Message From The MessengerStand To Run

... a Message from the Messenger
Bible 1611.Com / Sluice Box Adventures.com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2014

 This message builds on Sit To Walk.

The Christian needs to stand on the promises found in God’s word in order to learn how to run the race before him.

Stand To Run!

I. Stand

• The New Participant In An Old War!
• The Spiritual Warfare
• The Wiles Of The Devil!
• Wrestling With The Devil!
• Girt About With Truth!
• Having On The Breastplate!
• Shod With The Preparation!
• Take The Shield!
• Take The Helmet!
• Take The Sword!
• The Spiritual Stand Results In Spiritual Practices!
• Clothes!
• Speech – Music!
• Desires – Interests!

II. Run
• Crowns
• Prizes

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh”
II Corinthians 10:3-4

“For here we have no continuing city.”
Hebrews 13:14

“Pope Paul III,  ascending the pontifical chair immediately solicited the Parliament of Turin to prosecute the Waldenses, as the most pernicious of all heretics. To this the Parliament readily assented, when several were suddenly seized and burnt by their order. Among these, was Bartholomew Hector, a bookseller and stationer of Turin. He was brought up a Roman Catholic, but some treatises written by the reformed clergy having fallen into his hands, he was fully convinced of their truth, and of the errors of the Church of Rome. A consultation was again held by the Parliament of Turin, in which it was agreed that deputies should be sent to the valleys of Piedmont with the following propositions:

1. That if the Waldenses would return to the bosom of the Church of Rome, they should enjoy their houses, properties, and lands, and live with their families, without the least molestation,

2. That to prove their obedience, they should send twelve of their principal persons, with all their ministers and schoolmasters, to Turin, to be dealt with at discretion.

3. That the pope, the- King of France, and the Duke of Savoy, approved of, and authorized the proceedings of the Parliament of Turin upon this occasion.

4. That if the Waldenses of Piedmont rejected the propositions, persecution and death should be their reward.

In answer to these hostile articles, the Waldenses made the following noble replies:

l. That no consideration whatever should make them renounce their religion.

2. That they would never consent to entrust their best and most respectable friends to the custody and discretion of their worst enemies.

3. That they valued the approbation of the King of kings, who reigns in heaven, more than any temporal authority.

4. That their souls were more precious than their bodies.

As may be conjectured, these spirited and pointed answers greatly exasperated the Parliament of Turin; in consequence of which they continued with more zeal than ever to kidnap such Waldenses as fell into their hands, who were sure to suffer the most cruel deaths. Among these it unfortunately happened that they caught Jeffrey Varnagle, minister of Angrogna whom they accused of being a heretic, and committed to the flames." Fox’s Book Of Martyrs

Stand

“Stand therefore,” (Ephesians 6:14)

The Participant In This Old War Needs To Stand!

The New Participant In An Old War!

A true Christian is one who is “seated in heavenly places in Christ” and once he is “seated” … he is now ABLE to WALK. In beginning “this walk” … he begins “to put off” the old man and begins “to put on” the new man.  And in the course of WALKING which involves “the putting off” of things and “the putting on” of other things, he begins to become aware that he is a new participant in an old WAR!

It is a war of vast dimensions … and he never knew this war was going on BEFORE his SALVATION through the BLOOD of the Lamb.  YET this war has been going on … for six thousand years!  The Christian needs to STAND in this war in order to successfully RUN his COURSE or this RACE set before him.  SIT to WALK! … STAND to RUN!

Now about this war, it is a war that is far beyond the ability of the flesh to see … or ever comprehend.   Marvel not at this, my friend, … for the word of God very clearly states the lost people of this world are BLIND to spiritual things ... the invisible things, which are just as real as the physical things we see all around us.

Why are they blind?  They are blinded by the Devil!  “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” [II Corinthians 4:3-4.]

This war is a SPIRITUAL WAR!   A “spiritual war” is a war where the combatants are locked into a stupendous fight of gigantic proportions, and my friend, this war is for KEEPS!   It is a HOLY WAR, and the HOLY SCRIPTURES proclaim just such a war in the book of Revelation.

