Jesus Christ is Lord of All

Friday, March 21, 2014

The Decay of the Inner Man--Clouds without Rain

The Decay of the Inner Man
 Clouds without Rain
     Herein I desire to show you a specific glimpse of the decay of the inner man that now sweeps through the remnant resulting in a bloody massacre of Spiritual men. Oh how the mighty are fallen in the midst of battle, and the weapons of war perished (2 Sam 1:25, 27)! What is this decay which I speak of? It is the reversal of that glorious state of the saint who is walking before the LORD with a perfect and worthy heart: the outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. However this state of decay which I speak of is one in which the outward man is renewed, that is, the love for the world with all its lusts and boasts, his desire to save his life, his confidence in his flesh, his minding of those temporal things which are seen…are kindled and eventually overtake the man and he is overcome. He has forsaken the right way and is gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet 2:15). At the very same time, his inward man perishes and wastes away. (2 Cor 4:16-18) And no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). They had been the salt of the earth, but have now lost their savour.
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt 5:13-16)
     Dear saints I seek to elaborate on a particular type of decaying of the inner man in which though the man has defiled the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and thus God in His holiness has destroyed him, a hypocritical form of godliness is maintained (1 Cor 3:16-17). That is to say, he has not openly renounced the faith. He has not necessarily fallen into apparent grotesque immorality in the eyes of onlookers, YET. For some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after (1 Tim 5:24-25). Oh that the LORD Jesus Christ would uncover, reveal, and make known that hypocrisy, that feigned faith in the man whose faith has been shipwrecked lest he be regarded as a Spiritual man yet in truth remain deceived, darkened, drunken, and infantile until that final day! For his form of false righteousness, his seemingly Spiritual rhetoric, his ways of pleasing the masses of professing believers…these will not uphold his soul in that Day. For the Judge is able, righteous, just, and desirous to damn those who had spurned the holy One of God!
     These men choose to maintain a form of godliness, but the life that once reigned within them through the merits of Jesus Christ, the true union with the sap-giving Vine is lost, the connection to the Head is severed, and the soul withers with gangrene and wastes away unto death. This inner impalement is unto reprobation and irrevocable damnation. Such men are spoken of extensively in the epistles.  They count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving while they feast with us; having eyes full of adultery, and they cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. (2 Pet 2:13-14, 17) They are spots in our feasts of charity, when they feast with us, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 12,13) Surely she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim 5:6)! Consider a cloud without a rain: clouds are a sure sign of the flow of life-giving streams from the heavens. The people look upon them with expectation. Their appearance gives promises and is a symbol of future prosperity. Yet these clouds bring forth NO rain! Their promises, their symbolism, the anticipation and hope that they elicit from mankind are not at the present time NOR EVER fulfilled. For this reason the LORD of hosts commands His people to hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto them: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that despise Him, “The LORD hath said, ye shall have peace” and they say unto every one that WALKETH AFTER THE IMAGINATION OF HIS HEART, “no evil shall come upon you”. (Jer 23:16-17) These clouds without rain are false prophets and teachers among the people who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that BOUGHT them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through coveteousness shall they with FEIGNED WORDS make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Pet 2:1-3)

