THE
SOP OR THE SAVIOR? On
this page we will discuss the many "good things" which can come between
you and Jesus Christ. 
BIBLE
TEXT: John
13:21 (KJV) When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified,
and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
23 Now
there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24
Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of
whom he spake.
25 He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who
is it?
26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have
dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon.
27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto
him, That thou doest, do quickly. Verse
21-- Jesus sets the scene for our lesson, and the lines of loyalty are set also.
Judas may have begun to follow Jesus three years previously with sincere desire
to be eternally devoted to Messiah. But, something has changed inside the man. Verse
22-- No one suspected Judas was a traitor at heart. There are those amongst us
who have followed close to Jesus for many years, they have manifest the power
of God in serving others, and they have been entrusted by Christ, it would seem,
with the gifts of ministry. We must not worry ourselves about this. Until it is
openly known that someone is a traitor, we must accept all men who manifest the
power of God, and let Christ decide when and how to reveal their wickedness. Verse
23-- John speaks of himself in the third person. He was leaning on Jesus' bosom.
The meal was important, the Passover was important, the law must be fulfilled
in the annual meal, and it is all right to be hungry and partake of what God provides.
But, the center of John's attention was on Jesus himself. Close,
so very close to God,
Closer I could not be;
For in the Person of his Son,
I'm
just as close as He.
Verse
24-- Good old Peter. He is our curious brother, always wanting to get to the bottom
of the matter. I don't think this was a Gestapo thing with Peter. Peter knew he
was a wicked man and had asked Jesus to depart from him long ago. It may well
be that Peter was in terror of his own frail humanity. It also may be that Peter
wanted to "church" or excommunicate the rascal, whoever he was. Verse
25-- It seems that John had the nerve to ask what everyone wanted to know. Perhaps
he too dreaded the thought that he might betray Jesus. Perhaps this moment explains
why John went into the judgment hall later with Jesus and all the way to the cross.
John represented the alternative to the choice about to be made by Judas. Verse
26-- The sop. It was good for food. It was given to Judas by Jesus. It was unleavened,
Kosher, and part of the sacred meal of Israel. There was nothing evil about the
sop. But, we see the choice here of two men, John and Judas. John had enjoyed
the food, but his preference now was to be as close as possible to Jesus. Judas
was still ready to satisfy his appetite, and he was eager to take, both silver,
and food. Judas had forgotten the words of Job. Job
23:12 (KJV) Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips;
I have
esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Verse
27-- The lessons here are multiple. John
got close to Jesus. He got close enough to have a personal communication with
God and receive an answer. Judas was only close enough to satisfy his hunger. Leaning
on Jesus-- close to the Shepherd-- waiting for the Word, OR close to the sop,
waiting for the hand of plenty, ready to leave once the stomach was full. Eyes
on Jesus-- talking to Jesus-- listening to Peter-- wanting to know, OR watching
the last choice sop-- wishing for more kids on the church bus-- yearning for a
bigger offering-- not listening-- not asking-- not even hearing the question of
the saints around you.
Song
of Solomon 8:5 (KJV) Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon
her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee
forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
SOPS
THAT CAN REPLACE LEANING ON JESUS Prophecy,
when based in the Word of God, is good for the soul. It helps the saint keep a
forward look, it gives assurance to see prophecy fulfilled, but it does not convict
of sin nearly as well as leaning on Jesus. That is why many allegedly Fundamental
churches love prophecy conferences. Let
me show you how your sop of prophecy could fail you. All Fundamental prophecy
teachers and books exalt the Lord for bringing Israel back into the land. But,
what if 1948 is not the true fulfillment of prophecy about the return of Israel
and it becoming a nation? My Dad always cautioned us not to make the present state
of Israel the absolute fulfillment of the return. It sure looks like it, but tell
me, what if the Arabs drove the Jews out of Israel next week, and what if they
had to flee again to Europe or the USA? Would you lose your assurance of salvation. You
see, prophecy is a good sop, right from the hand of Jesus, but it is not the foundation
of your assurance. Jesus Christ in person is supposed to be sufficient for you
to lean on until you die or he comes back for you. The Holy Ghost is our "Earnest,"
not Israel.
