Gen. 1:26 – Let Us make man in Our image. We have been studying this for the longest time and we understand our design and we agree that this is the reason that we were created.
Do you also agree that in order for you and I to be His image…then we must be fulfilling the Will of God in our lives? Our nature and character will reveal His nature and character. We know that this is in our design…but do we portray this in our daily living right now? Perhaps partially but not fully yet (why?) because we are on a journey with our teacher the Holy Spirit to transform us into His image. Not so?
However, there is one very important factor that has to be present in us for this to be a reality… it is an undivided heart. We may not be doing this perfectly yet BUT our heart MUST want to do it right!
The first commandment is clear:
Matt. 22:37 – And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God (how?) with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind.
There is no “some of your heart”… there is no division… the way that you and I MUST love Him is with ALL our heart.
How do you know whether you love Him or not?
Rev. 2:4-5, 7 – Jesus warns the Loveless church, ‘Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love (first love – the awe, the wonder, the gratefulness, the place of surrender and giving of yourself to Him)
If you have left, where did you go?
We have become familiar with our salvation and are not spending real time with Him – 2 Peter 2:20-22.
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works (the 2 commandments), or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place (you were meant to be a light upon a hill – reflecting Christ will make you stand out – not to highlight you BUT to highlight HIM!) – unless you repent. (Remember the 5 foolish virgins had no light!)
V7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (The one who overcomes is restored to the original position of man according to God’s plan and purpose).
Rev. 3:1-2 – Again Jesus warns, this time the Dead church – And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive(seemingly, they have a “religious” reputation – 2 Tim. 3:5-9 + 2 Peter 2:9-11) but you are dead (no sign of life…Jesus who is the Life does not dwell in them). Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die (that little flickering flame of what once was life), for I have not found your works(the 2 commandments) perfect before God.
This is something that is NOT a progressive growth thing… you either love Him or you don’t!
This love is not just a feeling…it is amazement, a gratefulness, it is awe, that the Lord God Almighty, Holy in all of His ways, decided to rescue you and I from the lake of fire and instead has made a covenant with you and I! Disobedient, undeserving us!
This should create a reverential fear in us that makes us want to bow down and keep His commandments!
It is the reverential fear of the Lord in my heart, this awe and amazement that keeps my heart in love with Him. And out of the love in my heart, I want to obey Him!
I might not be getting it right all the time but my heart wants to obey Him. I am not happy when I let Him down.
The undivided heart
- When you think about God – how do you see Him? Do you fear Him?
- What position of authority does His Word have in your life?
- Do you know that your obedience to His Word is directly proportional to the reverential fear you have in your heart for God?
- Do you have a desire to get into His presence, to bring Him honour and to spend time with Him?
Have we as Pastors, Teachers and Preachers, watered down the Word so much because we don’t want to offend people that the people no longer have a reverential fear of God?
We have to ask the question…who is God to you? “A nice man who will fix my life? I prayed the prayer so now I’m going to heaven. I know that I’m caught up in sin but God is a loving God and Jesus died for my sins”.
- But there is NO URGENCY to get out of sin!!!
- God forbid! Help us Lord!
- The truth is that we were created to bear the image of God! Christ in us, the hope of Glory!
- Well, what does that look like? John 14:9
As teachers we have a responsibility… what we teach must be the undisguised truth that will cause 2 Cor. 3:18 to manifest in our lives and their lives.
But what do we see instead? That personal opinions are lifted higher – much higher than the Word of Almighty God.
No, the time has come…People deserve to know the truth because the consequences are dire.
2 Cor. 4:2-4 – But we have renounced the hidden things of shame…not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully…but by manifestation (clearly shown) of the truth (the Holy Spirit reveals – clearly shows – the Truth, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and that in itself will validate what we are saying) commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God!
V3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing V4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
The only reason the truth is veiled is when the god of this world has blinded their minds!
Paul says here – I refuse to be cunning to try and talk you into something. Instead I am going to openly declare the Spirit filled, living Word of God because I am preaching in the sight of God and the truth of His Word revealed by the Holy Spirit has the capacity to change your hearts.
