The Danger Of Drifting And Not Walking With Jesus: Hebrews 2:1-4

Posted on March 10, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by James Wheeler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/foot-prints-in-gray-sand-1522285/

Hebrews 2:1-4 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Opening: I often order items through companies like Amazon or Walmart, because I can’t find what I want locally. It saves a lot of gas and running around, especially when I’m looking for something like an “UHB to Ethernet Adapter”. I may have to pay shipping, but I can find exactly what I want and have it delivered. Most of the time. There are times when what I ordered is late coming in, and I get a little nervous if it was delivered to the wrong address. Thank goodness that the UPS Driver always takes a picture of what he delivered when he delivered it, so I can find it.

If you weren’t at Church when I presented this, you can’t see the confusing, blurred, indecipherable image that UPS sent to my email. Take my word for it, I couldn’t tell (ane neither could you) where the package was delivered, nor even if it was dropped off on Planet Earth.

Are You Walking With Purpose Or Are You Drifting?

Word Study: In Chapter One the Lord emphasizes that Jesus is God’s only Christ, the Only Messiah. As we enter Chapter Two the Word of God uses the word THEREFORE, which is two words in the Greek dia touto, a prepositional phrase which means “on account of this”.

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

In Chapter One of Hebrews we were given no commands, but God put the spotlight on Jesus. God told us:

God spoke to humanity through His Son (vs 1-2)
God’s Son created and upholds all things (vs 2-3)
God’s Son is greater than the Angels (vs 5-7)
God’s Son is God, enthroned in Heaven (vs 8-9)
God’s Son never changes but is eternal (vs 10-12)

God’s Son sits on the right hand of the Father (13)

As God’s Son Jesus is the center of all power and prestige with the Father, dia touto – “on account of this” we are told:

Hebrews 2:1 … we ought TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED to the things we have heard …

We are given our first command in Hebrews. As all that was said in Chapter One established Jesus as the center of God we are called to FOCUS on what was said … continue reading:

Hebrews 2:1 … lest at any time we should let them slip.

Word Study:The words “let them slip” is the Greek pararrhyéō, {pronounced par-ar-hroo-eh’-o}, a NAUTICAL term which means “to flow past, to glide by you, to drift away”. Most of the other translations use “drift away” (NKJV, NIV, ESV, CSB, NASB 95 & 20, LSB, NET, RSV, ASV, NLT, AMP). Again, this is a nautical term. It’s only used here in the New Testament, but is used in ancient literature for what happens when someone doesn’t properly tie up their boat.

I love watching these Discovery Channel shows about people who live in harsh climates like Alaska. In one show a man had come in with his large fishing boat, but he neglected to properly tie it to the dock. A storm came that night, and the boat was taken by the wind and the current. The next day he came out to find his boat was gone. He had a smaller bass boat that he took out, trying to find his fishing boat. When he found it it was wrecked, up on the shore. It was badly damaged, and would end up costing him thousands of dollars to repair it to make it sea worthy once more.

How does your boat get adrift? How does your life drift and find itself destroyed in the storms of this world? How did you get to that point?

You failed to tie your line to a proper anchor. You tethered yourself to the wrong thing, or failed to tether yourself to the right anchor.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 6:19-20, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf..”

The place we need to be tied to – the anchor of our soul – MUST be JESUS. The devil and the world is CONSTANTLY seeking to get us to tie ourselves to the wrong anchor. For instance, one thing I often hear is,

“Follow your HEART”

This is foolish. If the anchor of your soul is your heart, you have anchored yourself to a crumbling structure. The Bible says

Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

What did Jesus say about the HEART? He told us that the source of all that is evil is the unregenerate heart. Jesus said:

Mark 7:21-22 … from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

The heart is not a good thing to anchor to. Jesus told us to anchor our hearts to God. He said in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God WITH ALL YOUR HEART”. The Bible says:

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

We are to anchor ourselves to God, to Jesus Christ, not to our hearts. Our confidence must be outside of our feelings and desires. Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the one who TRUSTS IN THE LORD, WHOSE CONFIDENCE IS IN HIM”. God knows what’s best for us in every situation. Tie the boat of your life not to your heart, not to your feelings, but to what God has said and has done. Give your heart to Jesus. Trust only in Him. He can keep your life anchored.

Another foolishness to anchor to is false truth. I often hear people say today,

“Live your OWN TRUTH”

Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson is the father of this philosophy. He said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. This is why people are trying to re-envision pronouns and human sexuality. God never said to “Live your own truth”. Jesus said:

John 17:17 … God’s WORD (the Bible) IS TRUTH

Ever since Adam ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we as humans have tried to establish what WE think as truth. To this, Jesus says NO! Jesus said:

John 14:6 (ESV) … I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

“Jesus is the POWER of God and the WISDOM of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). We as believers WALK with Jesus. He is the WAY, the Path that God would have us walk. We define right and wrong by Jesus. Jesus is THE TRUTH. He is not A TRUTH, but THE TRUTH. Finally, Jesus is THE LIFE. This is how God wants His Children to live. We live as Jesus says. When we define our own truth, we are adrift, hopelessly carried by the currents of this life.

Illustration: Many years ago Napoleon’s Army was marching through a desert. As the way got harder and the water ran out, at one point a soldier thought he saw a lake in front of them. Yelling “water”, he started running toward it, but after a few minutes it became apparent it was just a mirage. As Pastor George Truett once said, “Human life without God is, at best, a mirage”. We must be anchored in Christ.

