Identity Crisis! Part 2

Good day. Today we are posting Part 2 of a four-part newsletter series Identity Crisis! written in 2001 by our dear brother, fellow steward and ambassador of the mystery of Christ, Larry Gazelka. Our prayer is that you will be blessed and encouraged by this newsletter series. Have a very blessed and prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord. ***You can download a copy of the writings for personal use only by clicking on the Built Anew Ministries Archive page link above and scroll down to the year 2001.

Identity Crisis!
Part 2
v23n39
 
            In last weeks newsletter, we were talking about who it is that we identify ourselves with, or in other words, who is it that we place ourselves in agreement with. After having a mild stroke last week, I had to make a decision or choice myself, of whether I would agree or disagree with the doctors and nurses, and the counsel that they gave me. To agree with them would bring about restored health, and to disagree would bring about death.
           
            Each and every day here, we all have that decision or choice to make. It all comes down to who we will choose to be the servant to. Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The devil goes about seeking whom he may devour, for his purpose is to steal the gift of God from us, that he may get us to commit spiritual suicide, that we would die for eternity.
 
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as bondservants to obey any one, you become the bondservants of him whom you obey, whether the bondservants of Sin (with death as the result) or of Duty (resulting in righteousness)? (Weymouth translation)
 
            [To whom ye yield yourselves] Can you suppose that you should continue to be the servants of Christ if ye give way to sin? Is he not the master who exacts the service, and to whom the service is performed? Sin is the service of Satan; righteousness is the service of Christ. If ye sin, ye are the servants of Satan, and not the servants of God.
          The word doulos (grk 1401), which we translate "servant", properly signifies slave; and a slave among the Greeks and Romans was considered as his master's property, and he might dispose of him as he pleased. Under a bad master, the lot of the slave was most oppressive and dreadful; his ease and comfort were never consulted; he was treated worse than a beast; and, in many cases, his life hung on the mere caprice of the master. This state is the state of every poor, miserable sinner; he is the slave of Satan, and his own evil lusts and appetites are his most cruel taskmasters. The same word is applied to the servants of Christ, the more forcibly to show that they are their Master's property; and that, as he is infinitely good and benevolent, therefore his service must be perfect freedom. Indeed, he exacts no obedience from them which he does not turn to their eternal advantage; for this master has no self-interest to secure. (From Adam Clarke Commentary)
 
            Each and every day a person surrounds themselves with different thoughts and ideas. However, to make things a bit more simplified, one should look at this in one of two ways: our choices or decisions are one of two, to choose to be spiritually alive by coming into agreement with God and His Word, or to come into agreement with the devil, whose end result is spiritual death. Thus, we can see why Joshua said that we have to choose this day who it is that we will serve.
 
            God in His grace and mercy has made available to each and every person this gift of spiritual life. This gift is available to one by and through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 4:7, John 17:3). There is no other way than that which God has prescribed. (John 14:6, 1Timothy 2:5). Any other way than that which God prescribes would be the way of a thief and robber, and admittance into His kingdom under false pretenses will not be allowed.
 
2Peter 2:17-20 These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm, men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved. 18 For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings--every kind of immorality--as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error. 19 And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight. 20 For if, after escaping from the pollutions of the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, people are once more entangled in these pollutions and are overcome, their last state has become worse than their first. (Weymouth translation)
 
Let’s look at some of Adam Clarke’s comments on these verses.
 
