What God Wishes For Us

Deuteronomy 5:29 KJV
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
John Gill reminds us that properly speaking there are no such "volitions and wishes in God." This passage should not be taken to mean that God is any less sovereign. It is written "after the language of the children of men" and thus conveys to us the great heart of God that man, though a free will, would exercise that heart to fear God and keep His commandments.

What greater cause may a man give his life to than this?
What greater endeavor can a man be devoted to than the one Almighty God claims He desires us to?

Judged

Acts 16:15 KJV
And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

If ye have judged me faithful

The sense of this is that he had judged her faithful. It is assumed by Lydia. However, there is a lesson here that the preacher does have a certain degree of judgment concerning those with whom he works

He judges whether they are saved
He judges whether those who have been saved have grown enough to serve
He judges their maturity level in the Lord for advancements in service in the ministry of the Lord.

Lydia was neither offended nor defensive concerning this judgment. She accepted it as a natural part of the Christian growth and she submitted herself to the authority God had invested in Paul.

Parents

Proverbs 4:1-4 KJV
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Solomon passed down to his children what was passed down to him from his father, David. In this chapter, Solomon addresses first "children" and then, "my son." Solomon also says his father taught him as if he were "the only beloved." He was not the only child of either David or Bathsheba but he felt that way concerning the instruction.

Parents would do well to learn first to pass down good doctrine and law to their children and to do it in such a manner that all of the children learn it but each of the children learns it in a way that is unique and precious to themselves. Each child has his or her own personality. They have unique strengths and weaknesses. They learn differently from one another. Parents ought to learn what those uniquenesses are and to train each child with them in mind. That is the way each child will grow up to say I was "tender and only beloved" of both my mother and my father.

The Wisest Man

Proverbs 3:7 KJV
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

The deception of the flesh is such that we can easily become wise in our own eyes. We might begin trusting the Lord and not leaning on our own understanding. But time and success too often takes over and we begin to feel like
Because of our experience
Because of our past successes and maybe
Because of our further training
We have gained some of our own wisdom. Only evil can come from our own wisdom.

The wisest man always seeks wisdom but never acknowledges he has obtained it. His lifelong quest is for the wisdom of God and the understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Hid Treasures

Proverbs 2:1-5 KJV
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
We need more than anything else to understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Little else has worth unless we make these those things that have all worth.

We understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God by seeking wisdom understanding and knowledge as treasures. When we apply ourselves to these things. When we place all our efforts in obtaining them, we find a greater treasure than they can ever be in and of themselves, we meet the Lord.

No man, the Bible says, seeketh after God. We can never see the face of God (except in Jesus Christ - and He is not physically with us any longer). But we can find the knowledge of God through seeking wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

Known Unto God

Acts 15:18 KJV
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

Known unto GodThere is great comfort in knowing God knows.
When all the world is in shambles.
When men and women in leadership are uncertain.
When the average citizen has no idea which is the right way to proceed or who exactly should be in office.
When we do not know what to do about our own circumstances....God knows

His works
God is working in this world.
Sometimes we may have trouble seeing that.
Sometimes we may forget it.
Sometimes it looks to us like men and the devil are having their way.But our God is working. Faith rests in that. Faith places its complete hope, not in man's ability to reason out a right course but in God's sovereign ability to work out His plan.

From the beginningGod has never been surprised by the actions of men. Neither Adam and Eve nor any other human being has ever shocked God with their turn from His way. God has known from the beginning every step every man would take and has orchestrated it all into His ultimate plan for glory. Men do wicked things and God refuses to interfere with their free will. But every thing they do has been known from the beginning and is incorporated into the work of God.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

Thirty eight verses

Numbers 33:38 KJV
And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.
Psalms 90:12 KJV
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
God's Word has many different ways to teach us that our life is “but a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.” Numbers 33 summarizes forty years - for all practical purposes a lifetime for these Jews because an entire generation pass away in those forty years - in just 38 verses.

All of the victories
All of the failures
All of the encounters with God
All of the miracles
All of the battles

All of it is given in 38 verses. From the greatness of the parting of the Red Sea to the sinfulness of refusing to cross into the Promised Land and Kadesh Barnea. It is all over in 38 verses.

A lifetime is over so quickly. We think the events surrounding our day to day lives are so significant. But at our funeral, someone will summarize our whole life in a 10 to 15-minute eulogy. If our funeral lasts more than an hour those who attend will complain about it.

So what really matters is not at all those day to day events, no matter how huge for good or bad they seemed to be at the time. What really matters is that we apply ourselves to know God and prepare ourselves for eternal heaven.

Glad Tidings Indeed

Acts 13:32-39 KJV
And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
....
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

These are truly glad tidings! Through Jesus Christ, we are justified of all things.

There is nothing so sinful
There is nothing so wrong
That we cannot be justified of it through Jesus Christ

It does not matter how long ago it happened
It does not matter what men might think about it
It does not matter if others have forgiven us of it
Through Jesus Christ, we can be justified of all things

And they are things we could not be justified of by any other means.
No amount of good works,
No amount of religious deedsNothing in the Old Testament law could have justified us of all things.

But Jesus Christ, through placing faith in Him all who come to Him as justified of all things.

Glad tiding indeed!

Pray without ceasing

Acts 12:5 KJV
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

The power of prayer!

But prayer
Regardless of the power of Herod. Regardless of the guards and gates. No human power is greater than is the power of prayer.

Without ceasing
Without giving up, without quitting. Without wavering.

Of the church unto God
The whole church got involved in praying for Peter.

Right now we are facing a trying situation. One of our beloved members is hanging in the balances of life and death. Doctors are near to the point of giving up. It is time for the church to step to the plate and pray without ceasing for this wonderful man.

God may or may not raise our brother back to health. But we can do him no better than to pray without ceasing for him.

Cleave to the Lord

Acts 11:23 KJV
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

Barnabas saw what had already happened in Antioch and was glad.

There were Christians who witnessed
There were lost people who had believed and turned to the Lord
There were tidings of this getting around the world

Barnabas was not there to win these people to the Lord that was already accomplished. However, he did have this message and that was "with purpose of heart they would all cleave to the Lord."

The word “cleave” means "to stay, remain, stick or persevere." And Barnabas said we would do it with purpose of heart or intentionally. No one will persevere with Christ unless they purpose to do so. This world, the flesh and Satan purposefully draw Christians away from Christ. The allure of this world is powerful enough to pull away anyone who does not intentionally cleave to the Lord.

Barnabas exhorted them all to cleave to the Lord. God's desire is not that there be a few really godly Christians who keep the rest of the casual Christians from getting too far away from the Lord. God's desire is that all of us would cleave to Christ. That all of us would be holy, separate and undefiled by this world.

Any Christian can bring that kind of message. We can implore and encourage other Christians to live for God after they are saved. And it is, I think, God's design that when we come to church we do exactly that.

Commanded Us to Preach

Acts 10:42 KJV
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

Jesus Christ commanded the Apostles to preach unto the people

They were to preach peace by Jesus Christ
They were to preach that God had anointed Jesus Christ
They were to preach all the things they witnessed Him do in Israel and Jerusalem
They were to preach that He was hanged on a tree but God raised Him up the third day
They were to preach that He is the Judge of quick and dead
They were to preach that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins

When they preached that message they had the kind of results Peter saw when he preached it to Cornelius.

And God has commanded us to preach the same things.

The Value of Prayer

Acts 10:4 KJV
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Cornelius was not yet a saved man but the Bible says, among other things about him, that he "prayed to God alway." And God said his "prayers and alms are come up for a memorial before God." The word memorial is from a Greek word meaning "record." God had recorded this man's prayers!

I do not know all that Cornelius may have prayed for, but I know that the first prayer God was interested in answering was that Cornelius would believe in Jesus Christ and "receive remission of sins."

Cornelius prayed to the true and living God, not a god
Cornelius prayed with a heart seeking God, not superficially
Cornelius prayed prepared to obey God when He spoke

And this man's prayers had, "come up for a memorial before God." There is no way to overestimate the value in honest, heart-searching prayer.

Oh that it might be said of more Christians that they, "prayed to God alway."

He Hasn't Seen Their Sin

Numbers 23:21 KJV
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
This is something. Balaam, though compromising in his relationship with Balak and the Moabites, was a prophet of God and the Bible says God put this word in his mouth.

God had not beheld iniquity or seen perverseness in the children of Israel.
This after their unbelief at Kadesh Barnea
This after the fact that his generation would die in the wilderness as a consequence of that unbelief
This after the rebellion of Korah
This after they had blamed Korah's death on Moses and Aaron
This after they Moses smote the rock and God said he would not enter the Promised Land because of it
This after they spake against Moses and God sent serpents to chasten them
Despite all of these sins (and more I did not list) that Israel had committed, God says He had not beheld their iniquity or seen their perverseness.

What mercy and grace God has for His people! If only we will come to Him and lean upon His Word! I believe we can then claim that God does not behold our iniquity or see our perverseness either.

Hear, Experience, See

Numbers 22:31 KJV
Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
Though Balaam did not fellowship with Israel, he was a believer in the same God as the Israelites were. We cannot deny that there are believers who are not a part of a sound church. However, Balaam did become influenced by the pagan king of Moab and Balaam did eventually turn against the clear instruction of God and against the people of God. A person does not have to be a member of a church to be saved, but he is subject to compromise, temptations and sins that might otherwise be protected from if he is faithful in the house of God.

Balaam heard God's Word
When Balak sent the messengers to summon him to curse Israel, Balaam went before God and the Lord told him not to go.

Balaam faced obstacles in his plan
The ass saw the angel of the Lord before Balaam did and attempted to prevent him from following through with his plan to go to Balak. I wonder how often the nuisances we have in our lives- like a car breaking down or something like that- are God's way to prevent us from doing something He has already convicted us in our hearts we should not do?

Balaam saw the angel himself
We are so thick headed and stubborn about going our own way that often times everyone else can see what God is trying to do in our lives but we can't.
It might be a husband or wife
It might be one of our children
It might be our pastor or another godly person
They in some way warn us that the decision we are about to make is a wrong one. Maybe there is some trial that frustrates our attempts to do what we want to do. In Balaam's case, there was the voice of God, then there was a frustrating event, finally, he could see God's warning angel himself.

If we would listen to the still small voice, we might avoid those frustrating events. If we would listen to those people God places in our lives to guide us, we could avoid even further frustrations, and if at least we would stop and consider what God might be teaching us through the frustration, we might see God's plan for our lives and avoid either painful consequences or doing something we will wish in all of eternity we had not done.

He Fell Asleep

Acts 7:60 KJV
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
With a little imagination, a person can envision the violence of this text. There can be very few ways to die, it seems to me, that would be more painful than stoning.
The violence and anger of the mob who had cast him out of the city
The yelling that must have accompanied their stones
The pain of the rocks pelting his body

This would have been a frenzy. Yet the Bible says when Stephen asked the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge he just "fell asleep."

Great peace belongs to the one who knows how to forgive. Despite
The anger,
The busy-ness, and
The violence
of life, the one who has learned to forgive and leave justice in the hands of the Lord will be the one who can lay his head down in peace and sleep.

This is certainly true in day to day life, but it might be truer when it is time to die. Surely the best way to die, the way to die in peace, is to die having forgiven.

Between the Dead and the Living

Numbers 16:48 KJV
And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
God's people, after seeing the hand of the Lord in confirming Moses and Aaron, responded by accusing Moses and Aaron of killing the rebels. God was about to kill the whole congregation but Moses instructed Aaron to take a censer of incense and run into the midst of the congregation to save them.

Amazing! Moses still loved this nation and Aaron still ministered to them!

As a part of my daily Bible reading, I also read Acts 5 this morning. I saw it as the New Testament counterpart for Aaron's censor of incense. There was Peter and the other apostles once again in the midst of a murmuring Israel, preaching
Acts 5:30-32 KJV
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
We stand today, between the dead and the living as witnesses with the message that God has exalted Jesus Christ to be a Prince and Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Some will accept it and the plaque of sin in their life will be stayed. Others will reject and face eternal death in hell.

They Misread The Problem in Canaan

Numbers 13:32 KJV
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
The ten spies made the observation that the Promised Land, "is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof..." The Bible does not record for us exactly what they meant, but the most plausible to me is that, for the forty days they were there, they saw many funerals. It is possible that there was a plague going through the land at the time and that many of the Canaanites were dying from it.

This makes even more sense when we remember that God had promised Israel
Deut 7:17-20 (KJV)
If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.
Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
God may have already begun to destroy the Canaanites through plagues and other disasters, but these spies, in direct defiance of Deuteronomy 7 saw these as obstacles for the children of Israel rather than God's promises being fulfilled.

How often do we do the same things, seeing the trials around us, not as tools God is using to bring about His will, but as hurdles this world throws in our path?
How often are we disbelieving and therefore disobedient, because we cannot see God at work in the events transpiring in the world around us?

Would to God we would be so closely tuned to the Bible that we would see God's Word being fulfilled in daily events!

