When God Withdraws (16 views) Subscribe   
  From:  Wings47   5/19/2003 8:37 am  
To:  ALL   (1 of 3)  
 
  600.1  
 
WHEN GOD WITHDRAWS 
The story of Genesis Chapter 3 is perhaps as sad a story as any in all the Bible. It gives an account of the sin and misery of our first parents; and the wrath and curse of God against them. Satan was in the world and the peace of creation was disturbed, and its beauty was stained and sullied. Were it not for the gracious intimations of redemption by the promised seed, we would be a guilty race, left to endless despair. 

To better understand when God withdraws, we first must understand why it is He withdraws. In his letter to the Romans (5:12), Paul says, through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. 

The current of Gods favors are stopped by man himself. It is being in sin that first separates US from GOD. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2) 

Satan, that great adversary, remains in the world today; confusing, lying and bringing a constant battle with him. He is a malignant spirit who beguiles; he is a tempter and a traitor. He is a murderer. Rebellion is from him, and blindness and deceit. He is wise, wise to do evil. He taunts and upbraids, he stirs lusts. He is a liar and scoffer, and he brings with him all manner of sin. Our constant battle is that he speaks in us by our own deceitful heart and carnal reasoning. 

Our thoughts are the first thing Satan uses. Our thoughts are where sin begins. 

Satan uses our thoughts to cause evil imaginations, to cause our words to be filled with lies, to put wickedness in our hearts, and to have our works become works of iniquity. He is the author of confusion, twisting and manipulating our thinking; he would have us adhere to our sin, because the further we drift from God, the more confused our thinking becomes. The more confused we become, the more we sink into sin. The more we sink into sin, a time comes when God withdraws. 

What must be Satans favorite tool of corruption is DELUSION. He deludes and deceives the thinking, making truth seem as lies and lies as truth. God will not only allow the sinner to remain in his delusion, the God of justice will leave him in his sinful way and send further delusion that he may continue to be deceived. and with all unrighteousness among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie. (2Thessalonians 2:10-11) 

Satan lets delusion convince the sinner of his own purity, convincing him his heart is pure, his thoughts are pure, and his words have Gods blessing. Eventually the sinner believes they are, in all respects, what they should be. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. (Proverbs 30:12) 

Satan uses delusion to bring deception to the sinner. The deceived person turns away from correction and truth. They will ultimately get others to support their position as if that would justify their deception. This is the sin of complicity on the part of the supporters. God looks at this as further proof that the deception had been made complete. 

One does not have to justify ones position nor need the help of a support system if one is walking in the righteousness of God. This is how one knows if one has been wrongly accused; if one walks in sin; or if one is in complicitythe roles are clear. 

Satans greatest delusion upon the sinner is that of convincing him he still hears from the Lord, and that the Lord continues to bless him with spiritual things. This delusion keeps the sinner blind to the truth; that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. 

Gods spirit and grace forsake the sinner, no longer teaching and guiding him. If the sinner continues in his delusion, refusing the striving of the Holy Spirit, God Almighty withdraws, the Holy Spirit no longer strives that the sinner might see the truth and repent. It will be to his destruction in that Great Day of the Lord. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12) 

When God hides His face from us and our prayers, we are undone. 

THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF GODS WITHDRAWAL 

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?, that is, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) 

The darkness covering all present at the Crucifixion signified the dark cloud which the human soul of our Lord Jesus was now under. God lets His sun shine on the just and the unjust alike; but even the light of the sun was withheld from our Savior when He was made sin for us. 

God hid His face, and for a while withdrew His rod and staff in the dark valley. God forsook him. He let out upon the soul of Jesus the whole sense of His wrath against man for sin. 

That Christ was forsaken of His Father was the most grievous of His sufferings, and that which caused Him to cry out the loudest. 

God allows us freedom to turn our back on Him and believe Satans lies. He does not keep us from rebelling, because He wants us to learn the consequences of sin. He uses these experiences to turn people away from greater sin, back to faith in Him. When we ignore the corrective stirrings of the Holy Spirit; when we side with the flesh against the Spirit, we will go deeper into the pit. The Holy Spirit strives for us against sin by the convictions and admonitions of our conscience; but when the Holy Spirit is resisted, He becomes provoked by our resistance of His motions, and will cease to strive for us, and God withdraws. 

Spiritual judgments are, of all judgments, the sorest, and to be most dreaded. God withdraws from the sinner as a way of righteous judgment, as the just punishment, leaving the sinner to a reprobate mind - a mind void of sense and judgment to discern spiritual things. 

OUR WARNING 
God withdraws His Spirit from them, taking off the bridal of restraining grace and justly leaves them to themselves, for they will do as they will. 

AND OUR HOPE: 
None lose the strivings of the Holy Spirit, but those who have already forfeited them. His grace is His own, and He is debtor to no man and as He gave His grace to any that could say they deserved it, so He never took it away from any but who had first forfeited it. 


 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    5/19/2003 3:56 pm  
To:  Wings47   (2 of 3)  
 
  600.2 in reply to 600.1  
 
Great Post!

I hope we can get a discussion started on this topic.

Pleasing God, What is our Part? We do have a Part.

God Bless you,
David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
 
From:  Minister Falcon (OSMFalcon)     5/20/2003 3:17 am  
To:  Wings47    
 
    
 
Wings!  