In the vision of a future event called THE GREAT TRIBULATION (which is coming soon), we see this war unfolding before us. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” [Revelation 12:7-9]

This war began when Lucifer uttered his FIVE I WILL’S.

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I WILL ascend into heaven, I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God: I WILL sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL be like the most High.” [Isaiah 14:13-14]

The Spiritual Warfare

Again … it is a SPIRITUAL WAR!   A “spiritual war” is a war where we are combatants … locked in this stupendous fight of epic proportions!   For the Christian it is a HOLY WAR that cannot be fought in the strength of the flesh! “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh” [II Corinthians 10:3-4]. 

We need to be strong in the LORD!  “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” [Ephesians 6:10]  Why? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]

A spiritual warfare is fought with spiritual weapons.  The BOOK reveals that the weapons of our warfare are found in our ARMORY.

 I. The Wiles Of The Devil!

We must put on the ARMOUR of God.  “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” [Ephesians 6:11]  Beware of the WILES of the Devil! If we are to successfully STAND against the wiles of the Devil, we must become wise to what these wiles are (which leads us to this question).

What is the meaning of this so-called archaic King James Bible word: WILES?   It is not an ARCHAIC word, my friend!   It actually is a very precision up-to-date term used by the Spirit of God!  These wiles are tricks performed for some stratagem. These wiles are meant to ensnare its intended victim.  The Devil does not play by the rules.  Every method is legal to “the rulers of the darkness of this world” in this spiritual war to subdue the believer in Jesus Christ, and make him of non-effect.

The DEVIL is an old sly fox, who by insidious artifice, will “go for your throat” all the while feigning a friendship with you.  That is how Satan works!  That is how he operates!  He will do anything to beguile you.  He will do anything to fool you.  He will do anything to deceive you.  This means he will lie to you.  While you are here sojourning in this old world, he doesn’t want to see you amount to anything in life, (not even so much as a plug nickel) for the LORD Jesus Christ.  We wants to see you sitting on the shelf, collecting dust, and totally UNUSED.  He wants you to be the salt … that has lost its flavor.

Our leader in this war is our CAPTAIN. “And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain …” [II Chronicles 13:12a].  Our God is Jesus … WHO is our CAPTAIN!  “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” [Hebrews 2:10]  We have our orders … from our captain!  God wants the believer in His Son to be conformed to the image of his Son. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be firstborn among many brethren.” [Romans 8:29]

If you are in Christ, my friend, then you and I are beholding the glory of the Lord, … and are being CHANGED or CONFORMED to Christ’s image! Amen!  “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [II Corinthians 3:18]  Our ORDERS, therefore … are these.

Number One!

We are not to be CONFORMED to this world.  “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” [Romans 12:2]

We need to PROVE all things.  We need to TRY all “the spirits whether they are of God.” [I John 4:1] 

Here is a principle: “The Bible-believing Christian needs to determine the spirit of the age in a particular matter, and with deliberate action, strike out in the opposite direction in that particular matter!”

Number Two!

We are not to love the world, nor the things of this world. “Love not the world, neither the things of this world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” [I John 2:15]  Why are we not to love this world?  Why does the Spirit of God state so clearly that the Bible believer is not to love this world system?  In John seventeen we see why; Jesus is praying to the Father (in verse 14). “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”   In verse 16, Jesus says it again: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

Then whose world is this?  Who owns the world system?  The Bible has this answer:  The “god of this world” is the Devil.  “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” [II Corinthians 4:4]

 It is sad to see so many who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior kissing it up with the world.  The Apostle Paul by the Holy Ghost said this of Demas. “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” [II Timothy 4:10a]

Remember, brethren, Jesus died for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world. “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” [Galatians 1:4]

Before the moment we got saved by the BLOOD, we already had wasted enough time “running” according to the “course of this world.” [Ephesians 2:2] [I Peter 4:1-4]  We need to come out of it (separate) yet not altogether “out of it”, so we can WITNESS to those who belong to it. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” [John 17:15]

Number Three!