All God's People

Numbers 11:29 KJV
And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

What a grand man Moses must have been.
Numbers 12:3 KJV
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
Moses was not so concerned about his authority as he was that God's people would be Spirit-filled, God-honoring people. The way to real unity is not for one to have authority and for all to fall into line with him. The way to real unity is for all to completely surrender to God as Moses had done. Moses was not afraid of what these others might say, so long as they had the Lord's Spirit upon them.

This comes into contrast with
Numbers 12:1-2 KJV
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
While Moses was willing to have God spread the Spirit He had placed upon him, and was jealous; Miriam and Aaron accepted that spirit and believed it gave them the right to speak against Moses. God's response was
Numbers 12:5-8 KJV
And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

Moses did not need to forbid the prophets because God was well aware of what they said and thought and was more than capable of caring for Moses.

I read one more passage concerning Moses and his ministry as prophet this morning
Acts 3:20-26 KJV
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

As great as Moses was, and as quick as God was to defend him when Miriam and Aaron spoke against him, there is a greater than Moses. Those who refuse to hear Jesus Christ, the Bible says, "shall be destroyed from among the people."

I Will Hear What the LORD Will Command

Numbers 9:8 KJV
And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.

I see two lessons worth considering today

First; we can be too quick to give out our counsel.
These men brought to Moses a serious inquiry. As the leader of these people, and as one whom the Lord had spoken to on a number of occasions Moses might have simply given his own opinions about how he thought this should be handled.

Not Moses. He knew he needed to hear from the Lord before he gave any instruction in the matter.

Of course, Moses had heard from the Lord previously. It could be that one of the reasons we are quick to give out our opinions is because we are not that confident that God would tell us what to say anyway.
We have heard from our college professors.
We have heard from books and commentaries.Have we accepted them as substitutes for the voice of the Lord? I am, of course, not suggesting we listen for audible voices, but for that still small voice of God that comes as we meditate upon God's Word and wait upon the Lord.

Second; we can be too impatient in waiting for God's counsel.
I wonder how many of us would accept it if, having come to our pastor, he said, "Stand still - wait here, until I hear from the Lord." Stand still might not necessarily mean that you would wait in the pastor's office while he went out and prayed for 10 minutes. It could be that it means to make no changes, make no decisions, make no moves until your pastor has time to get alone with God and return to with some instruction.

Of course, it could be that we don't believe our pastor will really hear anything new from the Lord for us anyway. It is likely that we figure our pastor knows all he will ever know for counsel from what he has learned in college, reading books, and the experience he has gained to this point in the ministry.

God is still alive and, though He speaks today through the Word of God, He still speaks. We would all do well to stand still and hear what the Lord will command.

Pricked in their heart

Acts 2:37 KJV
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
The great need of our day is that man's heart would be once again pricked.

The word means to pierce thoroughly.
My isn't that a need today!
Would to the Lord that we would see people completely pierced through with conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Would to God that souls would be broken and contrite and completely convinced of the truth of God's Word.
There is enough shallow planting of the seed of the Word. We need to see it planted deep within the hearts of men and women and children.

The word also means "to agitate violently or to sting to the quick."
Once again the symbolism is bright. Before a man or woman will be converted through the Gospel they must be concerned for their soul. This is a matter of life or death. This is a matter of heaven or hell. Eternity is at stake and we, in our fleshly state, are bound to judgment.
We are the guilty ones
We are the ones who have turned against the God who created us
We are at fault and
We will one day pay the wages for our sin
Except for Christ.
But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And I Will Bless Them

Numbers 6:27 KJV
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

My devotional reading this morning took me through Numbers chapters five and six. The passage is certainly a spiritual one. The curse for the wife whose husband is jealous (in chapter five) must be miraculous. No water could cause the illness she would get if and only if she was guilty unless the Lord made it to happen.

And this is a spiritual passage. For the priest to bless Israel with the Words.
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And for God to say in that way the priest had "put [God's] name upon" them must be miraculous.

I view my function as a pastor as similar, though not the same, as that of the priest of old. And I do view it as my duty to put God's name on the people I am blessed to pastor through my prayers for them.

My Favorite Fish are the Ones Christ Catches

John 21:9-10 KJV
As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

The disciples were blessed to dine on a meal made both from the labor of their own hands (with of course the divine blessing of Christ in telling them when and where to catch the fish) and that which was provided miraculously through Christ (likely not having even fished for them, but rather simply produced them.)

We are blessed of the Lord to be involved in life. We are not just machines that turn on and off as He wills. We are not pets that have no purpose but to be there when the master whims us to be and that eat only what the master puts in front of us. God has given us free will and God has privileged us to participate in His work and plan.

Still, there is nothing better than those gifts we recognize as coming only from God's hand. I am glad I can work and produce. But I am equally and more happy for that which God produces for me.

Be Not Faithless

John 20:27 KJV
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
....Be not faithless, but believing....
Gill says of faithlessness, [it] is very evil in its own nature, and in its effects; it is the root of all evil; it unfits for duty, and renders the word unprofitable, and leads men off from Christ;

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (KJV)

It is so important that we believe that the Lord met even Thomas' demands so that he would be not faithless, but believing.

God has given us His Word and He has told us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

It is not possible then to over estimate the importance of hearing God's Word and allowing that Word of God to produce faith within us.

We Have A Law

John 19:7 KJV
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

We have a law

They were right that they did have a law. The book of Leviticus 24:16 says, And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.
There was a law

They did not properly understand it. And they did not properly apply it, but they did have a law.

And by that law, Jesus Christ ought to have died. Without it death, there was no way for any man to be saved. With His death and resurrection, there is a way now for all men to be saved.

We have a law too.
The Word of God is pure and sure.

But we do need to study to show ourselves approved unto God.
We ought never use it to get our own way as they did
We ought never use it to hurt another as they did
We ought never abuse it as a tool of personal power as they did

We have a law
God's Word, ought to be obeyed and will accomplish the good God intends for it.

Shall I Not Drink It?

John 18:11 KJV
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

Too often we are not willing to drink the cup which our Heavenly Father has given us.

We draw out our sword
We cut off ears - or worse
We refuse to put away the sword when even the Lord commands us to do so.
We either refuse to let the Lord give us the cup or else
We refuse to believe the cup is from the Lord

We fight
We fight a hopeless battle believing that God will help us win a fight He has never sanctioned us to enter.

Fight believing ignorantly that God would never desire that His children should suffer at the hands of this world or that God would never want us to give the people of this world the pleasure of believing they have won a victory over us.

But the battle in Jesus' case was not won with the sword; it was won through what the world thought was their own victory. The devil put Christ to death, but that death was the very event that sealed Satan's own demise.

