Rejected or Righteous?

submitted by dmac64 /blog visitor

Spiritual Distinctions between a Reject and a Righteous Man:

It is with a humble, even saddened, heart I present the following candid distinction between ONE whom God Almighty has rejected (even in His Love) -and ONE whom the same Loving God has accepted (in His Be-loved).  The record of Spirit-inspired Scripture is again our only true Guide, and I trust the same Spirit of Truth to lead us both into and guide us through these sharply contrasted spiritual realities.  Let's begin. 

From opposing sides of the behavioral spectrum…

Here are some potent distinctions:

One man is Darkness, while one man is Righteous. 

One man is evil-tempered (his proven and displayed temper, that is); one man is God-hearted (although painfully imperfect). 

One man is the choice of the crowd; one man is the selection of God Himself. 

One man is under no persuasion to do the right thing; one man is under no persuasion to hide his confessed (and gruesome) sins.

One man cannot win in the eyes of Almighty; one man cares not if he loses in the sight of all men.

One man becomes a Reject; one man maintains God’s Righteousness within.

One man is Adam; one Man is “the last Adam”.

One man is crucified with Christ; one man is now alive unto God.

One man cannot save his life before men; one man cannot but lose his before God.

     One man is the Reject…  One man is the Righteous.

And, drawing from historical example and the extent of our own common humanity, you or I could easily be “anointed by God” yet -end up AS EITHER MAN.

Got your attention yet?  Sound all-too-familiar?  Did you find yourself thinking of
names and faces in reading the contrasted attributes above?  I find myself praying for Jesus, the Righteous Man, to become “my main Man”, if you will.  And I (again, sadly) grieve over any man who is now a Reject, but could have been so much more.  Yet at the same time I rejoice in spirit, because of the Truth of God’s perfect Righteousness we all may partake of -nay, actually HAVE BECOME in Christ Jesus!

You and I are different in so very many ways, yet the authors of God-Breathed letters long ago, found no trouble in collectively grouping mankind together with such riveting phrases like, “There is NONE righteous, NO, NOT ONE”.  Or, “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” Still again, “In Adam, ALL MEN DIED.” 

Sounds a bit depressing, huh?  And it is depressing, if you only focus on what God has ultimately rejected.  But “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”  In the end of your story, the Bible’s story, and even His-story, the Reject and the Righteous Man are never to meet again!  One has been impaled to a cross… one has been made alive unto God.  It all depends

to which man/Man you choose to yield your self (your “members”).

Look with me into the record of King Saul, perhaps the most famous of the “reject” category.  We can contrast his sad tale and demise with that of King David, an early example of a “righteous” man. 

First, their similarities:                   

BOTH were anointed with oil, to be king.  BOTH felt the moving and working of the Holy Spirit upon their lives.  Both were brave warriors.  Both attracted others to their cause and quests.  Both had “received words” from Samuel, the prophet.  Both committed sins before God and the people they were chosen to lead.  Both bore “sons”, who had drastically alternative futures.  Both had encounters with God’s mouthpieces of their day.  Both wore crowns.  Both were given an opportunity… the SAME opportunity... to be either the Reject or the Righteous Man we speak of….  Both men. 

However, both responded in completely different ways to the Voice of God’s Truth, spoken in their hearing.  Both could have been Righteous.  But one man we now know as the Reject, while the other is declared by God Himself to be “a man after Mine own heart.”

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So, Darrin, what’s the BIG DIFFERENCE then, between these two men?  In a nutshell, allow me to present a few, albeit major contrasts that I believe “caused” them to be known by such opposite titles after their earth-lives had passed into eternity:

Firstly, Saul (the man we now see as being the Reject) quite apparently had not sought after, pursued and tasted his own personal, unique, intimate, ONGOING relationship with Almighty God.  By comparison, we know David, the Right-hearted man, spent his early (youthful) years, his middle (ministry) years, his later (tearful) years… and all years in between actually “tasting and seeing” that the “Lord is good, and His mercies endure forever”.  Think for a minute with me… we have hundreds of David’s recorded love songs and personal experiences written out -in which we can see he SOUGHT God, he WORSHIPPED God, he LOVED God, he KNEW God, he LIVED FOR God, he REPENTED OPENLY before God, in spite of his glaring humanity and shortcomings.  Not so with King Saul…  Psalms of David, yes.   Psalms of “Saul” = missing from history (because they NEVER existed).  Repeating, Saul simply did not have these personal encounters with Jehovah on a daily basis, as King David obviously did -even though both men were anointed to be king.  (As later proven by Saul’s request to have Samuel do all the praying/worshipping - even for his own freshly rejected kingdom!  See I Samuel 15:30)

Secondly, David (a Righteous man) did something incredible that is so often overlooked and therefore, again, missing from the life experiences of the Reject.   I had never noticed this amazing detail until recently looking at our story in fresh light.  What is this powerful point? 

I believe Truth would say this:

“David sought Me when no one was watching; He pursued this relationship you previously mentioned, in total seclusion from any living soul; He wanted Me, when no one was around to want him.  And he followed My Word, even when the excruciating pain of delay, disappointment, distraction, and danger was his “daily bread” on the way to his assigned place in My Body.  No, David was obviously not perfect, but PURITY IN MY EYES was his perfect passion and pursuit… whether he lived, died, won, lost, grew, grieved or gloried in his victorious throne I had given him.  But ‘what about the Reject,’ you say?  No, sadly he rather wanted to be seen as possessing power in the people’s eyes -when in truth, he possessed none in My eyes.”