We are not to be friends with this world. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” [James 4:4]  (I am not stating this of myself. I am giving you this straight down the line.)  We are just sojourners, and are just said to be passing through … as pilgrims … on pilgrimage to their holy city. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” [Revelation 21:2] “For here we have no continuing city.” [Hebrews 13:14]

We cannot afford to be secretly seeking friendship with this world system.  An old preacher once said this “Reject anything and everything that makes you indisposed to press on the narrow way. Treat it as a mortal enemy!” So we must fight!

II. Wrestling With The Devil!

We must WRESTLE against spiritual wickedness. (Verse 12)  Wrestling implies there is STRIFE or a STRUGGLE is at hand.  When two men go at it with their arms extended, they move in … looking for the opening.  Then … in a certain moment … they seize each other by the neck and arms, with each endeavoring to throw the other off balance to pin his adversary to the ground.  For the Christian, this struggle, or STRIFE is part of greater WAR that cannot be fought in the strength of the flesh!

Remember our text in II Corinthians 10 and in Ephesians 6. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.”

Our enemies are not who we can see. Our enemies consist of the multitude of fallen angels called devils who do the work of their master: THE DEVIL (or Satan). “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

We who are in Christ Jesus are wrestling with the principalities, and with the powers, and with the rulers, and with the spirits … who are in rebellion to God. It is this wickedness in high places that we through faith in the BOOK, must be ever mindful of … in the midst of our WRESTLING in this warfare.

The scene is set for you and I, my friend.  If you are “seated in heavenly places in Christ” then your ADVERSARY wants to go in for the knockout, and GET YOU.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8)  Therefore, we must put on the WHOLE ARMOUR for the COMPLETE protection from the fiery darts of the wicked.  “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” [Ephesians 6:13]

III. Girt About With Truth

We must have our loins GIRT about with TRUTH “having your loins girt about with truth." (Verse 14)  This is what Jesus said of himself. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me.” [John 14:6]

HE IS THE TRUTH!  To be girt about with truth is to BELIEVE God’s word … without doubting what the BOOK says ABOUT JESUS CHRIST.   It is the forlorn unsaved person who asks the question “What is truth?”  Pilate asked Jesus Christ this in John 18:38.  The person without Jesus Christ in his heart tends only to see shades of gray and to reject the reality of ABSOLUTES.  This they do because they are held in the GRIP of DEATH … in the BONDAGE of SIN.

Yes!  It is a sad truth, that it is the LOST person who stumbles around throughout his whole life in the total blindness of unbelief, wondering: “What is truth?” 

For the Christian, it is not so.  It is smack dab one hundred and eighty degrees out for him, because Jesus Christ has made him every wit clean through THE TRUTH.  The truth is the word of God! It is the OLD BLACK BOOK … in the language of the end times … English!   It is the Authorized Version of the Bible of 1611 OR ANY OF ITS EDITIONS. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17) “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [John 8:32]

 IV. Having On The Breastplate

We must put on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS. “… And having on the breastplate of righteousness.” [Verse 14]  This part of the armor, by its presence or by its absence, signifies the true state of an individual.  Hey!  Is the person alive, or is he dead? Has he been quickened, or is he still dead in trespasses and sins?  If you have been made alive in Christ, you cannot ever die (or become dead in trespasses and sins)!

No matter what happens to the believer in Jesus Christ, there is one thing for sure … that cannot absolutely happen to the believer. It is this: he, or she, cannot lose their salvation!   For the Scripture resounds with this declaration:  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:35-39] Amen!

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Amen! Amen!  This … because we were SEALED by the Holy Spirit … having been “given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” … the moment we got saved. [I Corinthians 1:22b]

V. Shod With The Preparation

We must have our feet SHOD with the preparation of the gospel. “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" [Verse 15].   Brethren … we need to look to our FEET, being PREPARED “to go” where they are!   We see the lost souls everyday in the market places where we shop, and in the places where we work.  They may be our loved ones, or our neighbors, or a stranger but they need Christ!  We need to plead for all men everywhere to repent and trust Jesus Christ by faith.  We need to be as Paul: “testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Acts 20:21] “Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” [I Corinthians 5:20]  An ambassador is prepared!  He has his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel.

VI. Take The Shield

We must TAKE of the SHIELD OF FAITH. “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” [Verse 16]

In John chapter 20, we have this account of the risen Christ having been already seen by all the apostles except for one.  Thomas “was not with them when Jesus came.”  The eleven apostles had seen with their eyes his hands and his side, and believed. “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” [Vs.20].  Thomas said to them, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” [Vs.25].  In verse 27, Jesus, then, shows Thomas his hands and his side. “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, Thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

In this dispensation, the age of the Church, it is given unto us to believe by faith, not by sight. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [Hebrews 11:1] “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” [Hebrews 11:6]  The Scripture foresaw all this, when it said this of Jesus Christ: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” [I Peter 1:8-9]

VII. Take The Helmet

We must TAKE the HELMET OF SALVATION. “And take the helmet of salvation,…” [Verse 16].  A soldier in this conflict needs this helmet to protect his HEAD from a fatal wound.  The Christian’s head is where his vital affections reside.  The believer’s whole health, and well being, is wrapped up in the SON of God’s so GREAT SALVATION [Hebrews 2].  The helmet of salvation being in its proper place, guarantees our not falling as a fatality in this Spiritual Warfare. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” [Jude 24-25]

VIII. Take The Sword

We must TAKE the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT  “… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” [Verse 17].

Ultimately … it all comes back to this issue.  It always will.  Is the Bible the word of God, perfectly preserved, or is it the work of men?  Is it an error-filled book, or is it PURE, and without proven error?  Since 1881, there have been over 200 translations of the Bible in a gigantic devilish effort to replace the authority of just one particular translation of the Bible.  This ONE translation is the ONE that every one of these other translations has sought to replace … and is known as the Authorized Version of 1611 [or The King James Version].

The logic of faith is this! Obedience to the BOOK of God, through faith in the BOOK of God ... depends on God having not only inspired some missing original autographs, but having MAINTAINED … for us ... this inspiration down through the centuries of time in spite of the sinful men who sit in the high places as the scholars and the educators.

In regard to the various editions of the A.V.1611, let me quote the Committee On Versions To The Board Of Managers, American Bible Society, 1852. “The English Bible as left by the translators has come down to us unaltered in respect to its text” [page 7 of the report]. “With the exception of typographical errors and changes required by the progress of orthography in the English language, the text of our present Bible remains unchanged, and without variation from the original copy as left by the translators” (page 11 or the report). “The present copies of the Bible accord throughout with the edition of 1611.”

Will you believe what God has said IN THE BOOK … ABOUT THE BOOK?

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” Amen! Amen! Amen!

IX. The Spiritual Stand Results In Spiritual Practices

A spiritual warfare is fought with spiritual weapons.  The BOOK reveals that these weapons of our warfare are our ARMORY.  Stand, therefore, in this whole armor. 

Something else, our “spiritual stand” will have an “outward” manifestation seen in our “walk’ as a Christian. In John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress, there is pictured A FAIR.  This Vanity Fair is shown to be a type of THE WORLD.  John Bunyan shows us the effect the gospel of Jesus Christ has in the heart of “pilgrims,” and of their affinity for “those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” [Colossians 3:1]  They separate from the things of “the fair”, yet they must go through the fair.  Let me quote Bunyan:

"Now these pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this fair. Well, so they did; but behold even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town itself as it were in a hubbub about them; and that for several reasons for --- First, The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment of any that traded in that fair. Secondly, And as they wondered at their apparel so they did likewise at their speech, for few could understand what they said; they naturally spoke the language of Canaan, ---Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers, was, that these pilgrims set very light by all their wares, they cared not so much as to look upon them; ---.

Different In Three Practices:

1. The Christian’s Clothing Is Different!

The Gender Distinction

There is a gender demarcation to be maintained between MALE and FEMALE clothing.  Amen!  This distinction is rooted in the creation.  God made them “male and female created he them.” “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.” [Genesis 1:27]

In my message, The Most Beautiful Woman, I gave mention of a hero of the modern feminist movement.  This hero was Mary Edwards Walker, and she was only 16 years old [in 1848] when she began to discard her skirts for the full trousers of men in order to promote "women's rights." "She wore her hair in curls, in order,” so she said, “that everybody would know that I was a woman."   She never did get married.  Later in her life [in 1897], she founded a colony for women called "Adamless Eden", and wrote a book called Unmasked, or the Science Of Immorality.  Now … who do you suppose should wear the britches around here?

