (Leviticus 1:10). That is the Lord’s way of cutting off two kinds of religious nonsense at the knees. First, it cuts off the rich man’s pride. He cannot brag because his larger offering does not earn him a better standing with God. Second, it cuts off the poor man’s excuse. He cannot say, “God understands, so God will take my damaged leftovers.” No, God will provide a way for you to come, but He will not let you insult Him with trash.

That phrase “without blemish” is the loudest sermon in the sacrificial system. It is God saying that whatever touches the altar must reflect the perfection of the One receiving it. The poor man may not have much, but what he offers must still be clean, whole, and acceptable. That is not cruelty. That is theology. The altar is not a charity bin. It is a holy place. The sacrifice is not a token. It is a substitute. The standard remains because the standard is Christ. Every “without blemish” animal is pointing to “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

This also shows why the Gospel is not a prosperity message. God never said the poor man was closer to Him because he was poor. He said the poor man could come to Him even though he was poor. The Gospel does not romanticize poverty, and it does not worship wealth. It levels both at the altar. It tells the rich man to stop trusting riches, and it tells the poor man to stop trusting excuses. It tells both to trust the Substitute.

4. “ON THE SIDE OF THE ALTAR NORTHWARD”

Leviticus 1:11 says the flock offering is killed “on the side of the altar northward before the LORD” (Leviticus 1:11). God is so specific that He tells you where the knife goes down. He is not vague because He is teaching the worshipper that approaching God is not improvisation. The Lord sets the location, the method, the blood handling, and the burning, because sinners are experts at corrupting worship when left to themselves.

Before God Spoke, the Spirit Moved

(Genesis 1:2-3)

Genesis opens like a cannon shot, but most people only hear the boom and miss the flame. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That is the statement of creation, the announcement of a sovereign act, the declaration that everything that exists owes its existence to God. Yet immediately after that statement the Holy Ghost pauses the reader on a strange scene that does not match the modern cartoon version of creation. “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). You have ruin, emptiness, darkness, and depth, and then you have the first living action in the Book that is not the voice of God but the motion of God: “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

That line is where a lot of preaching skips. Men rush to “And God said” because the flesh loves the loud part. The flesh wants fireworks, announcements, and results that can be measured, counted, and bragged about. But God shows you His order in the first page of the Bible, and He does it on purpose. The Spirit moves before God speaks, and the Spirit moves on the very thing that looks hopeless, dark, deep, and formless. Then, and only then, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). If you want to understand how God works in beginnings, restorations, conversions, revivals, and even judgments, you have to start where the Book starts, and you have to honor the order the Book gives.

The Christian life falls apart when a man tries to reverse God’s order. He wants the Word without the Spirit, or the Spirit without the Word, and both extremes produce confusion. The Bible never tells you the Spirit is an optional accessory, and the Bible never tells you the Word is a negotiable suggestion. In Genesis 1:2-3 you get the pattern that shows up again and again: the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters, then God speaks, then light comes. That is not “hidden doctrine.” That is plain text doctrine that is neglected because it is not entertaining, and because it confronts the proud heart that wants God’s results without God’s process.

1. The First Motion in the Bible Is the Spirit, Not the Spectacle

When you read Genesis 1 carefully you will see that the Holy Ghost is not a late addition to theology, and He is not a “New Testament topic” that only charismatics are interested in. He is present at the beginning of the Book, and His action is recorded before the first creative command of Day One is given. The verse does not say, “And God shouted,” or “And God thundered,” or “And God made a show.” It says, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). That is quiet power, deliberate action, and purposeful preparation, and it happens while the scene is still dark.

The first thing you learn from that is that God is not intimidated by darkness. He does not wait for the environment to improve before He begins His work. The earth is without form and void, darkness is on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moves anyway (Genesis 1:2). That is the exact opposite of how men operate. Men want ideal conditions, favorable circumstances, and supportive audiences. God begins where the void is, where the deep is, where the darkness is, and where nothing looks “ready.” The Spirit moving is God’s way of saying that He can begin His work while the situation still looks like wreckage. The second thing you learn is that God’s work begins in the invisible realm before it manifests in the visible realm. Nobody sees the Spirit moving like they will see light dividing from darkness, but the Spirit’s motion is recorded first because God wants you to know that the outward changes you can see are preceded by inward operations you cannot see. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The wind is real, but you do not control it, and you do not schedule it, and you do not understand it by staring at it. You know it by its effects, and those effects come after the unseen movement.

2. God’s Order Is Spirit Moving, Then Word Spoken, Then Light Given

The Bible is not a pile of religious sayings. It is a Book with divine order, and Genesis 1 sets the order early so you do not spend your life trying to make God work the way you want Him to work. The sequence is not complicated. The scene is darkness and waters, and then “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). After that comes the divine command, “And God said, Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). After that comes the result, “and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). That is Spirit, Word, light, and it is not an accident.

That order shows up again in salvation. The Holy Ghost convicts before a man ever truly understands what he is hearing. Jesus said, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). A man does not come to Christ because the preacher was clever. He comes because the Spirit moved on his heart and made him see what he did not want to see. Then the Word comes in with clarity and authority, because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Then the light comes, because “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Genesis 1 is not only cosmology, it is God showing you the spiritual mechanics of conversion.

That order also shows up in restoration after ruin. A believer can be saved and still be sitting in a dark place emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and practically, because fellowship can be broken even when sonship is secure. The Lord’s method is the same. He moves first, then He speaks, then He gives light. That is why David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). He knew restoration is not first a change of scenery. It is first the Spirit’s operation, then the Word’s correction, then the light of renewed fellowship.

3. The Spirit Moves on the Waters, and Waters Are Always a Death Context

Genesis 1:2 does not say the Spirit moved on the mountains, or on the trees, or on the animals, because none of that is in view yet. It says, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). That detail matters because throughout the Bible waters are often connected to death, judgment, burial, and overwhelming power. That does not mean water is evil, but it does mean God uses it as a picture. The first major judgment on the earth after Eden is a flood, where “all the fountains of the great deep [were] broken up” (Genesis 7:11). In Exodus, Israel faces the Red Sea like a grave until God divides it, and then Pharaoh’s army is buried under it (Exodus 14:27-28). In Jonah, the prophet is swallowed and goes down into the depths like a man in a watery tomb (Jonah 2:3-6). Water can nourish, but water can also bury.

PRAYER THAT SUSTAINS ENDURANCE

Romans 12:12 — “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;” (KJV)

Introduction

Romans 12 is where doctrine puts on work boots. After eleven chapters of God’s righteousness, Israel’s future, and mercy that shuts every proud mouth, the Holy Ghost turns and says, Now live like you believe it. That is why Romans 12:12 hits the nerve. It is not written to monks hiding from trouble. It is written to blood-bought believers living in a world that hates their Saviour. The verse does not say you will not have tribulation. It says you will have hope in the middle of it, patience under it, and prayer through all of it. “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;” (Romans 12:12). That is a three-strand cord for a Christian that intends to finish.

Most believers do not fail because they do not know the right doctrine. They fail because they do not endure the pressure long enough to live it out. They quit in the dark stretch. They get worn down. They get distracted. They get offended. They start strong, but they do not continue. So the Lord gives you a fuel line, not a motivational quote. Prayer is not decoration on the Christian life. Prayer is oxygen. Prayer is the furnace door where the fire is kept alive. Prayer is the hand on the rope when the storm winds pull. When Paul says “continuing instant in prayer” (Romans 12:12), he is not suggesting a religious hobby. He is commanding a posture that keeps endurance from turning into burnout.

The devil understands this better than most Christians do. Hell does not have to make you an atheist to neutralize you. It just has to make you prayerless. A prayerless believer still owns a Bible, still attends services, still talks about theology, still has opinions, still posts verses, and still loses ground. When prayer dies, hope gets thin and tribulation feels heavier than it really is. But when prayer is steady, endurance becomes possible, not because you are strong, but because God is faithful. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). That verse tells you exactly what prayer prevents. It prevents fainting. It is not a garnish. It is the fuel.

1. Prayer Is Not a Spare Tire, It Is the Engine

The first lie that cripples endurance is the idea that prayer is only for emergencies. That is how people treat a spare tire. You keep it hidden until the road tears you up, and then you scramble. But the New Testament speaks of prayer like breath, not like a mechanic. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). That is not a command for the crisis only. That is the daily rhythm of a believer that intends to finish the race.

When prayer becomes occasional, faith becomes fragile. The Christian life is not maintained by a single dramatic moment at an altar. It is maintained by continual dependence. “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). The Holy Ghost ties prayer to watching because prayer keeps you awake. When you stop praying, you start sleeping with your eyes open. You can still function outwardly, but inwardly you are drowsy, careless, and vulnerable.

A man can preach right and still be dry. A woman can serve faithfully and still be empty. The engine is not your personality and it is not your talent. The engine is communion with God. That is why Jesus told His disciples, “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Mark 14:38). He did not say, Watch your willpower. He did not say, Watch your self-esteem. He said pray, because prayer is where strength is drawn and where temptation is detected before it eats you alive.

