Treason!
(Mid-week message for your House Church and individual use: originated Wed., 10/14/2020)
Are you a traitor, a turncoat, a two-face, a backstabber? Would you… betray Christ?
To answer these questions and the other questions that will be asked here in the next few minutes, we will begin by allowing the other side to speak. Yes. In an effort to explain true and real loyalty to the Kingdom of Heaven, we will begin by hearing from the opposition.
The two brief paragraphs that are about to be read to you are from the online pages of Psychology Today. You see, Jesus said that “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8) He is right. Of course! (He is always right.)
Yes, the world, which is ruled by “the God of this world”, ruled by the Devil, by Satan himself, is definitely against the Lord Jesus Christ, against his people, and against his cause. Yes, today and always “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Yet, with their guard down (with the enemy not realizing that what they wrote down would be spied out by us and then used against them); while speaking about disfavored members of their own, they have unwittingly (almost accidentally, without meaning to) shared basic truths that will be used here, right here in this message, to introduce concerns regarding betrayal among the spiritual militant ranks of our own. Yes, betrayal: defection, your defection, Christian, from the Kingdom of Heaven and coming triumph of our Lord to (defected to) “the kingdoms of the world” (Matthew 4:8), of Satan, of the Devil himself. Yes, he who will soon be cast “into the bottomless pit.” (Revelation 20:30)
Listen carefully then to these very brief sketches of two of the most famous traitors whose actions, whose faithlessness, lead towards the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of souls.
We quote:
“Benedict Arnold, whose very name is a synonym for treason, started out as a patriot for the revolution. But after having been passed over by lesser men for honors he [believed] he deserved, he became disillusioned with the American Revolution. That, plus a fee of 25,000 British pounds, convinced him to conspire to turn his command of West Point over to the British. His co-conspirator was captured, court-martialed, convicted and executed. Arnold fled and died in disgrace. The American Revolution [however] succeeded.
“More recently, there was Robert Hanssen, a man who spent years spying for the Soviet Union and then Russia. He was a “mole” who betrayed his country while working in FBI counterintelligence. Hanssen was a brilliant and capable man, who, like many traitors, was convinced of his own superiority. Like Benedict Arnold, Hanssen was disillusioned by a system that withheld from him the respect he felt he deserved. Oh, and the Russians paid him, too. Hanssen was tried and convicted, and is serving a sentence of life without parole. There’s no more Soviet Union. America survived this blow.” (Garfinkel, Renee. “TREASON!” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 26 Dec. 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/time-out/201112/treason.)
Could this be you, Christian? Is this you? Let us turn now to much wiser words – this time not from the children of this world, nor from the often misguided children of light. Let us turn instead to the pages of Scripture; to the divinely inspired Word of God.
The Bible says this,
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
I. Is your loyalty intact (with your life safely hid, up there)?
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1, NASB)
A. You were privileged to be raised from the dead.
“If you have been raised up with Christ,”
B. You should therefore be seeking what the living seek.
“Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is!”
C. Is your life with Christ?
“Christ is seated at the right hand of God!”
II. Have you betrayed your Master, your Savior, your Lord, your King?
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
A. Where is your heart?
“Set your mind on…”
B. Has your heart been turned to the other side?
“Set your mind on the things above!”
C. Are you now in the middle of selling out to the world?
“Set your mind … not on the things that are on earth!”
III. Have you committed treason?
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3, NASB)
“For [there is a reason that you should do this]…”
A. Treason is selling out your citizenship!
“You have died!”
B. Treason is selling out your cause!
“Your life is hidden with Christ in God!”
C. Treason is selling out Christ!
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3, NASB)
Conclusion
“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4, NASB)
Your real true and great life…
- Is in Jesus!
- Is Jesus!
- Will be revealed soon when Jesus returns!
Where is your life?
- You won’t have to ask that question then.
- The answer to that question will be evident then.
OUTLINE:
Where Is Your Life?
(A Message to Members of the Body of Christ)
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)
I. Is your loyalty intact (with your life safely hid, up there)?
II. Have you betrayed your Master, your Savior, your Lord, your King?
III. Have you committed treason?
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4)
WORSHIP:
‘The Assets’: Capturing a CIA Traitor
Opening:
May the Mind of Christ My Saviour (497)
Message:
Prayer: