Tis Better Felt Than Telt
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
I had the pleasure of teaching a campmeeting a good many years back in one of our northern states. Early in that meeting a lady was saved and filled with the love and joy of our Lord. She was just off the boat, a lady from Scotland, and what a lovely person she is. Poppa has always loved to hear the Scottish and Irish accent, my Grandfather was a full blood Irishman. The meeting was scheduled for seven days, but the folks were enjoying themselves so much it was extended to four weeks. After a couple of weeks I had the pleasure to have lunch with the lady. She is a rosy cheeked robust lady with eyes that sparkle like the stars on a clear West Texas night. All during lunch she talked about how much she was enjoying the meeting, so I asked her how does it feel to be redeemed and full of the peace of God. Big tears began to run down her rosy cheeks as she wept openly and tried to tell me what was in her heart. Finally she stopped and said, "My brother, Tis better Felt, than Telt ".
1st Peter 1:3-9 says it a little differently. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."...."Joy unspeakable and full of glory"...My!My!My!...truly..."Tis Better Felt than Telt"....
Saul of Tarsus became Paul of God..Paul of Jesus..Paul of Holy Spirit..Paul of the Church...and was transformed into one of the most eloquent orators of all time. I read him and read him and read him, I never get enough of him. Ephesians 5:26 he reveals how Christ feels about His Church, His Bride. I can see in my minds eye the eloquent man of God as he breaks the bread of life, he feeds the romantic side of my Spirit, the romantic side of my Soul, and I get goose bumps when I get caught up in the preaching of this man as he shares with the Church the love and the romance of the Saviour to His Bride.
Paul's eloquence began to soar above time and sense in Ephesians 5, he was teaching us how husbands, wives, and the ordinary and orderly arrangements of a human home are to be. Then he left that and soared into the heavenlies. We see here Christ and His church. We see love that finds us in our sins, love that regenerates, love that transforms, love that enables, and love that ennobles. We see love that is not content with leaving us as it found us; it is actively at work making us beautiful beyond description.
All too often we only see the spots, blemishes, faults, and failings of God's people. We major on the negatives. We see the church as weak and divided. We do not yet see the church as Christ sees it, as He has always seen it. He sees it as perfect and complete, glorious, bright as the morning, fairer than day, lovely as the flowers of paradise, sweeter than the dawn. He sees the church as it will be when His transforming work is done. He sees it without spot or wrinkle. Without spot...beyond the reach of temptation. Without wrinkle...beyond the reach of time. Christ sees the church as holy and without blemish. He sees it as the mirror image of Himself.
The Christian philosophy of life is not "pie in the sky by and by." It carries with it a present dynamic that can turn suffering into glory today. This is not exaggeration . This is reality. Because Christ gave Himself for the church, He is now able to "sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." We are saved by the blood of Christ, perfected by the word as the Holy Spirit reveals the truth therein.
It is encouraging to know that we are born for glory, kept for glory, and being prepared for glory. Then another discovery given to us by the Apostle Peter, Christians Can Enjoy the Glory Now. (1 Peter 1:8-12)
The amazing thing is that this "salvation" we are awaiting—the return of Christ—was a part of God's great plan for us from eternity. The Old Testament prophets wrote about this salvation and studied closely what God revealed to them. They saw the sufferings of the Messiah, and also the glory that would follow; but they could not fully understand the connection between the two. In fact, in some of the prophecies, the Messiah's sufferings and glory are blended in one verse or paragraph.
When Jesus came to earth, the Jewish teachers were awaiting a conquering Messiah who would defeat Israel's enemies and establish the glorious kingdom promised to David. Even His own disciples were not clear about the need for His death on the cross. They were still inquiring about the Jewish kingdom even after His resurrection. If the disciples were not clear about God's program, certainly the Old Testament prophets could be excused!
God told the prophets that they were ministering for a future generation. Between the suffering of Messiah and His return in glory comes what we call "the age of the church." The truth about the church was a hidden "mystery" in the Old Testament period (Eph. 3:1-13). The Old Testament believers looked ahead by faith and saw, as it were, two mountain peaks: Mount Calvary, where Messiah suffered and died (Isa. 53), and Mount Olivet, where He will return in glory (Zech. 14:4).They could not see the...."VALLEY".. in between....which is the present age of the church.
Even the angels are interested in what God is doing in and through His church! If you read 1 Corinthians 4:9 and Ephesians 3:10 the Holy Spirit will illuminate to you how God is "educating" even the angels through the church.