Repentance
is becoming a fetish to Fundamentalists. The fact that you repented long ago "at
an old fashioned altar" is not enough to make it through to heaven. If you
do not believe "and are sure" that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
Living God, you are damned to hell, and your repentance be damned with you. Hindus
repent, pagans repent, Catholics repent, and they are hell bound. It is JESUS
in person who is the object of your salvation and assurance. Are you clinging
to the sop of repentance. It is a good sop, it is part of being converted, and
it comes to you from Jesus, but it is Jesus who saved you, not your repentance.
Some
men bury themselves in study of the Word of God. This is a sop with promise, for
we are told that if we study the Word, we will become "throughly furnished
unto all good works." Now, you should enjoy that sop, but have you become
a servant of study, of scholarship. Do you see a sermon every time you read the
Word? Or, do you sometimes read, think, meditate, and lean on Jesus, for he IS
the Word. When you die, trust me, anyone who counts to God and you now will not
rustle up all your sermon notes and pour over them. There is nothing more moldy
and stale as another man's sermon notes. So, how about setting down the sop once
in a while and just lean on Jesus?
You
are a member in the Body of Christ, if you have confessed your faith in Jesus
Christ before man, and he has entered your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Where
else do you suppose you need to be a member? The local church is no better off
for its membership list, in fact, there is possibly no greater offense to Christian
fellowship than lists. Are
you a member of a preacher's club? What did that get you. This is a sop from Satan,
not Jesus Christ, but it needs treatment here. If someone will not take you as
you are, after confessing Jesus Christ to them, they are sucking on a Satanic
sop. Do not let this happen to you. There is not ONE verse of Scripture to justify
making lists of anyone in Christ's Church.
Men
should see your good works and glorify you Father which is in heaven, right? Certainly!
Jesus also said you would do greater things than he had done. Does that not justify
being totally immersed in good works. NO! Thousands of saints are totally distracted
from leaning on Jesus, they are exhausted, and they are dry as the top rail of
the fence all the time. They have quit leaning on Jesus and are totally preoccupied
with the sop of works. Get back to the Savior of your works, and you will be amazed
at how much you get done for him with half the effort.
Here
is a sop that is mocked by Fundamentalists universally. The Reformed churches
all have creeds, and much debate, study, and throbbing of effulgent brains, in
halls of academic glory, goes into the fine tuning of creeds. Now, I want to be
fair here. History tells us a story that Fundamentalists ignore as they stand
on the shoulders of the Reformers and mock. When
Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the chapel door, there was not a Bible in town
for the neophyte followers of Christ to read. There were street plays, which had
totally warped the Truth, and there were minstrels, who botched every thing they
sang about from the Bible. Brother Gutenberg had just invented the printing press,
and when Bibles were finally printed they were chained to the pulpit so they would
not be stolen. So,
Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and the other Reformers all sat down and composed creeds.
These were short enough to memorize and repeat in church worship times, and eventually,
the converts of the Reformation could tell you what they believed. Old Mother
Whore from Rome had no such creed. The Pope and priests gave their people noting
final, only terror and threats and works. But,
along came Tyndale who said he wanted every plowman to have a Bible. Soon, Bibles
were being printed in enough quantities that a man of means could afford one and
hold a Bible study in his home. Many years later, Bibles were everywhere, and
today, no Reformed Christian has an excuse for letting the sop of a creed define
his faith. If you have a Bible, use it to lean on Jesus, and if you do not have
a Bible, go to Wal-Mart and buy one for $5. Stop chanting and burping up stale
sop every Sunday morning.
