#13Profession Without
Possession
being abominable, and disobedient,
Titus 1:16
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#13Profession Without Possession
being abominable, and disobedient, Titus 1:16 |
| That is a description that was given by Paul concerning many of the people who were in the organized churches of Crete. So far as their profession went they were all right, but with God, profession without possession is an abomination. The main thing is to know whether or not the Lord really knows us as His own. It would be so terrible to go through this life all the time professing that we knew the Lord, and then come to the end of the way and have Him say to us, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire; I never knew you." Paul did not take stock in just what the Cretans said or professed. He looked around to see if their works proved their faith and profession. "By their fruits ye shall know them." A college may profess to be a Christian college, but if atheists and skeptics come from its institution we can rest assured that the college is Christian only in profession. And even though a church can profess to know the Lord and preach His Word, unless the lives and works of the members prove it, there is probably no possession of the Holy Spirit in their lives and hearts. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." But the confession of the mouth does not precede the possession in the heart. We must first believe that He is Precious, and then tell how precious He is to us who do believe. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart." In the latter days, one of the surest signs of the near coming of the Lord is the prevalence of professors, "having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof." The Lord tells us that even though they do profess to be good and upright and working for the Lord, still they are abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. God help each of us to know Whom we have believed, and then profess Him wherever we go. Just saying that one is a doctor does not make him a doctor; just saying one is rich does not put money into his pockets; and just saying that we know Christ does not draw us one bit nearer into the love of God unless we let Him come in to cleanse from sin and manifest Himself in our lives.
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ALL ABOUT THE AUTHOR Evangelist and Pastor, Dr. Marvin Lewis
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