He who is not with Me is against Me

Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.” Luke 11:23 NASB. 

This message is very important!

What does it mean to be ‘for Jesus?’

It means to be His disciple, to bear much fruit for Him and His Father; this is to tell the wonderful news of salvation to those who don’t know. If you are ‘for Jesus’ you will be unable to help yourself from doing something for Him, whom you love. Jesus said, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” John 15:8 NASB. To be for Jesus is to cast all on the altar to Him, to love and obey Him in all things. To be for Jesus is to be for Him all the way. But there are those who long for something better who haven’t discovered how good Jesus is yet, and do not know how much He and His Father love them. They try to be a better Christian, but sometimes struggle against Him, sometimes getting proud, and sometimes drifting away from Him. This was me before I had the change that I now have. I don’t want to go back to the old me, before I discovered how much God loved and loves me, and wanted me to have a better life with Him. But He knew that I was searching for a better life, and that I wasn’t satisfied with what I had and wanted something better. It is no real sacrifice to give all for Jesus and His Father when you know the value of what they offer you, and the sweet peace, love, joy and faith they will bring you when you yield fully to their love. It only seems like a sacrifice when you are unsure how good God is, or whether you want to completely surrender to Him or not. It only seems like a sacrifice before you have fallen completely in love with Him! Once you learn to love Him like this, then it will be an easy thing to surrender completely to Him, it will be no real sacrifice, because you get more than you lose - you get oh so much more! And you will lose your desire for the things of this world that you once thought you needed that God wants you to give up.

What does it mean to be ‘against Him?’

This is the status quo. All who are not fully His or those living their life for themselves, who look to have their own way will sometimes or always be against Him, whether they are in the Church or in the world. For those in the Church like this, this is a halfway conversion to Christianity: one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. The advantage to being in ‘the Church’ is to know the truth of the plan of salvation; to know how to be forgiven and to know how to be free from the slavery of sin. Unfortunately we believe that many people do not know how to become free, even though they are a Christian, to not be a servant to sin anymore. They are not being taught this, perhaps because their teachers do not know about how to be free themselves or do not care to know how to be free. But whether you are in the Church or not the real question is whether you are a servant of sin or not. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:31-36 KJV. Has the Son made you free yet? He wants to. If He has made you free, you will no longer be a servant or a slave to sin. Please let Jesus free you from being a servant of sin. Then you will be Jesus’ disciple and be ‘for Him.’ If Jesus has freed you from the bondage of sin, you will be ‘for him’, and not scatter from Him.

What does it mean to ‘scatter?’

You don’t have to try too hard to scatter; your human nature will take care of this for you. The unrenewed heart, when it manifests itself, turns others away from the kingdom of Heaven. The biggest threat to Christianity are Christians who are not fully on God’s side. If you are not for Him all the way you will be working against His plan in some way at some point, in His plan to help other sinners repent and want to be saved. If you have given your heart to God, and have the Holy Spirit in your heart, you can’t help but be with Jesus and work with Him to help Him gather souls for His kingdom in Heaven. But if your love for Him is not paramount, you will be scattering to some extent, depending on how far you are from Him.

To be ‘for Jesus’:

“Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matthew 19:27-28 NASB. For those who have given up all to serve Jesus what will there be for them in Heaven? They will get the special honor in assisting God in Heaven and provided with thrones to sit on. They will be given the responsibility of assisting God in the judgement of ‘Israel’ like it says above. [The details on how this is part of the judgement is outside the scope of this article.] Jesus also says in Matthew 22:30 that the eternally saved will be like the angels in Heaven. Why? To serve God like the Angels do! What a joy! What an honor! Ransomed sinners allowed to act as messengers of God for the universe! That is what an angel is, a messenger of God. Do you want to be a messenger of God? Jesus then goes on to say in our Matthew 19 passage, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.” Matthew 19:29 NASB. Whatever sacrifice you make for your Jesus, whom you love, will be more than amply repaid out of the eternal riches of Heaven! And whenever you help someone on their way to Heaven, you will accrue joy and happiness throughout eternity as they thank you over and over again for inviting them to Heaven or helping them get there, and you will be so happy as you see their peace, happiness and joy! And you will also have the most wonderful joy of knowing that your loving Heavenly Father is pleased with you, because He loves everyone so much! ‘For God so loved the world…’ John 3:16. You make Him happy when you help others know of His Love and help them to Heaven. What kind of price tag can you put on this? You can not. Whatever you give up for God or sacrifice for Him is small and paltry compared with your reward. But if you have God’s love in your heart, you will not be doing it for the reward of the pearly gates and your mansion and crown of Gold you will receive, because love and joy is the reward of those who serve Him, love is the true reward of the righteous. Your mansion and crown of gold is just icing on the cake, to use a common expression! And if you decide to yield all the way now to God and serve Him, you will start to get your reward now! Are you ready to get your reward?

