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LOCKED UPPastor T Michael Eccleston First it was - Locked out. Then it was - Locked in. And now - Locked up! n the time that it takes you to read this, I trust that the Lord will speak to your heart through the Holy Spirit in such a mighty way, that you will acknowledge the truth of His Word and begin (if you haven't already) to rejoice and live as one who is truly - locked up. In I Corinthians 15:58, the Apostle Paul penned these inspired and inerrant words:
The above passage is speaking to all those who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith alone for their eternal salvation. The context is dealing with the truth of the resurrection. Our Lord and Savior did die and did rise from the dead three days and three nights later - literally and bodily. And so will every one who has appropriated the precious shed blood of Christ by faith to themselves as the only means of satisfying a Holy God for the complete payment for their sin debt. But the truth doesn't end there. It begins there, and with sufficient cause as to the specific manner in which God's redeemed are to live after salvation. Location is no excuse for not carrying out this command for the Christian life. In light of this passage therefore, allow me to make a valid application of it. The words, stedfast and unmoveable, are closely related to one another, varying primarily in their strength and intensity. As born from above through the power of the Gospel of Christ; as believing that God's Word is accurate and authoritative, without error of any kind and a perfect book; as believing the truth of that Word that you have been purchased in the slave market of sin and purchased out of that same market place by the blood of Christ; as realizing that He has made a claim on your life and that you are no longer your own; and, as realizing that it does matter what we believe and how we live - these words sum up the position each believer is to apply to the remainder of his life upon this earth. We are to be and remain stedfast , settled within as to the truths of our salvation in Christ and to the historical doctrines of the Christian faith, and unmoveable , fixed in place, predetermined that the Bible will determine your pathway, walk, and beliefs - not what is currently popular, fun, or non-threatening. When a person is locked up in the physical sense, there is room to move around only in a confined area, and by law you cannot move outside that location, for you are locked up. There are many today who profess salvation and then believe the Christian life is like a vending machine: you choose what you think you like, and reject what you would rather not do. Read these examples in a variety of contexts and let God speak to you:
All were decisive, predetermined, and confident that they would stay the course . . . that they would remain locked up to what God had said - no matter what. Even our Lord Jesus Christ is included as He finished the job that the Father gave Him to do. All were stedfast and unmoveable because they were locked up spiritually. Is this the easy way out? Definitely not! But it is the right way. It is God's way. It manifests that your professing faith is genuine. Gal.6:9,10, says,
Note the remainder of our text above: ".always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." We who belong to God through Jesus Christ are to continuously serve Him in any way we can, whether we are seen or not, whether we are recognized for that work or not, wherever we are, however young or old we are. And why do we do this? Two reasons: 1. Because we are locked up spiritually, and 2. Because we KNOW (just as in our salvation) that whatever we do for Christ is never in vain. You and I may see the results here on earth or we may not. The point is, that we will, we know that we will, in heaven - for our heavenly Father sees every one of the things we have done and are doing for Him. Professing Christian, rejoice in being spiritually locked up, for then you can be about your Father's business in every situation for the rest of your life, no matter the circumstances |
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“And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” - Ezekiel 33:31 There is much in all of life that is not what it appears to be. On the surface, one could conclude it to be so. But, going deeper reveals something else altogether: sometimes sinister, sometimes deadly, or sometimes perverted– but always deceptive. James 1:22, says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls.” It is incredible how much effort we put into being deceived by others when ultimately the deception comes from within ourselves. Let’s cite some examples, though these are not the sum total of all that goes on in life. We are interested in buying or renting a house. We drive up and look at it from the outside, and check it over a second time. It is to our liking by what we see. Then we go inside and inspect the rooms, the flooring, the appliances, the a/c and heat. Our entire time of inspecting however, is on the basis of the outside only. We go ahead and get the house, and slowly and surely discover major and expensive problems that were there had we checked. The house was not what it appeared to be. The same is true with things, or groups, or churches, or people. We can, and should try to check out as much as we can about those we become involved with, but even then we do not know the extent of everything. There is an element of trust involved, yet we must always remember Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The LORD knows the hearts of all people, but we do not know the extent of what our hearts are capable of. The examples of this are so numerous, we could take years citing them all, and by then, there would be a whole new list. May this serve as a warning to each of us: things and people may not be what or who they appear to be. Impulsive action on our part, based on primarily the external, can injure or cause us to compromise or worse, destroy our testimonies for Christ. |
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