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HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SHUT UP?
Those familiar with the care of domestic
animals understand the term “shut up.” Chickens are usually shut up for the
night. Cattle and horses are often shut up in pens or stalls. The Psalmist used
that term in speaking of his miserable condition. He wrote:
“...I am
shut up, and I cannot come forth,” (Psalm
88:8). Just prior to that he wrote in verse seven:
“Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast
afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.” Selah
is a musical term meaning pause and think about it. Are you aware of God's
impending wrath lying hard upon you? Are you thinking about it?
Have you ever had a similar experience to that of the
Psalmist? Have you ever been imprisoned, as it were: imprisoned without hope?
Has God ever made you aware of your sinful condition? Has terror seized upon
your soul? Job went through such a time. He wrote:
“For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by
reason of his highness I could not endure,”
(Job 31:23). Do the words of Isaiah fit your case?
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his
word...” (Isaiah 66:5). Or are you still
trying to sort things out on your own? Worse yet, are you still filled with
self-confidence thinking you can somehow please God and earn enough favor with
God to result in your salvation? Are you still caught up in the false hope that
your good deeds, your obedience, your baptism, your sincerity, etc. will somehow
placate God?
There is a work that only God does. It is
called circumcision of the heart. Paul wrote:
“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God,” (Romans
2:28-29). Want praise of God? Then you must have a spiritual, inward heart
circumcision. You cannot operate upon your own heart. You cannot do this work
“in the spirit”
or inner man. You are “shut up”
and can do nothing about your condition. If God does
not come to you and change your heart – if He does not birth you into His family
you shall remain an unbeliever and shall die in your sins. The Lord Jesus taught
that very thing, saying: “I said therefore
unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am
he, ye shall die in your sins,”
(John 8:24).
There are a great many things the circumcised
heart produces. It first of all produces godly sorrow over your sin. Paul wrote:
“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death,”
(2 Corinthians 7:10). This kind of sorrow does not produce a mere outward show
of weeping as a result of some emotional manipulation at the hands of a clever
preacher. Godly sorrow produces or “worketh”
repentance – a penitent turning to God and its twin which is faith in Chris, as
Paul said, “...repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Acts
20:21). This along with a continuing change of life are the products of
heart-circumcision.
A profession of faith in Christ apart from the
circumcision of the heart is just man made religion and is worthless. Paul wrote
about this kind of religion saying, “Wherefore
if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of
men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility,
and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh,”
(Colossians 2:20-23). Paul questioned why those who have experienced
heart-circumcision would put themselves back under the Old Testament Law for
righteousness. He includes the worthless commandments and doctrines of men as
having no place in the lives of those with circumcised hearts. All laws, rules,
commandments of men, etc. can ever accomplish is a show of wisdom. All they can
produce he calls “will worship.”
By that last term he means worthless religion
produced by the will of men – never acceptable to God. Oh these will produce a
false humility and a neglecting of the body as it seeks comfort and pleasure,
but no false religion will accomplish anything worthwhile in combating the flesh
(sin nature) with which all of us are born.
You cannot circumcise your heart. Your church
cannot circumcise your heart. Your baptism cannot circumcise your heart. Your
prayers cannot circumcise your heart. Your fear of hell cannot circumcise your
heart. Your will cannot circumcise your heart. Your religious rituals cannot
circumcise your heart. Your outward attempts at obedience cannot circumcise your
heart. You are shut up – if you only knew it – to this fact: if God does not
come to you and do a work in your heart you will remain an unbeliever and
“shall die in your sins.”
May the Words of God sink deep down in your heart so
that you cannot escape them! May you be like Lydia,
“...whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul,”
(Acts 16:14). May you see that you are “shut
up” and that you
“cannot come forth.”
May you be miserable in this imprisonment as you see that you are between a rock
and a hard place! May you tremble at God's Word! May God come to you and
circumcise your heart!
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