2. Endurance Collapses When Hope Is Not Fed

Romans 12:12 starts with “Rejoicing in hope” before it ever mentions tribulation. That order matters because hope is the eyesight of endurance. You do not endure what you cannot see past. Biblical hope is not a mood. It is an anchor. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:19). An anchor does not remove the storm. It prevents drift. That is what hope does.

Prayer is how hope is fed when the world is draining it. When you pray, you are not informing God. You are aligning your heart with what God already said. The Psalms show this repeatedly. A man starts in trouble, pours out his complaint, and ends with confidence, not because the situation changed, but because God stabilized him. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God” (Psalm 42:11). That kind of talk does not come from self-help. It comes from communion with God.

A believer who does not pray will interpret tribulation like an orphan. He will think God forgot him. He will assume the worst. He will begin to measure God’s love by his comfort. But the Bible teaches a different logic. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). Love does not mean ease. Love means sonship, correction, and purpose. Prayer keeps you from confusing tribulation with abandonment. It keeps hope alive when feelings are lying to your face.

3. Tribulation Is Pressure, Prayer Is the Pressure Valve

Romans 12:12 does not say “if” tribulation. It says “patient in tribulation.” Tribulation is pressure. It squeezes. It compresses. It exposes what is inside. When the pressure increases, something will give. Either your faith collapses or your prayer life increases. That is why the Lord tells you to pray instantly, urgently, continuously. Prayer is not an escape from pressure. It is how you endure pressure without breaking.

Paul knew tribulation. He did not write as a man who read it in a book. He wrote as a man who lived it. And he teaches you the divine math of pressure. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8). That is not positive thinking. That is supernatural endurance. The same chapter tells you why endurance is possible. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). The affliction is real, but the glory outweighs it. Prayer is how you keep that perspective when the moment feels endless.

Prayer is also where anxiety is transferred. God never told you to carry the whole load. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The casting happens in prayer. If you do not cast it, you carry it. If you carry it long enough, you collapse. The Christian who is always snapping, always irritated, always drained, always bitter, often has one hidden problem. He is trying to endure tribulation without doing what God said. He is carrying cares that were meant to be cast.

4. Continuing Instant Means Refusing to Quit

The phrase “continuing instant in prayer” is blunt. It is stubborn prayer. It is persistent prayer. It is prayer that keeps showing up. That is why Jesus told a parable specifically “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). The opposite of praying always is fainting eventually. Fainting is what happens when the heart gives up before the body stops.

Seven Times God Used Ordinary People for Big Things

INTRODUCTION

One of the great lies the devil whispers to God’s people is that you have to be “somebody” before God can use you. He’ll point to your plain upbringing, your weak education, your small resources, your broken family line, your timid personality, and your failures, and then he’ll tell you that you’re disqualified from anything meaningful. That lie thrives in an age obsessed with celebrity Christianity, platform building, and polished image management. But the Bible flatly contradicts it from Genesis to Revelation. The Lord specializes in taking the overlooked, the ignored, the underestimated, and the unimpressive, and then doing something with them that cannot be explained by talent, money, or charisma. That is why the glory always goes to Him and not to the instrument. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

If God only used the naturally strong, the socially connected, and the financially secure, then you could chalk Christianity up to human advantage. But God built His work on weakness on purpose. Paul told the Corinthians that God chose the foolish things to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the mighty, “that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29). The Lord is not hunting for impressive resumes; He’s hunting for yielded hearts. He doesn’t need your perfection. He needs your availability. And when a man or woman gives God a yielded “yes,” heaven can take that ordinary life and turn it into an eternal monument.

So this isn’t a motivational speech about “believing in yourself.” The Bible never tells you to believe in yourself. The Bible tells you to believe God. The power isn’t in your self-esteem; the power is in the living God who “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). God can take a shepherd and make a king, take a widow and put her in the lineage of Christ, take a fisherman and make him a preacher, take a timid man and make him a deliverer, take a persecutor and make him an apostle, take a nameless servant and shake a city. Here are seven times God did exactly that, so you can stop measuring yourself by the world’s standard and start measuring God by His Word.

1. GIDEON — THE FEARFUL FARMER WHO BECAME A DELIVERER

Gideon didn’t look like a hero. When God found him, he wasn’t standing on a battlefield giving a speech; he was hiding. The Bible says, “Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11). That is not cinematic bravery; that is survival. He was an ordinary man trying to keep his family fed under oppression. And when the angel of the LORD called him, “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12), Gideon’s first response was basically, “Are you sure you’ve got the right guy?” He pointed to his weakness, his clan, his low status—“my family is poor… and I am the least” (Judges 6:15). That’s the language of an ordinary man who has learned to think small.

But God didn’t pick Gideon because Gideon was strong; God picked Gideon because God is strong. The Lord told him, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” (Judges 6:16). That’s the whole secret. God with a weak man is stronger than a strong man without God. And notice the Lord’s method: He didn’t build Gideon’s confidence by flattering him; He built Gideon’s faith by giving him promises and then calling for obedience. Gideon had to tear down the altar of Baal in his own house before he could face Midian in the valley (Judges 6:25–27). God starts the big work by demanding you deal with the hidden idol first.

Then God thinned Gideon’s army until no one could brag about it. The Lord said, “The people that are with thee are too many… lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (Judges 7:2). God reduced thirty-two thousand down to three hundred, and then He won the battle with lamps, pitchers, and trumpets. That’s not military strategy; that’s divine mockery of human pride. It teaches you that God does His biggest work through ordinary vessels so the victory can’t be credited to the vessel. Gideon didn’t need to become extraordinary; he needed to become obedient.

2. DAVID — THE FORGOTTEN SHEPHERD WHO BECAME A KING

David’s story begins with being overlooked. When Samuel came to Jesse’s house to anoint a king, Jesse paraded the impressive sons, and David wasn’t even invited to the lineup. He was “keeping the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11), the dirty job, the lonely job, the uncelebrated job. But God told Samuel, “Look not on his countenance… for the LORD seeth not as man seeth” (1 Samuel 16:7). Man is impressed by height, shoulders, voice, posture, and swagger. God looks at the heart. David wasn’t chosen because he had the strongest body; he was chosen because he had the right inner posture toward God.

David’s “ordinary” years were not wasted; they were training. Out there in the pasture he learned the Psalms before he wrote the Psalms. He learned courage before Goliath ever opened his mouth. He learned faith in secret before he demonstrated it in public. When he faced the giant, he didn’t claim self-confidence; he claimed covenant. “Thou comest to me with a sword… but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts” (1 Samuel 17:45). That’s not bravado; that’s theology. David knew God was real, God was present, and God was bigger than Philistine armor.

And when God used David for something “big,” He didn’t just use him to kill one giant; He used him to shape a nation and to picture the coming King. God made a covenant with David that would culminate in Jesus Christ, “of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne” (Psalm 132:11). That means the shepherd boy’s ordinary obedience had eternal ramifications. God can take the unseen faithfulness of a forgotten person and attach it to a plan that stretches across centuries. David teaches you to stop despising the pasture, because God often anoints kings where nobody is watching.

3. RUTH — THE OUTSIDER WIDOW WHO ENTERED THE MESSIAH’S LINE

Ruth was a Moabitess. That’s not a flattering label in Scripture. Moab came from an incestuous origin (Genesis 19:36–37), and the Moabites were often enemies of Israel. Ruth wasn’t born into the covenant people; she married into a Jewish family and then watched everything collapse. She became a widow in a foreign land with no security, no influence, and no guarantee of provision. That is the definition of ordinary hardship. Yet in that darkness, Ruth made a choice of faith that echoes through Scripture: “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16). That is not sentiment. That is conversion.

Ruth then stepped into the humble work of gleaning. She didn’t demand entitlement; she worked. “Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn” (Ruth 2:2). That’s ordinary labor with extraordinary faith behind it. And here’s the divine humor: “her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz” (Ruth 2:3). The Bible calls it “hap,” but it isn’t luck. It is providence. God moved a widow’s footsteps to the right field at the right time because He was building something bigger than her immediate survival. Ordinary decisions, made in faith, can put a person directly under the umbrella of God’s larger plan.

Do I Need to Be Baptized to Take Communion?

Introduction

This question comes up for one main reason: people sense that the Lord’s table is holy, serious, and not to be handled casually, but they are surrounded by church traditions that turn simple Bible commands into complicated religious gatekeeping. Some churches treat communion like a weekly snack, handed out with no thought, no warning, and no reverence. Other groups turn it into a sacrament you have to earn, guarded by committees and checklists, with the table fenced so tightly that a man can be saved, love the Lord, and still be treated like he has no right to remember Christ’s death. In the middle of that confusion, a sincere believer asks, “Do I need to be baptized to take communion?” and the answer matters because it touches fellowship, obedience, conscience, and how much authority you give to tradition over Scripture.

