Man’s Religion and Tradition Verses the ‘I AM’ of God
‘being the light of God amidst a wicked and perverse generation’
by the Watchman Dana G Smith
Keywords: Lord, I AM, Jesus Christ, Jews, Abraham, sign, devil, word, death
words: 2849

Philippians 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world

‘By the World’s Wisdom, men do not Know God’

The Devil is a liar, but the Lord is full of truth, mercy, and grace, of which, extends to thousands of generations of lost souls on this planet. The enemy does one thing, he lies, works at it, and brings with him an arsenal of demon spirits and misguided human’s who have accepted his lies as truth. The Lord said it best when he defined who the enemy was by saying in John chapter eight and verse forty four “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”  He truly defined the trouble, of course, here he was not speaking to the devil himself, but to those “jews who believed on him.” This is found in John chapter eight and verse thirty one.  The Lord starts this discourse saying that to be his disciple they must “ continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free-John 8:31-32.

Jesus spoke directly to ‘believing jews’, i.e. those who had seen the miracles he done and believed he was of God, for no one could do these works, lest God was with him. The Apostle Paul said of the Jews, “that they seek a sign.” Now while they believed they resolutely stood with Abraham and even though they were children in the flesh of Abraham, they did not see the seed of promise, the Messiah, of the line David whom stood before them.

1 Corinthians 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

Neither did they see themselves in need of God, sinners, or out of Gods will. They physically followed the law, the prophets, and did what the Priests taught them to do. They were not sinners, they were jews, and the sinners were the Gentiles who knew not God. Jesus Christ, the Messiah now stood before them and brought home the fact that no man can stand before God and be justified by the law. They were sinners and needed to repent and follow him. He was the fulfillment of the law and prophets. Although they did believe, they still argued the fact with the Lord.  They could not understand his speech to them. They were not in bondage as he told, or so they thought. But these religious Jews, who saw his works and believed God was with him, did not see themselves in bondage to sin or the follower of the devil. They were not only to outwardly believe what they saw with their eyes that the works he did were of God, but there had to be an inward change, a repentance, and turn to follow him. That is why he told them “continue in my word then are ye my disciples”.  Well this was to much for them. Believing he was of God was one thing, following him as his disciple, this is too much. They saw this as too much to give up what they had, their comfortable life, their comfortable religion, and all they had. They could not so to speak “upset the apple cart” by leaving it all and following him.  Of course, there were Jews who did so, but his message was rejected by many.

This was again a conflict between true discipleship, salvation, and religious dedication to mans tradition. This became so heated that Jesus said some startling things to this group who did believe his works and he was of God. Now, though, since he did not ingratiate himself to their religious hypocrisy, they were more heated in their terms against him.

Jesus to the ‘believing Jews’, they had seen his works and believed he was of God, but they did not want to do as he now was saying, nor believe what he said.

Though they were physically Abrahams seed, they sought to kill him. They did so because his word had no place in them! Religiousness and pride, along with man’s tradition had formed in them their own idea of God’s righteousness. As such, this will always have no place for the Word of God in them. That is because instead of light, the darkness of delusion through the devil who is a liar possesses them!

John 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Not only did he mention ‘seek  to kill me’ again in this section, he says that the truth he has told them, “I have heard of God, which Abraham did not”.  This again hits them in the heart of who they follow and say they belong too. These Jews adamantly rejected the fact that he heard anything from God now, they were wanting to kill him! But they could not touch him because of who they were talking too! This was the ‘I AM’!

John 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

These believing Jews now did not believe, wanted to kill him, calling him a liar, and having a devil. It is here they called him a ‘Samaritan’ a mix of Jew and Gentile and a word associated with ‘heathen’ or ‘unclean’. In essence this describes him as being of the Devil. They did not understand his word nor hear it! Even though it was true, they could not understand it! They could find no fault in him, and they did not like the fact that he told them “ye are not of God.”

John 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
46  ¶Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
48  Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

Jesus told them they dishonored him. He did not seek his own glory. He brings home to these Jews that those who “keep my saying, he shall never see death.” To the Jews, this was nonsense, everyone dies, so how could this man say “he shall never taste of death.” To this, they concluded, “he has a devil.” He told them that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad.” To this these Jews knew he was not yet “fifty years old and has thou seen Abraham.” Now here is the truth of who the Messiah was, is, and always shall be. “Truthfully, truthfully, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” Now if this did not make them even madder, then nothing would. They understood who “I AM” was! Every Jew knew this! He was saying he was the “I AM”, who had talked with Moses and sent him to Egypt. He is the ONE who always existed and is the “Alpha and Omega”, the ONE who has the keys of “Death and Hell”.

John 8:49  Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
50  And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
51  ¶Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
52  Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
56  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
57  Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

They lost the discourse of words with the Messiah and the only course was to stone him. The one who they had believed did the works of God, now to them was a liar and had a devil. They were going to kill him. But it was not his time and he passed through the midst of them.

