True Christian and the False Christian
By Nick Bibile
Ps 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
The true Christian prefers God above all
things in heaven or on earth.
The Psalmist
looks at the wealth and the prosperity of the wicked, he sees how they enjoy in
this world, they have no problems, and no trials and they continue to prosper.
He gets jealous at their wonderful life style in this world. Psalmist himself
get tempted, until he went to the house of God then he understood. He
understood how foolish and how ignorant he was as God has set the ungodly in
slippery places any moment they can die and go to hell to everlasting fire.
First we will see the godly man the true
Christian then we will see the unbeliever, the hypocrite.
Every godly man,
true Christian has his heart in heaven; his affections are set in Heaven his
chosen country and inheritance. He is a traveler on this world. The traveler
can content himself to be in a strange land for a while.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country.
It is like a child living abroad away from
his fathers house. Heaven is the true saints Fathers house:
John 14:2, In my Fathers house are many
mansions.
Now, the main reason why the godly man has
his heart in heaven is because God is there; that is the palace of the Most
High. It is the place where God is gloriously present, where his love is
gloriously manifested, where godly are going to be with him, see him as he is,
and love, serve, praise, and enjoy him perfectly.
If God is not in heaven, we would not be so
earnest in seeking it, nor would he take so much pains in a laborious travel
through this wicked world of temptations and trials. The martyrs would not
undergo cruel sufferings, from their persecutors, but their mind was in heaven,
although their pain was here they felt the comfort of peace in heaven.
The believers heart is in heaven, because
his treasure is there. The true Christian cheerfully forsake all their earthly
possessions and all their earthly friends in exchange for God. God becomes
number one and all the others are below God. True Christians are afflicted,
tormented for their uncompromised belief as they exchange their earthly values
for a heavenly inheritance where they want to be with their glorious redeemer.
Other religions including Mormonism heaven
is a place of sensual delights and pleasures, you can become a god and marry
many women populate the universe. If heaven was a place of sensual carnal
enjoyments filled with sensual pleasures and God was not there, the true
Christian cannot enjoy God. The true Christian will be restless without God as
God is the center of his desires.
Even on earth godly mans set his mind on God.
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are
seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
True Christian does not enjoy God fully in
this world, he has a little of his divine glory and love but God has promised in
his word to give him full enjoyment and these promises are more precious than
becoming a millionaire. It is better to live in rags and to believe in these
precious promises than to live in luxury.
The true saint is always hungry for more and
more of God in this world; it is a continuous growth in his spiritual life. It
is their desire to know more of God and desire to imitate their Master Christ
and not the world.
Psa. 27:4, One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his
temple. Psa. 42:1, 2, As the hart panted after the water-brooks, so panted my
soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, for the living God: when
shall I come and appear before God? Psa. 63:1, 2, O God, thou art my God, early
will I seek thee: my soul thirsted for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry
and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have
seen thee in the sanctuary.
Isa 26:8 Yea, in
the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our
soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
9 With my soul
have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek
thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness.
The genuine
Christian wants to be rich in grace than to be rich in wealth, desire the honor
of God and not the honor of men.
Joh 5:44 How can
ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only?
They desire to
have communion with God more than worldly friends fellowship and earthly
pleasures.
Psa. 84:10, A day
in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Php 3:8 Yea
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
The true
Christian prefers God to all his temporal enjoyments he has in this world.
Ps 16:5 The LORD
is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintains my lot.
6 The lines are fallen
unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
He prefers God than his earthly friends.
Lu 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not
his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
He prefers God to any earthly enjoyments and
prefers Christ to any earthly kingdoms.
Godly man lives in this troublesome world, he loses his
temporary enjoyments for God, loses luxury and can be deprived of many things
but his foundation of happiness is above this world and no one can take that
happiness away, as long as God remains his happiness with God remains. Worldly
people set their hearts on earthly enjoyments but the true Christian his chief
portion is God and thats were his heart is and no one can take that eternal
enjoyment of God from him.
The true Christians portion is God, he worship God, he has
great honor and respect to God as a person and to his word, he has communion,
fellowship with God, relationship to God through his word, prayer, fellowship
and his Christian conversation and behavior.
Unbelievers may have an external honor and respect to God
but not truly internal.
Psa.
66:3, Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves
unto thee. In the original it is, shall thine enemies lie unto thee, i.e. yield a feigned obedience.
On the other hand the ungodly have no desire to go to
heaven, their mind is set on earth, this is their heaven, they do not worship God
as God, no respect to Gods word and behavior is carnal and worldly.
They very often hear how excellent and
glorious a person Christ is. They are told of his holiness, and grace, and the
judgment to come yet it is not important to them.
They hear the glorious message of the gospel
and told that Christ can save the worst sinner, yet they will not make any
effort to repent and turn to Christ. They hear the suffering of Christ and his
dying love but these things are taken very lightly.
Unbelievers Christ is not exceedingly
beautiful. If you see something greatly beautiful you will desire, will labor
to get it and have it and enjoy. Unbelievers labor the things of the world, as
their delight and ultimate enjoyment are the things of this world, they are passionately
in love with them.
On the other hand Christ is most glorious
above everything, there is great internal beauty in him, for who he is and what
he has done, they have no desire for Christ, they have no passion for him, they
are not passionately in love with him and have no enjoyment in Christ, Christ
is boring to them compared to the world, Bible is a boring book, there is not
desire at all.
To the unbeliever they have no value for
Christ, he is worth nothing, and it is the world that is greatly valuable to
them and the world is everything for them. The worthless things of this world
have great value for them. They trample Christ daily in their disobedience;
they have fear of death but no fear of Christ.
Rather they gratify earthly things and think
and meditate daily on earthly thinks. They have no desire to conform to Christ
yet they have a great desire to conform to this world.
Consider that you are just dust a worm
before the king of kings, consider the great crime you have committed in your
disobedience to the author of life. Christ can deliver you from hell, from the
lake of fire even that blood that was shed for such poor sinners as you are,
and that is offered to you for your salvation. But you trample Christ for the
sake of your desires of the world.
Mt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his
house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built
his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was
the fall of it.