Looking Upon Jesus

This morning in my time with God, He spoke to me through this passage.

Numbers 21:4-9 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

There is so much packed in here for us to take away, as we read this story.

First, notice how so often we behave like Israel did. Like them, we have been given God’s Word, He has promised us all things we need to survive our journey through this life. Yet, we expect God to make things easy and we, too, get impatient with Him as we wait on Him to fulfill all our prayers. I’m not sure we really grasp how often we complain against Him. Or how often we simply do not do things as He calls us to. 

Then notice God’s response to their disobedience and their lack of faith. That’s what it is by the way; a lack of faith. We lack the faith to trust in God and in the way upon which He calls us to walk. God, being our Father, then brings discipline to us, just as we see here in God’s having brought fiery serpents. Our discipline may not come in that form, but just maybe things like a virus, might possibly be God moving in discipline. 

Then notice the people’s response, because it needs to be our response. The people come to Moses in confession and repentance and Moses prays for God to respond to their recognition of their sin. 

God responds by providing them a way to live, even in the midst of the judgment of their sin. 

This is a beautiful picture of Jesus. We celebrate Christmas because in response to our sin and its cost of judgment through death, if we will do as they were called to, and look to Jesus, when we see Him, we will live. The bronze serpent was a picture of Christ. 

Every time we sin against God, we can look to Jesus, at His death and resurrection by which He paid the cost of our sin, and by faith in Him, we can live. 

Let us look upon Jesus and live.

The Power of Repentance

This morning's Bible reading was in 1 Kings, chapters 7-9 and is packed full of wonderful truth. King Solomon has completed the building of the Temple and he takes time to pray to God. 

“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. 

The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, 

that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. - 1 Kings 8:56-58 

Do you see it?

Not one of God's promises will fail to come true. Like Israel, we can find rest in Him, for He is faithful to what he promises us.

He will never leave nor forsake us. Whenever we feel distant from God, it is not Him who left, He is always there. But our sin will keep us from feeling His presence.

Solomon understood the power of humility and a repentant heart.

“When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers. “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.” - 1 Kings 8:33-36   

That is a description of how the Gospel works. We must keep His commandments. But we all fail in our own efforts to do so. Sometimes that brings consequences. But if we confess and repent, He will forgive us and restore us.

Again, we see Solomon, in this prayer, show us the way of the Gospel.

“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.”                          - 1 Kings 8:46-50   

There is no one who does not sin. But through Christ, God made a way for us to come to Him in prayers of repentance. 

See how Solomon finishes His prayer.

“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

God’s Word will not fail you. Call on Him today and receive the free gift of salvation that Jesus has offered to you. Let Him restore you, so that you may live under the umbrella of God’s grace and mercy.

Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.

The Battle Over My Sin

 The battle for victory over sin is a difficult one and if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we lose the battle more often than we win it. We try and try to stop certain behaviors. The battle for pure thoughts in our minds is even harder as we live in a world that is constantly attacking us. 

Jesus warned us in Matthew 26:4, saying this, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Yet, we cannot excuse our behavior, there is never an excuse for sin. He tells us we always have opportunity and the ability to say no to our sin nature. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Yet, we fail Him daily. Reading this morning in Psalms, it is clear that God’s people in the Old Testament were just like us. In Psalm 78, we read of the repeated failings of the people. 

Psalm 78:10-11  

They did not keep God’s covenant but refused to walk according to his law.  They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them. 

Psalm 78:17-19 

Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 

Psalm 78:21-22  

Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,  because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. 

Psalm 78:29-31  

And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.  But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,  the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel. 

Psalm 78:32-37  

In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.  So, he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.  When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.  They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.  But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.  Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. 

Whoa, these people were messed up. Despite all God had done for Israel and all that He gave them, they still sinned against Him. 

But if we look closely at our own hearts, are we any better? For all God has blessed us with, even giving up His own Son to die for our sins, we turn back to our selfish desires habitually. We complain, we whine, we live our lives in fear and anxiety and we simply don’t obey His commandments. We are just like Israel.

But there is more to the story in Psalm 78 then the failings of God’s chosen people. There is an amazing description of how God responds to His people, even in the midst of their failings.