Battle,
as in defending the King James Bible-- There
is warfare in the Christian life, it comes directly from Jesus Christ, is commanded,
and is rewarded. We lay heavy emphasis on spiritual warfare at this journal. But,
it is possible to get to the point where battle is all you want. Kicking the Pope
is all the spiritual exercise you care for. Christian warfare is a sop from Jesus
Christ, and it is good for the soul. But, you can so easily become such a warrior
that you no longer stop and lean on Jesus. King
David walked on the walls of Jerusalem at night. He prevented the night watch,
that is, he stayed up late. Why? Well, David was a warrior. He wanted to see if
the night guards on duty were awake and alert. He wanted to see if the walls were
in good repair. But, King David, while up there on the wall, would also stop,
look up, and say: Psalms
19:1 (KJV) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his
handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their
line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and
there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Do
you take your eyes off of the battle regularly and lean on Jesus? When
the Prussian army went to battle, they marched to their heartbeat. They marched
silently, they marched fiercely, and as they marched, off to the right front or
left was the king, The Bismarck, on his horse-- same pace, same zeal. When the
order was given, "oblique right," The Bismarck on horseback did an oblique
right in perfect step with the marching soldiers. When the "ready" order
was given, The Bismarck raised his musket with the rest of the soldiers, and when
the order "fire" was given, the Bismarck fired with his army. Later,
back at the camp, when the soldiers celebrated their victory in the field, the
roar of the soldiers merry toasts was only outdone by the mighty roars of The
Bismarck. The Prussian soldiers loved war, but they loved The Bismarck more than
they loved war. Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Church
Growth, Emerging Church, and Contemplative Prayer-- So,
you had Rick Warren around to show you how to grow a local church? Or, did you
have some Fundamental Baptist famous Amos like Lee Roberson or some Hyles clone
come around and fire up your church to mighty deeds of "bring them in"?
Tell me,
preacher, when is the last time you called a man in to do a series of meetings
to help saints lean on Jesus. I don't mean one of your mongrel Charles Finney
"Revival Meetings." I mean a quiet, contemplative, tender time with
the Good Shepherd, just wandering around the green pastures and by the still waters
with the Lord. I am totally grossed out by the hype and hurrahs of you boys who
think the saints are worthless unless they are in a frenzy of activity. Face it,
you do not really want the saints to lean on Jesus. If you did, you would preach
on Jesus Christ and his life AND the Gospel more, and the Epistles and the typology
of the tabernacle and the knops of the temple less. Go
figure. Who leans on Jesus at your church house-- do YOU lean on Jesus in your
pulpit? And
as for Rich Warren and Purpose Driven Cheese, and the Emerging Church (where has
it been for 2000 years), and Contemplative Prayer, these are gold plated dandy
counterfeits for, "Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord...." Get that
high tension sop out of your mouth and ask Jesus, "Lord, is it I?"
Manifestations
of Power and Miracles-- Charismatic
Christians have bought into the notion that the power of God has to fall in some
spectacular way every Sunday at the front of the church. A church near us had
a sign on the front that said, "Miracles every service." They closed
up for good several weeks ago. They were craving the sop. This is a sop from Jesus
Christ again, at least sometimes. It is good for food, and it can be a blessing.
But, millions of Christians around the world will NOT set the sop down and get
over yonder on the other side of the table and just lean on Jesus. He might just
sit there and hug them, and then the gold dust might not fall from the clouds,
and they might have to shut up and stop chattering in alleged tongues and, heaven
forbid, LISTEN! Oh,
you self-righteous Baptists, you do the same thing with you hyper services that
have not one vestige of worship, no quietness, and not time to lean on Jesus.
You joke and carry on like Jesus went on vacation, and you need to keep the mob
amused at all costs. Put that ego driven sop down, and lean on Jesus next Sunday
morning.
Rights,
Patriotism, and Home Schooling-- Is
it good to provide for your own, like maybe your kids' education? Is it good to
do good works in the community, like help some local God fearing man get elected?