The Bible never presents communion as a method of salvation, nor as a tool for maintaining salvation, nor as a ritual that dispenses saving grace like medicine. When Paul wrote the clearest instructions on the Lord’s supper, he did not address the unbaptized versus the baptized. He addressed believers who were abusing the ordinance, turning it into selfishness and division, and he warned them about taking it “unworthily” (1 Corinthians 11:27). The issue in Scripture is not whether a man has completed a denominational sequence of ceremonies; the issue is whether the man is a saved believer walking in truth, discerning the Lord’s body, and coming with reverence. Communion is fellowship with Christ and remembrance of His sacrifice, not a badge of church membership.

At the same time, baptism is not optional obedience. It is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is the God-ordained public identification of the believer with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. “Buried with him in baptism” (Colossians 2:12) is not a casual phrase. Baptism is the believer’s first step of outward obedience after inward faith. So the right answer will not be a cheap “it doesn’t matter,” and it will not be a legalistic “you’re not allowed.” The right answer will be Bible-balanced: salvation by grace through faith, obedience as fruit, the Lord’s table treated as holy, and church order respected without replacing Scripture with man-made rules.

1. Communion Is for Saved Believers, Not for the Lost

The first truth is simple and immovable: communion is not an evangelistic tool for lost men, and it is not a sacrament that makes a lost man saved. It is given to believers as a memorial and a proclamation. Paul says, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). That is not the language of conversion; it is the language of remembrance and hope. You cannot “shew the Lord’s death” with understanding and faith if you have never believed the gospel in the first place. The Lord’s table is the family table, not the public cafeteria.

The context of 1 Corinthians 11 is the local church. Paul addresses “brethren” (1 Corinthians 11:33). He is dealing with saints who were already in the body of Christ, but who were acting carnal. He doesn’t question whether they are saved; he corrects their behavior at the table. That matters because it shows the biblical baseline: communion belongs in the assembly of believers, and it is intended for those who know Christ. A man may attend church for years and still be lost. Giving him communion does not wash his sins away; it may harden him into thinking he is right with God because he participates in religious rituals.

So the first “fence” around communion is not baptism, but salvation. A man who has never trusted the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as his only hope has no business taking the Lord’s supper. The supper does not create union with Christ; it celebrates it. The bread and the cup do not save; they testify that salvation is already accomplished by the blood of Christ. The table is for believers who can say, with faith, “Christ died for our sins… was buried… and… rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

2. Baptism Does Not Save, but It Is Not Optional Obedience

Now, if you get the first point right, you avoid the Roman Catholic error and the ritualistic trap. But you can still fall into another ditch: treating baptism as unimportant. The Bible never teaches baptismal regeneration, but it does teach baptismal obedience. Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19). In Acts, believers were baptized immediately upon faith as a public identification with Christ. The Ethiopian eunuch believed and then said, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). In the New Testament pattern, baptism follows belief.

Baptism does not make you part of the body of Christ. The Spirit does that. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). That is not water; that is spiritual union. Water baptism is the outward testimony of an inward reality. It is the believer’s first public step, saying, “I belong to Christ.” It is not a work to earn salvation; it is a witness because salvation is already received. You get baptized because you are saved, not to get saved.

So when a believer refuses baptism out of pride, rebellion, or stubbornness, that refusal is not a small thing. It reveals a heart issue. If a man says, “I love Jesus, but I will not obey His first public command,” something is wrong. Baptism is not a tool of salvation, but it is a command, and disobedience has consequences in fellowship, growth, and testimony. Obedience does not keep you saved, but it does affect your walk. The Father chastens His children, and baptism is often where a believer’s willingness to follow Christ first gets tested.

3. The Bible’s Main Warning for Communion Is Not Baptism, but Worthiness

When Scripture gives the strongest warning about the Lord’s supper, it does not begin by asking, “Have you been baptized?” It begins by asking, “Are you taking it unworthily?” Paul warns, “Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). Then he says, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). The emphasis is examination, discernment, and reverence.

That examination is not an attempt to prove you are sinless. If sinlessness were the standard, nobody could partake. The examination is about whether you are treating the table lightly, dividing the church, harboring sin without repentance, or turning the ordinance into something selfish. The Corinthians were doing exactly that. Some were drunk, some were selfish, and some were shaming the poor. Paul says that because of this abuse, “many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30). That is divine chastisement on saved people for mishandling communion.

So the biblical “qualification” for communion is not a ritual checklist; it is a sober heart before God. A believer who has confessed sin, is walking in the light, and is discerning what the bread and cup represent can partake in a way that honors Christ. A believer who is careless, prideful, divisive, or unrepentant should stop and deal with God first. The table is not a reward for the mature; it is a solemn remembrance for the humble. And the Spirit’s focus is not on denominational sequence but on spiritual discernment.

4. Church Order Often Requires Baptism Before Communion, but That Is Policy, Not Gospel

Here is where people get tangled: many churches require baptism before communion, and they often do it for reasons of order. In a well-ordered local church, baptism is the public doorway into membership, and communion is a family ordinance practiced among

The Rapture and the Call of Moses to the Mount — Exodus 19:20

God called Moses up into the mount, a picture of being caught upward.

INTRODUCTION

Exodus 19 is one of those chapters that exposes how shallow most modern Bible reading really is. The chapter is loud, violent, glorious, and terrifying, and it does not behave politely for the sake of theological systems. God descends, the mountain trembles, fire ascends, the trumpet blasts louder and louder, boundaries are enforced, and one man is summoned upward while the nation stands at a distance. Anyone who reads this chapter honestly is forced to deal with vertical movement, separation, holiness, mediation, and fear. It is not a gentle devotional passage; it is a divine intervention that interrupts human history. And buried in the middle of that intervention is a simple but explosive statement: “And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up” (Exodus 19:20).

That upward call is not an accident of narrative. God could have spoken to Moses from below. He could have summoned him later. He could have addressed the people directly. Instead, He establishes a pattern that runs through Scripture: when judgment, revelation, or covenantal transition is about to unfold, God separates His chosen servant and calls him upward before proceeding. The call of Moses to the mount is not the giving of the law itself; it is the positioning of the mediator before the thunder breaks loose. That distinction matters. Moses is removed upward before the full manifestation of divine terror unfolds on the mountain, and the people are warned not to approach lest they die.

This is precisely why Exodus 19 has always been a favorite target for critics of literal prophecy and dispensational separation. They sense the typology even if they deny it. The upward call of Moses before the law descends, before the judgments fall, and before the covenant is enforced is a pattern that later Scripture confirms again and again. The rapture of the Church is not invented from thin air; it is foreshadowed repeatedly in God’s dealings with His servants. Exodus 19 does not teach the Rapture directly, but it pictures it unmistakably. And pictures are how God trains His people to recognize realities before they are revealed in doctrine.

1. THE CONTEXT OF FEAR, FIRE, AND SEPARATION

Exodus 19 opens with divine preparation, not celebration. God does not invite Israel into a casual relationship; He establishes distance. The mountain is fenced off. Boundaries are drawn. Warnings are issued. “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” (Exodus 19:12). This is not grace; this is holiness. God is teaching Israel that access is not automatic, and approach is not universal. The mountain becomes a vertical divide between heaven and earth.

When the Lord descends, the scene escalates rapidly. Thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, fire, smoke, and an exceeding loud trumpet fill the air. “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire” (Exodus 19:18). The entire mountain shakes violently. This is not metaphorical language. The physical environment reacts to the presence of God. Creation trembles when its Creator draws near. Sinai becomes a courtroom, a furnace, and a battlefield all at once.

In that context of terror, one man is singled out. While the people recoil in fear and are commanded to keep their distance, Moses is summoned upward. The same fire that threatens death to the nation becomes the environment of communion for the mediator. This is a pattern Scripture never abandons. God does not deal with everyone the same way at the same time. Proximity to holiness depends on calling, position, and obedience. Moses does not wander upward on his own initiative; he is called. That call is everything.

2. THE UPWARD CALL AS A DIVINE INITIATIVE

The text is precise and deliberate: “The LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up” (Exodus 19:20). Moses does not climb because he is curious. He does not ascend because he is brave. He goes up because he is summoned. Divine calling precedes divine movement. That alone dismantles the idea that upward translation is human ambition. The Rapture is not escapism; it is obedience to a call.

Throughout Scripture, upward calls come from God, not man. Enoch walked with God, and God took him (Genesis 5:24). Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). Paul was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). In each case, the movement is vertical and initiated by God. Moses fits the same pattern. The mountain is not conquered; it is entered by invitation.

This matters because critics of the Rapture often accuse it of being a human invention designed to avoid suffering. Exodus 19 destroys that accusation. Moses is not avoiding anything; he is being positioned. The judgments, the fear, and the law are about to unfold, and God places His mediator above the people before that happens. Moses does not escape responsibility; he assumes it. Likewise, the Church does not flee accountability; it is called into its proper role before God resumes His dealings with Israel and the nations.

The upward call also establishes authority. Moses returns from the mount changed, informed, and commissioned. Separation precedes instruction. Revelation flows from elevation. God consistently removes His servants before entrusting them with new phases of His plan. The Church’s removal is not abandonment of the world; it is preparation for reign.