In other words, the UNSEEN, INWARD, ULTIMATE MOTIVATIONS OF THE HEART were grossly distinguished between these two kings.  (Again, read I Samuel 15: 24-30, for the “showmanship” Saul wanted in front of the people.  Compare this with David’s broken, repentant heart -before God alone- in Psalms 51.)

Even after they had been anointed by God, the very next time they are displayed to the public reveals some fascinating insights.  Saul, after his anointing, when Samuel publicly announces him to Israel as their king, is found “hiding among the baggage”.  (The roots of insecurity would be a whole other message ;-)  David, alternatively, is also anointed by Samuel, but the next time he is on public display we see a much different heart.  For David steps out in Godly faith and boldly slaughters the giant, who taunted, terrorized and targeted God’s true possession!  You know... the same giant not even Saul would go out to fight, although “he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward” (of course, speaking of his higher “Headship”... Oh boy!)

This previous distinction now leads to our 3rd contrast between Saul and David:

Things were most certainly not equal in God’s eyes between the Reject and the Righteous, but their true hearts were only manifested after being tested by THE WORD of the Lord Himself.   In the example of Saul, the Rejected, I noticed something I cannot recall hearing mentioned in any real detail.  We know Saul was twice scolded in being demoted by Samuel, representing God’s Voice in this Old Covenant story.  Samuel stated, that Jehovah “has rejected you from being king."  And just three verses later, he repeats, “the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." (see I Samuel 15:23, 26)  But what had escaped my eyes previously is the fact that Scripture never states that Saul actually himself “rejected the LORD”.   Huh?!? Nope!  But instead, we see something more subtle, even hard to fathom perhaps…

Point Three: SAUL WAS REJECTED BY GOD, NOT FOR HIS LACK OF KNOWING THAT JEHOVAH WAS TRULY GOD (or “paying lip-service” to God); but rather, BECAUSE HE ACTUALLY “rejected THE WORD of the LORD.”  I repeat for clarity and effect… in God’s viewpoint, how you treat HIS WORD and HIS WORDS TO YOU are the ULTIMATE MEASURE OF WHETHER you become REJECTED or will be found righteously justified by faith in (the Words of) Jesus.  Remember, the Word made flesh, “came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”   They too rejected the Logos of the Lord, therefore God rejected them and brought salvation to the non-Jewish peoples.  (Thank God He can now, unlike Saul, “graft them in again” to His Saving Word -unlike Saul, who lost his kingdom forever.) Wow! It’s amazing how clear the Scripture becomes when Truth is speaking it in our ears that really hear.  Saul never “denied” the Lord.  He never is seen as someone who cursed God, or even disagreed with God.  After all, it was THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, who had “dissed” God as their true King, in asking for (and submitting to) a mere man to “rule over them”.  (Sound familiar? :-)

I’m having difficulty moving beyond this third all-important lesson.  Question:  Have you or I ever been rejected BY the Lord?  Answer:  Have you or I ever rejected, laid aside, dis-respected, dis-obeyed, “dissed” His eternal Word? 

Here are a few more Biblical exhortations that should make any Truth-Seeking heart shutter at the possibility of being rejected:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!  Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.  Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.    -Isaiah 5:20-25

Moreover you shall say to them, "Thus says the LORD: "Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return? Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.  I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle.  Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of   their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.  How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'?  Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.  The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; so what wisdom do they have?  Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will inherit them. Because from the least    even to the greatest everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest   everyone deals falsely.  For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down," says the LORD.   -Jeremiah 8:4-12

(No wonder Jeremiah was known as “the weeping prophet”.)  The Old Covenant was obviously much harsher in its physical treatment of the Rejects, who kept on rejecting the Word of the Lord.  But even under a new and “better covenant, which was established on better promises” the writer of Hebrews concluded the following, harsh New Testament reality:

For if we sin willfully AFTER we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ANYONE who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God (again, the Logos, the Word) underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.  And again, "The LORD will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.    -Hebrews 10:26-31

I cannot speak for your soul, but “as for me and my house” we will be honoring God’s Word, Son, Spirit and Grace with utmost care and worshipful devotion.  So, if you have found yourself laying down the proper care of (by refusing to “rightly divide”) the very Word of Truth - and have instead been lost in the mix of people willing to overlook sin, ration away demonic doctrines, become deceived by “manifest-ations” of “presence”... or accept ANY MAN that calls himself something the Word of God does not-  turn your mind, heart and will in the opposite direction.  A NEW KING IS HERE, “the King of Righteousness”, the only One worthy to give your life (or money) to.  I might just be merely one voice “calling out in the wilderness”, but someone can surely “purify your soul by obedience to the Truth”.  (Read I Peter 1:13-25) Don’t be a reject!  Please! 

God’s Righteousness was paid for in Blood… His own!  Don’t count that as a “common (worthless) thing.” 

My prayer for you who hunger and thirst for His Righteousness is this: 

     May the Spirit of true Grace humble any lofty, idea, message, philosophy, or voice that dares  to set up its empire and throne above the very Word of God… that the “eyes of your understanding would be enlightened that you may know” for yourself (as opposed to “being told” by the Rejected) the Hope of God’s calling you into personal fellowship with His dear Son (Word). 

"I love you in the Truth and pray these thoughts have not merely been “of mine own mind”, but that those who are truly spiritual will be able to judge them as such.  “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for YOUR feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.  Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:”  (Hebrews 12:12-14)

P.S. - Your “best days and your blessed days” are NOT out in your future somewhere (so close, yet soooo far, huh?)  The WORD SAYS:  “TODAY… IS… THE DAY… of SALVATION”. 

“And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.   -Revelation 22:17

“So if the Son LIBERATES YOU [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably FREE.”    John 8:36 (Amp.)

*ARTICLE SUBMITTED BY: DMAC64

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