This is absolutely from the throne room of God!  How clear and alive you make His word, but that's how one knows that it came from the throne room of our Lord!

This reminds me of many scriptures in which we are told to withdraw from fellowship that is not godly.  They may take on the form of godliness, but truly are not walking in righteousness.

Many born-again Christians rebel against God in the guidelines He has set down for His people, for His saints.  God wants every believer to obey His commands [Hebrews 5:9].  Most Christians seem to have the misguided impression that they can partake of God's table and the table of Satan as well.  They think they can live for God part time, and then live as they choose the rest of the time, twisting the scriptures as they go.  And as you said, they find complicity with other saints to come into agreement with their sin.  Sometimes the saints don't even realize they are being sucked into the hole of perdition.

Scriptures are full of these types of people who thought this way, and they perished to hell.  It is written in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17:

Be ye not unequally yoked togehter with unbelievers:  for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?  And what communion hath light with darkness?  What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.

When you come to the cross, you surrender to Jesus, to do His will. You are to follow what He wants you to do. What fellowship is there between the works of God and the works of Satan? The answer is obvious; there is none. Is it possible that a person can be a Christian and an infidel?  The answer is YES!  How can that be?, one might ask.  Through delusion, through believing they are hearing from God, when indeed, they are listening to the devil themselves.

In God's eyes, there are only two types of people. There are those who follow Jesus and those who do not. The Bible tells us, if you are not for God, you are against God. Now, if you have chosen to follow Jesus, then you are not to have fellowship with those who are against Jesus. Do not say they are not against Jesus, when the Bible has shown us that if a person is not for God, then he is against God. 

We are told, regarding born-again people that do not 
obey the Gospel, not to even eat with such people. Paul talking about the wicked person says, in 1 Corinthians 5:11:

Now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one do not to eat.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 says:

Now we command you that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye received of us.  

In both scriptures, God is speaking directly to all that are born-again about non-believers and those who choose to disobey the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That includes those that twist the gospel to suit their own destruction.

Note here in 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 it says:

If any man obey not our word...note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.  yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother [sister].

In other words, correct this person in meekness and in the fear of the Lord.  God's word is always perfect ans is profitable for correction.  God's word tells us how to live, if you are a believer.  Every time you disobey God's word, you give Satan an opening.  The bible warns you, neither give place to the devil. The 
Scriptures show us that Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.God's Word shows us that a believer is an abomination to an unbeliever and vice versa. Listen to God's Word in Proverbs 29:27:

AN UNJUST MAN IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE JUST.

If you follow Jesus, a person that lives in sin is an abomination to you. The verse continues, AND HE 
THAT IS UPRIGHT IN THE WAY IS ABOMINATION TO THE WICKED.

The fact that you are living for Jesus offends them, especially if your light shines brightly. You, as a true follower of Jesus, are an abomination to them. You may say, "No, that cannot be true, not to my close 
friends." But rest assured, it is true. Two may be the best of friends. It may be two brothers. When one turns to Jesus and the other does not, the one that does not is offended. He does not understand the light that shines in the other person. The darkness cannot comprehend the light. The light exposes the wicked deeds of the unrepentant heart; and thus the person who will not come to the light, to Jesus, finds that the true believer is an abomination to him.


The best of friends become separated, and close brothers are no longer close. The saved person seeks for his friend to turn to Jesus; while the unsaved person detests the person that follows Jesus. The 
unsaved person may try to draw the saved person back into sinful ways. It often happens in such a subtle way that the saved person becomes deceived and falls back into sin, into his old ways. Remember the words of Jesus as His mother came to see Him?  It is written in Luke 8:20-21:

AND IT WAS TOLD HIM (Jesus) BY CERTAIN WHICH SAID, THY MOTHER AND THY BRETHREN STAND WITHOUT, DESIRING TO SEE THEE. AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, MY MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN ARE THESE WHICH HEAR THE WORD OF GOD, AND DO IT. 

The importance that Jesus placed on this is so great it is repeated in Matthew's Gospel as well as Mark's gospel. As born-again believers, our whole attitude changes. Our whole outlook changes. We no longer live for this world. We love God. We love to serve Him. We love to help people. We love to go to church and to fellowship with other believers. As God's Word has told us, what communion is there between the believer and unbeliever? They both have different goals, outlooks, 
and destinies. One lives for this world; the other looks forward to the next world. One will be with Jesus forever; the other will dwell in the lake of fire forever. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 states:

CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS, AND EVERY HIGH THING THAT EXALTETH ITSELF AGAINST THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND BRINGING INTO CAPTIVITY EVERY THOUGHT TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.

You are not to fellowship with people that are unsaved; with those that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Satan works through people, time and time again, to try to confuse or draw the believer away from his faith in Jesus Christ. Satan works through people to try to draw the believer away from serving Jesus. Satan will use people to embarrass and offend you. They may even use Scripture incorrectly to draw you away from God's perfect will. Satan tried to do the same thing to Jesus. He tempted Jesus with Scripture, but when Jesus used the Word back, Satan had to flee.

You need to not only study your Bible daily; you also need to obey it. You are to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.

James 1:22:  For it is not those who hear the Word that will be justified, but those who obey the Word.

~Minister Falcon

 