Is this a sop from Jesus? Well, I gather it could be, for we are to be salt for
sure. But, some of you are so obsessed with saving America, or the UK, or Canada,
or some other nation, that you do not have time to lean on Jesus. You have come
to be so consumed with the terror of a naughty lady like Hillary Clinton getting
into office that Jesus Christ has been voted out of the Lordship of your life
by default. You just do not have time to lean on Jesus until the battle is over,
AND it never is over, right? You
are wicked. Hillary Clinton is destroying your fellowship with Jesus Christ. Fighting
for the rights of home schoolers has been used of Satan to make your spiritual
IQ about Jesus Christ well below 60. Put that sop down, that worthy sop, that
rewarding sop, and go give the giver of the sop a big hug once in a while, AND
hang around-- you will learn something about the battle.
Luke
14:33 (KJV) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that
forsaketh not all that
he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Is
it time you left your preoccupation with the sop and leaned on the Savior of the
sop? Romans
14:8 (KJV) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord;
and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die,
we are the Lord's. Will
it be said of you and Jesus..... "John
11:36 (KJV) Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!" OR "He
sure was a great Bible scholar." "He
built the biggest Sunday School in the South." "He
was the greatest prophecy teacher I ever heard." "I
never knew a preacher with a bigger library than his." "He
sure gave the devil a hard time in his city." "He
sure could eat fried chicken." "My,
my, how he loved that sop."
CASE
STUDY:
Here is a good sop of a Christian Bible teacher. I don't like
the company the man keeps sometimes, but his teaching on prophetic things is biblical,
and he uses the King James Bible. ZOLA
LEVITT
Thousands of Christians are now reading Zola Levitt more than they
are reading their Bible. Satan can enter such Christians quite easily. Read the
comments of the man who followed Zola Levitt. This man has made a sop of Zola.
This is not to say the Zola was evil, indeed, God may have considered Zola a useful
servant, but this man is
leaning on Zola far too much.
Matthew
11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give
you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly
in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light. Philippians
3:7 (KJV) But what things were gain to me, those I counted
loss for Christ.
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,
9 And be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. |
Do
you have a friend who should see this page,
someone who is clinging to the
sop instead of leaning on Jesus? SMALL
QUIET TRIPS IN OUR LITTLE DARK STUDY 1.
QUIET IN THE BIG CITY 2.
QUIET KANSAS STYLE 3.
QUIET OTHER PLACES IN THIS JOURNAL 4.
A LITTLE QUIET TALK WITH UNCLE STEVE 5.
QUIET BIBLE TIME 6.
QUIET WHIPPED PREACHERS-- DON'T GIVE UP 7.
QUIET PRAYER CORNER 8.
QUIET WITH JOY HARDIN ON THE PIANO 9.
NEVER GIVE UP 10.
QUIETNESS WITH WHOLE SCREEN PICTURES
OF GOD'S
CREATION-- Long Load-- Graphic intensive. 11.
QUIETNESS IN BLACK AND WHITE 12.
QUIET IN THE HOLY LAND 13.
QUIET OF THE HEAVENS 14.
HEAVENLY SONLIGHT 15.
DELIVERANCE FROM GUILT AND GUILT MONGERS
For
some reason, many readers find this page in the evening. 16.
QUIET REST 17.
HEAVEN 18.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD-- Very Special Page
by Mary Van Nattan 19.
LOOKING BACK-- This is a time when it is OK 20.
QUIET IN THE GARDEN 21.
A QUIET PLACE TO EXALT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST 22.
THE SHIPS THAT WON'T GO DOWN- By Henry Lawson 23.
THE SOP OR THE SAVIOR OF THE SOP? 24.
NO GREATER LOVE 25.
QUIET DIVERSION 26.
WORSHIP
AND EXALTATION OF GOD 27.
THE PRESENT DISTRESS- WORLD CHAOS - NEW
SACRED
MUSIC PRESERVED-- Play is online--
Many
of the old Gospel music singers and groups from the 50s and 60s
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