God has a cup for each of us, who are His own, to drink. Victory comes, not through resisting the cup but embracing it.

For Their Sakes

John 17:19 KJV
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
The allusion is to the High Priest entering into the Holy of Holies and sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat.

Christ dedicated Himself to God as the one spotless sacrifice and through that sacrifice; those who believe on Christ through the Word of God may be sanctified or dedicated to God.

Without Christ's death, burial and resurrection everything else in the Bible would be mere ritual and useless formality. It is the work of Christ on the cross that makes all the Bible says true, and gives it power in our lives.

Yet For All That

Leviticus 26:44 KJV
And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.

The Old Testament, without question, contains much judgment. God clearly outlined a plan which involved "cause and effect." God laid out for Israel a blessing and a curse; blessing if they would obey Him, cursing if they did not obey Him.

And they did not obey Him. There are some shining stars in the history of Israel but as a whole, the Old Testament marks one year after another of decline in Israel's obedience to God and one year after another of withdrawal of the blessing and presence of God with them until, by the time Jesus came to this earth, they could no longer recognize "God with them."

But what impresses me and gives me great encouragement is that, despite it all, God continually made promises like this one. "And yet for all that..." God remained their God and would not
Abhor them
Destroy them utterly or
Break His covenant with them
And we call this the age of grace…..
What wonders we have in the mercies of God! What cause for hope and comfort.

For all our sins, for all our failures in our own walk with the Lord, for all that, if God would not cast them away we may be sure neither will He do the same for us.

Rise up and walk with God!
Though you have failed Him
Though you are ashamed
Though you cannot bear to look in the face of the Almighty
Rise up! You that know Jesus Christ, He does not abhor you. He is the Lord your God.

Now Ye Are Clean

John 15:3 KJV
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

This verse struck me because it seems almost out of place with the Lord's theme of the branch and its pruning.

Gill and Barnes both suggest (and it seems like they are right to me) that the passage traces back to John 13:10 "Ye are clean but not all" referring to Judas Iscariot. By John 15 Judas had left the company and was about the business of betraying Jesus. He had been pruned from the branch and thus the disciples had been purged.

None of us like losing companions in the Lord. Some of them are not as we would like them to be, but still, we do not wish for any to be lost from either the work of Christ as a whole or our own company. Still, often once they are finally gone we enjoy freedom in the work of Christ that is not there while they are. Their spirit hampers the spirit of the work of the Lord.

I am going to re-think John 15 and the vine and branches - not applying it so much to myself as an individual, but to a local church setting, as it is obvious that the Lord is addressing not just one believer at a time in the text, but the apostles as a whole.

We Know The Way

John 14:4 KJV
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
We know that Jesus went to heaven and we know the way that we go to heaven.

We know the way, praise the Lord there is no question for us.
We know the way thank God I do not have to doubt if I will go to heaven
We know the way. Glory to God I know whom, I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have delivered unto Him against that day.

We know the way.
Lord help us to point others to that way.

Thou Shalt Know Hereafter

John 13:7 KJV
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

Jesus said there were things the disciples could not understand right then, but would later on.
Some things they would understand when Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to heaven
Some things they would come to understand over the course of their life as the Holy Spirit gave them instruction
No doubt
Some things they did not understand until the day they stood beside the Lord in glory.

I am sure the same is true in our cases. There are things that Almighty God does that make no good sense to us. But when we come to know the Lord as Saviour, some of those things begin to make sense. Some things that happen in our lives begin to take on meaning over the years as we walk with the Lord and as we learn His Word. And some things we just won't get figured out until we get to heaven.

The key to it all is to trust the Lord regardless of whether we understand. After all that is what faith is. If we only obey the Lord when we understand what He is doing, we have never really walked by faith.

Father, Glorify Thy Name

John 12:27-28 KJV
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

When Jesus faced the soul troubling prospect of the Cross He proposed this question to His disciples, " ....what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour...."

Jesus answered His own question by saying that He had actually come for the purpose of the Cross. Jesus said that instead of praying that He should be spared from the cross He would pray "Father, glorify thy name...."

When we face soul troubling times in our lives, perhaps our prayers would be better used if instead of praying that we could get out of those troubles, we would pray that our Heavenly Father would glorify His name through our troubles. In some cases, He would do that by delivering us. In other cases, He may do that through our testimony for His sake even though He does not deliver us. In either case, to pray that the Father would glorify His name would not be a prayer asked, "to consume on our own lusts."

Cruel Necessity

Leviticus 20:26 KJV
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
God said he had "severed" Israel from other people. Webster's 1828 has as the first definition of the word "to part or divide by violence." It is a separation, but it is more than that; it is one that is accomplished with "cruel necessity" (again from Webster's 1828). It has a distasteful element to it.

Separation from the world - even from other people in the world is essential for holiness.

And herein lies much of the trouble within Christianity today. Too few are willing to do the distasteful. We would claim we want to be holy. We would claim we want to walk with the Lord. But we are not willing to be severed from other people.

We want to keep our old friends
We want to maintain an agreeable relationship with the lost
We want to fit in, to be liked, to enjoy the people of this world and at the same time, we want to be holy before the Lord.

And we are not the first ones with this trouble. In fact, it appears to me to be the trouble of humankind since God separated Abraham from the Ur of Chaldees. Jacob's children hated to be an abomination to the Canaanites, so God made them an abomination before the Egyptians. Their friendship with the people of the Promised Land was always and forever a thorn to their spiritual side.

Before we can be holy before the Lord, He will have to sever us from other people of this world.

Speak True

John 10:41-42 KJV
And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
And many believed on him there.
John spoke the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. We know of course that many were converted through John's early ministry, but here were see a "second harvest" as a result of the ministry of John the Baptist; a harvest that John himself did not witness this side of death.

When we speak the truth concerning Jesus we will see many varied results;
Some will hear and believe
Some will grow angry and persecute us
Some will believe, but we may never see it in our lifetime.

The combination of a true testimony concerning Jesus Christ, and the work of God in a man's heart will bear it fruit in season.

Stay faithful
Stay truthful

And souls will believe.

Dost Thou Teach Us?

John 9:30-34 KJV
The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

"...dost thou teach us?"

Arrogance is damning. The Pharisees, who were highly educated and thought much of themselves, could not conceive of an unlearned man imparting anything of value to them.

Yet the blind man had three advantages over the Pharisees

He had experienced the hardship of blindness (vs 1)
The handicap is an accurate picture of the sin condition
He had it since birth
It crippled everything he did
It impacted everyone who knew him
He now could see (vs 6-9)
This would be pretty difficult to fight against. They had done their investigation and were sure this was the blind man and that he could now see.
His confidence would be great
His testimony would be compelling
He had met Christ (vs 34-38)
While this was after his message to the Pharisees it is none the less true. The great difference between religious elite and a genuine believer is that one has met the Lord and the other only talks about Him.

