Anoint Thine Eyes With Eye Salve By David Keeling

Transcription

1 Anoint Thine Eyes With Eye Salve By David Keeling This morning I want to turn to Rev. chapter 3 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; [Christ is giving his counsel to the church] 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. Primarily this morning I want to focus on anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. Reading this I want to point out a few things. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. That fits well with what I am talking about this morning, anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. I ve noticed, and it s a very common thing, that when the multitude is doing or seeing something in a certain way, you can almost be assured that they are wrong. Very seldom does the mob or the multitude or the majority get things right. Very, very seldom. The multitude generally follows the pattern of the world, and this is a perfect example here. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. What does the world or multitude think of being rebuked or chastened? Today they would say, Why do you hate me? Why do you speak all this hatred, rebuking me and saying I m wrong? You hate me! If you try to chasten or correct someone, the first thought they have is you hate me, you don t like me, why can t you just accept me the way I am? but Jesus said, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Their love and hatred are two completely different things. That s why He talks about the eye salve. The world is blind thinking that what they are doing is right, but if they would put some medicine on their eyes and just open them so that they could see the truth see that being rebuked and chastened is not hatred at all it s love that s causing that. Anoint thine eyes with eye salve so that you can see clearly. Vs. 15 says I know they works Think about that with blind eyes, or think about that with eyes that have been anointed with eye salve. They blind have to imagine what they see; they have to wonder, what could this be? A tree could be described for them and they can even feel part of it, but they can only imagine what it actually looks like. They may have a few senses open to them about it, but they can only imagine what it looks like. But if their eyes are anointed and they open their eyes and see, it s all right there very simple just what it is, a tree. Jesus knows your works whether they be good or bad Jesus knows them. There s been a lot of people trying to explain the way of salvation; I ve noticed it a lot lately but have heard about it all of my life. What is salvation? People are looking for salvation, looking for hope. And people are looking for this hope but they are looking like a blind man looks at something. They are waiting for it to be described for them waiting to maybe feel something about it to get an idea of what it might be and they come up with all kinds of imaginations of what it is. I ve read several articles about anabaptists, and one I just recently read that brought out the differences between the evangelical salvation and the Anabaptist view of salvation. Some of the things it talked about were absolutely nothing more than I ve heard all my life. When I was growing up they talked about the difference between believing faith and saving faith and how it is only 18 some people had it in their minds and some really had it in their hearts. That analogy is fairly decent because if we put that into real practice that is a lot of the difference. But what they were basically saying was, there are some people who just sit there on the pew week after week and they believe in their head but that is no life in them. But then once in a while someone will believe it in their heart; they ll be the ones talking it up in Sunday

2 school, really studying to do their lessons, quick to testify they ve got a little something people say. They are glad to get up and sing about Jesus. That s the way it was where I grew up. And so this idea was presented [in the article] of these two different types of salvation that s well known in the evangelical circles well known. And that was the idea of Anabaptist salvation vs. Evangelical salvation just the same old 18 inch theology from head salvation to heart salvation. I ve heard other explanations. Some of them get really close to right about actually just doing what s right. And that s what faith means. But through all of these explanations there s one thing that always keeps coming up no matter how you explain salvation; how well it might even be explained and how correct you might start out before it s over, everyone, or almost everyone, has to put their theology or their idea of salvation through what I call the holy grail of modern Christianity - Eph. 2:8, 9. Any time you begin talking to someone about Jesus - about following him, they will all agree with you for the most part. Yes, we ought to follow Jesus. We ought to be doing these right things, following and patterning our lives after Jesus, we ought to repent and have this heart salvation but when it comes right down to it they say but how does that fit with eph. 2 vs. 8 & 9? Everything they look at, everything they try to evaluate has to pass the test of what they think those two verses mean, or it disqualifies everything. It wipes away Jesus words. It just completely does away with them if it does not quite fit this test; if it does not pass the light of the test of Eph 2:8,9 for by grace If it does not pass that test, then it does not matter what it says. If it contradicts that in their own way or idea, it s of no value. They are judging everything through the eyes of this one verse instead of just simply getting some eye salve and accepting what it actually says. If people would look at the Gospel and what Paul taught through Jesus eyes instead of eph. 2:8,9, Christianity would be a completely different thing. But when everything has to go through this filter, it screens off, it makes little of what was actually said - it takes away from. Everyone is so afraid to present a doctrine, to present the simple teachings of Christ, because of these verses. They apologize for what Jesus taught because it doesn t quite fit Eph 2 according to their own interpretation of those few words. For by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of yourself it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. Four words in there - GRACE, SAVED, FAITH and WORKS, and not one of those words are looked at with eyes that are anointed with eye salve; they are looked at with blinded eyes of theology. Every time you read your bible, if you would just read it anyone could read it and see that when we stand before God we are going to be judged by our works! Read the list of people that are going to hell. Why are they going to hell? Because they are fornicators, adulterers, liars, thieves, blasphemers, disobedient, rebellious, ungodly. Open your eyes! Oh now wait a minute, that don t pass Eph. 2.. We are not going to be judged according to our works! That s a lie that only blind men would stumble at. Lord, anoint our eyes that we can just see instead of having to put these glasses on that we have to filter everything through a couple of verses before it s accepted theology, when the multitudes follow after something, they are on the wrong path. They are on the broad and wide road that lead to hell; the strait and narrow way is the one that leads to life and few there be that find it. We are so scared to death of theology, we might not fit with the evangelicals; we might not fit with a certain church if we don t clarify everything that we say through, of course, eph. 2:8,9, and so we keep these dumb glasses on that keep us from seeing, keep everything cloudy. Every man will be judged according to his works. Rev. 14: 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. Rev. 20: 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

3 Modern theology has figured out a way that there is going to be two judgments. One for the followers of Jesus and one for the wicked. One for those who have received Jesus and then everybody else. That does nothing but pollute, cloud, poison and put glasses on our eyes so that we cannot see. WE think we see because we have received Jesus, but we are blind and cannot see. And I saw the dead small and great and they were judged by those things according to their works. Does that make you tremble? It should. Unless you are blind. Unless you are looking through some stupid glasses that you can t see clearly by and you think you see because you have these glasses on. And death and hell were cast in to the lake of fire this is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. How do we get our name written in the book of life? By repenting and becoming a part of Christ s kingdom being born again into a new life in His kingdom repenting and turning from our wicked works to righteous works. We ve become so clouded with these lies that we are told that we have to pass through these certain verses because that s accepted Christianity. It wasn t because we did good things that God sent Jesus into this world! It was a pure act of mercy that Jesus came into this world to redeem us. It s not by your works of righteousness that Jesus came. But we are all going to be judged by that before we can get to heaven. He didn t come and deliver us because we were good enough to be delivered. But if you are not righteous & holy, you are not going to fit into heaven you ll hate it there! This idea that s presented of a balance or scale well, your good works will outweigh your bad works and whichever way the scale tips is whether you will go to heaven or not that s what people think when they think of works. DO you know what a balance does? Balance a little bit of hot and a little bit of cold, what do you get? Lukewarm. He would that we were either one way or the other. Whenever the Bible condemns works, it s condemning people who are comparing, well, my good works outweigh my bad works. That s what s condemned. We are either on one team or the other, and the evidence of being on Christ s team is being a disciple and a follower of Christ, not a master of theology or someone who can fit their theology into Eph. 2:8, 9 with the words that are all twisted up they don t even know what they mean. We will be judged by our works known by our works. Read the next verse (Eph. 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.) Why can t we get the glasses off to see that? Why can t we put a little salve on our eyes to see the simplicity of that? Our works didn t call Christ down out of heaven to deliver us, but He delivered us so that we could do those things so we d have an opportunity to change and be a part of His kingdom. Not just so we would have an opportunity to see if our good works would outweigh our bad works. Mercy, grace is God reproving and showing you, exhorting and chastising you. That s grace, that s love. The grace that BRINGS salvation to you has appeared to all men teaching you to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously, soberly and godly in this present evil world (Titus 2). But we can t see that because our grace is God just saving us and we don t have to do nothing. Giving us heaven when we don t deserve it. NO it s giving us an opportunity to repent when we don t deserve it. Giving us the opportunity to express our faith in God. Faith in God is our response to God s call on our life, not something we pretend that we imagine, not picking out a promise and pretending it s ours it s responding to God s call of love, His rebuke, His chastisement. We hear it he that hath an ear to hear God s calling me to change! So we respond by faith and are saved from this world. This verse, Eph. 2:8, 9, the worse thing about having to pass everything through this passage is you are looking through this passage with the wrong glass. We are all afraid to go against what all the theologians and churches are saying; we might be accused of working our way to heaven we might be accused of you and Jesus being partners somehow that s supposed to diminish from the glory of God. It has poisoned everything. We can t do it all on our own we can t escape death, the bondage of Satan. Christ came down and He bought that price, the way of escape, for us. But we have to be the one that escapes after He opens the door. It s up to us to be a part of His kingdom. Put some salve on your eyes to where you can see clearly. From the front of the Bible tot eh back of it, God is angry with wickedness and He loves

