The Hidden Foe and Deception

[Copper25]

Esther 1:10) On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,Esther 1:11) To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. Esther 1:12) But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.How many times do people often not hear the commands of the King, our Lord and our savior. “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind”. Not giving their whole heart but having it’s ownership being dominated by something else, let’s call it as it is, an idol. Idols can take any form, it doesn’t have to be a statue or a graven image, but can be hidden stealthily in possessions, friends, family, or in Vasthi’s case, the party/feast for the women in the royal house(metaphorically speaking when compared to Christians’ relationships with God) kept her from doing the commandment of the king. Now is a commandment something optional? No! Is it something we have a choice in? No, not if we want to live pleasing lives to God. And Idols can also take form in presumptuous, willful disobedience, drugs, sex(unmarried a.k.a. fornication), drinking(drunkenness), gambling, and things of the such. A person can’t be watching for the King’s coming if their heart is snared with an idol, something first that should not be first in their life. So was Christ asking for us to give our lives to him, which includes abandoning sinfulness and lust of the flesh, “And they that are in Christ ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Which indicates a switch or a transition from the fleshy ways to the ways of the Spirit, “put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him”. So this transition is one that must occur, for if the old man and his ways be present, then how has the new man which is renewed in knowledge of God ever come to light or be made manifest? Can one be old and new or can one have mixture of the old and the new? Sure one can try to have both but the result will be lukewarm and we know that won’t work. “I know thy works; that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” So can the old harmonize with the new? No it won’t mix like oil and water or like snow and heat or like water and fire, one will extinguish the other. So there are certainly only two ways because the mixture is just as bad as the old man and his deeds. Can one sit at the Devil’s table and at the table of the Lord’s, I think not, so no one can sit on the fence and not choose because “For he that is not against us is on our part” but “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” abroad, the broad way, think about it! Who on the broad way abides in Christ, NONE! And who on the broad way bears fruit of the Spirit, NONE! So those that live in Christ certainly don’t live in the flesh, as it is written ”they that are in Christ ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” and “the scripture cannot be broken”. Name a WILLFUL sin that is not linked or is a work of the flesh, for isn’t WILLFUL SIN, presumptuous sin, an element of the canal mind? Now we can stumble, but certainly what Christ said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved” implies first off that the works of darkness or evil will keep a person from entering the light, drawing near it. Jesus said “I am the light of the world” and when a person CHOOSES to be in darkness and works of the such they are separating themselves from Christ because they CHOOSE to keep the wall of perdition that Christ died to knockdown up. Second off, lest their deeds are reproved, corrected and they turn from them, that they will remain in darkness and not have fellowship with Christ.