Psalm 78:38-39  

Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.  He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. 

It is popular these days to say to people, “God is not angry with you.” Uh, not Biblical! 

Exodus 32:9-10  

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

Those were God’s people He was angry at. Look at the next verse, it says so.

Exodus 32:11  

But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Yes, God’s wrath can burn hot against His own. Was Moses not one of God’s chosen and favorite people?

Exodus 4:14  

Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses…

Of course, God can be angry with us. But back to the comforting words of Psalm 78.

Psalm 78:38-39  

Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.  He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. 

This is a picture of the Gospel. He atoned for their iniquity. That is an OT picture of Jesus. This is the beauty of the Gospel. Despite our sinfulness and our continued return to sin, Jesus paid the price for our sins, once and for all. He restrains His anger.

The Psalm doesn’t end here. It goes on to show that the people of Israel continued to fail God. 

Psalm 78:40-42  

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!  They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.  They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.

Just as they rebelled against the God who brought them out of captivity in Egypt, we rebel against the Savior who delivered us from the captivity of sin.  

Psalm 78:56-59  

Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.  For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.  When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. 

The Psalm goes on to explain how God disciplined His people. 

Psalm 78:62-64 

He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage. Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. 

He vented His wrath on them. He came down hard.

But then the Psalm ends with this reminder that God has sent a shepherd to lead His people home to the safety of His sheepfold.

Psalm 78:70-72  

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;  from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.  With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. 

Once more we see in the Old Testament, a picture of our wonderful Savior, Jesus, who, with His upright heart, shepherds His people and guides them with His skillful hand.

I don’t think there is any question but to conclude Psalm 78 is a picture of the Gospel. 

Yes, we fail Him daily. But it won’t be our faithfulness that saves us in the end, it will be the faithfulness of Jesus by which we shall persevere. The words of Psalm 78 bring great comfort to the heart of a repentant sinner, who is humbled by the failings of his own heart, but who looks to Jesus to bring grace and mercy to His people. 

Turn to Jesus today. It’s our only hope. But it’s a sure hope.

God Knows We Are Just Dust

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. - Psalm 103:8-14

Every day I fall short in my quest to please God and to be like Jesus. But God knows us, He made us. He remembers that "we are dust." This is why Jesus came. This why we need to surrender our lives to Him. This is why we must receive Him as Lord and Savior. 

These verses from Psalm 103 are the Gospel. They are amazing truths about God and about why we can live in hope. They are why He is worthy of all our praise and worship. 

But you must fear Him. You must fear Him so much that you have no other option, no other hope, but to live in faith and in joyful expectation of His mercy and grace.

What To Do When Your Faith Is Tested

The world is in a crisis this very day. For the most part, there is nowhere one could go that the threat of sickness and even death, is not real, due to the corona virus situation. People are scared. The world has basically shut down and many people hiding out in their homes.

As a Christian, I am called to be different than the world. No, we Christians are not perfect, we still worry and get anxious, but to be Biblically truthful, we are not supposed to be afraid, nor are we to be anxious. We are all at different levels of spiritual maturity, so each of us will have our own struggles.

This begs the question, what are we to do with the current situation? What does this all mean? Why is this happening?

If you follow me on social media, you may likely know that I am one of those crazy Christians, who has the audacity to sat that this virus is a warning from God. I have always believed that the message of repentance is the correct one that ought to be preached. John the Baptist came out of the wilderness preparing the way for the coming Messiah, with this message saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 3:2. We see that Jesus began His public ministry with the same words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 4:17. The call to repent is a serious one and I find no scriptural reason that we shouldn’t believe that we ought to be still preaching the same thing. The world we live in today has for the most part moved further and further from God and is very similar to the one we read of in Genesis 6, where man had become so corrupt, that God decided He would clean out mankind and start anew with Noah. We live in a world today that appears ripe for a cleansing.

No, I don’t believe God is going to wipe out mankind at this time, but I do believe that since we live in an age of grace, since the coming of Christ, and  that because “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.- 2 Peter 3:9, I believe God is showing His mercy in bringing a warning to this lost and godless world. The message to those who reject Him is simple; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

But we Christians, though we all have things to repent of, are not guilty of the only sin that will lead you to hell, which is the sin of unbelief. We who are Christ’s have repented of that sin and are forgiven and have received the gift of eternal life.