BELIEVE the Bible … and the muck will get cleared out every time!  Every time … and all five times … in the Bible: in Exodus 28:42, 39:28, in Leviticus 6:10, 16:4, and in Ezekiel 44:18 … that BREECHES are worn.  Pant’s are worn by men! PANT’S … are an article of clothing DESIGNED by God, and INTENDED by God to be WORN by men in WORSHIP before God (as the priests in the tabernacle in the wilderness).

The Modesty Reason

In I Timothy 2:1-10 the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Ghost, instructs how the men and women are to worship God.  Verse nine begins with: “In like manner …”, and is instructing the women, how part of their worship of God is by what clothes they wear. “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.”

Furthermore, (after Adam sinned), Adam contrived his own notion of what it was to be covered, but God had a different opinion.  His covering for both the man and woman was to be a covering that covered everything down from the neck to below the knees! You say: prove it, Brother St.James!   Now just settle you down, my friend. I’ll get to this later.

2. The Christian’s Speech, Including The Music is Different!

The Christian speech is totally different than of those who are lost without Christ.  Our speech is to be seasoned with salt, and always issuing grace to the hearer. “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  [Colossians 4:6] David in Psalm 71 said this of himself: “My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long.” The world thinks it strange that the Christian TALKS ALL THE DAY long in “the language of Canaan.”  Brethren, the true Christian is so heavenly minded that his talk is just different than the talk of the lost people of this world.

Now let’s go further than this: our speech will include our MUSIC.b Proof Text!  “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” [Ephesians 5:19]  Get this PRINCIPLE into your heart!  Music is not NEUTRAL!  Music is a language in itself.  Music conveys a message even without the words.

The argument given by modern apostate Christianity is this.  The only thing that matters … is the words that are put to the music.  This is LIE number one.

LIE number two goes like this; music in itself is neutral, and therefore, all music is right.  There is a music that is SENSUAL, which will exalt the flesh, and there is the music of the SPIRIT that is to the PRAISE of the LORD our God.  According to I Corinthians 14 [which was written to the carnal church of Corinth], music paints pictures through the distinction in sounds. Amen! “And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”

The Bible is our AUTHORITY!  Amen!  God’s word shows that sounds have distinction. “So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.” [I Corinthians 14:7-10]

Further, sounds are voices with SIGNIFICATION.  The signification of a sound as a voice is to redound to the honor and praise of God, and will be totally different than the music of Jubal: “he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.” [Genesis 4:21]  Jubal’s music was of a signification such as to feed the flesh!  Jubal’s music is the world’s music.  Christian music should be distinctly different from that of the world.

Here is a primer to the mechanics of music. There are four components to all music. These four components are: the words, the melody, the harmony, and the rhythm. 

Here are some principles and practical guidelines to be followed by the Christian. The words should be easy to be understood, and they ought to be words that are biblical. Furthermore, these words need to proclaim a biblical truth (not some strange doctrine), and thus, bring a Bible message from God to the hearer. The melody is the tune, and is meant to direct and to protect our spirit “to the praise of God.”

The harmony is to portray the peace of God in the human heart, and thus, it is aimed at the soul of man.  It communicates REST [the Major chords] and will intimately affect our feelings.  The rhythm should be to the MARCH.

The rhythm of the march is God’s appointed rhythm! Beware of the wrong rhythms.  The rhythm should not be to the BOOGIE WOOGIE [which will make your body want to dance], or contain the BACKBEAT (which accents the two and four beat … like all Rock n roll) or the BREAKBEAT (the syncopation which is also called the OFFBEAT).  These dance rhythms ACCENT in the wrong places according to Alan Ives, an evangelist who teaches Christian music.  I will say it again!  The MARCH RHYTHM should be the ONLY rhythm in our Christian music.  According to Brother Ives:  “Music should not be unholy, heartless, careless, low class, puny, stupid, sensual, selfish, ugly, boisterous, or baseless.  Music should only aim us (THE CHRISTIAN) to “THE BEAUTIES OF HOLINESS.”

