The All Seeing God

Jeremiah 32:19 - Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

Job 34:21 - For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.

Proverbs 5:21 - For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

Proverbs 15:3 - The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Hebrews 4:13 - Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

One of the most fascinating portions of the Old Testament is Joshua Chapter 7. In this chapter we learn about the sin of Achan. Achan believed that he could hide his sin from the All Seeing God. We know from this chapter as well as in other places in the word of God that he was wrong. The Lord saw his sin and judged him for it; (Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity- Joshua 22:20). Notice also here that not only did Achan's sin affect his own life but it also effected the power of Israel against Ai; (And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water – Joshua 7:5). God used those in authority in Israel and in authority over Achan to carry out the judgment of his sin in front of all; (And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones - Joshua 7:25).

God saw Achan's sin from the very time that the sin was committed. Now notice something about this situation, Achan had fooled every one but The All Seeing God. He fooled those in Authority over him, He fooled Joshua Son of Nun, and He fooled every one but God! He lost not only his own life but all those things that were dear to him, it cost him everything; (And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor - Joshua 7:24).

Dear one is there a sin in your life that you have hid under "your tent" as Achan did. You may be able to fool your Pastor, you may be able to fool the Elders, you may be able to fool your husband or wife but you cannot fool the All Seeing God. Do you think because no one has seen you commit these sins that you do not have to be accountable for them? Do you think that because the sin is in your heart, i.e. bitterness, hatred, anger, etc. that you can get away with it? Do you believe that the only one affected by your sin is you? Oh how foolish you are to think you can commit such sins without the All Seeing God knowing about them; (For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes - Jeremiah 16:17).

You are called to Repent and confess your sin to God; (Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent - Revelation 2:5), (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness - 1 John 1:9). Achan never came forward to confess his sin until he was found out; (So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was take - Joshua 7:16-18).

You have the opportunity to repent and confess your sin now! Repent and confess your sin before you are found out; (But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out - Numbers 32:23), before you are chastened by the divine authority that He has placed over you for your good! We serve a merciful God who gives us space to repent! Quit trying to hide your sin and confess it to the All Seeing God, before He chastens and shames you before all! He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you.

Bro. Pat

Do You Know Christ by Personal Revelation?

by W.F. Bell

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matt 16:15-17).

The most important question you could ever be asked is simply this: Do you in reality know the living Christ? The question is not, Are you religious? — Are you a church member? — Do you read the Bible? You may be very religious, yet not know Christ in the heart. You may be a loyal church member, a regular reader of God's Word, a person who "says" their prayers, or one who loves to study religious books and doctrine. But, these soul-searching questions still remain — Have you ever seen yourself a lost, vile sinner before a holy God? Have you ever been stripped of your self-righteousness and laid low in the dust of humility? Have you ever viewed by faith the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ, all because of a direct and personal revelation to you of God the Holy Ghost?

Sinner friend, I plead with you to not be deceived. Do not rest in your religious creeds, your attendance of religious worship, your so-called righteous acts. Rest only in Christ! Look only to him! Be not content with any religion if Christ is not the center and substance of it! Do not be deceived by man-made religion! Seek that which comes by divine revelation, as that which Simon Peter had in the opening Scripture. Simon was blessed to know who Christ was by a personal revelation to him of God the Father! This must also be true of us.

If Christ Jesus is not known to you by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, he is not known as the very wellspring of blessedness to the soul. If you only know Jesus by no more than the world knows, than the learned among men know, you have not the real blessing. If you only know the Lord of glory by what you have found out yourself, in reading or in talking to others, unaided by the Father's drawing power, you are not blessed with true salvation. If you know no more of Christ than what flesh and blood has revealed to you, you are nothing more than a Pharisee or Sadducee — religious, but lost without God — a separatist or a rationalist, but not a recipient of revelation and regeneration. May the eternal Jehovah reveal to you your true and undone condition before him!