3. THE PEOPLE LEFT BELOW AND THE WARNING ISSUED

While Moses ascends, the people remain below under strict warning. They are not told to prepare to follow; they are told to stay back. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish” (Exodus 19:21). This is critical. God does not invite the nation upward. Access is restricted. Curiosity is dangerous. Proximity without permission results in death.

This separation exposes a fundamental biblical truth: God does not reveal everything to everyone at the same time. There are distinctions in audience, calling, and timing. Moses operates as a mediator; the people operate as recipients. Confusion enters Scripture when those distinctions are ignored. The same error occurs when the Church is forced into passages written to Israel under law and tribulation.

The people hear the trumpet, see the fire, and feel the shaking, but they do not ascend. They experience the effects of God’s presence without entering His immediate presence. That distinction mirrors the prophetic difference between the Church and the world. The Church is promised an upward meeting with the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The world experiences the Day of the Lord from below, not from above.

Exodus 19 teaches that holiness demands separation. When God prepares to speak law, execute judgment, or establish covenant, He does not blur boundaries. He sharpens them. Moses above, people below. Mediator lifted, nation restrained. That pattern is not accidental; it is instructional.

4. THE TRUMPET, THE VOICE, AND THE ASCENT

One of the most overlooked elements in Exodus 19 is the trumpet. “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice” (Exodus 19:19). Trumpets in Scripture signal divine movement, not human ceremony. They announce transitions, summon assemblies, and precede divine action. Sinai’s trumpet is not background noise; it is a call to attention.

The trumpet intensifies as Moses prepares to ascend. The sound does not diminish; it grows louder. That detail matters. The upward call occurs

Seven Things the Bible Says About the End Times (Without Fear)

INTRODUCTION

Most preaching on the end times today is little more than fear mongering dressed up as prophecy. You’ve got YouTube prophets screaming about blood moons, papal conspiracies, alien disclosures, and secret codes in the pyramids; and the average Christian comes away more frightened of headlines than anchored in Scripture. That is the exact opposite of the biblical posture. When Paul described the end of this age, he wasn’t wringing his hands or stocking bunkers; he called it “that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). The early church looked for the return of Christ the way a bride looks for her wedding day, not the way a prisoner looks for an execution. If your eschatology produces dread instead of anticipation, you learned it from a newspaper, not a Bible.

Fear about the end times is a symptom of doctrinal anemia. Christians who don’t know prophecy panic at politics. Christians who don’t know the rapture fear the tribulation. Christians who don’t know Israel mistake the church. Christians who don’t know judgment confuse God with the devil. And Christians who don’t know the Millennium mistake world progress for kingdom growth. A Bible believer doesn’t need sensationalism. He needs rightly divided Scripture. The Bible gives a clear map of the end of the age, and that map produces courage, clarity, and worship, not paranoia.

Now, let’s be real: the end times are serious. Christ returns in wrath, the nations are judged, Israel goes through the fire, and the devil gets stomped. But none of that negates the victory of the believer. If you’re saved, you are not headed for Antichrist’s wrath, but for Christ’s throne. The Bible says plainly, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). You don’t have to escape in fear; you can look up in hope. The end times are God cleaning up His own universe. So let’s take seven biblical truths about the end times — without fear, without mysticism, and without sensational nonsense.

1. THE BIBLE SAYS CHRIST RETURNS LITERALLY AND VISIBLY

The first and most important truth about the end is that Jesus Christ is not returning metaphorically, spiritually, symbolically, or poetically. He’s coming physically, visibly, and authoritatively. The angels told the apostles at the Ascension, “this same Jesus…shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Not a “cosmic consciousness.” Not a “Christian age.” Not “social progress.” The same Jewish Messiah that ascended from the Mount of Olives will descend back to it (Zechariah 14:4). Modern theology has tried to sterilize the Second Coming into a metaphor. The Bible won’t allow it.

This literal return removes fear. If Christ is coming personally, then history is not drifting toward chaos; it is marching toward judgment under a sovereign King. When Rome burned, Christians thought Nero would end the faith. Instead, the gospel outlived Rome. When Hitler marched, Christians thought the world was over. Instead, Christ still sits on the throne. The end does not belong to tyrants, but to Jesus Christ. The fear-driven churches talk as if the Antichrist will hijack the universe. The Bible says Christ will “destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). That is not fear. That is finality.

Furthermore, this literal return puts the focus where it belongs — not on signs but on the Savior. The disciples wanted to know “the times and the seasons” (Acts 1:7), and Jesus redirected them toward witness and obedience until He returns. A Christian who is obsessed with signs becomes anxious; a Christian who is obsessed with the King becomes stable. You don’t fear the end when you love the One who ends it. 2. THE BIBLE SAYS BELIEVERS ARE TAKEN BEFORE WRATH

A second truth that removes fear is the biblical doctrine that God extracts His church before the hammer of His wrath falls. The Old Testament pattern is consistent: Enoch is taken before the flood; Noah rides through it. Lot is hauled out before fire hits Sodom. Rahab is protected before Jericho falls. And Paul tells the church, “we…wait for his Son from heaven…which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The wrath is future; the deliverance is present.

Now, wrath is not man’s persecution. The church has endured persecution for two thousand years. Wrath is divine judgment — seals, trumpets, vials, fire, famine, torment, and the curse. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world” (Matthew 24:21). That is not the Spanish Inquisition or Roman colosseums. That is God’s global judgment on the nations. And God does not pour His wrath on His bride. A husband doesn’t beat his wife before the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).

This doctrine does not produce complacency; it produces sobriety. Paul does not tell the church to panic, hide, or build bunkers; he tells it to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). If your end-times theology cannot comfort the saints, it is either broken or borrowed from cable news. The rapture of the church is not a loophole — it is a promise.

3. THE BIBLE SAYS ISRAEL HAS A PROPHETIC FUTURE

One of the greatest sources of eschatological confusion today is amillennial replacement theology that tries to dissolve Israel into the church. That system produces fear because it leaves the church facing the tribulation that belongs to Jacob. The Bible says the tribulation is “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) — Jacob, not the church. Paul says, “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25). If something has an “until,” it has a future.

When God says He will gather Israel, restore Israel, judge the nations that scattered Israel, place Israel in the land, and rule through a Davidic King from Jerusalem, He means what He says. Israel’s survival is not nationalism; it’s prophecy. The fear-driven crowd thinks the end means the church gets ground up between global powers. The Bible says the end means Israel gets redeemed from the nations and the church gets caught up to Christ before that redemption unfolds.

This matters because it protects the believer from misreading the headlines. The Middle East will not end in human diplomacy; it will end in divine intervention. Anti-Semitism is not just a social disease; it is an eschatological sign. When you understand Israel’s future, you stop fearing world politics and start recognizing prophetic alignment. Prophecy doesn’t give you fear; it gives you clarity.

4. THE BIBLE SAYS THE ANTICHRIST IS REAL BUT SHORT-LIVED

Modern Christians either ignore the Antichrist or obsess over him. The Bible gives a balanced view. The Antichrist is real — a literal political and religious figure empowered by Satan (Revelation 13:2). He ushers in a global system of worship, economy, and persecution. But he is short-lived. The Bible does not tremble before him; it laughs at him. Daniel says his dominion is taken away (Daniel 7:26). Paul says Christ destroys him “with the spirit of his mouth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). John says he is cast alive into a lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). That is the biblical timeline: brief reign, catastrophic defeat.

Understanding this eliminates fear. Fear comes from exaggerating the devil’s power and minimizing Christ’s. The Antichrist does not conquer Christ; Christ conquers the Antichrist. The devil does not close the age; Jesus does. Satan has power, but it is borrowed time on a leash. Christians who are terrified of barcodes, microchips, or digital currency need a shot of Revelation — not to spot the Antichrist, but to see him defeated.

What Does It Mean to Be Holy as God Is Holy?

Introduction

When the Bible commands, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16), it is not giving a suggestion for super-saints, monks, nuns, or religious professionals. It is not carving out a category for the spiritually gifted or the temperamentally quiet. It is the call of God to every child that bears His name. The tragedy is that most modern Christians have no idea what holiness means, and the ones who think they do usually define it so shallowly that it becomes indistinguishable from moral politeness or cultural niceness. If holiness were just good manners, lost men could accomplish it. If holiness were just abstaining from scandalous sins, Pharisees would have been the holiest men on earth. But holiness is not a self-improvement program; it is the reflection of God’s own nature within His people.

This command strikes fear into the flesh because it confronts the believer with the uncomfortable fact that God is not merely loving, kind, gentle, or forgiving—He is holy. We like the attributes that flatter us: mercy, grace, patience, longsuffering. We quote verses that comfort us: “The LORD is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1), “God is love” (1 John 4:8). But when it comes to holiness, the modern believer fidgets, because holiness exposes sin, defines righteousness, demands separation, and calls things evil that we prefer to call weaknesses. Holiness does not ask for our opinion; holiness asks for our obedience.