If you don’t accept it, it is not because I wasn’t clever enough…it’s because there is something spiritual going on in you. The god of this world has blinded the mind of the unbeliever to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.
In this day and age, we have many who profess to be Christians (followers of Christ) but there is absolutely no circumstantial evidence of this. Why? Because we worship with our lips but our hearts are far from Him! Mark 7:6 Our mouths say one thing but our lives another.
James 3:1-12 – My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgement. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
Indeed, we put bits into horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. (Who is the pilot in your life?)
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
V8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (BUT GOD CAN!)
V9 With it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
V10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.
V11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
V12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. (For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks – Matt. 12:34-35).
What is coming out of your mouth is what is in your heart…
AGAIN, do you know that your obedience to His Word is directly proportional to the reverential fear you have in your heart for God?
Luke 6:45-46 – Jesus Himself says…A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
V46 Jesus goes on to say…But why do you call Me. “Lord, Lord,” and not do the things which I say?
We say and do things out of the abundance of what is in our hearts!
When what we do or say lines up with the Word and the Will of God…then that’s perfect BUT Can I honestly say that I love God with all my heart when out of my heart evil is proceeding forth?
- Does God condone it when we judge others or gossip/slander about others? Why are you sharing this anyway? What’s the purpose?
- Does God condone un-forgiveness, outbursts of wrath, hatred?
- Dos He condone adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness?
- How about the symptoms of pride – jealousies, envy, selfish ambitions, idolatry?
Isaiah 44:20 – He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside.
Isaiah 14:12-15 Lucifer fell because of his deceived heart condition… it was filled with pride.
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
So what now? How do I change that so that my heart is truly undivided?
Prov. 4:4 – Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands and live!
Proverbs 3:1 – My son, do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commandments;
Prov. 23:19 – Hear my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way. (How?)V26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
Prov. 4:20-21 – My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.
Prov. 4:23 – Keep your heart (protect what comes in there) with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
1 Kings 14:8 – …you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me (how?) with all his heart.
Acts 13:22 – And when God had removed him (Saul), He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave the testimony, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”
God loved David before he became an adulterer and murderer and still loved him after (why?) It’s a heart condition…David’s heart was broken for having sinned and repented with all of his heart before the Lord.
Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Psalm 84:2 – My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
2 Chron. 16:9 – For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth, (why?) to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
God is looking for a heart that is blameless so He can support them.
Psalm 86:11 – Teach me your ways, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart (why?) to fear Your name.
1 Sam. 24:5-6 – This scripture reveals David’s heart and the reverential fear that he had for God’s commandments: Saul has been pursuing David to kill him for a very long time. David and his men are sheltering in a cave when Saul comes in to attend to his needs. David arises and secretly cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe.
V5-6 Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.
His heart was troubled because he had gone against the word of God. It was the reverential fear of God that guided his heart.
Again I ask the following questions?
What position of authority does His Word have in your life?
Do you know that your obedience to His Word is directly proportional to the reverential fear you have in your heart for God?
Why am I belabouring this truth?
The only way to be transformed into the image of Christ is to die to yourself.
Jesus has called us to deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Him.
Do you know that satan never asked Eve to bow down and worship him? No, he simply used his words to doubt God and to turn her attention onto herself.
Gen. 3:5 – ‘For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’
In other words, like this you are not enough, but then you can be like God.
Do you know that the number 1 command of the satanic bible is “do as thou wilt”?
Today we have a people who fashion for themselves a god of their own making…one that suits their lifestyle and their opinion…one that requires no accountability…because ‘God is a loving God.’
Instead of reflecting the image of God…we began to worship at the altar of self and we are spending our days beholding our own image.
Rev. 3:14-22 – A warning to the Lukewarm Church.
V14 And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:
V15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot, V16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. V17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
V18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see.
V19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
V20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.
V21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”.
The God who dwells in unapproachable light, the righteous Judge, has come to knock on the door of your heart…
You still have time right now, to give Him ALL of your heart…to love Him with All of your heart…to reverence Him with ALL of your heart.
- Malachi 3:1-3 – Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
- Psalm 66:10 – For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfilment.
- Rev 19:7-9 the bride & Isaiah 61:10 Robe of righteousness.