Then what are we to do with this crisis?

The answer is simple and is found clearly in scripture. We are to see this as a trial and a test of our faith. Look at the Book of James and it becomes easy to see what we do.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” -

James 1:2-4  

We are to count it all joy. Clearly this is a trial and James tells us that trials of various kinds test our faith. I don’t know about you, but my faith is being tested. I’ve spent the last several years purposely trying to build my faith, for I know from past experience, difficult times come. But as hard as I’ve worked at it I still struggle. I’ve committed myself to a daily time of Bible study, have attended church regularly, joined a small group where I get encouraged, I’ve prayed and prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide me to greater faith, and made it my goal to believe every word that God has written down in the scriptures. But still as my faith is tested daily, I am struggling and fighting to avoid fear, anxiety, and doubt.

James tells us though that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. Steadfastness, if we let it have its full effect, will make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

These aren’t my words; these are the Words of God.  I know that because it says this in 

2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The answer to how we count this as joy, in the midst of uncertainty, sickness, and even death, is to lay hold of the truth that God is actually using these times, this pain and sorrow, to make us more like Jesus. James said that trials make us “perfect and complete” which would certainly describe Jesus.

I know this is hard. Some of us will face different levels of testing. I don’t know why God may test your faith differently than mine. Some of us will face tests that will seem impossible to bear and unless you keep your eyes on Jesus and you live in His strength, not your own, it may be impossible. But don’t try to do this alone. Let Jesus take you through it and believe what He has told us in the Bible. Moses had a message for Israel as they prepared to cross into the promised land and his message had a promise that is also ours. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6  

The same promise is echoed in Hebrews 13:5 which says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

I don’t know what the immediate future holds for any of us. I know what the end result will be for all of us who “let steadfastness have its full effect.” We will lack nothing and will one day soon be free from this broken and corrupt world that has sin and sickness beating us down. We will live in eternal bliss with our Lord and Savior for all of eternity.

I hope this encourages you to dig deeper into God’s word and learn even more of the joy and the peace we can live in until he comes back or takes us home. If you have trouble understanding and knowing what to do next, James speaks to that as well.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. - James 1:5-6  

When your faith is weak, turn to Jesus with whatever little faith you can muster up and go to Him in prayer. Believe God. If you do, then you will be able to do as James commands us to.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4  

May God richly bless you.

The Importance of Conviction

I came across a scripture reading this morning in which, during the course of explaining the proper use of the Spiritual Gift of tongues, the Apostle Paul contradicts the modern concept of soft preaching and witnessing to the lost which has become prevalent today. It’s timely for me as I was recently asked by a brother in Christ to listen to a sermon recently given at his church. It doesn’t matter which church or who gave this sermon, I can assure you that far too many churches are propagating this very untruth. The devil has misled many well-being preachers, teachers, and members of Christ’s church into the notion that in order to win people to Christ, we need not preach to them about their sin. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict they say.

I don’t disagree. The Bible is clear that one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of its sin. But God has built up His Church, the true Church, to be the vehicle by which the truth of the Bible is to be taken to the lost. We were given the Great Commission by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit and endowed with special, spiritual gifts, to take the Gospel out to the world and then to make disciples.

Read this passage.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25
 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,  the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

The object of the Gospel is to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus, so that through the work of sanctification, all who believe in His name will make Him Lord of their life and do as Jesus did, His will.

John 17:1-4
 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,  since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

If we are to become like Jesus, then our goal must be to glorify God.

When an unbeliever walks into our church or into our lives, according to Paul, this is what should happen. “He is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed.” This is how the Holy Spirit works in conviction, by opening their hearts to the truth of the entire counsel of God, as is recorded in the Bible, and then using what they heard to bring conviction.

Romans 10:14-17
 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”  So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

The good news is that though we are sinners, God has sent Jesus to pay that price for our sin. People need to know what they are “saved” from. For when they hear God’s Word spoken, they are convicted by “all”, the secrets of their hearts are disclosed and then, they will fall on their face, worship God, and know God is present in that place.

