13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. John 13:13-17 (NASB)
The heart of Man is deceitful beyond our understanding. I find it incredible that God would desire to save any of us. Even after regeneration there is an element in each of our hearts that falls for the wicked appeal of our enemy to believe those things that have an affinity to our pride and flesh….
One of the things that I must do in order to write these posts is to do research into the ministries of certain people who are suspected of some form of apostasy or heresy. I find it amazing how I can listen to one of these fellows preach or teach and find something within my heart having an affinity to what is being said. Of course this shows us the level of deception within these things. It is very interesting to then analyze what is being taught and compare it to Scripture. It is then that that part of me that liked what it heard runs for cover because I am seeking to kill it.
We must be honest with ourselves my brethren. We are far from the Righteousness of God. John Bunyan was a godly man. He was mightily used by God as a pastor, evangelist, poet, and writer. His masterpiece is, of course, The Pilgrim’s Progress. I have read it many times and have used sections of it in my ministry as well. However, his autobiography, Grace Abounding To the Chief of Sinners, is also well worth reading. In it, we find a man much like ourselves. God used Him mightily because He first took him through fiery trials which built an inner faith in the man that could not be shaken by anything on this Earth. However, even in this we find a disciple of our Lord who struggled with the same things that we do.