Among the vast religious throngs of this earth there is to be found the true people of God. These chosen of the Father are also redeemed by the Son, and quickened by the Spirit. The elect of God know by deep acknowledgement of their sin that they are blind and ignorant by nature. The true children of God have been made humble; they confess their total dependence upon the grace and mercy of Christ, and place their entire confidence and faith in his meritorious righteousness and shed blood. In the Lord Jesus Christ alone do "we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph 1:7).

Reader, what do you know of this once-crucified, yet now living Christ? Does his name bring gladness to your heart? Do you love the fragrance of his person? Is he more than just a religious leader to you? Beware of misty and cloudy views of King Jesus! Beware that you only have a head knowledge of him! Make sure that Christ is your Surety, your Substitute, your Sacrifice, your Savior. Beware of any religion which belittles him, or that does not exalt him as the only way to God.

Do you believe in Jesus by an inward discernment of him? Do you clearly see him as the Son of man and the Son of God? Is he definitely your Lord and Savior, your propitiation (satisfaction) before God? If m you know him thus you have not learned this by the instruction of men. You have had a direct and personal revelation made to you and in you by the Father concerning who Jesus Christ really is (Gal 1:16).

It is only when the Lord himself deals with you, taking you in his powerful hand, that you are truly taught who Christ is. You may have heard about Jesus, but you only know him as "the Son of the living God" when illuminated and quickened by God the Spirit. Jesus came forth from God, and the power to know Christ comes forth from God also. If you have Christ, you have the new birth! If you have Christ, you have eternal life! If you have not Christ, you have nothing but dead, lifeless, counterfeit religion! Said our blessed Master: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). May divine power draw you this day, poor sinner! May you see Christ in all his beauty! May you come to worship and serve only him! Christ is to be seen, but in the light which he himself supplies. May that light shine unto you even now, and to our glorious God be all the glory!

Praise God! This is the most important question that we can ask to those we come in contact with; do you know Christ by personal revelation? There are so many today that confess HIM with their mouth but do not posses HIM in their hearts. (Matt. 25) We have a mandate from scripture to, "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15) We must not settle with just knowing that people have an intellectual accent to Jesus. May we not rest until we have challenged all to know HIM and the power of HIS resurrection. (Phil. 3:10)

Bro. Pat

The True Confessor and the False

by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

"I have sinned"–Matthew 27:4

This is confession, so far as words go; we shall see what it amounts to. God lays great stress upon confession in his dealings with sinning man. It is as a confessor of sin that he draws near to God; and it is as such that God receives him. This is the only position, the only character in which God can deal with him. Covering over sin will do nothing for us; it only doubles the transgression (Isa 30:1).

Confession is the closest and most personal of all kinds of dealing with God. As praise is the telling out what we see in God, so confession is the telling out what we see in ourselves. It specially comprises matters which can be spoken in no ear but God's. There is, no doubt, public confession—but the largest part of confession is private. Man cannot be trusted with it; man must not even hear it. Hence, the potential wickedness of any man setting himself up to be a confessor. Hence the potential sin of a dishonest confession—and the necessity of dealing honestly with God and our own consciences in a matter so entirely private and confidential. The attempt to deceive God, or to hide anything from Him, is as dangerous as it is wicked and inexcusable.

False Confession

There are two kinds of confession, a false and a true. We have instances of both of these in Scripture. They both make use of the same words, "I have sinned"; yet they do not mean the same thing, nor indicate the same state of feeling. Let us note some of the instances of the false. There is…

1) Pharaoh. Twice over he says, "I have sinned against the Lord" (Exo 9:27, 10:16).

2) Israel. After deliberate disobedience, and as a declaration of farther disobedience, "We have sinned" (Num 14:40).

3) Balaam. He said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned" (Num 22:34).

4) Achan. "Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel" (Jos 7:20).

5) Saul. "Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord" (1Sa 15:24).

6) Judas. "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Mat 27:4).

These are examples of false confession. And its falsehood consisted in this,—

1) It was constrained. It was extorted by terror and danger. It was not spontaneous or natural. These men would rather not have made it; but they could not help themselves. It was merely the natural heart crying out in trouble.

2) It was selfish. It was not the dishonour done to God, nor the injury to others, that they thought of, but the consequences to themselves. It was not sin, as sin, that was confessed and hated.

3) It was superficial. It was not the conscience, the inner man, that was stirred, but the mere external part of man's being. The real nature of sin was unfelt. Self was not abased nor loathed. There was no broken nor contrite heart (Psa 51:17).

4) It was impulsive. Some judgment smote, or was to be averted; some affliction overwhelmed them; some sermon roused them. And under the impulse of such feelings they cried out, "I have sinned."

5) It was temporary. It did not last. It was like the early cloud; it passed away. The words of confession had hardly passed their lips when the feeling was gone.

Let us beware of false confessions. Let us not cheat our souls, nor lull our consciences asleep, by uttering words of confession which are not the expressions of contrition and broken-heartedness. Let us deal honestly, searchingly, solemnly, with God and our own consciences. Godly sorrow is one thing, and the sorrow of the world is quite another. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked" (Gal 6:7). He wants real words.

But we have some examples of no-confession. We have Adam trying to hide his sin (Gen 3:7, 12); Cain refusing to confess (Gen 4:9); and Lamech glorying in his shame Gen 4:23, 24). They are specimens of the immoveable and impenetrable, showing the lengths to which a human heart can go.

True Confession

But we have many notable instances of true confession; proclaiming to us the truth of the promise, "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy" (Pro 28:13); "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1Jo 1:9). David said, "I have sinned" (2Sa 12:13), and his confession brought forgiveness. Daniel said, "we have sinned" (Dan 9:5), and he found forgiveness. Yes, true confession brings certain pardon. We have but one Confessor and one Confessional; and both are heavenly, not earthly; we need no more.

In true confession we take our proper place. We take the only place in which God can deal with us, the only place in which it would not dishonour him to pardon us—the sinner's place. And he who is willing to take this place is sure of the acceptance which the forgiving God presents. The Spirit's work in convincing of sin is to bring us to our true place before God. He who takes this but in part gets no pardon. He who tries to occupy a higher or better place must be rejected. He, who tries to deal with God as not wholly a sinner, as something better than a mere sinner, shuts himself out from favour. He who goes to God simply as a sinner, shall find favour at the hands of Him who receiveth sinners, who came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Mat 9:13). Everything depends on this. If he goes to God with some goodness to recommend him, some good feeling, some softness of heart, some excellence in his own faith or repentance to recommend him, he cannot be received. But he, who goes simply as a sinner, will taste that the Lord is gracious (Exo 34:6, 33:19).

In true confession we come to see sin somewhat as God sees it; and ourselves somewhat as God sees us. I say somewhat, because we cannot here fully enter into his mind regarding sin and the sinner; we see but in part, and feel but in part. It is but a faint glimpse we get of sin and of ourselves. But it is with this that we go to God, having learned something, though but in the remotest degree, of what sin is and deserves, and of what He thinks of it. We take His report of what sin is, and of what we are, whether we feel it or not. We believe what He has said about these things. And accepting His testimony to the evil of sin, even in spite of our own want of feeling, we confess it before Him, and receive at His hands that forgiveness which, while it pacifies the conscience, makes sin more odious, and our own hearts more sensitive and tender.

We take the prodigal's words, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight" (Luk 15:21). We turn our eye and our feet homewards. We remember the past; we look round us on the desolation of the "far country"; we listen to the good news of our Father's open door and loving heart; we arise and go. And at every step, as we draw near, our view of sin intensifies; our self-abhorrence increases; our sense of ingratitude deepens—and yet the certain knowledge of our Father's profound compassion and unchanged affection sustains us, cheers us (Luk 15:11-32). So that we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, knowing that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1Jo 1:9).