            [These are wells without water] Persons who, by their profession, should furnish the water of life to souls athirst for salvation; but they have not this water; they are teachers without ability to instruct; they are sowers, and have no seed in their basket. Nothing is more cheering in the deserts of the east than to meet with a well of water; and nothing more distressing, when parched with thirst, than to meet with a well that contains no water.
          [Clouds that are carried with a tempest] In a time of great drought, to see clouds beginning to cover the face of the heavens raises the expectation of rain; but to see these carried off by a sudden tempest is a dreary disappointment. These false teachers were equally as unprofitable as the empty well, or the light, dissipated cloud.
          [To whom the mist of darkness is reserved] That is, an eternal separation from the presence of God, and the glory of his power. They shall be thrust into outer darkness, <Matt. 8:12>; into the utmost degrees of misery and despair. False and corrupt teachers will be sent into the lowest hell; and be "the most downcast, underfoot vassals of perdition."
          [They speak great swelling words of vanity] The word huperongka (grk 5246) signifies things of great magnitude, grand, superb, sublime; it sometimes signifies inflated, tumid, bombastic. These false teachers spoke of great and high things, and no doubt promised their disciples the greatest privileges, as they themselves pretended to a high degree of illumination; but they were all false and vain, though they tickled the fancy and excited the desires of the flesh; and indeed this appears to have been their object. And hence, some think that the impure sect of the Nicolaitans is meant.
          [Those that were clean escaped] Those who, through hearing the doctrines of the Gospel, had been converted, were perverted by these false teachers.
          [While they promise them liberty] Either to live in the highest degrees of spiritual good, or a freedom from the Roman yoke; or from the yoke of the law, or what they might term needless restraints. Their own conduct showed the falsity of their system; for they were slaves to every disgraceful lust.
          [For of whom a man is overcome] This is an allusion to the ancient custom of selling for slaves those whom they had conquered and captivated in war. The ancient law was, that a man might either kill him whom he overcame in battle, or keep him for a slave. These were called servi, slaves, from the verb sevare, to keep or preserve. And they were also called mancipia, from manu capiuntur, they are taken captive by the hand of their enemy. Thus the person who is overcome by his lusts is represented as being the slave of those lusts. (From Adam Clarke Commentary)
 
            The only real liberty one can have, is by being identified with Christ. Thus, why Paul tells us to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. (By being in full agreement with God and His Word). Do not again become entangled with the old ways and nature of the flesh. As Paul said, that we should be followers of him, as he followed after the pattern set by Christ Jesus.
 
            People who imitate other people, will find themselves in an identity crisis, as we can see from the following scripture.
 
Acts 19:13-16 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (KJV)
 
Certain of the Jews who went about practicing exorcisms. Vagabond has a very bad acceptation among us; but, literally, vagabundus signifies a wanderer, one that has no settled place of abode. These, like all their countrymen, in all places, went about to get their bread in what way they could; making trial of everything by which they could have the prospect of gain. Finding that Paul cast out demons through the name of Jesus, they thought, by using the same, they might produce the same effects; and, if they could, they knew it would be to them an ample source of revenue; for demoniacs abounded in the land.
The whole verse in that manuscript reads thus: Among them were also the sons of Sceva, a priest, who wished to do the same: for they were accustomed to exorcise such persons. And entering in to the demoniac, they began to invoke that Name, saying, We command thee by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth, to go out. And the evil spirit answered, and said unto them, Jesus I know, etc. It has been often remarked that in our Lord's time there were many of the Jews that professed to cast out demons; and perhaps to this our Lord alludes, see note at <Matt. 12:27> (From Adam Clarke Commentary).
 
Notes from Matt. 12:27: And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
[By whom do your children cast them out?] Children, or sons of the prophets, means the disciples of the prophets; and children or sons of the Pharisees, disciples of the Pharisees. From <Acts 19:13-14>, it is evident there were exorcists among the Jews, and, from our Lord's saying here, it is also evident that the disciples of the Pharisees did cast out demons, or, at least, those who educated them wished to have it believed that they had such a power. Our Lord's argument here is extremely conclusive: If the man who casts out demons proves himself thereby to be in league with and influenced by Satan, then your disciples, and you who taught them, are all of you in league with the Devil: ye must either give up your assertion, that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, or else admit this conclusion, in its fullest force and latitude, that ye are all children of the Devil, and leagued with him against God.
Envy causes persons often to condemn in one, what they approve in another. (From Adam Clarke Commentary).
 
As we can see, those sons of Sceva had a real identity crisis when it came to using the Lord’s name. As we can recall from last week’s newsletter, that many said that they were doing many wonderful works in His name, yet He did not know them. Christ and Christ alone is the power and wisdom of God. Do you have an identity crisis today?
 
 
That you may know Him,
In the service of Jesus Christ.
 
Larry Gazelka
 
Copyright © 2001 Built Anew Ministries all rights reserved.