The Impossibility of Walking Away from Christ, when One Truly Knows Him!

2 Corinthians 5:21.       For he hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Another Sunday friends, which means another visit to the Lord’s sanctuary to offer praise and thanksgiving with other believers and receive the Lord’s strengthening and renewal of our spirits, so that we can face the outside world with vim and vigour in the upcoming work week, and continue doing great work for His kingdom. And on this bright and sunshiny day, with the clocks having fallen back an hour to facilitate Daylight Savings Time, we’re celebrating two important days in our church’s history; that of All Saints and All Souls Days; November 1st and 2nd respectively, remembering those who had a meaningful impact on us.  

And for today’s song of worship, we’re going right down south to the wonderful land of T&T; that’s my homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, the land of mas and kaiso. And we going to warm up the chilly north land with a hot Soca number from the late Miss Denyse Plummer, with a rework of an earlier secular chutney Soca hit, ‘Na Leaving,’ which celebrated all the good things of T&T, that those who were leaving would miss. 

And the reworked Christian version is even more truthful than the secular one, as it is most appropriately titled ‘Ah Cyar Leave Him.’ Now isn’t that the gospel truth? Once you get involved with Jesus, you can’t ever leave Him! So let’s put on our dancing shoes and get ready to clap and offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise in a rollicking, scintillating, up-tempo version of this wonderful Christian song. 

And as the sweet, easy rocking chutney Soca music starts, we hear a couple bars, then we shout out ‘Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah! From revelry to righteousness…Cyar leave Him. From hell-bound to holiness…Cyar leave Him. From sin to salvation…Cyar leave him. A kingdom destination…Cyar leave Him. There I was, in my glee, wallowing deep in a pig pen, full of life, but so empty, on my way to a fiery end. But someone told me about a Saviour, who said He LOVES me and He cares. In times of storm He is my shelter, so in His arms you’ll find me there. 

Yuh see ah cyar live life without Him, He is my King of Kings, He’s the reason I’m still living. Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. Never condemn or forsaken me dread…Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. For God man I living, For God I go dead. There are so few, who made it through, and come from the darkness of this world. But I saw the light, I found the truth. I have more than silver, more than gold. I gave my life over to Jesus, the greatest decision I’ve made. Boy, I recommend you try Him, Jesus is the best upgrade. 

He came to earth and died on the cross, rose up just like a boss, when yuh see me smiling, He’s the cause. Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. Never condemn or forsaken me dread…Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. For God man I living, For God I go dead. I am under the rock. The rock is higher than I. Jahovah hides me. I am under the rock. Go tell my enemies, that I am under the rock. Jahovah hides me, I am under the rock. I am under the rock. The rock is higher than I. Jahovah hides me. I am under the rock. Go tell my enemies, that I am under the rock. Jahovah hides me, I am under the rock. 

From revelry to righteousness…Cyar leave Him. From hell-bound to holiness…Cyar leave Him. From sin to salvation…Cyar leave him. A kingdom destination…Cyar leave Him. Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah! (And we shout again) Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah!’ 

Wow! What a wonderful, heartfelt rendition my bredrin! Even in heaven they were jumping and jiving, because they LOVE Jesus too, and were ecstatic at our show of sincere appreciation for all that He’s done for us. And why not eh? For that is indeed the kind of difference, the amazing transformation Jesus performs, or creates in our lives when we surrender our all to Him! And just like the song proclaims, once we get with Him, become a sincere part of His revolutionary organization, it’s impossible to leave Him! No, we just cyar leave Him at all at all. Mama Mia! Such is the LOVE and inspiration He inspires in us! 

So, let’s look at a few things that keep us umbilically attached to Jesus. (smile) ‘From revelry to righteousness…From hell-bound to holiness…From sin to salvation…a kingdom destination…’ Yes my people, those are some of the things Jesus did for us through His coming to earth and sacrificing His sinless life. He took us from wallowing in sinful, hell-bound pleasures and transformed us into righteous, saved, heaven bound believers. And here’s some scripture to prove it, from Bruh Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, as he talks about a New Creature in Christ. 

‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation: To wit (that is), that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray (implore) you in Christ’s stead (behalf), be reconciled to God. For he hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.’ (2 Cor. 5:17-21) 

And all of that basically means that when we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, we become completely different in our outlook, attitude and spiritual pretensions. (smile) We give up our old lives and accept the new one God provides for us through Christ by reconciling us to Himself, bringing us back into good relations with Him, by not imputing (attributing) our sins to us, but to Christ. He took our sins on His shoulders and paid the price through His sacrificial death, so that we could be considered righteous by God. We are declared righteous on the merits of Christ. 

Please note though that throughout all of that, Christ never sinned, He just paid the substitutionary price for ours. Now there are several other scriptures that talk about what Christ has done for us, but I don’t believe any of them says it like these words of the song. ‘There I was, in my glee, wallowing deep in a pig pen, full of life, but so empty, on my way to a fiery end. But someone told me about a Saviour, who said He LOVES me and He cares. 

In times of storm, He is my shelter, so in His arms you’ll find me there…. There are so few, who made it through, and come from the darkness of this world. But I saw the light, I found the truth. I have more than silver, more than gold. I gave my life over to Jesus, the greatest decision I’ve made. Boy, I recommend you try Him, Jesus is the best upgrade. He came to earth and died on the cross, rose up just like a boss, when yuh see me smiling, He’s the cause.’ 

Now friends, you cannot get a better testimony than that! So please, let’s take it to heart nuh and do our best to live sincerely for Jesus. That’s the least we can do to show our appreciation for His selfless sacrifice that we can never repay. Much LOVE!

…without Jesus’ paying for our sins…we’d still be wallowing in the pig pen…destined for hell… 

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Awesome Beauty of Knowing Jesus and forming a Lifelong Friendship with Him!

Romans 5:6.        For when we were yet without strength, in due time (at the right time) Christ died for the ungodly.

Another Sunday! Another occasion to gather in the Lord’s house and fellowship with other believers. But since it’s somewhat cold and cloudy, we’ve decided to take a much-deserved break from those dreary weather conditions and for today’s worship session journey down south to the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, the land of calypso and carnival. And we’re going to warm up, no heat up the place, hot, hot, hot, with this beautiful meshing of African and East Indian riddims that we call chutney soca. It’s a reworked song with gospel lyrics based on the soca hit ‘Na Leaving’ by the late calypso songbird Denyse Plummer. 

And just as ‘Na Leaving,’ was a big hit as it celebrated all the good things of T&T, that those who were leaving would miss, likewise the renamed song ‘Ah Cyar Leave Him!’ referring to Jesus was, still is, and will always be a mighty gospel hit! So let’s offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise with a sincere and heartfelt, scintillating rendition of this gospel song ‘Ah Cyar Leave Him,’ one so chocked full with everlasting truth! 

And as the sweet, easy rocking chutney soca music starts, we hear a couple bars, then we shout out ‘Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah! From revelry to righteousness…Cyar leave Him. From hell-bound to holiness…Cyar leave Him. From sin to salvation…Cyar leave him. A kingdom destination…Cyar leave Him. There I was, in my glee, wallowing deep in a pig pen, full of life, but so empty, on my way to a fiery end. But someone told me about a Saviour, who said He LOVES me and He cares. In times of storm He is my shelter, so in His arms you’ll find me there. 

Yuh see ah cyar live life without Him, He is my King of Kings, He’s the reason I’m still living. Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. Never condemn or forsaken me dread…Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. For God man I living, For God I go dead. There are so few, who made it through, and come from the darkness of this world. But I saw the light, I found the truth. I have more than silver, more than gold. I gave my life over to Jesus, the greatest decision I’ve made. Boy I recommend you try Him, Jesus is the best upgrade. He came to earth and died on the cross, rose up just like a boss, when yuh see me smiling, He’s the cause. 

Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. Never condemn or forsaken me dread…Ah cyar leave Him…ah cyar leave Him. For God man I living, For God I go dead. I am under the rock. The rock is higher than I. Jahovah hides me. I am under the rock. Go tell my enemies, that I am under the rock. Jahovah hides me, I am under the rock. I am under the rock. The rock is higher than I. Jahovah hides me. I am under the rock. Go tell my enemies, that I am under the rock. Jahovah hides me, I am under the rock. 

From revelry to righteousness…Cyar leave Him. From hell-bound to holiness…Cyar leave Him. From sin to salvation…Cyar leave him. A kingdom destination…Cyar leave Him. Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah! (And we shout again) Jesus…Yahweh…Yeshua… Jahovah!’  

Wow mih bredrin, that sure was wonderful! And yuh better believe that all of heaven, even the Father, was rocking along and singing with us as we gave much deserved praise to our great High Priest, our Lord and Saviour, our King of Kings, the One and Only Jesus Christ! And though Jesus seemed to be a li’l embarrassed by all the praise, nonetheless, He too was tapping His feet and clapping His hands as the sweet soca chutney melody permeated heaven and raised the level of joy normally found there! 

Now that’s certainly saying something, for heaven usually has a very high level of joy. But the fact is that all the song says is true, and heaven acknowledged it with us. And yuh better believe that is the kind of difference, the amazing transformation Jesus performs in our lives when we surrender our all to Him! He does bring us from ‘revelry to righteousness, hell-bound to holiness and from sin to salvation.’ For remember that the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life  through Christ Jesus.’ (Rom. 6:23) 

Yes friends, through His shed blood on the cross of Calvary, Jesus saved us from hellfire and damnation and brought us holiness and salvation instead. And when we were joyfully wallowing in our pig pens, clothed in the darkness of sin, but truly empty of God and heading straight for hellfire, we’d better thank the Lord that someone told us about Jesus who LOVES and cares for us, so much so that He freely offered up His sinless life to save us from our sins and eternal death, meaning eternal separation from the Father. 

As Bruh Paul writes in Romans. ‘For when we were yet without strength, in due time (at the right time) Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure (perhaps) for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth (demonstrated) his (own) LOVE toward us, in that, while were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now (having been) justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being (having been) reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.’ (Rom. 5:6-10) 

Oh my people, all the good things that have happened to us, like salvation, justification, sanctification, reconciliation, righteousness, etc. etc. have all stemmed from Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, for without the shedding of blood there’s no remission of sin. (Heb. 9:22) And He not only saves us from sin, but also shelters us from the storms of life, because He can calm the seas and the winds as He did when crossing the Sea of Galilee with the disciples. And ended up saying to His terrified companions: Why are ye so fearful? How is that ye have no faith .’ (Mark 4:40) 

And that word faith plays a rather big role in our walk with Jesus, for if we don’t believe, have strong faith in Him, then we will not have a successful Christian life. That’s the first step in our Christian walk, after we see the light and find the truth, which is worth so much more than silver or gold. And believe me friends, giving your life to Jesus is the best decision you can ever make, for as the song so rightly says, He is indeed ‘the best upgrade.’ (smile) 

And the scriptures, especially the psalms tell us that Jehovah is indeed our rock, our shelter from the storm. Bruh David says it well in Psalm 18: ‘The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler (shield), and the horn (strength) of my salvation, and my high tower.’ (Ps. 18:2) We couldn’t get a better description than that friends! 

And most importantly, once Jesus comes into your life, you cannot get away from Him, even if you want to, as the Bible tells us: ‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,’ (Eph. 1:13) In other words, ‘it is the mark of identification that the believer is truly God’s own and is kept forever by the power of God. It is an unbreakable seal of divine ownership and salvation.’ 

Wow! But yuh know what, my fellow saints, even without that seal unto the day of redemption, (Eph. 4:30) once we truly get to know Jesus, it’s simply impossible to leave Him, for such is the great LOVE and compassion He inspires in us! So please, let’s pay Him the awesome tribute and reverence that He deserves! Much LOVE!

…getting to know Jesus…is a beautiful lifelong relationship…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien