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Born out of the OrdinaryBy: Joseph H. MurrayHad Jesus come into the world as an ordinary person, He would have accepted the standards of godliness that were practiced by the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees. But He was not ordinary; therefore, He was compelled by the Holy Ghost to do His Father’s will. In like manner, we, after we are born of the Spirit of God, are out of the ordinary and are duty bound to do the Father’s will, even as was Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews under the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord penned these words: “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). We, as Christians, cannot accept the standards of (so called) Christianity of our day, for we are those who have been born out of the ordinary (or from above). We cannot believe every spirit that crosses our path, but we must try them and see if they are of God. Had Jesus yielded to every one who knew the Scripture or quoted it to Him, He would have obeyed the devil and jumped from the pinnacle of the temple. The devil knows the Scripture and can quote it fluently, but Jesus counteracted him by saying to him, “It is written again,” on one occasion. If we think that every one who knows and can quote Scripture is of God, we are not going to be deceived but are already deceived. Unless we can feel that almighty power of God surging up within us to withstand the sinful nature within us, our knowledge of the Scripture is in vain, for that is what washes us and cleanses us from all impurities and cleanses us from sin. Isaiah gave us this, “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19). This is the same thing spoken of by Jesus when He said “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). Those who are born of God are born out of the ordinary. Those who have this seed of God born in them has in them that which has no sin (never has had, and never will have any sin). We’d best cultivate this seed, nourish and cherish it, lest we fall into sin and perish from the way of righteousness. Knowledge of the scriptures can only bring condemnation unless adhered to in a proper manner. Paul wrote these words, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor. 3:5–18). It is a true fact that every one whom the Lord hasn’t accepted into His kingdom is under the veil and are walking in darkness without an understanding of the things of Christ. But when He comes in, He enlightens our hearts and minds so that we can both see and hear God’s word with a right conception. It is through a confrontation with Christ that the veil that covers the hearts of men is taken away even as it was with Moses. When he turned from speaking with the children of Israel back to speaking with God, the veil was removed. It will be that way with us when we stop being led and influenced by man and return to talking to God. Isaiah prophesied of how God was going to remove the covering from the face of all nations through Christ in these words, “And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations” (Isa. 25:7). |
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