Exclusion rule

It is important to remind one of so many truths that look to elude the believer. Our sinful natures always gnawing away at the “exclusion rule”; we are well aware of certain facets of life but we hope that they will pass us by with death being the final enemy that all will face. Save those raptured of course!

I had a wisdom tooth yanked last week and with it they gave me some literature and it read; “day three will be painful”. On day two the pain had eased and I thought I was threw the worst of it, and then I recalled the information they gave me. I really believed that just maybe I would possibly be part of the “exclusion rule” and it wouldn’t affect me like everyone else and then day three arrived just as the leaflet had suggested, my jaw throbbed!

As Christians we are taught many truths about being Christians and the hardships we will face, it is these truths that we need to be reminded of lest we become discouraged; “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2Timonthy 3:1-5) – There are many factual warnings given about what to avoid and how to attend to oneself in preservation. Needless to say when we read such portions of scripture we must first apply the Lord Jesus’ teaching about the “log and splinter”, as we first examine ourselves in light of these warnings making sure we are not guilty as charged, and if we have dropped the ball in any of these areas it would be good for us to fall to our knees crying for forgiveness and pleading with our gracious Father God to renew a right spirit in us.

I suppose this could get tricky as our hearts are still full of deceit when left to their own devices. We need God the Holy Spirit to shine His beam of truth into the dark crevices of our hearts welcoming His truth about what needs to be worked out. This is part of our daily sanctification but if left unchecked it will get away from us. God help us to be honest with our own reflection, which thankfully He will always highlight in the minds of His children. I suppose growth brings about learning to see our own sin before God points it out to us. We cannot remain children forever; we must begin to grow into adulthood. How thankful I am for the undying commitment God gives to all those who truly belong to Him. Those who have been born of His Spirit will make it home.

The Gospel has been preached throughout the world, the fisherman have thrown their nets trapping many fish, but the reality of it all is that although many edible fish are gathered by the gospels net, there is undoubtedly fish that are poisonous and inedible that have also been trapped in the same net. They are the enemies of the cross and yet they have been pulled into the same boat, they frequent the same church of the believer. I believe it is these people that Paul is teaching Timothy to avoid. Why is that beneficial to us? Firstly it proves the prediction of scripture and so we must be excited about God’s sovereignty, and then we must understand how much damage people are capable of from within as opposed to those trying to bridge the wall from without.

Think about the legend of the Trojan Horse; the Greeks were at war and they could not breach the walls of Troy and so they devised a plan to build a wooden horse and place elite soldiers inside the structure and pretended to sail away, the Trojan’s pulled the horse into the city that the Greeks had failed to breach as a victory trophy and yet their own pride became their own undoing; the Greeks defeated them from within their own walls.

There are many that profess Christianity who are in fact the enemies of the cross and they can be easily distinguished from the true believer, these we are told to avoid; which means exactly that, avoid everything about them. TBN the TV channel hosts a lot of these poisonous fish. A Christian must bear similar scars to the marks of our great Saviour; He was crucified to set us free, we too must also suffer persecution if we truly belong to Him. We must learn to deny ourselves for the sakes of our brothers, whatever that may entail at any given time. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2Timothy 3:12-13)

Signing off

Tyrone