John 8:59  Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The religious, ‘believing Jews’, again, did believe his works were of God, but did not see the need to repent, follow him, turn from their ways. They were fine with God, or so they thought. The gentiles were the sinners, not they, for they were of Abraham. But what they did not know is just being in the line of Abraham in the flesh, does not mean salvation for you. They must believe as Abraham did and it would be accounted to them for righteousness. In the end, they discounted what he told them and the signs he did. They did not believe he was God, nor from the beginning, nor that they should follow him. He was just a rabbi or teacher who God used in miracles. That’s all! They did not see the Messiah, Yeshua, the Son of God, the Son of David, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. They saw none of this.  They surely did not see the “I AM” standing before them!

Whenever mans idea of righteousness comes up against the Word of God, it is God who will win. The world cannot know God by wisdom! The world considers the things of God those things that many follow in Gods word as being ‘pure foolishness’. Many also try to gather wisdom and find God. But in this they cannot find God. God cannot be found by your wisdom or knowledge. Your wisdom and knowledge is corrupted. The things you may think you know cannot even scratch the surface of who God is and what he is doing. All things that men may call wisdom is pure foolishness with God. It is also through the ‘foolishness of preaching’ that God uses to save them that ‘believe’. Yes ‘believe’.

1 Corinthians 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1 Corinthians 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

It is here that the devil uses man’s pride, vanity, and conceit to bring deception to bear. Thus in their darkness, they are blinded. The blind thinking they are wise, know God, know wisdom, and have the true path. All along, though, they are lost, without God in this present world. They have not been born again by the Spirit of God! Thus the true meaning of what Jesus Says comes to bear!

• The Devil fathers many sons into his kingdom of darkness!
• This kingdom fulfills the lusts of the flesh!
• The Devil cannot know truth, because no truth is him!
• Thus whenever the Devil speaks, it may sound good, but it is a lie!
• Thus whenever the Devil appears as an ‘angel of light’ it may look good, but it is a lie!
• In the end, he fathers lies as he fathers sons to destruction!
• For this you can be sure, he leads many to hell through religiousity, traditions of men, and pride!
• He also leads many to hell through convincing men that Jesus did not come in the flesh, that he did not do as the scripture says. In short he dilutes the Word of God and what Jesus spoke to us!
• He and his sons can only be brought low through the Lord Jesus Christ and his work through the ‘blood of the covenant’, the Spirit of God in us, the Word of God in us and used by us, then we need to walk in faith.

Moreover, the world thinks they are wise. We get people who come on the chat and want to argue about the  things of God. We get people on the chat and even in person who want to bring their wisdom, or knowledge, all puffed by these vain thoughts in mans pride. They want to use ‘philosophy’, or ‘their religious works’, or ‘their other god’, or ‘any number of devil delusions’ to satisfy their unbelieving soul that they are right to believe as they do and nothing will come of it.

The Word of God, however, is sharp and powerful. You put that Word, spoken by an ‘anointed man or woman of God’ out to the adversaries of Christ, then the results will be like a sledgehammer hitting an egg. WHAM! God does not mess around, he hits the sinner and the vanity of pride squarely between the eyes! There is no escape. The trouble today is many believers seem to avoid ‘using the Word of God’ and the ‘power of the Spirit’ in their daily lives. We use man’s wisdom, knowledge, and ways! We try to use a fools argument in an argument with a fool. Yes, I said fool, ‘for the fool has said in his heart, there is no God’.

If a person is walking in his prideful folly, you as a ‘disciple of the Lord’, must not answer him according to his folly.  If you do, you will be like him and he will be wise in his own conceit! If a man brings skepticism, philosophy, religious ways, other gods, or anything else. You bring the Word of God! It is your hammer, the rock, it is anointed and will do the speaking for you. Give your testimony and the Word of God. Don’t argue, give Scriptural evidence and your testimony. If they don’t believe, that is not your fault. You are to be faithful to do as the Lord commands you. It is the Spirit of God who convicts and convinces men of sin! It is also the Spirit of God who empowers your testimony! Men cannot stand up to Gods word! They may think they won the battle in their own conceit, but if you do as the Lord commands, when they stand before Him, they will see you were speaking truth and they did not believe.

The Fool has said in his heart there is no God!

Psalms 53:1  The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

The Fool and his folly!

Proverbs 26:4  ¶Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Proverbs 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Proverbs 17:12  ¶Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly

The Fool laying up treasure for himself and not towards God!

Luke 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Word of God, quick, powerful, sharper than any twoedged sword!

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Overcoming through the Lamb of God. His blood upon us, to cleanse us, bringing us to the Father, the Word of our testimony, and loving not our lives to the death!

Revelation 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

It is here that  you as a believer must understand your identity in these last days. If you believe in the Lord, and  follow the Word of the Lord, keeping it as he told the ‘religious Jews’ to do, along with following him as his disciple, then his Word is in you, you shall not taste death. You are of our Lord, in the light, and you have his Spirit, and his Word to help you be both Salt and Light in this perverse generation.

Finally, my brethren, the Spirit speaks to me this:

To Stand up against darkness, you must be light. That light must be in the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ. Therefore if the darkness hates you, it hateth not you, but him who sent you and that is the Lord himself who called you, saved you, empowers you, and died for your sins! So believe!

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him

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May God bless you richly, in Him, our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus Christ;
The Watchman Dana G Smith

Jude 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22  And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.