This man was a natural teacher. His language to the Pharisees shows order, reason, and conviction. The best teachers of the Word of God are not those who have been taught, but those who have met the Lord in a personal way and are gifted of the Holy Ghost to tell their story.

If the Pharisees had allowed this man to teach them they would have been far better off.

Who Hears God's Words?

John 8:47 KJV
He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Jesus did not distress Himself with the fact that some people would not receive the message He preached. They simply were not of God. Those in whom the Spirit of God is at work, those who are either already saved or else God is convicting to get saved, will hear and understand and accept God's Word for the truth that it is.

Those who are not, will not.

It is true that some whose hearts are being convicted of the Lord will continue to refuse or to ignore God's Word. Therefore we can never give up on praying for people nor can we ever quit preaching the truth and urging them to respond to it. However, there is a difference between quitting and resting in the Lord.

While I must never quit urging men to come to Christ, I must also rest in the Lord's ability to draw them at His time. I do not have to resort to worldly tactics to persuade them, nor do I need to give up in frustration. God is on His throne. Those who are His will respond. Those He has given to us will come and will follow.

We must keep our faith in Christ, not in what appears to be our results.

They Were Right, And Wrong

John 7:40-43 KJV
Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
So there was a division among the people because of him.
The division was here caused because some assumed they knew the truth, but did not. They knew the Bible said the Christ should come from Bethlehem, but they did not know that Jesus was born there. Their reasoning rather than faith caused division, and worse, it was the reason they would not be able to go where Jesus was about to go; heaven (read verses 33-36)

Nowhere does the Bible say Jesus ever attempted to defend His position as the Christ by saying He was born in Bethlehem, or that His mother was a virgin, or that He met the requirements of Davidic lineage. Instead, Jesus appealed to the Word of God, to the testimony of John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit, and to His works. Then He simply trusted His Father to give Him those whom the Father would (consider John 6:37-39, 44-45, 65)

Those who believed because they believed Jesus’ works were the ones who were in the right here and the ones who were saved and would get to follow Jesus into heaven.

I wonder how many people cause divisions in the work of God or refuse to be saved because they think they know the truth, but have not fully searched out a matter?

I wonder how many cause divisions or refuse to be saved because they insist on understanding all the "facts" rather than by faith believing the witness of those who have told them about Christ and of the Holy Spirit's still small voice within them?

Spirit and Life

John 6:63 KJV
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Barnes says that this verse tells us not to take Jesus' words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood literally but spiritually. In this case it is obvious that Jesus spoke metaphorically and not literally.

Nevertheless, when Jesus said His words are spirit and life that can and should be taken for exactly what it says. Spiritual life comes from the Word of God.
Through it we gain the faith to believe and receive Jesus Christ as Saviour
Through it we gain insight and wisdom as to how to lead others to a saving knowledge
Through it we grow in our knowledge and understanding of God and thus in our relationship with Him.
These words are spirit.
They can only be understood through the spirit. No man will know the Bible who only knows it on the level of his flesh. They must be accepted by faith.

These words are life.
Like eating a nourishing meal after a time of fasting, the Word of God restores the soul and refreshes the spirit of the child of God who takes it in.

Wave Breast and Heave Shoulder

Leviticus 7:34 KJV
For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.
In the last couple of weeks I have made mention of the stones that the priest wore on his shoulder, bearing the names of the twelve tribes and of the breastplate of jewels also bearing those names. The priest was to, in symbolic form carry the burdens of the tribes on his shoulders before the Lord and then carry the love for those tribes on his breastplate near his heart.

Here I find the reciprocation. God here gives the priests, from the sacrifices of those people, the wave breast, and the heave shoulder of their peace offerings. The one who bore the spiritual burdens and heart of the people received from them material blessings equal to their responsibility.

God provides for His own. We can trust the Lord to know our needs and to meet them in a way that is more than just.

What a loving and just God have we!

Just Judgment

John 5:30 KJV
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus said His judgment was just because He sought not His own will, but the will of God the Father. It is impossible but that we who are Christians will have to make judgments and, with it, accept the accusation of being judgmental.

We must judge between right and wrong
We must judge what is sound doctrine and unsound
We must judge concerning those qualified to serve in the Lord's work and those who are not.
We must judge concerning who is appropriate companionship and whose companionship will draw us away from Jesus Christ.
Those who love darkness will always judge those who shine light into the darkness, but that does not mean the light should not be shined.

We learn a lesson from Jesus Christ concerning that judgment; it can be just so long as we seek the will of God the Father and not our own.

We Heard Him Ourselves

John 4:42 KJV
And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

There is, without question, the need for faithful energetic, excited, convinced witnesses. This woman’s' witness in the city would have been more than half-hearted. She is the type who would not have spoken to the majority of the people in her city prior to this. She is at the well in a time of day when no one would be there - no doubt to avoid contact with others. But she has met the Messiah and that changed her. She went into the city to draw attention to Christ; not fearing what people would think of her for her attention was completely swept up in Christ.

Nevertheless, the real story of this story is not her witness, but that of Christ's. They believed, not because of her enthusiasm, not because of he excitement, not because of her conviction; but because they heard Jesus themselves.

That's what we need today. We need to get the attention off of ourselves and onto the Lord Jesus Christ. People don't need to see our conviction, excitement, enthusiasm; they need to see Christ. They do not need to hear our testimony, they need to hear Jesus.

“O Lord, make that so! Lord speak to the hearts and souls of men and women and children. Reprove of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We can never convince the soul. We can only encourage the lost to "Come see...." You must convince them so they believe.”

What Condemns

John 3:19
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Boil the sin problem down to its basic nuts and bolts and here is what you have; men loved darkness rather than light.

The light referred to is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the righteousness that is available to men through Him. It is a walk with the Lord in fellowship and peace. When we get to heaven (those of us who are saved) we will find that there is no need for artificial lights such as the sun and the moon. Jesus Christ will be the light of that place. (Revelation 21:23)

What a grand day that will be when there is no night; when there is no sin. When there is no sickness, death, evil or pain.

Yet men love the darkness rather than the light.
They would rather stumble in the darkness of self-will.
They would rather endure the pain of sin and agony of death than to walk in the pure light of the Lord.
We who desire to walk in the light should never be ashamed that others run from it. We who are anxious to dwell in the light of the Lord should never step into the darkness, even if the light offends some we would love to win to Christ.

We Have Found Him

John 1:45 KJV
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
We have found Him...

