Hey Bro John:

I asked Amy to send me what she had on The New Past to try to jog my memory on the timeline of when the Lord showed it to me.  Still not sure exact date, but after I read what you wrote here in this blog, no matter when it came from the Lord, what you wrote in this blog is WONDERFUL!  I think it would benefit us all to read this again and take it into our hearts.  It surely blessed me all over again!  Jesus is serious about giving us a New Past and all the blessings that come with it!  

You really covered some wonderful things in this blog!  It is rich with wisdom!

So glad I got to read this again.  Thank you Amy for finding and sending this today.

Sandy  🙂

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The New Past

John Clark, Sr.

7/18/2001

The “new past” that Jesus offers everyone who trusts in him is what Paul referred to in 2 Cor. 5: “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.  Old things are passed away; behold ALL THINGS are become new.”  If we have the faith to believe it, one of the “all things” that become new in Christ is our “old past”, that is, our history before Jesus took us in.

The “new past” is also what Paul referred to in Romans 11, where he told the Gentile believers that they had been “grafted” into the olive tree of Israel by the power of God.  Now, when we are grafted into the olive tree of faith, the history of that olive tree becomes ours.  That olive tree’s sap is our sap; its root is our root, and its future is our future.  This “new past” which becomes ours includes the testimony of Abel, Job, and Noah, of Abraham and David, of Daniel, Jeremiah, and the prophets, and the righteous, wise men and women of all time.  Our past includes the testimonies of Paul and of John and of Peter.  It includes (praise God!) The testimony of the Lord Jesus “who witnessed as good profession before Pilate”.  The men and women of faith are our ancestors now, if we are in Christ, and he is our elder brother. 

The phrase “new past” confuses the unbelieving because the “new past” is in faith, and faith is foreign to them.  It confuses the rebellious because the “new past” is in obedience, and they do not obey the will of God.  The message of a “new past” troubles the trouble-makers in the Church because they new past is in peace, and peace irritates those who irritate God.  What does it mean that “old things are passed away”, if our old habits, our old complaints, and our old sins still cling to us, confusing and discouraging us?  Are they passed away or are they not. 

Some years ago, as Sister Sandy was in the midst of a sad visit with her elderly, unbelieving mother, the Lord spoke to her and said, “You are not a product of that union any more”.  We who are in Christ “are not debtors to the flesh”.  That is, we do not owe our existence to the human beings who produced our physical bodies.  God had our names written in His Book of Life before the world was created; He had claims on us before our natural parents were even born.  In Christ, we are no longer a product of that physical union of two human bodies; we are the product of the will and Word of God.  It was His choice alone, not theirs, that we are here.  If our natural parents had tried to prevent our birth, the stones themselves would have brought us forth!  We are the offspring of a race of men created by the power and love of God, beginning with “the new man Adam” who was nailed to a tree in ancient Judah.

 There is no unbelief in our “new past” because the new past includes only men and women of faith.  There is no confusion in our new past because the new past includes only men and women with the knowledge of God.  There is no grumbling and ill will in our “new past” because that past includes men and women who trusted God and loved people.  The testimonies of the upright become our history when our history itself becomes new.  When our father becomes Abraham, then our history includes leaving Babylonia behind!  When our high priest becomes Christ, then our new history includes the Levitical priesthood that foreshadowed his work.  In Christ, OUR FOREFATHERS built an ark out of gopher wood and waited for the rain, OUR FOREFATHERS crossed the Red Sea in faith, looking toward the Land of Promise, our forefathers trembled before God at the base of Mount Sinai, our forefathers willingly brought gold and silver to David for the building of God’s temple, our forefathers waited for the Promise of God in an upper room in Jerusalem, and our forefathers proclaimed the truth of Jesus to the ancient Roman world.

In Christ, they were also our forefathers who were despised by men, who wandered about with no shelter, who were stoned, who were imprisoned and persecuted.  And for those in Christ, it was our “everlasting father” who was crucified for the sins of the world.

