September 24^th , 2017

10:00 am ------------------------------------If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments – John 14:15, 21

Past Feeling -- “Who being past feeling have given themselves over . . .” – Ephesians 4:19

What a horrible state to be in . . . past feeling, incapable of feeling, without any emotion, indifferent and unmoved by the Word of God. All believers get into a bad state, they all go through spiritual droughts and coldness, but to be always lukewarm, to reach a state of being past feeling is to be reprobate and apostate.

The Word of God is heavenly music to the ears of those given ears to hear. It is at times a joyful sound which causes them to dance with joy, and at other times a mournful tune, which causes them to lament (Matt.11:17). It is a savour of life to life, that is, those who are alive respond to it. But alas, it is also a savour of death to death, that is, those who are spiritually dead do not respond to it. And the sad thing is, the one who is past feeling does not know it, nor will they mourn over it and call upon God to deliver them from it.

The first thing the Holy Ghost does in regeneration is to quicken a dead sinner with feelings of guilt over sin. He convinces (convicts) of sin, righteousness and judgment. A sinner, once dead in sins, through the preaching of the gospel, is suddenly aware of his sinfulness and is convicted in his mind, heart and conscience of his sin(s) against God and his rejection of God’s Son. He begins to hate the sin(s) he once loved and be repulsed by it (them). He begins to be sensitive to sin(s) in himself and all around him. Like Lot living in Sodom, the now regenerated sinner is vexed by all around him and in him. But if he later becomes insensitive to sin, without conviction, without repulsion . . . he has need to worry that he is becoming past feeling. If we begin to love the sin we once hated; if we are comfortable with any sin, if we think of any sin as harmless and little, and indulge it and are unafraid of it . . . we have need to worry that we are becoming past feeling.

If you find yourself cold, unmoved, without emotion when the Word of God is preached . . . if you feel cold and feel dead . . . there is still hope. If you find yourself feeling guilt over sin, your conscience smiting you . . . there is hope. Where there is feeling, there is life! You are not yet past feeling. We are not saved by feelings, nor should our feelings be our assurance or lack of it, but as living flesh has the sense of feeling, so does the living spirit of the believer. It is that new creature, alive unto God, which causes him to cry, laugh, mourn and rejoice when the quickening Word of God is preached. So. . . if and when we find ourselves without response to the life giving sound of God’s Word, CRY unto God to quicken you, to break your heart again, to warm your spirit, to restore unto you the joy of His salvation. How terrible to be past feeling!

Let Not Sin Reign – Romans 6:12

One of Satan’s devices is to present sin as less than it is. ‘Ah’, says Satan, ‘it is but a little pride, a little worldliness, a little uncleanness, a little drunkenness!’ As Lot said of Zoar, ‘It is but a little one, and my soul shall live.’ ‘Alas!’ says Satan, ‘it is just a very little sin that you are troubled by! You can commit it without any danger to your soul. You can commit it and your soul can still live.’ Consider, however, how many ‘small’ sins have received the greatest wrath: the eating of the fruit, gathering of few sticks on the Sabbath, and the touching of the Ark. O the dreadful wrath that these sins brought down on the hearts of men! Small sins make way for greater ones. We do not have the power to keep off sin as we please. By yielding to the lesser, we give opportunity for Satan to tempt us in the greater. Augustine tells the story of a man that was of the opinion that the devil made the fly. One said to him, ‘If the devil made flies, then he made worms.’ ‘True’, said he, ‘the devil did make worms.’ ‘But’, said the other, ‘if the devil made worms, then he made birds, beasts, and man.’ He granted all. ‘Thus’, said Augustine, ‘by denying God in the fly, he came to deny God in man and all creation.’ Yielding to the ‘lesser’ sins draws the soul to greater.