Deed But No Demand

Why am I able to speak so confidently about Deed and Demand? I can, because our Lord has used an ordinary, human happening to teach me, and turn me around to Resurrection Truth, with boldness and surety.

When our granddaughter was learning to drive, she had to get a driving permit. However, after securing that document, it never meant that because she had it, she could feel such a sense of achievement that she would just relax on the basis of the legal document. No! Not in the least! Whenever she got into my car, for example, the permit, which I call, the deed of transaction, had to be in the vehicle with her. Not only did the ‘L’ sign have to be visibly placed at the fore and aft of the vehicle, but as the experienced driver, I had to be with her at all times. Those were but some of the requirements, which I refer to as the demands of transaction, which had to be upheld. The reason was that it was the only way, when the day of testing came, she would know victory.

To go around telling learners, or those who are desirous of becoming learners, that to have the deed is all and that the demands do not matter, is like gangrene. This is Paul’s most apt description of those who speak such godless chatter, such lies.  Their teaching will spread like gangrene. 2 Timothy 2: 17a. It only causes people to be deceived and receive the putrid fruit and poisonous results of deception.

I told you that our Lord used this to teach me, warn me, and bring me back to the reality that I am His learner. I am His disciple, living and learning more and more to be like Him. Friends, it is the same for you, all who will be His disciples. Don’t ever forget that a disciple is a learner.  We are learners and Jesus is our Teacher in and through the Holy Spirit.

We believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, our Master and hold in our possession the deed of transaction. I know that with His Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary, the deed was done and paid for in full. I carry this proof in my life, as I know forgiveness for sins, and I have received new life in Him. I know that because of all that He has done for me, I can crown Him the Lord of Love.  But I have been sternly warned and reminded, in this present hour, that I must obey and uphold the demands of transaction. I must never forget that I am a learner and it is precisely because I carry the transaction in my being that:- 

• I do need to learn to be a disciple of Jesus.

• I do need a tutor, or instructor to be with me at all times teaching me how to live. 

• I do need to have L’s on my life-vehicle.

• I do need to put into practice what I’m being told.

• I do need to be live, mindful of my ways. True, I have proof of my paid for transaction, but it is not to make me puffed up. It’s not to make me believe that I’m more blessed and favoured than others, who cannot show at present, the proof I’m able to show.

What our Father is looking at, is not just the lawful, legal binding transaction Jesus won for me at the Cross, but my undivided, immovable obedience to what He requires of me and all learners in Him.  Am I under the control, tutelage and guidance of His Holy Spirit?  Are you?

Holding up the deed of transaction, without upholding the demands of transaction, is to be as one who is living a gangrenous life. It is a life that grows more putrid every day, a life that is rotting before one’s very eyes, a life that is void of contentment and peace. It is a joyless, unfruitful, and empty life, whose image is one that is totally foreign to what a disciple and learner of Christ knows and shows.  

This is a serious and stern warning for you and me, and it must not be taken lightly. It only takes a toenail of gangrene to rot an entire leg. It only takes a small piece of godless chatter about the Resurrection, for the faith of some hearers to be totally destroyed. But in God the Father, there is hope. In God the Son, there is hope.  In God the Holy Spirit, there is hope. There is hope of life, even amidst those whose words tell lies about the Resurrection, saying that it has already taken place. This hope is in God; who He is and what He has done. 

We pursue this tomorrow.