TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 12TH April 2023)
“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds”. 2 John 1:9-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 102ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
We give God the glory for all the days He has appointed for us. We sleep and wake up because He kept us. We thank Him for the years we have seen and the ones we will yet see. Each day that passes should remind us of His marvelous kindness.
I have said it before that you may have the power to fall asleep, but none of us have the power to wake up. That is why some have slept and never woke up. It is possible for anything to go wrong while we are asleep. But the LORD who watches over us and do not sleep nor slumber has kept us alive, and we should not take it for granted. The Bible says;
“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.” Psalm 121:4-8 NKJV
If we are grateful people, we will be able to identify with this scripture. Everything in it has been true in our lives. Even when we never knew Him, He was there for us. He kept us so well that even the sun of wickedness and the occult could not strike us by day nor the moon by night.
Many of us where born in households of wickedness, yet He did not allow that to consume our lives. He was a shade at our right hand of doing right and at our left hand of doing what was not right. Even when we were committing our terrible sins, He was there watching over us with the vision of delivering us from our wicked deeds.
THAT IS WHY THE DEPTH OF HIS LOVE IS UNFATHOMABLE.
People have taken advantage of it and became righteous, pure and holy. Others have rejected it and remained in their sins and on the path of eternal destruction. Some others, especially in Church, have abused it and moved from being Heaven bound saints washed by the blood of Jesus, to hell bound secret sinners desecrated through lewdness.
Most of this spiritual development was cause by lack of sound doctrine on the lips of preachers, and rebellion to sound doctrine among those who are blessed by the LORD with pastors who teaches them well. Like we saw yesterday in our meditation scripture, the Bible says;
“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 2:7 NKJV
If the lips of the preachers carry sound doctrine, there will be no much abuse of God’s love because God’s love remains perfect even when He is severe and moving in His wrath. The presence of sound doctrines on the lips of preachers, is what God ordained to take men from an eternal life that will be spent in hell, to an eternal life that will be spent in Heaven.
It is what God ordained to be used by His Holy Spirit to make ready a people prepared for the LORD. There could be Christianity where any word is preached, but there will be no true Christianity until people are exposed to sound doctrine (the doctrine of Christ).
Let me tell you why the devil and most believers hate sound doctrines. Everyone who goes to Church will be called a Christian until we bring our lives side by side what Christ taught and Instructed.
Everyone who preaches, pray or prophesies, will be seen as a servant of God, until our lives are brought side by side the doctrine of Christ. Everyone who wears the “man of God title” especially with miracles, signs and wonders, and generosity on public display, will be considered great power of God until matters of doctrines are brought to the front burner.
That is why many of us preachers will not want our ministries scrutinized with the doctrine of Christ. We will say to those doing it, “let GOD judge, you are not the judge.” We know many of us will be exposed if what we are doing is placed side by side the doctrine of Christ.
IN THE DAYS OF THE BIBLE, THE WORK OF A SORCERER WAS EXPOSED WHEN THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST STEPPED INTO THE CITY.
The Bible says;
“Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.
But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”
And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” Acts 8:4-12 NKJV
If you look at this story, you will realize that everyone in Samaria was calling a sorcerer man of God, major one, commander of the federal republic, the great prophet of our time, oracle, great power of GOD, mightiest prophet and etc. until a man with the doctrine of Christ entered the city.
When the same people who gave credence to the sorcerer, calling him man of GOD, sat down to listen to the doctrine of Christ, on the lips of Philip, it was clear to them that they had been dealing with a sorcerer and an agent of the devil.
The Bible says,
“But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.”
It means the sorcerer lost their followership. They became followers of the resurrected Christ instead of the spirits he represented.
AS A RESULT, THEY WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST!
They were Baptized into the source of the doctrine that Philip brought to them; Christ. But before then, they had called the practice of sorcery “gospel ministry.” Yes, they had seen it as powerful prophetic ministry that was raised by GOD to save them from Satan.
From this story it is clear that, where there are no sound doctrines, people are veiled to call Satan god, and to promote his activities with their giving, sacrifices and etc., thinking they are giving unto God.
Where there are no sound doctrines, people are veiled to take demonic practices like the use of oil, water, salt, rods, sand, people’s photos, giving of money and etc. in prayer as prophetic similitudes. Where there are no sound doctrines, the Christian faith will never be sound. It will be successfully mixed with occult practices.
It is matters of doctrine that separates true believers from false believers. It is the doctrines we see in the lives of preachers that tells us if they are still with GOD or not. It is what we preach, teach and do that displays our source of ministry; it tells if we are servants of GOD or counterfeits.
That is why you find people who are defending and speaking for sorcerers they see as servants of GOD, ignorant of the doctrine of Christ.
Any preaching can present anyone to be a servant of God (because there are many gods), but it is the doctrine on our lips and lives that tell if we are servants of the One and only True GOD or not!
The need of the church today is the doctrine of Christ. Preachers and teachers of the doctrine of Christ are the greatest need of the hour.
I was an evangelist by content for the first 15 years of my ministry, so I can tell you this; any preaching may get you saved, but only the doctrine of Christ will keep you saved. That is why we do not find many evangelists established in sound doctrine. God can use anyone, or anything to get a soul saved, but cannot use anyone or anything just like that, to keep a soul saved.
To keep a soul saved, there have to be sound doctrine; there have to be the precept upon precept delivery of the doctrine of Christ, week after week, after week, until the days of the person are fulfilled.
IF YOU ARE SAVED AND ARE NOT KEPT SAVED, YOU WILL LOOSE YOUR SALVATION.
Many believers today have left the narrow way that leads to life and are presently living their Christian lives on the broad way that leads to damnation. Sadly, the still have an assurance of a salvation that no longer exist. But the doctrine of Christ said;
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV
How many of us who call ourselves Christians have really obeyed this doctrine? Very few have obeyed, yet we all call ourselves Christians. In fact, majority do not even know what it means, no thanks to the preachers they listen to, who do not have the Spirit of prophecy in their hearts. Most just carry the spirit of divination and are equipped with the anointing of the demon of deliverance, hence knowing nothing about the doctrine of Christ.
How can you be of Christ if you do not know the meaning of what He teaches? You cannot be a Christian if you do not know or abide in the doctrine of Christ. Christians are not people who profess Christianity, but those who abide in the doctrine of Christ.
Those who are in the broad way that leads to eternal death, have completely lost their salvation without knowing it! The Bible made it clear that the greatest enemy of narrow way Christianity is the false doctrines on the lips of some. It has prevented so many from abiding in the doctrine of Christ, the only doctrine that pushes us through the narrow gate. The narrow gate in Christ is the only gate that leads to Heaven. Every other lead to hell.
Our devotional text says;
“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds”. 2 John 1:9-11 NKJV
Now, when the scriptures say “the doctrine of Christ,” what else can we glean from that? In simple terms, the doctrine of Christ refers to what Christ taught when He was here on earth and what He taught through the apostles as documented in scriptures; the very foundations He laid by the hands of our apostolic fathers.
FOR INSTANCE, THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST ON SEXUAL CONDUCT SAYS;
“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NKJV
If you look at this scripture and look at the Church today, you can’t find many believers abiding by the doctrine of Christ on sexual conduct. There is masturbation, adulteries, fornication, lesbianism, gay, incest, sex with animals and all kinds of abominable sexual practices in the Church, from the leadership to the followership.
If you look at the way we go into marriages, and even stay married, we do not uphold the doctrine of Christ on sexual morality. Almost all of us are guilty and are not abiding in the doctrine of Christ.
That should explain why there are so many demonic or spiritual problems in the lives of many believers. Demons will live in the lives of those who are not abiding in the doctrine of Christ.
You must understand why the Bible says if any preacher or anyone comes to us not bringing the doctrine of Christ (In this case on sexual purity) we should not receive him into our house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. It is as serious as that!
We will pick from here tomorrow!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what Fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 NKJV