4 righteousness. He never approves wickedness and He never condemns righteousness. If you try to establish your own righteousness, that s wickedness, but if you follow after His righteousness, it s righteousness. It s so easy to see if we want to see it. It s so easy to hear if we want to hear it. We have eyes and we have ears whoever will hear it and will see it and do it faithfully will find that his name has been written in the book of life. But if we try to pretend or imagine it another way, if we keep these glasses on so we have to filter everything through, we ll find our part with the rest of the sinners. We are created, His workmanship, created unto good works. I m just so sick of all the apologies we ve [anabaptists in general] made to try to appease the multitudes, the evangelicals, and call ourselves something different when we follow their very doctrine when only ours is real (head vs. heart salvation). It s up to us to repent he s calling, He started it! We come to Him because He is calling us, but that s as far as He goes. It s your choice. It s a blessing whenever we find someone that has not been poisoned by Christianity and they can just pick up the Bible and say, well, it says this it must mean that! and they begin to conform their life to Christ because they actually have faith, they actually believe it, their eyes are not poisoned by these phony glasses that we have to see everything through. Throw them away! And anoint your eyes with eye salve. Christ, God the Father, forgives sin, but expects righteousness. We are forgiven our sins when we turn from them, when we quit trying to balance them out and we turn from them our sins will be forgiven and we begin to live righteously just like if we begin to live righteously and turn from our righteous living to live sinfully our righteousness will be forgotten just like our sins will be if we turn the other way. Neither one of them brought Jesus down (because of what we were doing), He came down because of His mercy. This modern perversion of Ephesians is not the untouchable doctrine to God. It may be to man, but not to God. God is not going to test everything through man s view of Eph. 2 through man s idea of works, faith, grace and saved. Man s glasses, man s way of looking at it. The multitudes way of looking at it. It s by God s way of looking at it. It s by becoming a part of the Kingdom. It s by being a follower of Jesus. It s by hearing what He said and doing it. [for example] It s by not rendering evil for evil. Just a simple idea if we render evil for evil, it doesn t matter who started it, if we return it, we are evil! Just like the one who started it. Well how does that fit Eph. 2? It DON T the way it s presented by man it would be WORKS if we actually followed Jesus. But if we don t follow Him, our name is not written in the book of life. 1 Peter: 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: What does that mean? Just exactly what it says! Well, what a minute, what does it mean if we look at it through Eph. 2:8,9? It does not pass the evangelical work test does it? We might be boasting! Anoint your eyes with eye salve. Wake up! that we should FOLLOW HIS STEPS! 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: We are going to stand before Him who judges righteously! Jesus said, I KNOW YOUR WORKS! And He is going to judge us righteously. Here is something we are doing evil but the righteous committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously he ll take care of it = RIGHTEOUSLY! Not if it passes the test of my glasses, but RIGHTEOUSLY!

5 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. Christ had to come into this world because we ve sinned. Because we ve yielded ourselves to Satan, to death. And He had to pass through death to deliver us from those things and deliver us He did! Now are you delivered unto righteousness or are you delivered unto theology? Are you delivered and blindly think that you see, that you are rich and on your way to heaven? Or are you delivered and see that you need to anoint your eyes with eye salve? That you need to be clothed with righteousness? That you need to do what is right? 1 Peter 3: 8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. Look at all the instructions that He gives us throughout the whole bible it s full of instructions that can all be done away with if we just look through those glasses! That if we don t anoint our eyes, we can just do away with all these instructions he s given us. If we anoint our eyes, we can see the instructions. Lord help us to see to anoint our eyes so that we can wipe away all the garbage that the world tries to filter everything through.. by a few verses that are distorted and twisted that all the multitudes agree with. Anoint our eyes from the opinions of the multitudes and help us to see clearly your words.