Christ gave Himself for the Church "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word". His redeeming love precludes the ultimate holiness of the Church to the end "That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish". An unclean bride is unthinkable. The purpose of Christ for His own, as expressed in verse 26, is to be accomplished in the present. As we read and study the Bible carefully we are kept cleansed of the defilements we are apt to gather day by day. This verse does not mean that the cleansing is effected by water baptism, but by the "Word," of which the water here is but a symbol. The holy Bridegroom must have a holy bride; so, as her Head, He must provide everything for her now as well as prepare her for the marriage feast when she will be presented to Him at His return. By His love He saved her; by His Word He sanctifies her; at His coming He will glorify her. He took the form of a Servant for her and become obedient unto the death of the cross, and until now He continues to serve her from His position in heaven so that the Church, His bride, gladly yields in willing submission to Him...
God never takes our will away, nor our mind, nor our heart. Some people expect God to come and do all their choosing for them, and all their desiring for them, and all their deciding for them, while they are simply to be poor things picked up by God and put into things which He desires and wills. God never does that. He is developing a humanity. Were we spirits I don't know how we might act; we might act spontaneously. But we are not. God has created a kind of being with a rational mind. The three-fold element of spirit, soul and body is still to be found, yet not now in Adam, but in Christ. God is developing the Christ mind; how He thinks, judges, understands, and when we see the Lord's mind we see how very different it is from our own natural mind; and our own natural mind is beside the mark altogether, and we must repudiate it. This is spiritual understanding, the mind of the Spirit. The same thing applies to our feelings and our desires. They may lead us astray. There is a new thing in Christ for our hearts, but there is always the necessity for our cooperating with the Lord in what is of Himself. In all the values of Christ risen there has to be a taking up of that risen Life that our whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
The Lord views the church as His bride; it is His body. He loves it, nourishes it, and cherishes it. It is precious to Him. Nothing on earth or in Heaven compares with it. He died to redeem it. He watches over it. His Holy Spirit is here to guide it and gladden it. At the Father's right hand, Christ is fervent on the church's behalf. He anticipates with delight the coming day when the church will be complete, when it will be like Him forever, when it will reign with Him over God's vast empires in space. As far as the Lord is concerned, nothing is too good for His beloved. The church is the love of His life, the center of His thoughts, and the object of His purposes.
Does not the Lord see many imperfections in His church? Of course He does. But with love and patience, kindness and forbearance, He ministers to His church. He knows that the day will come when the church will be perfect, glorious, and all that He meant it to be. This church has been through battles before, storms and tempests and rocks on the shore, and though this old hull may be battered, Inside it is safe and dry and you can be sure Beloved, It shall carry its cargo to it's destination in the sky.
The blood of Christ secures our regeneration; the water of the Word acts like the laver. Like the mirrors of the Old Testament laver, the Word of God reveals to us the defilements we have picked up just by walking through this evil world. The Word of God..also a cleansing agent..removes the defilement. Psalm 119:9 says, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." The Lord has traveled on earth. He knows what this world is like. We are not yet in His world, in the glory land. He is patient with us. He works with us so that one day we will be seen in all of His glory and perfection. His love travails and transforms. You cannot get beyond that. That is a self-denying love, a love that makes one willing even to lay down his life for another.
You remember that striking story about the wife of one of Cyrus' generals who was charged with treachery against the king. She was called before him and after trial condemned to die. Her husband, who did not realize what had taken place, was apprised of it and came hurrying in. When he heard the sentence condemning his wife to death, he threw himself prostrate before the king and said, "O Sire, take my life instead of hers. Let me die in her place!" Cyrus was so touched that he said, "Love like that must not be spoiled by death," and he gave them back to each other and let the wife go free. As they walked happily away the husband said, "Did you notice how kindly the king looked upon us when he gave you a free pardon?" "I had no eyes for the king," she said; "I saw only the man who was willing to die for me." That is the picture that we have here.
"Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." It is as though the apostle can scarcely speak on this subject but that it brings before him the One who has won his own heart, and he must tell us more about Him. This blessed Husband, this glorious Head of the Church, this ideal for every Christian husband, gave up His own precious life for the Bride of His heart, the Church, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Some imagine that this is a reference to baptism, a kind of sacramental washing, but I take it rather that the words explain themselves. He has found us in our sins, in our uncleanness, unfit for association with Him, the Holy One, but He applied the water of the Word of His truth to us and we were sanctified by the truth and made fit to enter into this communion with Him, the Holy and True One. When my conscience, my heart, my life were all defiled, the blessed Lord by the Holy Spirit applied the truth of His Word to me and I was regenerated, and thus made clean in His sight, and fitted for union and communion with Him. By-and-by the full regeneration will be seen in glory when He shall present His Bride to Himself, a glorious Church.