This is the method God has chosen to use to bring people to a saving knowledge of Himself. This is why we have been each, given a spiritual gift. This is why the entire counsel of scripture must be preached in the church. Some of us are teachers, some pastors, and some lay people, but all of us are to be speaking the truth of the Word.

Hebrews 4:12
 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We cannot continue to ignore the truth of scripture. I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, I sure hope soon, but until He does it is our work to preach His Word. Our culture is in serious moral decline. It’s no coincidence that the less we prophesy the truth and call out the sins in the world and be the salt and light of Christ, the worse it is getting.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25
 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,  the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

The Bible is clear. Do it in love, for much of 1 Corinthians tells us we must, but do it. It is not love to let someone live with a false hope that they can live in sin and still be Christ’s.

Every Christian is a Saint - Called By God

This morning as I begin a journey into study of 1 Corinthians, I was reminded of a wonderful truth of what it means to be in Christ. Paul wrote to the people of the church at Corinth, this letter, and in it, Paul addresses the many ways this church and its people, were trying to live with one foot still in the world.

The city of Corinth was a city known for its immorality. Like some call Las Vegas, Corinth could be said to be “sin city”. Fornication, which the Greek word used here is porneia from which we get the word pornography, idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, stealing, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling, which is abuse through speech, and swindling, are the basic sins Paul will speak of in this letter. Sound familiar? Our society has moved past having one or two cities such as Vegas, where sin runs free. Paul’s list of sins can now be found in every place in America.

But Paul wrote, not to the city, but to the church, because the church had drifted into a place where it was somewhat hard to tell the difference between the world around them and the Christians within. This, my friends, is also the case today in the church right here where we live.

Yes, I am saying that the church today is still struggling just as the church of Corinth did. Many are trying to tone down the preaching against many of these sins. The very divisiveness we see in America today is being played out in the area of sexuality and gender. Pornography, drunkenness, and drug addiction are three issues that a great many are battling in our congregations. And yes, not all the people who sit in a pew on Sunday are really Christians, but that does not preclude the fact that even us Christians, have fallen into addictions and sinful lifestyles that cause us to look much like the world. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the Christians. That is clear by the salutation he wrote.

1 Corinthians 1:2
 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

Honestly, this is good news, because we are all sinners and each of us are still wrestling with the old sin nature, even as we live out the Christian life. Paul didn’t write this letter to condemn the church; he wrote it to remind them of who they are, called ones from God, set apart and called saints. The word here for saint is hagios, which means holy one or set apart one. We have been set apart by God.

Paul also reminds us we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. Though we typically use the word sanctification to speak of the ongoing work of us becoming like Christ in actual behavior, in the sense Paul uses it here, speaks of our position in Christ. When we are baptized into Christ, and in that I mean identified with Him through faith in Him, God imputes the very righteousness of Christ upon us. Thus, we are wearing His cloak of righteousness, we are declared by God as holy. We more often call this justification.

So, Paul wrote this letter to the church of Jesus, which includes us. And in this letter, we can find hope in Jesus for both joy here and in the eternal life, even if we are still struggling with our sins. The truth is, we are.

But we can rejoice in this; God has chosen us and declared us saints. He also chose the apostles to remind us who we are in Christ and how we should strive every day to live in the power of the Holy Spirit to grow more like Christ.

Paul also wrote this wonderful truth to us in Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Open your Bible today and let it, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, lead to you a life of obedience that will culminate one day in being like Jesus. I leave you with Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 1:3, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

How to Have Complete Assurance That You Are Saved

If you are anything like me, there are still times in your life that you struggle with your own assurance of salvation. Certainly, to doubt the work of Christ on the cross would be wrong and even sinful. The Bible is clear that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and His death and resurrection were effective. But it is impossible to read the entire counsel of scripture and fail to see that there are many in the world who have deceived themselves in believing that they are truly saved. It was Jesus who made this clear by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” - Matthew 7:21-23  

Paul instructed us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

It is possible to fail the test. The people Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7 called Jesus, Lord. They prophesized, cast out demons, and did mighty works, all in His name. Yet, He called them “workers of lawlessness” and said he never knew them. These people will not enter into His eternal rest, He told them to depart from His presence. They failed the test.