3. The Christian’s Desires And Interests Are Different!

According to II Corinthians 5:17, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”  He has new attitudes … new appetites … new desires … and new interests.  He is, in fact, a NEW creature … who thinks radically different than the unsaved people of this world.  No longer is he held in bondage to idolizing the things of this world.  Money, cars, popularity, and fame no longer hold a driving and all consuming interest to him. Rather, he is BORED with those things!  Amen!  Amen!  Now his all-consuming interest is in the person of Jesus Christ, and the things of God.  That is what EXCITES him . The unsaved person looking on the Christian in THE FAIR of this world looks at him with only BEWILDERMENT!  What is more, it is BECAUSE the Christian is so different or peculiar that some men are drawn to them to find out the reason of the hope that is in them. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” [I Peter 3:15]

Stand, Therefore Against These WILES (Or TRICKS) Of The Devil

WILE#1: Clothing!

The Bible-believing Christian needs to determine the spirit of the age in the matter of our clothing, and with deliberate action, strike out in the opposite direction in this matter of our apparel or dress standards! “Obey God! And leave the consequences of obeying God … with God!”

WILE#2: Speech / Music!

The Bible-believing Christian needs to determine the spirit of the age in the matter of our speech, and of our music, and with deliberate action, strike out in the opposite direction in this matter of our speech and our music standards!  “Obey God! And leave the consequences of obeying God … with God!”

WILE#3: Desires / Interests!

The Bible-believing Christian needs to determine the spirit of the age in the matter of our desires, and of our interests, and with deliberate action, strike out in the opposite direction in this matter of our desires and our interests!  “Obey God! And leave the consequences of obeying God … with God!”

Beware of these WILES of the Devil! If we are indeed to successfully STAND against the wiles of the Devil, we must become wise to these wiles.  These wiles are the tricks performed in stratagem, with the intention to ensnare you … the Christian!  There are no fair rules that these “rulers of the darkness of this world” hold to … in this war to subdue you, the believer in Jesus Christ.  The master of these rulers wants to make you of non-effect in this spiritual war.  He wants to NEUTRALIZE you in his spiritual war against, your (and mine) CAPTAIN … THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Remember, the DEVIL is that sly old fox, who by insidious artifice, is “going for your throat” … while feigning friendship with you.  That is how Satan works; that is how he operates.  He will do anything to beguile you.  He will do anything to fool you.  He will do anything to deceive you.  And he most certainly will bold face lie to you.  He just does not want to see you amount to anything, or be worth anything (not even the worth … of a plug nickel) for the LORD Jesus Christ while you are here, sojourning in this old world.  He wants to see you sitting on the shelf, collecting dust, totally UNUSED.  He wants you to be salt … that has lost its flavor.Run
“So run, that ye may obtain.” [I Corinthians 9:24b]

1. Crowns
2. Prizes

You cannot run until you stand!  You cannot stand until you walk!  You cannot walk until you sit! SIT TO WALK…STAND TO RUN! SO RUN!!! RUN! RUN … your RACE … to obtain the crowns, prizes, and the rewards the Lord has for them “who have kept the faith”, for the winner takes all!

You and I need to be as Paul, and say: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” [II Timothy 4:7-8]

Do you suppose you will “love his appearing” in that great and wonderful day?  I do know … I will!  How about you … will you love his appearing, or will you at his appearing be ashamed that you stood with the world?

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.” [I Corinthians 9:24-26]

Listen, my friend, if you have not been WITHSTANDING “the god of this world”… and his world system, and if you are not STANDING WITH the Lord Jesus Christ in all these matters of dress, speech, music, desires and interests … BECAUSE someone has HINDERED you, then you are NOT running well! “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” [Galatians 5:7]

The Galatians were hindered in the matter of GRACE versus WORKS.  If you have been hindered, or have been disobedient in these things then get it settled now with the Lord God, and DO RIGHT!  Be as Paul! “Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.” [Philippians 2:16] “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” [Hebrews 12:1]

Brethren … “reject anything and everything that makes you indisposed to press on in the narrow way. Treat it as a mortal enemy!”

So then … PRESS ON! ! SIT TO WALK…STAND TO RUN! SO RUN!!! RUN! RUN … your RACE! Amen! Philippians 3:13-14

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”