This is a confident statement.
Philip is an unlearned man. He is not one who would know the intricate details of prophecy, doctrine or Scripture. But he knew Jesus was the One the Word of God said would come.

This is an exciting statement.After all these generations, waiting for the promise of the Word of God, finally, the promise had been fulfilled. It would not have been difficult to keep quiet about what they had seen. Yet Philip anxiously told Nathaniel, even though Nathaniel did not respond with the same excitement as Philip may have supposed.

What a difference we might make in our world if we would tell what we know about Christ with both the same enthusiasm and confidence that Philip did.

Slow of Heart

Luke 24:25 KJV
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

These words could just as easily been spoken to the believers of today as to those two so many years ago.

These were witnesses of the life of Jesus Christ
There were those who had heard Him speak of His death and resurrection
There were some who had heard from the women themselves that Jesus Christ had risen

These were believers. These were not mockers or scorners of even doubters. These were believers John Gill says Cleopas is the same as Alphaeus, the father of James and Jude and the brother to Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, the mother of Christ.

Yet they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. It was not that they did not believe some of it. Their Jewish background was such that they likely considered themselves believers of the Word of God. Still, there were those things in the Word of God that they could not reason. They were not slow in the mind to believe. Nor were they slow in word to say they believed. But they were slow of heart. The truth of the death burial and resurrection of the Saviour had not sunken in yet. Nor had they gotten hold yet of the victory that was won for them through this miracle.

Today God's house will be filled with believers. I do not question the sincerity of anyone who will come to worship the Lord. However, many of us will be slow of heart to believe all that God's Word will say to us. We will claim to believe. We will believe that we believe, but unless God burns His words within us, His message will reach only the head and not the heart.

O Lord, please expound the Scriptures to us today!

Every Man...Looked

Exodus 33:7-9 KJV
And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
The people had sinned horribly with the golden calf Aaron had made. God had plagued the people because of their sin.

Now Moses was about to go before the Lord for them.
Would God bless them with His presence once again?
Would God forgive their sin and remove the plague?
Would God still direct them to the Promised Land, or would they be destined to die right there at the bottom of the Mount?

Every man came to his tent door and watched as Moses went to meet God for them. And they watched until Moses was inside the tabernacle and God's pillar had descended upon it. Moses serves as a type of Christ, who is the Mediator between man and God. Only through Jesus Christ can the condemnation of our sin be forgiven. Moses also serves as a type of the minister of Jesus Christ who gives himself to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God.

Men are no less sinners today and under no less condemnation even right now. Our world is riddled not with one plague, but one plague after another. The need today is for someone who meets God for them; someone who will intercede. The need today is for a man (or men) who can plead to God for Jesus' sake that men and women and children who are bound in sin may be free.

What Would Follow

Luke 22:49 KJV
When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
The situation was obvious. Jesus and his Apostles were there in the garden, and a multitude of soldiers and Jewish leaders had assembled around them. They were not there for a message from the man of God.
They knew what would follow.
They knew Jesus was not on the most popular list with the leaders of the Jews.
They knew that Jesus had told them He would be betrayed.
They knew what was on the faces of the multitude that drew near.

I consider this a statement of real faith, "...Lord shall we smite with the sword?" There was no way humanly speaking they could defend themselves against this multitude. They either believed that Jesus would miraculously help them or else they would and were willing to die right there with and for Him.

Sometimes we can tell what is about to follow too. We will find ourselves in situations where the intention of those around us is very clear. At those times two things seem very wise;
First, have faith. Our Lord can receive glory in the most impossible of circumstances. Believe and trust Him in them
Second, ask Him what to do. Sometimes the thing that seems most obvious is not the thing Jesus will lead us to do at the moment.

Ear, Hand and Foot

Exodus 29:20 KJV
Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

Here is a hint about the work of the priest. God wanted to anoint
The tip of their right ear.
Symbolizing that he must be careful first about what he hears. He ministers the Word of God. Therefore care must be taken that he receives the truth and not false doctrine. Ours is not to hear a little bit of everything and pick and choose what we like. Ours is to stick with the truth of God's Word. Someone told me that in Acts when the Greeks said of Paul, "What will this babbler say?"[1] That the word babbler traces back to a type of bird that picked out the seeds from other birds dung. By saying "What will this babbler say?" They were saying, "Let's find out who he's been listening to." We ought only to be listening to the Word of God.

The thumb of their right hand.
Symbolizing our activity, our work. Placing the blood on the thumb also seems to me to be indicative of the difference between man and beast. With the exception of some primates and a couple of other species, only mankind has the opposable thumb which has led to fine motor skills and the development of the use of tools. Could it be that the anointing of the thumb serves to remind us that we are to do our work, whatever kind it is, as unto the Lord?

The great toe of the right foot
Symbolizing our travels. Wherever we go and whomever we meet in those travels, we are to be dedicated to the Lord. We ought to only go places where God would be pleased and we ought only to go there when it would please the Lord.

It was the right ear, hand, and foot which tells me that we give God our best and our strongest. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and allow Him to take care of our personal needs.

It was not just Aaron, but Aaron's sons as well who were to be anointed. The priesthood does not correspond to the pastors of today so much as to the saints of today. Every Christian is a priest of God; with both the privileges and responsibilities of that office. We may all come to God with our prayers and concerns and we may all study the Word of God for ourselves. But we must all also dedicate our ears, hands and feet, even our very lives to the cause of Jesus Christ.

[1] Acts 17:18

Upon His Two Shoulders

Exodus 28:12
And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

The names of the tribes of Israel were engraved on two stones that were carried on the High Priest's shoulders.

I imagine these stones as being relatively large. I do not know what they would have weighed, but it must have been enough to remember they were there.
I imagine the names to be facing upward toward the heavens because they were to be born "before the Lord."
They are only the names of the twelve tribes and not the names of each and every person. The tribes represented as a whole each person as an individual.

As a type of the work of the ministry,
I see the stones as bearing the burdens of each other in the church. We are not as the Israelites were. We are all priests before the Lord and we each have a responsibility to minister to the other for the sake of Christ.

I see those names being lifted before the Lord as representing our responsibility to pray one for another.

I see the fact that Aaron had the names of the twelve as representing the concept of delegation. In the church, if the pastor will lift up the names of the assistant pastors and deacons, and if the deacons will be assigned the names of several families in the church, then every family can be lifted up before the Lord.

I see the fact that the stones were fastened to his clothing representing the idea of keeping those names with us wherever we go. We can lift up those we love and are responsible for when we are at work, when we are at home when we go about our personal business.

I am going to take it literally and begin to carry the names of our families with me daily.