This is what the “new past” means.  In Christ, there is nothing that we fear because our forefathers were fearless, and holy courage is all that runs in our veins.  There is nothing that can discourage us because in the blood of our new family runs nothing but faith that we “can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”  There is no sin of the old past that can drag us back into darkness because in our veins runs a holiness that terrifies Satan himself.  We cannot be overcome with confusion because the knowledge of God infuses our spirits.  No weapon formed against us can prosper.  All things are ours, and we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.  There is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God because the love of God created and fills both our history and us.  God created our new past for us, had that new past written down, and encourages us to read it every now and then.

Do you doubt God?  You’re living in the old past.  Do you hold a grudge against a brother or a sister?  You’re trying to resurrect the old man.  Do you fear the future?  You are believing a lie, as if the old past still has any power over you.  Are you not free to praise the God of the whole earth?  You are digging into God’s garbage can to eat the rotten food of your old carnal nature.

Our forefathers “danced with all their might” before the Lord.  Our forefathers drove away the armies of the enemies of the Lord who exalted themselves against the saints of God.  It is beneath the dignity of our new past to remain in the quiet, smelly death chamber of Christianity.  That abomination is NOT a part of our new past in Christ.  And for that reason, the holy Ghost is pleading with the children of God to “come our of her my people!”  Our old past is in bondage.  Our new past is “free indeed” because the Son has made us that way!

Good morning, Pastor John,

I wanted to tell you about an experience I had last night.  I was tired from a busy weekend, so last night I thought I would sit down and watch a movie.  It was one of those “clean, Christian” movies.  It was about a new youth pastor working to get a group of teenagers interested in the bible and in Jesus. As I watched it, there were some very sweet moments, some good things being said.  But at the end of the movie someone died and the ending message was something like: read Romans, accept Jesus, and you’ll be home with him forever.  I turned the TV off, and I had this anger and disgust bubble up.  I said, “Jesus, I hate Christianity!  It is a lie.  Any small bit of goodness is snatched up and devoured.”  I don’t think I’ve ever felt a hate for Christianity like I did last night.  I went to bed talking to Jesus about it and praying for the honest souls that are in it.  I fell asleep with the thought, “Jesus, get your people out of it!  I pray for its destruction.”  I woke up this morning singing Gary’s song “The Straw Man”.

I felt like something else in my heart was cleaned out.  The wrong thought, that there is such a thing as a “clean Christian” movie was fixed.  There is nothing clean about Christianity, no matter what form it takes.

Michelle 

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Thank you for this, Michelle.  Jesus is showing you his heart, and the Father’s.

Pastor John

I was translating Proverbs 19 tonight and came across these verses in Proverbs.  This is my translation:

26. He who mistreats his father and drives his mother away causes shame and humiliation.
27. My son, stop listening to advice to stray from my words of understanding!

After I translated this, I started to cry as I prayed for our young people.  For the young people who are blessed enough to have parents in the truth, who love Jesus and his people, this counsel from Solomon applies!  Please don’t disregard your parents’ words and think you know better.  Going down that road will just lead to shame and regret.

It brings tears to my eyes to think of the times I’ve caused trouble for my parents, but God brought us through those times and made us closer to each other through it.  Jesus can do it!

Aaron

Pastor John,

I was thinking this morning about the priest Hilkiah – how he found the forgotten book of God’s law during the temple’s restoration.  In his effort to obey God, king Josiah had commanded that the temple of Jehovah be restored from its dilapidated condition. The book was discovered during those renovations, and the high priest Hilkiah had it delivered to the King.

I remember how you described that scene, how the king’s servant was giving the king all of the news from the kingdom when he came to the news of the discovery of Jehovah’s lost book.  How the good king’s heart must have leaped!  What it must have meant to king Josiah to find God’s law, and to learn there was a right way to serve and worship God, and that they were not in it. 

The law of God had been lost because the keepers of the law had failed to uphold that most important thing on earth, and all the world along with Israel suffered for it.