So, this brings up the question, and it is of the utmost importance we find the answer, how do I know I am saved?

Sometimes the Bible just doesn’t quite seem to make it easy to understand some of the things of life. But the answer to this question is clear. The Apostle John has posed the question and given the clear answer in 1 John 2:3-6. Read what he says.

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

How does he say we come to know Him? By keeping His commandments and by keeping His words. The blessed life of the true Christian is lived by being “In Christ”, and John tells us that we are “In Christ” because we walk “in the same way in which He [Jesus] walked.”

This is clear writing and easily understood. We can only have assurance of salvation by living a life committed to walking as Christ did, in complete obedience to God and His Word. Jesus, the Son, always did the will of the Father. It is through a committed life to the commandments of scripture, in which we will experience the fullness of joy, because in this, we know we are in Christ.

Does this mean our lives will be lived in perfection? No, it doesn’t. Obviously, John saw that presumption coming and squelched it in the verses just before he told us how to be sure we are in Christ.

1 John 2:1-2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

We aren’t saved by our ability to follow His commandments. Praise God or I would be doomed, for I still struggle mightily. If you were honest, you would say the same. You see the standard by which we must judge ourselves, (Take a look at 1 Corinthians 11 for a study on this principle), is not each other, but Jesus. He is the gold standard. He is the goal. It is His walk and His walk alone, that we must seek.

I believe in the doctrine called the Perseverance of the Saints. I do not believe you can “lose” your salvation. But let’s not get hung up on that argument. We are called to persevere in our faith.

Hebrews 10:35-36
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

We must persevere. It is the will of God that we must persevere in. This is our part in the salvation experience. We persevere by living a life that is committed to walking the same holy path Christ does.

Saved by grace, no question. But joy will come to us through a life committed to following Jesus. Faith without works is dead – James 2:14

God answered a prayer for me last week. He brought me to a place where I could see His grace. But He did it through pain. I leave you with a lengthy, but very important scripture. Take ahold of this principle and it will change your life.

Hebrews 12:5-17
 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.  Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;  that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Unlike Esau, you still have the chance to repent. Take that opportunity today.

Why We Fear Death and How Not To

Death. The very word sounds scary. The topic of death for many, is a subject they prefer not to talk about. We even have a word that people use when they feel uncomfortable when someone gets a little too familiar with death in conversation. We say they are being morbid, and the implication of the adjective is that we don’t wish to hear such talk.

Yet, the world of entertainment is filled with the subject of death. Go to the library and look at the novels. The shelves are filled with books about murders and the mysteries that surround them. Our movies and TV shows are often centered on the deaths that occur in real life. We even have dinner shows called Murder Mystery Dinners, that allow us to participate in the old ‘who done it” theme.

But then again, we spend millions upon millions on medical treatments and research on how to defeat death. We clamor against cancer and other diseases, demanding our government spend more on this quest for immortality.

In truth, death is a huge part of our lives. We even have a saying about it. We like to say that there are only two sure things in life; taxes and death. But that’s a poor statement. You do not have to pay taxes. There are several ways around that. But there is no way around death. It will come. And no one has a clue when. It could occur at any minute to anyone of us. And that scares us.

Why are we afraid of death? For one thing, as I alluded to above, we simply don’t know when it will strike. But the other thing about death is that it brings an end, and that end brings something that we have never experienced personally. That makes the other side of death a place of the unknown. And the unknown is scary.

But Christians who have read their Bibles know what death brings. They know that, while it is the end of life as we know it on earth, it is not the end. The Bible is clear about death. It tells us that though it is an end, it is also a beginning. The Bible tells us that all of us are eternal beings. And it tells us that in death, eternity will bring judgment. And judgment is scary.

The world hates judgment. People say they want justice, but they only really want justice to be served on others, because justice demands judgment and judgment demands punishment. Punishment is scary.

This is why the world hates Christians.