In Revelation 21:2 we read, "And I John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This is the glorious picture of the Church as it will be throughout all the ages to come—"without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." There are some of my brethren who in their hyper-dispensational teaching can read this chapter and deny that the Church is the Bride of the Lamb. They tell us that Israel is the Bride. But the apostle says the Bridegroom is the blessed Lord; the Church, His redeemed spouse, and the two are linked together for eternity. For so intimate is our union with Him that, "We are members of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones."
Esther 2:12....Talks about the preparation time Easter had to bear up under before she could be presented to the King..."Six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying." Psalms 45:13,14, Ezekiel 16:7-14. As such a virgin was purified and prepared for her husband by washing and by anointing...So the church is to be prepared for Christ. We are to be made pure and holy. Outwardly there is to be the application of water-the symbol of purity; and within there is to be holiness of heart. 2 Corinthians 11:2, where Paul says of the Corinthians, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
The point of the expression is, that all this was to be accomplished by the instrumentality of the truth—the word of God. By that truth they were to be sanctified, John 17:17; and in accordance with that the whole work, from the beginning to the end, was to be accomplished. It was not by external ceremonies, and not by any miraculous power on the heart, but by the faithful application of truth to the heart.
A glorious Church. A church full of honour, splendour, beauty. The idea of shining, or of being bright, would convey the thought here. There is still here an allusion to a bride "adorned for her husband," Revelation 21:2, Psalms 45:9-14; and the idea is, that the church will be worthy of the love of the Bridegroom, to whom it will then be presented.
The passage here shows us what the church will yet be. There will be a period when there shall not be any imperfection; when there shall be neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing. In heaven all will be pure. On earth we are preparing for that world of purity; and it cannot be denied that here there is much that is imperfect and impure. But in that future world, where the church shall be presented to Christ, clothed in the robes of salvation, there shall not be one unholy member, one deceiver or hypocrite, one covetous or avaricious man, one that shall pain the hearts of the friends of purity by an unholy life. And in all the millions that shall be gathered there out of every land, and people, and tongue, and age, there shall be no envy malice, backbiting, pride, vanity, worldliness; there shall be no annoying and vexing conflict in the heart with evil passions, "nor any such thing." How different from the church as it is now; and how we should pant and plan for that blessed world!
I said early in this letter that "We are in the VALLEY between Calvary and the Mount of Olives". I call it the "Valley of Purification".
Our love for Christ is not based on physical sight, because we have not seen Him. It is based on our spiritual relationship with Him and what the Word has taught us about Him. The Holy Spirit has poured out God's love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), and we return that love to Him. When you find yourself in some trial, and you hurt, immediately lift your heart to Christ in true love and worship. Why? Because this will take the poison out of the experience and replace it with healing medicine. I love the words Sheri Easter sings,"I need You like flowers need the sunshine...I need You like trees need the rain...I need You more now than ever....Lord I need Your touch again."
Satan wants to use life's trials to bring out the worst in us, but God wants to bring out the best in us. If we love ourselves more than we love Christ, then we will not experience any of the glory now. The fire will burn us, not purify us.
We must live by faith and not by sight. Faith means surrendering all to God and obeying His Word in spite of circumstances and consequences. Love and faith go together: when you love someone, you trust him. And faith and love together help to strengthen hope; for where you find faith and love, you will find confidence for the future.
How can we grow in faith during times of testing and suffering? The same way we grow in faith when things seem to be going well: by feeding on the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Our fellowship with Christ through His Word not only strengthens our faith, but it also deepens our love. It is a basic principle of Christian living that we spend much time in the Word when God is testing us and Satan is tempting us.
Rejoice in Christ (1Peter 1:8). You may not be able to rejoice over the circumstances, but you can rejoice in them by centering your heart and mind on Jesus Christ. Each experience of trial helps us learn something new and wonderful about our Saviour. Abraham discovered new truths about the Lord on the mount where he offered his son. The three Hebrew children discovered His nearness when they went through the fiery furnace. Paul learned the sufficiency of His grace when he suffered with a thorn in the flesh.
Beloved can you see that the joy He produces is "unspeakable and full of glory."? This joy is so deep and so wonderful that we cannot even express it. Words fail us! Believing ... receiving" is God's way of meeting our needs. If we love Him, trust Him, and rejoice in Him, then we can receive from Him all that we need to turn trials into triumphs. First Peter 1:9 can be translated, "For you are receiving the consummation of your faith, that is, the final salvation of your souls." In other words, we can experience today some of that future glory. Charles Spurgeon used to say, "Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul." It is not enough that we long for heaven during times of suffering, for anybody can do that. What Peter urged his readers to do was exercise love, faith, and rejoicing, so that they might experience some of the glory of heaven in the midst of suffering now. Charles Albert Tindley wrote a song...