The most startling thing about the command “Be ye holy” is that it follows a revelation of God’s own character. God does not say, “Be holy so that I will love you.” He says, “I loved you, therefore be holy like Me.” Holiness is not the ladder you climb to reach God; holiness is the character God works into you because you already belong to Him. Holiness is not legalism, it is likeness. To ask what it means to be holy as God is holy is to ask what it means for human clay to bear divine fingerprints, what it means for a redeemed sinner to reflect the glory of a sinless God, and what it means for blood-washed men to walk as children of light in a world of darkness (Ephesians 5:8). That is the battlefield, the calling, and the privilege of the Christian life.

1. The Holiness of God Is His Complete Otherness

Before you understand what it means to be holy, you must understand the holiness of the One who calls you. In Scripture, holiness is first and foremost God’s otherness, His separateness, His complete distinction from everything that is not God. When the seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3), they were not commenting on God’s moral behavior—they were proclaiming His transcendence. God is not like creation. He is not merely above it; He is distinct from it. He is uncreated, eternal, infinite, perfect, self-sufficient, and sovereign. Holiness means God is not measured, defined, or limited by anything outside Himself. He is separate from sin because sin is rebellion, and God is absolute authority. He is separate from evil because evil is corruption, and God is absolute purity.

Most Christians flatten holiness into moral decency because they do not know what to do with God’s otherness. But the Bible does not begin holiness with ethics; it begins it with worship. Moses did not receive a lecture on rules at the burning bush; he received a command: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). That ground was not holy because it was morally upright—it was holy because God was there. Holiness is tied to God’s presence before it is tied to our behavior.

This otherness means that God cannot be domesticated. He cannot be boxed into denominational stereotypes, academic definitions, or sentimental fantasies. The God of holiness is not the grandpa in the rocking chair of liberalism, nor the tame house pet of modern evangelicalism, nor the philosophical concept of seminaries. Holiness means God is dangerous to rebels, comforting to the broken, and awe-inspiring to the redeemed. When God calls His people to be holy, He is not inviting them into smug religious superiority—He is inviting them into separation unto Himself, the God who is unlike anything in this world.

2. To Be Holy Means to Belong to God

Holiness begins not with performance, but with possession. The first time God declares something holy in Scripture, it is not a person but a day — the seventh day of creation — which He “blessed… and sanctified” (Genesis 2:3). That day did not behave morally; it simply belonged to God. The tabernacle became holy not because it had ethical virtue, but because God claimed it for Himself. The vessels became holy not because they prayed or fasted, but because they were set apart for God’s use. Holiness begins with God saying, “Mine.”

When Peter says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16), he speaks to a people who have already been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). The believer’s holiness begins at Calvary, where ownership changed hands. Before salvation, you were the property of sin; after salvation, you became the possession of Christ. “Ye are not your own… ye are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). That moment of purchase is the foundation of holiness. The believer who tries to be holy without first understanding that he belongs to God will turn holiness into slavery instead of sonship.

Belonging to God means that every arena of life comes under divine claim—thoughts, desires, habits, relationships, tools, time, and talents. Holiness is not first about avoiding sin, it is about being reserved for God. A vessel reserved for the King’s table will not be used to shovel manure, not because manure is legally forbidden, but because the vessel is too valuable. God does not call you out of sin to leave you empty; He calls you into His service to fill you with purpose. Holiness means, “I am His, and therefore I am not for anything else.”

3. Holiness Is Moral Purity Without Hypocrisy

Once belonging is established, holiness expresses itself in moral purity, not as a ladder to God, but as a reflection of God. God is morally pure. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There is no mixture, no corruption, no secret filth, no hidden rot, no private compromise. Holiness for the believer means pursuing purity in motives, speech, thought, and conduct. It is not the absence of temptation; it is the refusal of corruption. It is not sinlessness in the flesh; it is hatred of sin in the spirit. The man who excuses his sin cannot be holy. The man who confesses and forsakes it can (Proverbs 28:13).

But holiness is not prudishness, and it is not religious image management. Holiness rejects hypocrisy. The Pharisees appeared moral—they tithed, dressed modestly, attended synagogue, studied Scripture, and avoided scandal. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27). Holiness without honesty is not holiness at all. The believer who hides his sin under religious language, doctrinal precision, or spiritual achievements is not holy; he is theatrical. Holiness hates sin because God hates sin, not because man might discover it.

Moral purity means you do not justify what God condemns. You do not call lust “struggle,” greed “ambition,” pride “discernment,” bitterness “boundaries,” and worldliness “relevance.” Holiness is violent against sin—not violent against sinners, but violent against the corruption that destroys them. When God calls you to be holy, He is not calling you to behave better to impress Him. He is calling you to wage war against sin because He loves you too much to let it rot you from the inside out.

4. Holiness Is Separation From the World unto God

There is no holiness without separation. God never called His people to blend, mimic, or merge with the world. When God chose Israel, He separated them from Egypt by blood,

The Spirit of Discernment and the Erika Kirk Affair — A Warning to the Laodicean Church

Introduction

Every generation has its litmus test of discernment, and in ours, it is not the obvious wolves but the polished, platformed, and pre-approved influencers who rise to the top of evangelical celebrity culture. We live in a time when the average Christian does not judge with spiritual eyesight but with marketing metrics—followers, views, brand deals, jet-setting conferences, and curated grief presentations that perform well on social media. Yet the Scripture still says, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15), and if that verse remains in our King James Bible, then the duty of discernment is not an optional elective for the Body of Christ but a commanded responsibility.

From the day the name Erika Kirk first intersected my radar, my spirit did not bear witness. I did not accuse, I did not slander, I did not mock—I simply watched. Something about the sudden platforming, the pageant-to-politics pipeline, the rapid assimilation into the Christian conservative celebrity orbit, the calculated branding, and the strangely curated grief following her husband Charlie’s death struck me as performance rather than substance. I kept silent then, but now the entire internet sees what only a remnant saw early: something doesn’t add up. And when the watchman sees a sword coming upon the land, he does not say, “Well, that’s controversial,” he blows the trumpet (Ezekiel 33:6).

In the weeks that followed Charlie’s passing, allegations, Romanian documents, TikTok exposés, and internal political dissent did what I never desired: they validated the intuitive check of the Holy Ghost that arrived long before the headlines. And now, in addition to geopolitical threads, we have an entirely separate spiritual thread: the fraternization with Greg Laurie, a man long surrounded by accusations and controversy regarding child exploitation materials and other child-related allegations, who represents the lukewarm Laodicean wing of American evangelicalism—celebrity pastors, fog machines, worshiptainment, and a Christianity that has traded doctrine for stage lighting. And now we find Christian nationalism, Turning Point Christianity, and Laodicea converging under the banner of a grieving widow whose rise to influence makes little spiritual sense. Therefore, I write not to accuse but to warn, not to speculate but to test all things, and not to condemn a woman but to expose a pattern the Church must not ignore.

1. The Spiritual Check — When the Holy Ghost Says “Pay Attention”

There is a vast gulf between online conspiracy hunting and the quiet inward check of the Spirit of God. One is fueled by adrenaline; the other by discernment. When I say I had a check concerning Erika Kirk from day one, I am not referring to some dark curiosity but that inner witness that has safeguarded Christians for two thousand years. Spirit-led believers do not require dossiers, documents, and timelines to sense when something is wrong; they simply note the dissonance between appearance and substance. And Scripture tells us plainly to “try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1), which means spirits can look Christian, sound Christian, and walk among Christians without actually being of God.

From the start, the branding felt pre-assembled, the platform too neatly handed, the connections too convenient for a supposed newcomer, and the grief too curated for someone who had just lost her husband. When a true widow grieves, she disappears. She hides. She mourns. She does not take over institutions, pose for photo ops, and align with power brokers while entire audiences are still at the funeral program. I am not judging the heart, but I am comparing the behavior to the pattern Scripture gives us—“Study to be quiet” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). The Holy Spirit does not push widows into conference stages and boardrooms within days of tragedy; that is the machinery of branding, not the ministry of comfort.

And that is why I kept my peace for a season. I did not want to falsely accuse, nor did I desire to join the online rumor mill. But when the entire conservative and Christian political internet begins sounding the same alarm—when Turning Point staff, donors, influencers, and commentators begin distancing themselves, questioning motives, and publicly airing concerns—then one has to conclude that the inner check was not merely personal but consistent with the collective discernment of many. And when discernment aligns across separate witnesses, that is rarely accidental.

2. The Romania Timeline — Allegations, Not Accusations

Now let us address the geopolitical elephant in the room: Romania. It must be stated upfront for fairness and accuracy: Erika Kirk has not been legally convicted of trafficking, kidnapping, or exploitation, nor has she been charged by Romanian or U.S. authorities to date. What does exist are allegations, timelines, documents, and unanswered questions, not definitive verdicts. But unanswered questions are not harmless when the subject is orphan access, NATO bases, and U.S. military partnerships. Any spiritually mature believer should understand that wickedness does not need court cases to be real—it only needs access, opportunity, and silence.