Jesus declared, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Luke 6:35-36 KJV. If you want the promised great reward, you must also love and obey God and love your neighbor as yourself, and teach others to do so too.

Study more of the importance of loving and obeying God, and loving your neighbor as yourself in Matthew 5:19; 22:36-40; Psalms 19:7-11; 1 John 4:8; John 13:34-35; Romans 13:8-10; 1 John 2:7-10; John 14:15, 21, 23, 24. (We have also written much on this in other blogs and in some of our books which you can read as well. We recommend that you read all of our blogs.)

Why are we making such a big deal about being completely ‘for Jesus’ and doing what Jesus and His Father want you to do? Because being in the middle and not being for Him all the way is not the way of peace, joy, and happiness. If you want God to be pleased with you do what He asks willingly. Give up all of your problems and indecisiveness to Him, and let Him help you be for Him all the way. It is not hard to do what God asks you to do, if you will just learn to love Him and let yourself yield to Him. God will help you, if you desire a better life and you cooperate with Him. But it is impossible to make these changes by yourself. If you will yield to God all the way you will be at your happiest, and have all the peace, love and joy you were meant to have! And you will have the promised great reward! But if you do not yield to Him all the way, you will eventually incur His displeasure, because you will work to scatter Jesus’ flock. If you are not for Jesus all the way you will scatter from Him, or teach others that it is OK to not love Him with all their heart, mind and soul, or to not love their neighbor as themselves, or you will teach them that God is not powerful enough to save those who turn to Him for help. Or if you are not for Jesus, you will work in some way to prevent someone else from being saved. If you are not ‘for Jesus’ you will not go into Heaven yourself, and will try to prevent others from going in there. Note here what Jesus said to a class of ‘God’s people’ who were doing this very thing: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:13 NASB.

Sadly, many who call themselves Christian are not really for Jesus; they are only part time followers of Him. When it requires bearing a cross or separating from the world or worldly practices, they are not there yet. Mark 8:34; 10:21; John 12:25-26; Luke 14:26-27, 33. Unfortunately there are many preachers who tell them they are OK the way they are, since they are under grace (the implication is that they don’t need to consecrate themselves fully to Jesus and His Father since they are under grace). But to those who truly love Him, half-way service to Him will never be enough. They are so happy for the grace that they have received they can’t wait to tell or show it to others. Or to help others who are not as fortunate as they, the poor, the sick or to visit those who are in prison.

If you have God’s love in your heart, you will be completely for Jesus and the Father. But if you haven’t yielded your heart completely to them, you will not be completely for them, which means as Jesus said that you are against Him. There is no middle ground. Whoever is not totally on Jesus’ side will work against Him in some way or scatter in some way at some point. You are either for Jesus or you are against Him. Let this sink in. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is none of His. Romans 8:9. This is very serious. Do you want to belong to Christ? Do you want His Spirit? He who doesn’t have His Spirit is against Him, scatters, and does not belong to Him.

Do you want to belong to Christ and to be ‘for Him’?

It is so sweet to belong to Him and to be ‘for Him!’ It has to be experienced to be understood. When you belong to Him like this, you will love Him with all of your heart, mind and soul, and long to serve Him, helping Him gather in the harvest for the end of the world. And you would do anything for Him! Then you are for Him all the way, and not scattering or leading souls astray. God can forgive you if you do not fully belong to Him yet, or if you have ever scattered from Him. There is still time to repent! But it is much better and much sweeter to belong to God all the way now, so you can enjoy the sweetness in life you were meant to have, and enjoy serving Him and loving others!

