I’m noticing more of late, partial quoting and misquoting of Scripture by people, who use it to support same-sex practice. “As many as accept Him, God gives them the power to become His sons,” says one. “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son,” says another. That’s just a couple of examples, but it’s more than a couple quoting them and even more who are accepting them as the total truth. “Don’t judge,” is high on the list, as is “He who is without sin, you cast the first stone,” and “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” I praise God for the warnings we received thirty years ago that we could expect this, “in the days ahead.”
I wonder if in the days ahead they will partially quote and misquote Scripture to openly support practicing fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners in the church 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. They’re in there too; it’s just that shame stops them from openly admitting it presently; there’s no support for them at the moment. They justify to themselves why they practice those things but they don’t get too close to God or His holy people, otherwise they’ll be brought undone. This is what makes church-going, same-sex people so very different; shame doesn’t stop them! They’ve pushed through that and now they want everyone else to push through – even God!
God will never push through for any sin, and neither will His Bible-living Christians. We are Holy Spirit-led, taught and empowered and just like Jesus quoted God’s word in context against Satan when he partially quoted and misquoted Scripture to Him, we do the same Matthew 4:1-11. So let’s do that now with those partially quoted and misquoted above. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God John 1:12-13. (My underline). These are not self-centered, self-adoring, self-opinionated, self-willed religious rebels John speaks of. They are the exact opposite.
These are humble, heart-broken, mind-changed, repentant spiritually reborn people who have died to the old ways. They took themselves and all their sins to the cross of Christ and had them washed away in His blood. That’s why the apostle Paul could say of former same-sex practitioners, homosexuals, lesbians and the rest, And such were some of you. (Notice he said were, not ‘are’) But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Corinthians 6:11. God will never justify any person who is hell-bent on justifying themselves. That’s why so many who do so are hell-bound! There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death Proverbs 14:12; 16:25.
Next: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3:16. (My underline). This is not an academic, historical belief that Jesus speaks of but rather, experiential belief. The first line of the paragraph above tells us what believe means. It comes as a result of a deep conviction from God the Holy Spirit that we are desperately wicked and sinful creatures in God’s eyes who are in desperate need of a Savior! The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9. Those who don’t want to know it reject God’s love for them. That’s why the Scriptures make it very clear people send themselves to hell, not God.
Judge not, that you be not judged Matthew 7:1, so say those who judge anyway, giving witness to reality that they don’t know the difference between human judgment and spiritual discernment. Jesus said, Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment John 7:24. (My underline). Bible-living Christians possess the mind of God on all matters offending Him; we have the mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:16. We don’t use our discernment to point the finger at sinners, we use it to point out that sinning behavior has consequences if not acknowledged before God for what it is. Sin must be punished. Jesus took the punishment, but if people refuse to come to Him to have theirs washed in His blood they punish themselves, eternally.
Now to: He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her John 8:7. In context, this in reference to a bunch of self-righteous religious hypocrites who brought a woman to Jesus, who had been caught in adultery. They didn’t care about the woman or the act; they simply used her as a means to test Jesus to see if He would uphold the Law of Moses. But when He tested them with the same thing, each one failed the test miserably and everybody knew it. Jesus made them speechless, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. What today’s accusing equivalent will never mention, Jesus did tell the woman, go and sin no more John 8:3-11.
Next: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us 1 John 1:8. Spiritually reborn, Bible-living Christians do not say they have no sin. But they do say they no longer live a life of sin. In other words, whilst there will be instances of sin in our lives there will not be habitual sin. We are a Christ-filled and therefore, a Christ-willed people, not self-willed; that’s the grand difference between us and everybody else on the earth. By faith, not by religious striving, we reckon (count) ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 6:11-14. Sin may struggle and vex us till the day we die, but it will not rule us, For sin shall not have dominion over you. Nowhere in the Bible are we told we’ll be perfectly sinless.
One thing we can be very certain of about people who partially quote and misquote Scripture when accusing us, they do not live according to their partial and misquotes. So guess what happens to them? To accuse wrongly is to judge wrongly and when people do that they reap the outcome of their Judge not, which is, For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you use, it will be measured back to you Matthew 7:2. When things go wrong in their lives they don’t stop and ask, “Has this thing come upon me because of my habit of accusing and judging people?” No, such people possess a fault /blame mentality, it never occurs to them that they’ve brought trouble to themselves – and those closest to them.
Worse: If our accusers are flung out into eternity without Jesus the Savior, they will one day give an account to Him for every false accusation and judgment that not only passed through their lips, but every thought of them too that dwelt upon their mind. In the meantime, we reject their every accusation. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me, says the LORD Isaiah 54:17. (My underline). Hold on to that promise, Bible-living Christian for their judgments of us plus their partial quotes and misquotes of Scripture for the support of sexual sin will greatly intensify from here on.
One reason the institutional church is spiritually powerless and non-influential is due to partial quoting and misquoting of Scripture. The leaders in their so-called wisdom believed they would attract more people by preaching the message of God’s love and blessings and ignore the message of His judgment and curses. That silly, devil-inspired decision has come back to severely bite them – God has judged them and cursed them and will continue to do so! That’s why people don’t join their churches and attend their services; that’s why their doors are closing at a rate of knots. See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” Matthew 23:38-39. Jesus has spoken.
People who partially quote and misquote Scripture are emotionally driven; they operate their life from opinions and feelings, not facts and faith. The pay-off for that? Life becomes full of uncertainties which cause them to experience restlessness and despair, especially when alone with their thoughts. Not so, Bible-living Christians; we operate our life from facts and faith and our opponents know it. There is nothing that angers a self-centered, self-adoring, self-opinionated, self-willed religious rebel more than the one who knows who he or she is in Jesus Christ the Lord and demonstrates that reality in their life daily. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 6:23. Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong 1 Corinthians 16:13.