18 
For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard His Word? who hath marked His Word, and heard it?19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.20 The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of His heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.22 But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused my people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;27 Which think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.29 Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in  pieces?30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal My Words every one from his neighbour.31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” (Jer 23:18-32)
     Dear beloved, consider carefully that these clouds without rain are those false prophets who had risen up from among the very people of God! These false prophets had been purchased with the blood of Christ and been on the very path of righteousness! They had escaped the pollution of the world through their knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 2). In the midst of this great falling away, surely many will fall away blatantly, choosing to sin openly in gross immorality rather than to continue in saving faith and to bear reproach with the people of God. But there are certain men who fall away: their inner man decays, the Spirit departs, the man is finally and irreversibly reprobated, and yet, the man continues to appear Spiritual to those babes who are unskilled in the Word of righteousness (Heb 5:13). His form is maintained. His outward man is pristine. His speech is smooth. Surely his pride has corrupted him! And yet the terrifying reality is that many such men have a great following. They are massacring the remnant! They are setting false standards for righteousness! They commend themselves, but they are measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, and are not wise (2 Cor 10:12). They are promising the rain of heavenly peace, salvation, the favor of God, the light of His countenance…and yet there is nothing but imminent wrath and destruction that looms over the heads of these backslidden people. In their pride they wax bold against the true bride of Christ that does hear Christ’s voice and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Consider the apostate man Korah and the men who followed him in his rebellion unto their own Spiritual death (Num 16) 
“20 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” (Num 16:20-21)
     Consider the backslidden Israelites whom God had disallowed from entering the Promise Land. As Moses declared that God would not allow them to enter the Promise Land specifically because of the decay of their inner men, they mourned greatly, rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, “Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned”. And Moses said, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? But it shall not prosper. Go not up, for THE LORD IS NOT AMONG YOU; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the word: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you”. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top, were smitten and discomfited! (Num 14) Though their inner man had turned AWAY from the LORD, they maintain an outward form, even declaring that they had sinned, and attempting to “correct” their former wickedness of fearing to take the Promise Land because of the fleshly strength of their enemies.
     A primary example of a cloud without rain is King Saul, specifically during that time in which the Spirit of God had departed from him because of his rebellion and pride, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him (1 Sam 16:14) and continued to have a following of many great men. Consider that instance in which he disobeyed the LORD’s command to utterly destroy the Amalekites with all of their plunder. He had forsaken the way of righteousness, loving the wages of wickedness and thus had kept back some plunder. Yet when Samuel came to him he said, “Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (1 Sam 15:13-15) See what the LORD had told the righteous prophet Samuel that night:
16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.22 And Samuel said,Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.” (1 Sam 15:16-30)
     Repeatedly we see pride, hypocrisy, false humility, false repentance…in those whose inner man decays! Such apostatizing and apostate men who are clouds without rain are as those who draw near to Him with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Him, but they have removed their heart far from Him, and their fear toward Him is taught by the precept of men (Is 29:13). Though they had at one time been enlightened to the hidden wisdom which God ordained unto the glory of His people (1 Cor 2:7) they are now dwelling in the wisdom and understanding of the world which will perish and be hidden (Is 29:14)! The WORD of God remains and/or returns to its sealed state unto them! Their false humility and false repentance is as that of the people of Judah who did not turn to Him with their whole heart, but FEIGNEDLY (Jer 3:10).
     Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great things if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (1 Cor 11:13-15).
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” (Ez 28:12-19)
     Oh apostasy and hypocrisy! What a horrifying partnership having such ruinous qualities! For now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in HYPOCRISY; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Tim 4:1-2). These clouds without rain were once quickened together with Christ, having been forgiven of their trespasses. Surely the handwriting of ordinances that was against them and contrary to them was blotted out, taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. Surely principalities and powers were spoiled, and Christ made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:13-15) Yet they are beguiled into vile hypocrisy through voluntary humility, worship of angels, intruding into those things which they hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and NOT HOLDING THE HEAD, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Yet though they were dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, they again are subject to outward ordinances regarding things which are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. These things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: NOT IN ANY HONOUR TO THE SATISFYING OF THE FLESH. (Col 2: 18-23) Surely they do build not with gold, silver, and precious stones, but with stones, wood, hay, and stubble! For they do glory in men, use worldly wisdom, and defile the temple of God! (see 1 Cor 3:10-23) They do trust to their own righteousness, commit iniquity, and none of their righteousnesses shall be remembered but for their iniquity that they have committed, they shall die for it (Ez 3:13).
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort is.” (1 Cor 3:13)
     Oh beloved how great is the need to continue in that true Vine, that glorious olive tree, in His goodness, His Word, regarding both His goodness and severity, being not highminded but fearing…for every branch in Him that bears no fruit, yes that HOLDS NOT THE HEAD, will be cut off and burned! (See John 15, Rom 11). For the wisdom that is from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and WITHOUT HYPOCRISY (James 3:17)! The end of His commandments is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith UNFEIGNED (1 Tim 1:5). If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:25).
 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:” (1 Pet 1:22)
     At the very same time that waves of Spiritual plagues and apostasy befall the remnant, dreadful rainless clouds are created from such reprobates! They will have a form of godliness. They will make promises. They will use Scriptural rhetoric…but their inner man has decayed. They judge themselves by themselves and by one another. They set themselves as the standard of worthiness with all of their vile leavening hypocrisy, lukewarmness, deadness, piteous, poor, naked, wretched, blind condition. There are impaled members out among you who have a form! Oh that you would beware! Oh that your inner man would not decay! Oh that you would fight to keep the faith, to finish the race! Oh that you would be sensitive to the loss of your first love, of saving faith, of what it means to know Him and be known of Him, to have His love abounding in you, to be dead on the altar as a living sacrifice with Christ, to be humbled and broken in His presence! Do not be deceived! Remember from where you have fallen!
     Dear saints, how can I constrain you to grasp the implications of this inner decay, principally that it will NOT be visible to the vast majority of professing Christendom because they will maintain a form of false godliness, and they will set themselves as the standards? And, God forbid that they be they only standards, the only examples to you of men who please God! For they do NOT please Him! All of their labours are fuel for the fires of judgment! Behold, it is not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? (Hab 2:13). In the presence of this great scarcity of sound doctrine, of converted souls, and pastors anointed by God according to the heart of God, who will rescue you from such inner decay when it is covered up by forms of false righteousness present in the seemingly most Godly saints and teachers in the midst of professing Christendom?! Would that such hypocrisy become manifest lest the people perish! Would that secret sin be brought into the light of all the sheep who do at the present time follow false shepherds! REMEMBER your first love for Christ and the pure heart, the clean conscience that you had as you repented. Do you have it now? How can you give yourself sleep? What peace can you find if you have not been brought nearer to the LORD and Savior, but rather have drifted? There is sure damnation that awaits you. Be not deceived by the voices and forms of those around you! They together walk hand-in-hand, inner man decaying, in their self righteous forms to the gates of hell! Oh would you be spared? Would you consider what it is to have a perfect heart? Dear saints please consider and take heed to these warnings:
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:18 I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Rev 3:15-22)
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev 2:4-5)
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” (1 Tim 6:9-12)
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Rom 12:3) 
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5) 
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb 3:12-14)
     There are a few true pastors that the LORD has raised up. And I marvel day by day at the astounding grace of God in revealing some to me. If you have ears to hear would you please read “The Condescension of God”? The author does carry and convey the TRUE BURDENS of the LORD. The messages therein will not whitewash your dead tomb of inner decay, but rather they will slay your carnality that your soul may be spared. If you have any desire to be counted worthy on the Day of Judgment through saving faith in the blood of the LAMB, I implore you to hearken unto such men!
Oh LORD, that our inner man would not decay! That we would not become clouds without rain!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...