That Stone

Luke 20:18 KJV
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
I saw this passage from two points of view this morning.

First from the negative, when one stumbles upon Christ; when a person hears the Gospel message but rejects it, there is no hope of salvation for him. Only through Christ are we able to be whole, healed and saved. Only through Christ are we able to claim a home in eternal heaven. When a person trips over Christ, he is surely lost.

But it is worse than that because once one has fallen on the Stone, then the Stone falls upon him. The devastation of being lost is worse than not going to heaven; it is ultimately going to hell where a soul suffers in the fire and brimstone eternally. The wrath of God is poured upon the lost, not for a moment or even for a day, but forever.

On the other hand, there is a positive way to view this verse. When one comes to the stone, Jesus Christ and falls before him in confession and contrition
He is broken in the flesh,
He dies to self, but
He is born again through the Spirit of God.
O what sweetness is being broken before the Lord Jesus Christ! Through this braking comes our salvation from sin, our birth into the family of God and our assurance of a home in eternal heaven.

But it is better than this because when once we fall before the Stone, then the Stone falls upon us. Through the rest of our lives on this planet, Jesus Christ continues to grind and crush to powder the vestiges of flesh that is worldly-wise and wicked. He sanctifies us and cleanses us. He convicts us of our sin. He chastens us and corrects us so that one day He may present us before the Father without spot or blemish.

It is up to us, which application will be ours.

Because They Thought

Luke 19:11 KJV
And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

Jesus spake a parable because some thought the kingdom would immediately come. Even though Jesus gave them this parable, still, in Acts 1 they asked Him if He would restore the kingdom at that time. They just did not get it. They were so focused on the kingdom of God come immediately that they had difficulty seeing the message Jesus wanted them to get.

I wonder how many times we completely misunderstand what is the Lord’s true will? So often we have our preconceived ideas of God's plan and our idea so clouds our understanding of God's Word that we cannot see what God is doing through what we have predetermined is God's plan.

I want to seek the Lord's help to wash away the sludge that clouds my vision of God's truth so I can see clearly what is the will and plan of God.

Thou Hast Polluted It

Exodus 20:24-25 KJV
An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
The Lord is here either speaking of another type of altar than the one He would later give instructions to build for the tabernacle or else, this is a provision for an altar prior to the construction of the altar they had in the tabernacle.

God said concerning the altar of stone, that if they lifted a tool to change the shape of the stone, they had polluted the altar. This was to be an altar made entirely of that which God provided, not touched with the art and craftsmanship of man.

I am reminded that when the Temple was built the Bible says that all the stones were hewn out of earshot of the building site so that no sounds were heard in the building. I am also reminded how that when the brazen altar was constructed, it was crafted by men, not with natural talent, but men who had been gifted by the Spirit of God.

I do note that man has his place of service. God did tell them to make the altar of stone. There is human responsibility in the work of worshiping the Lord. However, men were not to lift a tool upon that stone, which reminds us that whenever we take what God has given, and mold it in any way, we corrupt and pollute it.

There is the fine balance in the work of worshiping and serving the Lord. That balance is kept when we do our service, not in the strength of our own will and natural abilities, but in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit in us.

Eliezar

Exodus 18:4 KJV
And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

Moses' testimony, through his son Eliezar (the name means literally "God of help"), was that the faith of his father saw him through his times of trouble. Amram's faith, though Amram was personally only able to have a small influence in Moses' life, brought Moses to that same faith. And it was the God he placed his faith in, the God he had learned to trust through his father that had helped him in his time of greatest need.

The faith of the father cannot be emphasized enough in our families. A believing dad, who walks with God and sets that example for his children, passes down to them the greatest asset a person can have in this world; a relationship with the "God of help."

I pray that my boys, though they will face their own trials in life, will find that the God their father taught them of is their help.

Unto the Lord

Exodus 15:1 KJV
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Twice in this verse, the Bible says they sang "unto the Lord."

A couple of weeks ago I taught a Sunday school lesson on the subject of "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." The point is that not all worship singing is directed "unto the Lord." There is Christian singing that is rightly and legitimately directed to the believers, and maybe in some cases to the lost.

However, a Christian ought to realize that every song we sing is at the very least heard by the Lord. Whether the song is directed to the Lord or is meant for the edification of the Christian or even if it is meant to warn the unbeliever;
Our music out to have a spiritual content
Our music ought to be doctrinally correct
Our music out to be exalting to Christ
He is on the first row listening to every song we sing, whether with our lips or just in our heart, whether coming from our own motivation or coming from the fact that we are listening to it through some outside medium (radio, CD, mp3 or other)

My Disciple

Luke 14:26 KJV
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Three times in Luke 14 Jesus said that if certain conditions were not met a man "cannot be my disciple." The question can be raised, is being a disciple the same as being saved?

The word disciple means pupil or student. It is evident that not all of Christ's disciples were completely loyal to Him for the Bible says in John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (KJV)

The disciple or student of Christ must of necessity be devoted to Christ.
Like a college student who never showed up for class.
Like the High School who never did his homework
Like the trade school student who never practiced his craftThe disciple who is not devoted to his teacher is not really a student of the teacher.

When I taught at college level, I never understood the student who paid for a class he did not work at. This is exactly what Jesus meant. It does not matter if you call yourself a disciple of Christ or not; the only real disciples are those who forsake all to follow Him. (vs 33)

God Expects Fruit

Luke 13:6-9 KJV
He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

The Word of God only has one interpretation, but it has many applications. The one interpretation of this passage has to do with the Jewish nation and their lack of repentance toward God. God had been gracious and patient with them. God's kindness toward Israel cannot be over stated. But there came a day when that patience was through and judgment came upon them.

Barnes makes this application; "We may also remark that God treats sinners in this manner now; that he spares them long; that he gives them opportunities of repentance; that many live but to cumber the ground; that they are not only useless to the church, but pernicious to the world; that in due time, when they are fairly tried, they shall be cut down; and that the universe will bow to the awful decree of God, and say that their damnation is just."[1]

So the interpretation is toward the Jews. An application may be made toward the lost, and I would like to suggest that another application may be made toward the believer.

Who can deny God's kindness and grace toward us in sending His Son to die for us? We, who are born again, recognize the goodness of God in Christ, to say nothing of the other kindnesses the Lord places in our lives. Yet we too can be guilty of producing no fruit to the glory of the Lord. God has been so gracious to us, is it not true that God should expect that we would produce the fruit of
Good works,
A Christ honoring lifestyle and
Souls led to the Saviour through us?

The Lord expects fruit. This is the gist of the parable no matter to whom we apply it.