When you belong to Christ, you will be given ‘the Spirit of Christ’ and will be given all the help you need to serve Him with, and those unclean spirits of unkindness, ungratefulness, unforgiveness, no mercy, evil surmising, complaining, bitterness, and criticism of others will be gone and you will have sweet love in your heart for your brother or sister who has wronged you or gone against your beliefs, and not living right as some would say. “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7 KJV. Then you will help the sick and dying in this world from sin, and thus you will prove to be Jesus’ disciple, and will bear much fruit for the kingdom of God, and God will be pleased with you. John 15:8.

Dear reader are you with Jesus or are you against Him? Do you gather with Him or scatter?

We hope and pray that the grace of God will be with you as you ponder this message. And He will be with you if you will listen to His voice. Please study and restudy this message, with much prayer and believe that God loves you and will help you, if you will seek after Him with all your heart. Amen. Jeremiah 29:11-13.

By John Foll, finished writing 11/04/2017 and 11/05/2017
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

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It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick!

By John Foll, written 10/28/2017
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

Are you tired of hurting yourself and others? It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

“And it happened that as He [Jesus] was reclining at the table in the house, behold many tax-gatherers and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?’ But when He heard this, He said, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE, 'for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” Matthew 9:10-13 NASB77.

There are two groups of people referred to by Jesus in this statement, ‘the righteous’ and ‘sinners’. What does the Bible have to say about the righteousness of man? “The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Psalm 14:2-3 NASB. ‘The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge.’ Micah 7:4 NASB. This is the way many are who say they are a Christian, but don’t have a true conversion and God in their life. But those who see their need will turn to Him for help.

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” Jeremiah 8:22 KJV. Why are all of God’s people today not seeking healing from Him? Aren't we all sick? This is God’s message to His people in our day too! There needs to be a balm in Gilead and help from the Great Physician, because many of His people in our day are in as much need of healing from the sickness of sin as they were when Jesus was dining with the tax collectors and sinners. Unfortunately because many of His people do not know or care that they are sick and in need of the Great Physician’s help, in need of the balm of Gilead, they have not been healed. If anyone needs healing they must first see that they are sick and in need of help; otherwise there will be no help or healing for them. The tax collectors and sinners in our passage in Matthew 9 received their opportunity of healing from sin from Jesus, and one of them was Matthew the disciple and apostle! See the verse before in Matthew 9:9. These were the sinners who the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of eating with. And at least one of them became Jesus’ loyal disciple, Matthew! How many people have been blessed by the book of Matthew? Aren’t you glad that Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners at Matthew’s house? We know that we are. There is hope for you too dear reader!

If someone see’s their need and allows Jesus to heal them from their sickness of sin, He will help them be good. When they have this change wrought in their heart they will have mercy and compassion on others who are still sick and in sin. If you consider yourself to be ‘the righteous’, go and learn what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE’, if you do not already know it. Hear now what God says here through Hosea the prophet, whom Jesus was quoting from In Mathew 9:13: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.” Hosea 6:4-7 KJV. God is saying here that He wants His people to have mercy and compassion on others, to desire a true knowledge of Him and His ways of love, and to keep their covenant with Him.

No one can be good or righteous if they are not kind and merciful to others; this is the way God is with mankind! It doesn’t matter what someone says they believe, if they are not kind and merciful to others they are unrighteous! To be a Christian and a disciple of Jesus, all must be kind and merciful to others. When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’ Exodus 33:19 NASB. The King James Version renders this as: “And He [God] said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” Exodus 33:19 KJV. So we see here that God’s glory is His grace, mercy and compassion! But all those who have been shown mercy and compassion by God, because they asked for it from Him, should be grateful for the kindness that He has shown them. This should awaken His love in their heart and sympathy for others who are still trapped in the bondage of sin and addictions. Those who are grateful for the help they have received from Him will have mercy on sinners and will want to help them, instead of tearing them down. This is what Jesus meant when He said ‘Go and learn what this means.’ Those who say that they know Him and are not kind and merciful to others do not really know Him yet, and if they don’t repent they will find themselves shut out from the kingdom of Heaven. See Matthew 5:7, 6:12; John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; 1 John 4:20; 2:4; Matthew 25:21-40; 7:21-23.