Between 2011–2015, Romanian investigative media, prosecutors, and NGOs documented trafficking pipelines involving orphanages, U.S. military compounds, foreign aid charities, and NATO-adjacent personnel. During that exact operational window, the Romanian Angels project operated, involving Romanian children, U.S. Marines, and NATO-adjacent bases. That is not accusation—that is timeline overlap. Meanwhile, translated Romanian documents surfaced showing ongoing investigations into charity pipelines connected to U.S. bases, with entire sections redacted, not cleared. And when documents redact American organizational names operating in the precise years of Romanian Angels, what does that create? Not proof, but smoke—and smoke is the precursor to fire.

A spiritually sober believer says this: “I do not know what happened—but I know enough to ask why we are not allowed to know.” Silence is not an answer; redaction is not clarity. And if a public figure is surrounded by unanswered geopolitical questions, the proper Christian response is not, “Stop spreading conspiracy theories,” but, “Why does nobody in leadership want this clarified?” The Scripture says, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light” (John 3:20). If there is nothing to hide, why do so many institutions prefer darkness?

3. Laodicean Christianity — The Greg Laurie Connection

The sudden alliance between Erika Kirk and Greg Laurie is not a minor footnote; it is a theological red flag. Greg Laurie represents the Laodicean church—the lukewarm, self-sufficient, seeker-sensitive, experience-driven Christianity that Christ Himself threatens to “spue out” of His mouth (Revelation 3:16). Laurie’s brand of Christianity is not rooted in Pauline doctrine, not grounded in dispensational truth, not protective of sound theology, and not separated from the world. It is stage-production Christianity—Hollywood Christianity—celebrity Christianity. It is the Christianity that trades the sword (Hebrews 4:12) for a spotlight, and the cross for cultural clout.

Layered on top of this are the long-circulating allegations and controversies concerning Laurie’s history—specifically accusations related to child exploitation material and other child-related concerns. Whether one believes those allegations or not, the very existence of such accusations should cause any spiritually awake believer to back away, not fraternize. A spiritually minded widow does not run toward Laodicean platforms, celebrity pastors, and seeker-sensitive brands—they run toward Scripture, obscurity, and prayer. Yet Erika Kirk did the opposite, aligning

119 of 120 — Worship Corrupted: Lessons from the Golden Calf

How Easy It Is to Return to Idols; Vigilance Required

Introduction

One of the most frightening chapters in the Old Testament is not found in the battles of Joshua, nor in the apostasy of Kings, nor in the captivity of Jeremiah, but in Exodus 32. The golden calf incident demonstrates that the human heart is so warped by sin that it can sit under miracles, walk through the Red Sea, eat bread from heaven, drink water out of a rock, hear the audible voice of God, see fire on Sinai, and still wind up dancing naked around an idol (Exodus 32:6,25). There is no greater indictment of the flesh. Men do not drift into holiness; they stampede back into idolatry. Miracles do not fix the heart. Revelation does not cure rebellion. Only the new birth in Christ can address the disease, and even then the saved man has to “keep himself from idols” (1 John 5:21) because the flesh still reaches for golden substitutes.

Another terrifying truth is that idolatry happens fast. Moses was not gone for forty years—only forty days (Exodus 24:18). A month without visible leadership and Israel invents a new religion. That is how quickly worship corrupts when patience runs out. Idolatry is not only immoral; it is impulsive. It is religion without waiting. It is worship without obedience. Aaron does not preach doctrine; he bows to opinion polls. “Break off the golden earrings” (Exodus 32:2). Aaron’s theology comes from popular demand. The people want something they can see and touch, so they get a god made of earrings. When a church demands worship tailored to the congregation instead of God, it gets a golden calf with choir robes. Idolatry is religion customized for the unregenerate.

A third lesson is that corrupted worship always involves redefinition. Aaron does not say, “Here is Baal.” He says, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). He attributes divine deliverance to an idol. Then he makes it worse: “To morrow is a feast to the LORD” (32:5). He puts Yahweh’s name on a pagan object. That is the essence of apostasy—calling paganism Christian. You can put a steeple on the golden calf, you can call it a feast to Jehovah, you can have worship music playing in the background while people dance naked (32:25), but it is still idolatry. Exodus 32 is not merely history; it is theology, ecclesiology, psychology, and prophecy all tied together. It shows how worship corrupts, how fast it corrupts, and how subtle the corruption can be when men want gods of their own making.

1. The Impatience that Breeds Idolatry

The corruption begins not with theology but with impatience. “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount” (Exodus 32:1). The man of God was gone too long for their taste. They could not wait on God’s timing, so they demanded a replacement. Impatience is the breeding ground of apostasy. Men who refuse to wait for God will invent gods who work on their schedule. Israel wanted immediacy, visibility, and accessibility. They wanted a god who stayed in camp, not one who dwelt in thick darkness on Sinai (Exodus 20:21). They wanted a god they could manage.

Impatience reveals unbelief. Moses had already promised to return, and the cloud on Sinai had not vanished. The covenant was in place. But unbelief interprets delay as absence. When the flesh does not see visible activity, it assumes God has abandoned the scene. Modern Christianity falls for the same delusion. If God does not answer in sixty seconds, people run to motivational speakers, New Age psychology, Catholic mysticism, or prosperity cults. The golden calf was Israel’s version of instant gratification—religion without waiting, god without silence, worship without mystery. The man who refuses to wait for God will always bow to idols.

Impatience also leads to democratic religion. The people “gathered themselves together unto Aaron” (Exodus 32:1). They do not ask what God wants; they pressure leadership into giving them what they want. They do not seek truth; they seek affirmation. The modern church has replaced revelation with customer service. It studies demographics instead of doctrine. It runs surveys instead of sermons. It gives the people a visible god—screens, lights, idols of self-expression, and the golden calves of entertainment—and calls it revival. The lesson of Exodus 32 is simple: when worship is built on impatience, it will soon be built on idolatry.

2. The Role of Weak Leadership in Corrupted Worship

Aaron’s role in the corruption is one of the most disturbing elements in the chapter. Aaron is not a pagan priest; he is the high priest chosen by God (Exodus 28:1). Yet he caves under popular pressure. “Break off the golden earrings… and bring them unto me” (Exodus 32:2). Weak leadership always accommodates carnal demands. Aaron refuses to stand between the people and sin. He does not say, “Thus saith the LORD.” He says, in effect, “Let’s see what we can make.” When leadership loses conviction, idolatry gains momentum.

Aaron’s excuse later reveals the cowardice: “I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf” (Exodus 32:24). He blames the fire, the people, and chance—anyone but himself. This is the eternal refuge of weak leaders. When worship corrupts, they blame trends, culture, or “the youth”—never their own compromise. God does not judge the fire; He judges Aaron. Leaders are accountable for what golden calves are allowed in the camp. A pastor who allows entertainment-driven worship, doctrinal drift, and sensual music cannot blame “the culture.” Aaron tried that approach; it did not work.

Weak leadership also redefines holiness. Aaron “built an altar” (Exodus 32:5). He formalizes the idol. He institutionalizes corruption. He blends Yahweh’s name with calf worship. This is not atheism; it is syncretism. It is the merging of holy and unholy under one banner. The modern parallel is the attempt to baptize worldliness with Christian vocabulary. The calf becomes Christ, the feast becomes worship, and the dance becomes revival. Weak leaders think they can tame idolatry by adding Christian terminology. In reality, they have surrendered the entire battlefield.

3. The Golden Calf as Theological Counterfeit

The calf is not random. Egypt worshipped bulls and calves as symbols of fertility, virility, and strength (Apis in Memphis, Mnevis in Heliopolis). Israel had absorbed Egyptian imagery during 400 years of residence. So the calf represents theological regression. It is a return to Egypt. Men default to the gods they grew up with. Salvation takes one day; sanctification takes a lifetime. Israel came out of Egypt in a night; Egypt came out of Israel through forty years of death in the wilderness. The calf is the theology of the old life masquerading as worship of Jehovah.

The calf also represents a theological counterfeit. Aaron attributes the Exodus to the statue: “These be thy gods… which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). That is counterfeit theology—false attribution of divine acts. Satan does the same thing in the New Testament when he attributes miracles to Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24). Idols steal God’s credit. Any religion that attributes salvation, providence, guidance, or blessing to saints, sacraments, sacraments, or systems is doing exactly what Aaron did—rerouting praise to a golden substitute.

Furthermore, Aaron announces, “To morrow is a feast to the LORD” (Exodus 32:5). He labels the idol with covenant language. Corrupted worship does not begin by denying God’s existence but by redefining God’s character. The modern church commits the same sin when it preaches a Christ who never judges, a Spirit who never convicts, a Father who never disciplines (Hebrews 12:6), and a gospel without repentance. It still uses Jesus’ name, but it is a golden calf with Christian branding. The lesson is clear: the most dangerous

Seven Ways to Use the Psalms in Your Daily Life

INTRODUCTION

There is no book in the Bible that matches the emotional range, theological depth, and spiritual honesty of the Psalms. The Psalms were the hymnbook of Israel, the prayer book of saints, and the battlefield manual of believers who knew what it meant to walk through both green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death. A Christian can pick up the Psalms in any state of mind and find words for it. When the heart is burning with praise, the Psalms provide a vocabulary of worship. When the heart is crushed under sorrow, the Psalms provide a language of lament. The world talks about “emotional intelligence.” God gave the Psalms to give saints spiritual intelligence in emotional seasons. David did not merely survive emotions — he sanctified them.