[1] E-Sword 7.8.5, Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible, Albert Barnes (1798-1870)

My Friends

Luke 12:4-5 KJV
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Even though there was a multitude present, verse 1 tells us that this whole sermon is spoken chiefly to His disciples, no doubt referring to the twelve.

First, I see that He calls them His friends.
What comfort and joy can be found in that term. That our Lord would call those who are His disciples, also His friends means the relationship is more than academic or institutional.
He loves us.
He is close to us.
His heart is for us.He is not a God who is far off. His relationship with us is one of affection. Praise the Lord.

Secondly I see that His promises to us really have little to do with the protection of the physical body. He does tell us in this sermon not to toil for food raiment and stature. Those physical necessities will be provided by our Heavenly Father as we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But the implication of these words is that those who can kill the body can kill even the bodies of the believers.

This is not saying that Christians have to fear being cast into hell. We are saved and we can't go to hell. But we still need to fear the One who does cast into hell and not the powers of this earth. Godly fear of the Lord is a distinctive of the believer, but it is a distinctive that is being lost and with it our ability to influence the world for Christ.

With What We Must Serve the Lord

Exodus 10:26 KJV
Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither.
Moses insisted that they take everything with them into the wilderness because they knew "...not with what we must serve the Lord..."

He could not budget
He could not deal with Pharaoh
They had to take it all with them because they did not know what all the Lord might desire.

We must remember that this was before the Law had been given. They did not know yet which kinds of animals the Lord would require for His sacrifices or how many of them. Everything was new.

It is true that there are some things that are already known among us.
We know salvation is only through the Lord Jesus Christ
We know that we are to gather on the first day of the week
We know we are to bring to the Lord on that day our tithes as He hath prospered us
Still, we do not know the specific dynamics of any given day of worship.
There will be a combination of people there that is unique to that day; some who usually attend won't be at church., some who have never attended will be there.
Every Sunday school class will be unique for the day; students will have experienced things the previous week which will give them perhaps a different spirit than they have had before.
From time to time there will be news brought forth at the services that will impact our own spirit in the service; perhaps the death of a saint or that one who is important to us is ill and in need of prayer.
Sometimes there will be a need that is unique to the particular service; a missionary may be there and an offering is taken for him, or else someone who usually performs a ministry is not there, and we will be called up to take their place.
Each week we, "...know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither." So each and every service we ought to come bringing everything before the Lord
Our time
Our talents and
Our treasures
And be ready to give any or all.

Go Your Ways

Luke 10:3 KJV
Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

My mind stuck on the words, "Go your ways...."

They did not all go the same way
They would not have all had the same experiences.
Some of them would have gone to towns and villages where they were received and well cared for while they preached.
Some of them would have gone to towns and villages where they had to leave, shaking the dust off of their feet.
Some no doubt would have run into difficulties with the religious of their day.
Some of them might have gone to places where they preached unhindered.

But all of them when they returned to Jesus did so with joy.

They did not complain about the trials
They did not mention those who refused to hear

They were back in the presence of the Lord and their only reports were of the successes of the Gospel.

I see this as similar to our case today. We each have our own way to go for the Lord. We do not experience the same successes. We endure different levels of difficulty and hardship. But when we stand before the Lord the only things we will want to report about are the joys we have had in living for the Lord.

The Lord God...Hath Sent Me

Exodus 7:16 KJV
And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.
This seems to me to be the age-old problem between preacher and congregation. The preacher believes the Lord hath sent him. His message is more than entertainment. What he speaks, he speaks from the viewpoint that the Lord as given him the message.
He views it as urgent.
He views it as life changing.
He views it as commanding

But like the Pharaoh, the congregation does not hear. Oh, just like Pharaoh, they give audience to the message. They hear the words of the preacher, but they do not accept them as from Almighty God and consequently, they do not obey the message.

Just like Moses with the Pharaoh, the preacher approaches his congregation time and time again. He brings the same message, but each time from a different angle, praying that some time the hearers will hear.

So Great Faith

Luke 7:9 KJV
When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Jesus gave this centurion just about the highest praise I think a man can receive. His faith is great.

So I got to thinking about what made his faith so great and the one thing that appears to highlight his faith is how "matter of fact" it is. He told Jesus, "say in a word, and my servant shall be healed."

His faith was simple
His faith was sure
His faith had nothing to do with his own worthiness. He knew he was not worthy. He did not try to impress Jesus with his presence. He simply understood. Jesus, as the Son of God, had perfect authority to "say in a word" and what He said would be done.

The problem with our faith is
Not our lack of faithfulness
Not our in ability to pray beautiful prayers
Not our unworthiness

The problem with our faith is that we do not see it as a "matter of fact" as it is. What Jesus has said in his Word is matter of fact. It is exactly what He said it is. Faith is just taking His Word for it.

On Grandpa's Knees

Genesis 50:23 KJV
And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
This is a cherished picture in my mind. Joseph's younger years were difficult ones. It would not have been hard for a person in his shoes earlier on in life to question the goodness of the Lord.
Hated by his brethren,
Bereaved of his mother,
Sold into slavery,
Imprisoned falselyJoseph could have easily grown bitter and against the Lord.

But he did not. His faith stayed true and he was eventually honored of the Pharaoh and used of the Lord to save his father and brethren from starvation in the drought.

But the mark of the blessed man is right here; he was able to bring up his grandchildren on his knees. The strength of the Jewish family in those days was the fact that generations stayed together. By means of honoring grandparents and even great grandparents, they passed down the faith of the first generation to the next.

One of Satan's most effective tools in destroying Christianity has been the destruction of the extended family. We move away as soon as we can, looking for success in the financial world; and we do it at the sacrifice of the spiritual world.

Just Pray

Luke 5:16
And He withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed
It should be noted that this passage tells nothing about what Jesus prayed, but only that He did pray.

We have all our books about prayer; some classics like the EM Bounds series and others more recent like The Prayer of Jabez book so popular today. Too often we want to know the secret of prayer. We want someone to teach us how to unlock the mercies and gifts of God through a system of prayer.

What we need today is to pray. To trust the Holy Spirit of God to lead us in our prayers with requests that are the desires of the Lord placed in our hearts and with groaning which cannot be uttered.

We don't need a prayer list
We don't need a prayer tool
We need prayer.

Fools Despise Instruction

Proverbs 1:7 KJV
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The wisest people are those who, "will hear and will increase learning." As a believer, one of the greatest things that could be said of me is that I never stop learning, never step out of the way of instruction. One of the greatest compliments that could be paid me is that I am a student.

We reach a point where we wished we could have settled our education. We want to be translated from student to scholar. But the true scholar is really just a student with more experience.