We are tossed and driven on the restless sea of time; somber skies and howling tempests oft succeed a bright sunshine; in that land of perfect day, when the mists are rolled away, we will understand it better by and by...By and by, when the morning comes, when the saints of God are gathered home, we'll tell the story how we've overcome, for we'll understand it better by and by...We are often destitute of the things that life demands, want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands; we are trusting in the Lord, and according to God's word, we will understand it better by and by...Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand all the ways of God would lead us to that blessed promised land; but he guides us with his eye, and we'll follow till we die, for we'll understand it better by and by...
Temptations, hidden snares often take us unawares, and our hearts are made to bleed for a thoughtless word or deed; and we wonder why the test when we try to do our best, but we'll understand it better by and by.....But wait! I have good news for you!
If the Old Testament prophets searched so diligently into the truths of salvation, and yet had so little to go on, how much more ought we to search into this subject, now that we have a complete Word from God! The same Holy Spirit who taught the prophets and, through them, wrote the Word of God, can teach us the truths in it (John 16:12-15). Furthermore, we can learn these truths from the Old Testament as well as from the New Testament. You can find Christ in every part of the Old Testament Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27). What a delight it is to meet Christ in the Old Testament Law, the types, the Psalms, and the writings of the prophets. In times of trial, you can turn to the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, and find all that you need for encouragement and enlightenment.
Yes, for Christians, it is glory all the way! When we trusted Christ, we were born for glory. We are being kept for glory. As we obey Him and experience trials, we are being prepared for glory. When we love Him, trust Him, and rejoice in Him, we experience the glory here and now.....Joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Matthew 13:43 said, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear". O'Beloved did you catch that? It said the church, that's you and me, we are going to 'Shine like the Sun'. O'Glory to God!, Glory to God!
The good news is, You don't have to wait, you truly can have "Joy Unspeakable and full of Glory" Now.
1st Peter 1:8 said. "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing...." Faith and love go forward into the future hand in hand. Both will be rewarded when the Lord is unveiled. We have a faint picture of what to expect in the story of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba had heard of his fame and had taken a long journey up the Nile, across the sands of Sinai, and on up to the hill country of Judah to see for herself the fabled glory of Solomon. She would put his heralded wisdom to the test. She came bearing rich gifts because her heart taught her that she would be glad in due time that she had done so. Solomon surpassed all of her expectations. She "communed with him of all that was in her heart," we are told. Then she said to the king, "It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes have seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard" (2 Chron. 9:5-6).....My God! My God! dear friends...The Half has not yet been told!
Thus, too, the believer. We have not seen heaven's "altogether lovely" One as yet. But we love Him! We believe! We anticipate the day when faith will give place to sight, the day when our love will be rewarded a thousand times over, the day when "we shall see his face." Like the Queen of Sheba, we shall be overwhelmed.
This love of ours, which dares to love Him, sight unseen, on the testimony of what has been revealed in written word alone, will be rewarded one of these days. It will be rewarded in a surge of gladness and surprise beyond all words. "Believing," says Peter who had been an eyewitness of His majesty on the sacred mount, "ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit. When we fall in love with Jesus, we fall in love with joy! We think of Him mostly in the light of Calvary and, hence, as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3). But even the shadow of death could not dim His joy (John 17:13). He was an irrepressibly happy, joyous Man with a song in His soul and a smile for everyone. He had, "Joy unspeakable and full of Glory." The word for "unspeakable" is aneklaletos. It occurs only here. It speaks; of a joy so deep, so profound, and so overwhelming that it cannot be expressed in words. It is, however, "full of glory." It is all-glorious joy, joy unalloyed, a joy that wraps the soul with hints of heaven and glimpses of the glory yet to be revealed. I love the way The Message says it, "Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory".
This is our present experience. However, at the present time "we see through a glass darkly." We are like little children paddling in the shallows of the shore and enjoying every minute of it. But one of these days we shall be full-grown sons and daughters. Then, when the tide comes in, we shall get swept out to sea, borne on the billows of love's bottomless depths. It will be "joy unspeakable and full of glory" in very truth. It will be beyond anything we can ask or speak..Such is our salvation, but Dear Friend trust me....."Tis Better Felt than Telt"
God Bless You
Poppa
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