The Psalms are not sentimental poetry. They are Scripture. They carry doctrine about creation (Psalm 8), prophecy about the crucifixion (Psalm 22), second advent warfare (Psalm 2), repentance (Psalm 51), millennial reign (Psalm 110), and daily Christian sanctification (Psalm 119). A Christian who avoids the Psalms is like a soldier who refuses to learn how to use his shield. Paul writes in Romans that we learn “patience and comfort of the scriptures” (Romans 15:4), and nowhere is patience and comfort more accessible than in the Psalms. They take the theology of the prophets and the historical narratives of the kings and put them into the bloodstream of devotion.

Most Christians read Psalms occasionally — like spiritual first aid kits — but the Bible believer learns to use the Psalms as part of his daily arsenal. In dark times, the Psalms provide refuge. In bright times, they provide perspective. In confusing times, they provide clarity. Too many saints are emotionally dislocated because they feed their hearts on news cycles and self-help clichés instead of letting the Psalms tune their soul. So in this essay we will outline seven ways a Christian can use the Psalms daily — not as museum pieces of ancient Hebrew poetry, but as living, breathing Scripture that transforms the inner life.

1. USE THE PSALMS FOR PRAISE IN THE MORNING

The first way a Christian uses the Psalms is for praise at the beginning of the day. David writes, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised” (Psalm 18:3). Praise is not a booster shot for God’s ego; it is realignment for the believer’s perspective. Morning praise sets the compass of the soul. The devil wants a Christian to begin the morning with self-pity, anxiety, checking notifications, checking the market, checking the headlines — anything except checking in with God. But praise in the morning reminds the believer that the world is not governed by chaos but by a sovereign Lord who “hath prepared his throne in the heavens” (Psalm 103:19).

Psalm 5:3 says, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee.” David begins with vocal praise, not silent dread. He points the barrel of his prayer life upward. A Christian who wakes and immediately praises God with a Psalm — for His mercy, His sovereignty, His holiness, His goodness — is like a pilot setting instruments before takeoff. The turbulence of the day may shake him later, but the bearings were set when his feet hit the floor. Praise is a shield against the creeping bitterness and cynicism that attempt to attach themselves before breakfast.

Morning praise from the Psalms also trains the affections. The heart is not neutral; it must be tuned like a harp. Psalm 33:2 says, “Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him.” When a believer sings Psalm 100, or quotes Psalm 103, or recites Psalm 145, he teaches his affections where to dwell. The flesh defaults to complaint. The spirit defaults to praise when fed by Scripture. A Christian who begins the day with praise from Psalms begins the day with God above the headlines, above the bank account, above the anxieties. That is not sentimentalism. That is spiritual warfare.

2. USE THE PSALMS AS CONFESSION IN TIMES OF SIN

The second way a Christian uses the Psalms is for confession. Psalm 51 is the nuclear warhead of repentance. David writes, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). That is the vocabulary of a broken saint. Modern Christianity treats sin as a misalignment, a mistake, or a “struggle.” God calls it sin. David does not go to therapy. He goes to God. The Psalms teach a believer how to confess. Confession is not explaining sin; it is naming it. Confession is not self-loathing; it is God-exalting. “Wash me thoroughly” (Psalm 51:2). “Purge me with hyssop” (Psalm 51:7). “Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm 51:10). That is confession with theological accuracy.

Without Psalms like 51, a Christian tends to confess vaguely. “Lord, forgive me for messing up.” That is not biblical confession. David confesses lust, transgression, iniquity, filth, and bloodguiltiness — he drags the sin into the light and refuses to downplay it. Modern confession is therapeutic; biblical confession is surgical. The Psalms give vocabulary for that surgery. A Christian who regularly reads Psalm 51 will learn how to pray with precision. He will understand that sin is vertical before it is horizontal, doctrinal before it is emotional. That prevents self-pity and cultivates holiness.

Confession through the Psalms also prevents despair. Psalm 32 shows the other side of repentance: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). David moves from guilt to joy. Confession is not the endpoint; cleansing is. Psalms teach that a saint can be filthy at breakfast and restored by lunch. That is not license to sin; it is permission to repent. When a believer fails, the Psalms prevent two errors — minimizing sin and drowning in guilt. They teach repentance, not self-hatred. They teach cleansing, not denial. Every Christian who masters Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 becomes spiritually resilient.

3. USE THE PSALMS FOR COMFORT IN SUFFERING

The third use of the Psalms is comfort. The Psalms contain more lament than celebration. That is because life contains more valleys than mountaintops. Western Christians imagine that suffering is abnormal, and they crumble when it comes. The Psalms teach that suffering is part of the believer’s curriculum. Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” That verse destroys prosperity theology in one clause. The righteous have afflictions. Not a few. Many. But they have a Deliverer.

Psalm 23 is the psalm of comfort par excellence. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). Notice that the Psalm doesn’t promise to remove the valley. It promises company in the valley. Most Christians demand that God reroute them around the valley. God walks with them through it. The presence of God is the comfort, not the absence of sorrow. When a believer reads Psalm 23 during grief, he realizes that the rod and staff are not decorations — they are protections. God uses His rod to protect from predators and His staff to pull sheep out of ravines. That is comfort.

Psalms of comfort are not weak. They are militant. Psalm 27 begins, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1). That is not sentiment — that is courage. David is surrounded by enemies. His family is fractured. His kingdom is threatened. And he writes about the beauty of the Lord. The Psalms teach a believer how to suffer without collapsing. They give the saint language to process grief without blaspheming. When he wants to weep, the Psalms weep with him. When he wants to collapse, the Psalms stand him upright. Comfort is not found in denial but in Scripture.

4. USE THE PSALMS FOR GUIDANCE AND DECISION-MAKING

The fourth use of Psalms is guidance. Psalm 119 is the theological

What The Bible Means By “The Flesh”
And Why Your New Man Will Never Be At Home In It

Romans 8:7–9

Introduction

There are few words in the Bible that have been more flattened, misunderstood, and abused in modern preaching than that little word “flesh.” Say “flesh” and most Christians picture nothing more than skin, muscles, and bone. They think Paul is warning them about their biology instead of their nature, so they end up fighting the wrong enemy and blaming the wrong thing. When the Bible says “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17), it is not describing a boxing match between your physical body and some mystical inner ghost. It is describing the war between what you inherited in Adam and what you received in Jesus Christ. One is a fallen nature under sin, the other is a new nature united to the Spirit of God.

You see the first hint of this definition back in Genesis when God looks at the antediluvian world and says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3). He is not suddenly discovering that men have skin. Adam had skin the day God made him from the dust. The problem is not that man has a body but that something inside that body has become something it was not created to be. After the fall, the spirit of man dies toward God, the soul sinks under the rule of sin, and the whole man becomes described by a single word, “flesh.” “For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12). That corruption is deeper than epidermis. It is a moral and spiritual rot that runs from the inside out.

When you were lost, you were not just an innocent soul wearing a naughty body. You were a sinner by nature, and that nature is what the Bible calls “the flesh.” That flesh is not the devil’s essence, but it is a nature that took its cue from his rebellion. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). At Calvary, the Lord did not simply die to give your skin a makeover. He judged that old nature and made a way to cut your soul loose from that condemned flesh so that His Spirit could indwell you and seat you in heavenly places while your body still walks this earth. To understand Christian living at all, you have to get clear on what the flesh is, what the Spirit is, and how God separated the two in the new birth. That is what this study is about.

1. “He Also Is Flesh” – How God Described Fallen Man

When God said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3), He was not giving a medical observation. He was issuing a moral indictment. Adam did not become flesh the day he grew skin. He became flesh the day he chose the serpent’s word over God’s word and plunged the race into spiritual death. Before the fall, Adam is a living soul with a living spirit in a sinless body. After the fall, he is a dying body housing a dead spirit and a soul now chained to sin. From that moment on, the Bible can speak of mankind collectively as “all flesh” because the race now shares a common fallen nature. “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12).

This is why the Lord can use “flesh” and “man” almost interchangeably when He speaks of judgment. “All flesh shall perish together” (Job 34:15). “The end of all flesh is come before me” (Genesis 6:13). He is not threatening to destroy knees and elbows. He is announcing judgment on a race that is now characterized by rebellion. The word flesh becomes a label for man in his Adamic condition, man as he is in himself apart from divine life. That is why Paul can say, “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He is not insulting God’s physical design. He is confessing that the principle that rules his old nature has nothing good in it at all.