The world hates Christians because the world knows we speak of the truth when we speak of judgment and that we tell them that without Christ as their Lord and Savior, their death will bring judgment. They are afraid of death, because they are afraid of judgment and deep down in the recesses of their hearts and minds, they know they are guilty. They hate it when we quote the Bible. They hate when we quote Romans 3:23 which tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They hate it when we quote 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that warns us about the consequences of sin with these words, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” They hate this verse because they know all of us are guilty of the sins it speaks of.

They hate it because this verse speaks to the result of those who die without Christ and who will face judgment on the basis of their own merits. This makes death very scary.

Therefore we must preach the entire Gospel, not just tell them that Jesus loves them. Death, without Jesus is scary and the world needs to know this. Without Christ we are slaves to fear and sin. But Christians have been set free from this fear of death. And it was the death of Christ by which we are set free.

Hebrews 2:14-15
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Christians should not fear death. We have been freed from that fear because if our faith is in the work of Christ and not our own, we are free of the judgment that death will bring.

Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Christians, we are free from the law of sin and death. We no longer should fear death.

The greatest witness to the lost and dying world is to show them this truth by how we live. We must live free of fear and free of the sin that causes us to be afraid.

Let us go forth in freedom.

Thoughts On the Holy Spirit

A few facts from scripture that speak of the Holy Spirit.

1. John 16:8-11

"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

He came to convict us. Both believers and non-believers, about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

2. Ephesians 4:30

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

We grieve the Holy spirit when

A.) we do wrong - Sin

B.) don't do what's right - righteousness

C.) fail to see that we are not living as we should - judgment

3. 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Do not quench the Spirit

This may be the greatest failing in the modern church today. Our faith is based on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who is working in us to do God's work. No, we cannot believe all spirits, but must test all things to see if they are from God. But we must not ignore the fact that we are indwelled by a supernatural power that gives each us a gift and that gift transcends our natural abilities.

Our God is a God of power and the Christian faith is to be lived out in the supernatural power of God. But to fully walk in the power of the Holy Spirit we must let Him do the work in us. We must let Him have control. We must decrease; He must increase. When we are weak; He is strong.

Hiding From God

You ever do something that you know was wrong, but you got away with it? That feeling of relief that comes after that period of time when you sweat it out, just wondering if anyone saw or if anyone saw you do it. Most of the time we reach a point where we think, "Yea, I'm good. No one caught me." Admit it. We all have. I know my list is long of things I "got away" with.

Guess what? I have bad news. It doesn't matter if not one single person on this earth saw you do it. It doesn't matter that even if they did, they cannot prove it. Or if those in authority over you, people like teachers, parents, pastors, cops, or judges, have been duped by your supposed innocence. Read this, my friends.

Hebrews 4:13

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

None of us have gotten away with one single thing. God has seen it. We are naked before Him and we must, we will give an account. That's pretty scary. Oh. I don't believe in God you say, so I'm good. Hah. Nice try. It doesn't matter if you believe in God. He exists, and He is real, and you will give an account.

Good news; There is an escape clause.

Jesus came to save us from the penalty of our sins. That is why He was born and why Christmas matters.

You cannot hide from God. But you can draw near and find salvation in Christ. He is waiting for you.

Isaiah 55:6-7
 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

The Excuse of Our sin

“An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.” That is a quote from an 18^th century poet named Alexander Pope and it really nails home the reality of what we do when we make excuses.

Excuses have been the tool of mankind since the very beginning when Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. God was explicit in the command when he told Adam and Eve, they could eat of any tree in the garden but the one in the middle. And after they got caught by God, both made an excuse.

Adam’s excuse was that she gave it to him.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Eve’s response was also to blame someone else.

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

The simple truth is that both knew better. God had spoken directly to them. Thus, was born the excuse. And we haven’t let up since. We make excuses for everything these days. It is a culture of, “It’s not my fault.” We make up little reasons for why we do what we do and why we don’t do what we ought. We are lying about our own responsibility.

There are as many excuses as there are sins and we Christians are just as guilty as the non-believers. It’s crazy that we do this because it really isn’t necessary. When we sin against God, we have an advocate, Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus paid the price of our sins and the process of repentance and forgiveness is not based on our faithfulness, but on God’s.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But when we fail to fully confess our sins by excusing them? We are saying we really aren’t responsible. Read the follow up to 1 John 1:9;

1 John 1:10
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Sadly, the modern church seems reluctant to preach the message of sin these days. Instead, the messages are soft and under the excuse of not offending anyone, afraid they won’t come to receive the Gospel, they preach a one-sided message of love that is mostly void of the truth of God’s justice and His hatred of sin.

One of these excuse that I hear from brothers and sisters in Christ these days when the topic of personal sin comes up, is that sanctification is a process. Sure, we are called to become like Christ, but not today, they cry. It takes time.

Ok, I agree, it does. But that is not an excuse for your sin. It does not give us the freedom to keep living in the same sins. We cannot live out the Christian life and expect God’s blessings when we excuse our sin.

God hates our sin. He does. And, while His mercy and grace flow lavishly upon us through the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross, He still commands us to obey His commands. Samuel warned Saul of this very thing.

1 Samuel 15:22
Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

His message gets even harder in the next verse.

1 Samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."

 

Purposely excusing our sin and as seen above, even trying to make up for it through sacrifice or giving and serving, is not what God wants from us. He wants obedience. He even sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and we have the power to obey. We have God’s power to overcome. We need to stop making excuses.

 

The Word of God has provided the instructions on how we are to live. The Sprit of God has provided the power. We are without excuse. It is time we preach the truth. It is time we encourage each other to walk in the Spirit. It is time we not be offended by talk of holiness and when confronted with the scriptures, it is time we listen to God.

 

I close with a very important warning that we must adhere to.

 

2 Timothy 4:1-5
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

Do reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

 

Don’t tickle ears.

 

Preach the Word.

Why We Never See Jesus Laugh In The Bible (Part 1)

I love to laugh. Most of us do. In the midst of this life we live, in which many times sorrow and hardship are our bedfellows, laughter is like medicine to our souls. Most of us are familiar with the oft-quoted maxim that says, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Even science and psychologists have come to accept this as a true saying. But did you know that the Bible never records a single moment in which Jesus laughed.

Yes, it’s true, there is not one single reference to any time that Jesus laughed. Now, I am not saying that I don’t believe He never did. Having taken on humanity in His incarnation, Jesus possessed all the same emotions we do, though He never sinned in His expression of them, as we do. But the Bible does not record a single instance in which Jesus laughed. Why not?

The answer to that question is very important in our understanding of who God is. God has revealed Himself to us in scripture and it is the only trustworthy source by which we can come to know and understand Him. We do find that God laughs in the Old Testament. But when God laughs, it appears it is in a derisive way and directed at those foolish enough to plot against Him.

Psalm 2:1-4
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”  He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Psalm 37:12-13
The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Do a word search on laughter in the Bible sometime. It is interesting to see what the Bible has to say about laughter.

Returning now to the thought of Jesus and why we don’t have stories of Him laughing, I think it is important to us to get a good grip on the purpose for Jesus coming to us as a man. Though the answer to this question is a study within itself, I think 1 Timothy 1:15 gives us a simple and concise answer. There we read that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” And the truth of that mission reveals to us the extreme serious nature of sin as it relates to our most holy God. The holiness of God demands that He not tolerate sin in His Kingdom. (The idea that God cannot be in the presence of sin is the wrong way to describe it since Jesus was fully God and yet was constantly surrounded by sinners sinning.) But the truth is that God’s holiness and His just nature results in righteous indignation that will result in His wrath being poured out in the final judgment against sin. Again, much more to the story than this, but simply put, we are sinners in need of a savior to be restored in fellowship with God. This is why Jesus came.

So, who is this man Jesus, who the Bible never speaks of as having laughed. The Prophet Isaiah gives us a picture of Jesus in Isaiah 53:2-3 saying that “he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

If you have more than one child, you know that people are born with certain dispositions. You might have one born with a natural inclination towards being happy all the time and maybe your next baby just seems to be more serious. As they grow, distinct personality traits come forth and they become who they are. Jesus is described by the Prophet Isaiah as a man of sorrows. Isaiah goes on to say that He was acquainted with grief and even tells us that He was no beauty that we should desire Him. This does not sound like the picture of Jesus our grandmother had up in her living room. Quite honestly, it doesn’t sound like the Jesus we hear about in church. But to the Christian, it is an imperative that we understand why the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of scripture to describe Him in this way.