We first heard someone using this text as a promise that God would help them ‘if they were sick’ by a dear brother in Christ. He said that before he met Christ he did a lot of bad things. We believe he was looking for hope that life could be better for him, he was listening to the voice of God. After he started studying the Bible, when he read this text, he knew there was hope for him! He prayed something like this, ‘Dear Lord I am sick, so I need a physician. Jesus came to heal those who are sick. Please heal me!” In his heart he knew that God heard is prayer, because he was sick! And God helped him to become a better person and to stop doing bad things! All who see their sickness can pray to God, and receive forgiveness and healing from sin; and get help to stop doing bad things, just like our dear brother did!

Yes, all those who are ‘sick’ can receive help from the Great Physician if they will plead for His help! Jesus came to help those who are sick, not those who are sick but don’t think that they are! God will not provide healing for someone like this until they see their need and freely ask for His help. He compels none. Those who do not see their great need will not be helped. But there is love and mercy for all those who know that they are sick and are desperate for the help that only the Great Physician can supply.

So there is a balm in Gilead and the Great Physician there to provide healing for all who are sick. Are you sick? Then there is hope for you! If you pray the prayer that my brother prayed above, you will be healed, no matter how bad you are and no matter what you’ve done. Jesus came to call you, Oh sinner, if you would be healed!

May the grace of God be with you all! May you see your need of Jesus and receive healing from all sin!

P. S. We would like to thank our dear brother in Christ for his testimony on this text - that he knew that God would hear this prayer and help him when you prayed it! How it gave him hope that God would save him because he was spiritually sick! We hope that his testimony and this article will be a blessing to others, giving hope to all who are sick and trapped in sin and want to be free! We want all to be delivered from the bondage to sin, all who want it.

Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 KJV. So there is hope for all who want it! There is the Physician and the balm of Gilead for all who see their need and want it. No reason anymore to be trapped in sin and guilt, when Jesus came to make all free! Amen.

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God’s Most Wonderful Offer To You of Forgiveness and the Holy Spirit…

By John Foll, in full partnership with the Holy Spirit, finished writing 9/28/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

Please believe exactly what we are telling you: Jesus wants to forgive you, cleanse you of all unrighteousness and give you the most precious gift – the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

If you could know, even for a moment, how wonderful this is, how could you turn it down? If you were ever to know the joy that we know right now, and lose it, you couldn’t live with yourself until you got it back! A few times we sinned and lost our connection for a few hours – we got so depressed! We never want that to happen again!

You could live many lifetimes on this earth and accumulate all its wealth and power, and all of its pleasures, but it could never equal one minute of the happiness and joy of yielding completely to the Holy Spirit! Much less than the joys of heaven for all eternity! No human being can fathom the joys of heaven for those who love God and Jesus. But many people are ready to turn it down for a momentary sin or pleasure, never knowing the true peace, love, joy and power of God. And many Christians are living a sickly, lukewarm Christian existence, when they might have the vibrant new life the Jesus has promised to all who want it. We feel pity for them. What can we do to convince you that it is worth every sacrifice to give yourself completely to God and receive the Holy Spirit in full?

Jesus is offering this to you right now as a free gift, if you want it. Why would you turn it down? Will you get all of it now if you commit yourself to God? It depends on how soon you really yield all of your sins, habits and stop doubting and resisting God and procrastinating. But if you beg the Holy Spirit to come inside and totally cleanse you, it can happen very rapidly – if you will let Him! You can pray to God, ‘Be merciful to me a sinner!’ Luke 18:13. You can then ask Him to give you the Holy Spirit! Luke 11:13.

Please don’t turn down this special offer of mercy, help and comfort from God!

May the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!

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