So when you read “flesh” in the Bible, you must learn to distinguish contexts. Sometimes flesh means literal meat, as in “flesh of swine” (Leviticus 11:7). Sometimes it describes physical kinship, as in “my flesh and my bone” (Genesis 2:23). But in the doctrinal passages on sin and sanctification, flesh is the fallen nature of man in Adam, the old principle of life that stands in opposition to God. It is that sense of flesh that God had in mind in Genesis 6, that Paul expounds in Romans 7 and 8, and that the Spirit warns about in Galatians 5.

2. Body, Soul, and Spirit – How Man Was Built and How He Broke

To grasp the difference between flesh and Spirit, you have to remember that man is a three part being. Paul says plainly, “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The body is the visible house made of dust. The soul is the real you, the conscious self that loves, chooses, sorrows, and rejoices. The spirit is the Godward part of man that was meant to fellowship with the Spirit of God. When God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, “man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). He was a united, upright being, body animated by spirit and governed by a soul that delighted in God.

The fall shattered that design. God had warned, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Adam did not physically drop dead that afternoon, yet something real died. His spirit died toward God. Paul describes lost men as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Their bodies move, their minds think, but their spirits are alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18). The soul that once walked in fellowship with God now chooses under the dominion of sin. From that point, the whole man in that condition can be summed up as “flesh.” That is why Jesus says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). Like begets like. Fallen Adam can only reproduce fallen children.

This is crucial. The flesh, in the doctrinal sense, is not simply your body and it is not simply your soul. It is the whole man in Adam, spirit dead, soul enslaved, body decaying. It is a nature, a principle, a bent away from God. When Paul says, “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8), he does not mean it is impossible to please God in a human body. Jesus pleased God in a human body. He means you cannot please God while you remain in that Adamic condition, ruled by that fallen nature, cut off from the Spirit of God.

3. The Flesh As Fallen Nature – The Old Man In Adam

When you arrive in Romans 7, Paul opens his chest and lets you hear the battle cry of a saved man who still has an old nature. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He is careful to define the term. “In me” as a whole person there is now something more than flesh, because he is saved. But “in my flesh,” that old Adamic nature, there is no good thing. He calls that principle “sin that dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:17) and he refers to it elsewhere as “the old man” (Ephesians 4:22). That old man is not your physical skeleton. It is the person you were in Adam, the nature you inherited from him, the heart that says, “I will” against God.

The flesh as a fallen nature has its own mind, its own affections, its own works. “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). Carnal there is from the same root as flesh. The flesh thinks a certain way. It will not submit to the law of God. It is not merely weak. It is hostile. Given the chance, it will always grab for its own glory, its own comfort, its own will. That is why Paul lists “the works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19–21. Those works are not accidents. They are the natural crop that grows when the flesh is allowed to run things.

This is why the lost man cannot fix himself by education, environment, or religion. His problem is not skin deep. It is not just bad habits. It is a nature. “They that are after the flesh do mind

Sin Always Takes You Farther Than You Planned – The devil never shows the bill up front

INTRODUCTION

One of the deadliest misunderstandings in the modern Christian mind is the idea that sin can be managed, moderated, or temporarily indulged without consequences. A man thinks he can take one sip without becoming a drunkard, tell one lie without becoming a liar, watch one filthy thing without corrupting his soul, or take one step toward Sodom without ending up in the pigpen. But the Bible declares without apology that sin is not static and never content to remain small. Sin is progressive. Sin is a tyrant. Sin is a devourer. The wise man said “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins” (Proverbs 5:22), which means sin doesn’t just stain, it binds, captures, and drags a man farther than he ever intended to go.

Modern pulpits rarely speak of sin with this kind of clarity, because modern pulpits are built for comfort, not confrontation. They soothe instead of warn, they flatter instead of rebuke, and they produce believers who can quote the love of God but never tremble at the holiness of God. The problem with that is simple: the Bible does not present sin as a trivial inconvenience but as a predator. In Genesis, Cain was told that “sin lieth at the door” (Genesis 4:7), crouching like a beast ready to spring. Jesus warned that sin was inward, not merely outward, proceeding from the heart (Mark 7:21-23). Paul said sin reigns, sin deceives, sin enslaves, and sin kills (Romans 6:12-23). Sin is never a pet. It is always a predator.

If there is one truth believers must recover in these last days of cheap grace and lazy discipleship, it is that the devil never shows the bill up front. When Satan tempted Eve, he sold her knowledge but hid the curse (Genesis 3:4-6). When he baited David, he offered beauty but hid the sword (2 Samuel 11-12). When he entered Judas, he offered thirty pieces of silver but hid the rope and the field of blood (Matthew 27:3-8). Sin always promises the front end and hides the back end. The devil will gladly give you the bait, so long as you don’t ask about the hook. That is why “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15). It always takes you farther than you planned, keeps you longer than you intended, and costs you more than you wanted to pay.

1. SIN ALWAYS STARTS SMALL

Every sin in the Bible begins with something deceptively small. Eve only plucked a piece of fruit. Lot only lifted up his eyes toward Sodom. Samson only toyed with a heathen woman. David only lingered on a rooftop. Judas only pocketed a small bag of silver. None of them imagined the consequences, because sin never presents itself as catastrophic. It presents itself as harmless, temporary, even justifiable. That is why the Bible warns that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13) is not merely in its temptation but in its minimization. The devil wants you to think you can handle it.

The first trap of sin is the lie of containment. A man believes he can control his lust, so he clicks one more time. He believes he can control his temper, so he gives it one more outburst. He believes he can control his drink, so he pours one more glass. What he doesn’t realize is that sin is never satisfied. Lust becomes addiction. Anger becomes bitterness. Drink becomes drunkenness. The little foxes spoil the vines (Song of Solomon 2:15), not the bears. A spark starts the house fire, not the explosion. The danger is not merely in what sin is, but in what sin becomes if left unrepented and unrestrained.

God’s remedy for small sins is immediate confession and forsaking, not management. The Bible says “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Covering sin—excusing it, minimizing it, rationalizing it—never works. Sin covered by man is exposed by God. Sin exposed to God is covered by the blood (1 John 1:7). The tragedy of modern Christianity is not that saints occasionally stumble. The tragedy is that saints now stumble, shrug, and scroll, without sorrow, without confession, without fear of God, because they think the small thing is harmless. It never is.

2. SIN BLINDS BEFORE IT BINDS

Once sin enters, it does not start by chaining the feet but by blinding the eyes. The prodigal son was not chained in the far country; he was blinded long before he ever got there. Samson did not lose his eyes until long after he lost his discernment. The Bible warns that Satan “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Corinthians 4:4), but blindness is not just for the lost. Saints become blind when they justify their sin, ignore their conscience, and resist the Holy Ghost. Blindness always precedes bondage, because a man who cannot see truth cannot walk in it.

Blindness manifests as moral confusion. A man calls sin weakness instead of wickedness. He renames lust “struggle,” bitterness “boundaries,” pride “self-esteem,” and worldliness “relevance.” He thinks repentance is optional, holiness is legalism, separation is extremism, and conviction is negativity. That blindness is the direct result of sin’s fog settling over the spiritual senses. The Bible speaks of those who become “past feeling” (Ephesians 4:19), meaning they no longer flinch when the Word rebukes, no longer weep when the Spirit convicts, no longer tremble when God speaks. Blind men don’t fear cliffs.

Once blinded, bondage follows. Samson ends up grinding in the millhouse (Judges 16:21). The prodigal ends up in the pigpen (Luke 15:16). David ends up with a dead child and a divided family (2 Samuel 12-18). A believer ends up with a dead testimony, a cold heart, and a withered prayer life. The order never changes. Blindness leads to bondage. If a believer fears bondage, he must repent of blindness. The only cure for blindness is exposure to light, and the Scripture says “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). Sin kills the appetite for the Word because the Word kills the power of sin.

3. SIN TAKES YOU FARTHER THAN YOU PLANNED

No one in human history has ever accurately predicted the destination of their sin. Lot only pitched his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:12), but before long he was sitting in the gate as a civic leader (Genesis 19:1), offering his daughters to a mob, and escaping a burned city with nothing but the clothes on his back and a traumatized family. That is how sin works. The starting point is always manageable. The ending point is always catastrophic. What begins as flirting ends as adultery. What begins as complaining ends as rebellion. What begins as curiosity ends as corruption. The devil never shows you chapter twelve when you’re still living in chapter one.

David planned only to look. He did not plan to lust. He did not plan to commit adultery. He did not plan to kill a loyal soldier. He did not plan to cover his tracks. He did not plan to bury a child. He only planned to look. But sin is never neutral. It advances. It escalates. It hardens. That is why the Bible says “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). The man who thinks he can contain sin is like a man who thinks he can contain cancer. It does not stay where you leave it. It spreads, invades, corrupts, and destroys.

The truth that sin takes you farther should produce not despair, but fear of God. Hebrews says “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Reverence is the lost virtue of modern Christianity. Men fear disease, bankruptcy, public embarrassment, and social disapproval more than they fear sinning against a holy God. But a saint who fears God will flee from sin not because he is sinless, but because he knows the road is slippery, the ditch is deep, and the