Though Jesus came doing miracles and healings to many, the main purpose He came for was to go to the cross. He came to suffer and die. He came to become sin for us, so that we could be redeemed from our own slavery to sin. He came to face the wrath of God so that you and I wouldn’t have to. What He came to do was going to be the most horrible experience anyone might ever imagine. What He came purposed to do is no laughing matter.

This morning I was studying the passage in Mark 14:32-41. I believe that in this short story of the night of His arrest, we can find many truths that will help us understand better, who Jesus is and why He came. Part two of this writing will look into this night that occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I leave you with a thought to ponder about this great passage of scripture. Gethsemane means “olive press.” Olive presses are the tools that extract the oil from the olives by crushing them. That’s how we get Olive Oil. Take time today to read the Gospel accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and meditate on He would be pressed and crushed in the coming hours after praying in the garden.

Until next time, God bless you.

Studies In Matthew - Praying In Agony

As the struggling Christian I am, prayer is the one endeavor of the faith I seem able to stay focused on. The command of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing,” is the one command I tend to lean on most. I simply cannot carry on through this life without asking God for help. I have a saying about myself. I’m either praying or sinning. I believe there is a great lesson here. Pray more; sin less.

This morning in chapter 26 of the Gospel of Matthew, I come to one of my favorite narratives of Jesus. Jesus is near the end of His earthly ministry and knows that soon, he will face the ultimate reason He came to the earth. He is about to go through the ordeal of arrest, trial, and then death, yes, even death on a cross. But His death will be unlike any other death in history. Embedded within His death will be the payment for all sin. He will face something He has never known. He will be separated from His Father for the first time in all of eternity, for the deepest level of eternal punishment is separation from God. He will pay the cost of my sin. And in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see the agony of His suffering made manifest in His humanity. What does He do with this distress? He goes to the Father in prayer.

Matthew 26:36-44
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”  And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”  And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

As one who loves prayer as I do, there is a great lesson in this for me. There is a principle of prayer here that we all can gain from. As Christians, we know we are to be a people who deny themselves. We know we are supposed to surrender our lives to God as we follow Jesus. But the fact is, we are still living in our fleshly desires. In this story, we see that God knows we are yet dust, that we are a work in progress. He does not mind when we ask Him for the things we desire, even when that are not His desire for us.

First of we see that Jesus, like us, in His humanity wanted the comfort of His friends to share in His distress. Yet, they, like all of us, failed Him in their flesh. They were worn out and could not even watch with Him one hour. Jesus rebukes them but doesn’t let that deter His prayer. Sometimes those around us will fail us in our need for emotional support. In our most difficult of nights, we cam still go to our Father. He never sleeps. He is already there for us when we pray.

The main lesson here I find this morning though is one that we need to take hold of. God is not a magical genie who is bound to answer our prayers just as we ask. Jesus, in His humanity, asked that if an angel from heaven, strengthening him.”

The lesson here is that we can go to God with any request and He hears us. Jesus prayed and asked for something three times and that prayer was for a different way for this to go down. Three times Jesus in His humanity asked for this cup to pass Him by, while in His deity Jesus knew that He had to face the cross. So even though Jesus asked for one thing, He put the answer in the hands of God as He prayed “Your will be done.”

Whatever we face each day, we have a God who hears us and even when our Father knows that the answer will be no to our prayer, He comforts us, and He strengthens us as we pray. This should change our lives. We should pray without ceasing, making our requests known to God, but then resting comfortably in faith, that it is His will that must be done.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Let us become a people of prayer. Let us become a people of faith. Let us become a people of God.

possible this cup, this method of paying the price of all sin, be taken away. Three times Jesus makes this plea as He prays in great sorrow and agony. Luke in his Gospel adds more detail to the distress Jesus was in saying that “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This is some serious prayer.

Luke also added another informative word in Luke 22:43 which says, “And there appeared to him