Today, the parchment entrusted with God’s law is us, the saints of God, since the day of Pentecost.  We are now the holy “book” where God writes with his spirit the only way that is acceptable to him.  Our life, born again of Spirit and lived out as a new man for the world to see, now declares God’s heart and his judgments, and the record of his Son, just like the book made of paper and ink once delivered to the king.  We declare God’s judgments by executing judgments each day.  We declare God’s standards by the standards we continually uphold.  The Spirit of God in us and through us lives out the will of God that was once only available in a book.

But if we fail to preserve ourselves, as modern-day keepers of the law, we end up like the holy book when it was buried and forgotten, living invisible and unknown to others, offering no reflection of God’s judgments and standards.  We want to preserve ourselves, not just for us but for others looking on, so we are a light on the hilltop.

How many king Josiahs might there be in the world, searching for a God they know must exist?  What a shame if we were right beside them, a living testament to Christ, but buried and unseen like the lost book in that story.

Jerry

I was surprised some by your answer to Lyn* that to hide ourselves from one another is to not be each other’s keeper. I didn’t think of hiding as not looking out for one another.

I’ve been looking into some of the things written in Isaiah 58, especially “hiding ourselves”. In Deuteronomy 22, what you said to Lyn matches very well with what Moses said about hiding:

¶1. “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly return them to your brother.

2.And if your brother is not near you, or you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother looks for it. Then, you shall return it to him.

3.And you shall do likewise with his donkey, and you shall do likewise with his garment. Yea, you shall do likewise with any lost thing of your brother’s which was lost by him and that you found. You are not allowed to hide yourself.

4.You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down in the way and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly help to get it up.

Hiding ourselves is not taking care of one another when it falls into our lap to do so. I had to wonder if there have been times I’ve hidden myself when trouble with a brother or a sister fell to me to correct. Or have I made it difficult on someone when they sought to correct my trouble?

We can’t have an Us without both humbly correcting and treasuring correction. We need to stay good at doing both.

It deeply saddens me to think of someone no longer being offered correction because they are known for not receiving it. We must not make things too difficult on the messenger even if we feel awkward.

John D.

* See post dated September 21, 2022, Isaiah 58:7

Hi, Pastor John.

Last Saturday, as you know, we suddenly had no water.  I put it on Signal where Judy and I had a host of family calling and texting us; too many to list here. With the help that we received, we narrowed it down to a failed water pump. Jim G., Stuart, Debbie G. and myself pulled 125′ of well line to the surface to get to the pump. Once it was out, it was replaced by some sweet brothers and water was restored.

I learned a lesson.  You can have a well full of water until it overflows or gushes out all over the ground and everything else, but unless you have wise people that know how to get the water to where it’s needed, it’s of no use at all, especially if it’s in a ground well. Even in biblical times, you have to have a means to get it to the surface someway so it can be carried or delivered to where it needs to go. In this day and age, we have power and plumbing that does most of the work for us.

I was thinking of the Roman aqueducts, the drip irrigation that the Israelis invented, modern plumbing, desalination plants, etc. Without the wisdom that God has given to men such as these things, it would be very laborious to say the least to get water to where it’s needed. I would dare say there would be a lot more thirsty people in this world and a lot more dirtier ones.

I thought about the “Rivers of living water” that flows from one’s belly. It is a wonderful and joyous thing, but if we don’t have the means or know how to get it to those who are truly thirsting for Righteousness, what is it good for? Or, if we do not have anyone to service our pipes, then sooner or later we will fail. I thank God that Jesus has used you to know how to get the water to people with the Truth and also so many talented people around you that can help distribute it to thirsty souls. What value that we are for each other but also God’s people that we may never see or hear from, that you know have been watered though the years with teaching, tracts, books, music . . .on-and-on.

After the pump was replaced, it felt so good to have water for the animals, showers, washing clothes, and cooking. It’s no small thing to have them in this life, nor a small thing to distribute “holy” water to God’s people. I pray I never take the things that wisdom for others that God gives for granted; earthly or spiritually.

Love always,
Billy