How Shall We Escape …

Hebrews 2:2-3 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?…

Jesus is the only Anchor that is sure and steadfast. Now the Scripture asks us all a very good question. I love the questions of the Scripture, as they make us all think. The first question in the Bible was made by God. He asked it of Adam and Eve, but He asks us the same question today:

Genesis 3:9 … Where ARE you?

Other great questions:

Job 14:14 … if a person die, shall he live again?

Job 25:4 … Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

Acts 16:30 … What must I do to be saved?

Matthew 16:26 … What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?
What will a person give in return for his soul?

Before God asks us this Great Question, He states:

For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward

God gave His Old Testament WORD, the Scripture, “by angels”. The Word that God gave was steadfast and true. The Bible tells us in:

Jude 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

We are told “every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense”. God made promises, and directed His Old Testament believers to trust Him, to anchor their hope on Him. When Israel refused to do this – though God had saved them – when they disobeyed they “received a just recompense”. God did right by His people, and God kept His Word. But Israel drifted. They tied their faith to the wrong thing. They tied their lives to the wrong anchor. They did not obey the Lord, and “received a just recompense”. The Bible says:

Hebrews 11:6 … 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.

Israel refused to follow God when God said. That generation of Israel died out in the wilderness, wandering about for forty years. Why? Because God said to go. To live tethered to Him. The questions we need to be asking ourselves AS CHRIST’S CHURCH is:

Are we listening to Jesus?
Are we here worshiping Jesus?
Is our motivation to glorify Jesus?
Are we pleasing our God?
Where are our lives anchored?

God gave Israel a great salvation, then Israel began to drift away from God. Every time things got tough, Israel murmured against God. They said:

Exodus 16:3 … Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

They drifted, because they were not tied to Jesus, but to Egypt. They were tied to their old life, their old ways. In the end, they lost all blessing. In the end, they lost the Promised Land. Pastor John Piper said:

“The life of this world is not a lake. It is a river. It is flowing downward to destruction. If you do not listen earnestly to Jesus … you will go backward. You will float by… {you will drift}”

The early Church grew by leaps and bounds because it tethered itself not to the world, but to Jesus and His Teachings. The Bible says:

Acts 2:42 (NKJV) {the Church} CONTINUED STEADFASTLY in the Apostle’s doctrine …

Acts 2:44 (NKJV) Now ALL WHO BELIEVED WERE TOGETHER, and had all things in common …

Acts 2:47 (NKJV) … PRAISING God

The Church and the Christian was firmly anchored to Jesus Christ. Focused on loving and serving God the Son, the Church enjoyed the promise of God:

Psalm 121:1-3 (NKJV) I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.

The Christian is a Christian indeed, born again of God’s Spirit, when he or she ties their hope and trust entirely to Christ.

Pastor Sam Storms wrote:

“One of the unmistakable signs that you are a true Child of God, born again and justified by faith … is that if you are drifting, you won’t continue in it for long … You will sense a desire to turn your eyes and ears and hearts back upon Jesus, and be attentive and devoted to Who He is and what He says and all that He has done”

It is as Jesus said – “you shall know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16), and “by this shall all know you are My disciples, that you love one another” (John 13:35).

God Has Offered Us A GREAT Salvation. What Will You Do With It?

Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?…

There is NO ESCAPE if we neglect the great salvation God offers to us through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 3:1 … consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

Hebrews 12:2 … Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith

If we neglect Jesus, the alternative is not good. If we anchor ourselves on ourselves and not Christ, we have no escape from the judgment of God. But if we cast ourselves on Christ, it is a GREAT Salvation for GREAT sinners. Salvation in Christ is great because IT IS ABLE.

Hebrews 7:24-25 (NKJV) But {Jesus}, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Illustrate: Jesus saves to the uttermost. Who? “Those who come to God through Him”. There is a beautiful picture that illustrates this in the Old Testament in 2 Kings 7. The Syrian Army has encamped outside of the Gates of Samaria, and four lepers are at the gates of the city. The lepers are starving to death. The lepers begin to discuss their predicament:

2 Kings 7:3-4 (NKJV) … “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”

The lepers were in a hopeless and helpless situation. They could sit there till they died – for the city was in famine – or they could go to the Syrian Camp. They got up, went to the camp, and found that God had already defeated the Syrians. They went into the camp, and ate and drank – and carried away silver and gold and clothing – all by the Grace of God. They were not blessed because of their abilities, but because of God’s Grace.

Beloved, why do you sit there until you die? God has defeated the enemy, Satan and Death. He has given us a GREAT SALVATION. Why do you sit there until you die. You are leprous with sin. You are GREAT SINNERS. Jesus is a GREAT SAVIOR. The Apostles preached:

Acts 16:31 … BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and YOU WILL BE SAVED, you and your household ..

Untie yourself from any anchor but Christ and His Word. Tie yourselves to Him. Trust fully in what He has said. Jesus is able.

Jesus is not only ABLE to Save, He is AVAILABLE to Save.

Jesus did not come to this earth to save those who believe themselves righteous, but SINNERS. As “There are NONE RIGHTEOUS, no, NOT ONE” and “ALL have sinned, and FALL SHORT of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23) God makes salvation available to all. But Beloved, YOU MUST CONFESS YOURSELF A SINNER (1 John 1:9). Confessing yourself a sinner, YOU MUST REPENT. You cannot be saved if your faith is tied to a godless anchor. As the Apostle Paul preached in Athens at the altar of the unknown god:

Acts 17:29-31 … (ESV) we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

God is ABLE to save a person. Salvation is AVAILABLE to whosoever will. But God commands that we “repent”, knowing that there is a judgment day coming. No one will escape that judgment day if they neglect this GREAT SALVATION offered through Jesus Christ. God hates sin. But He has covered sin by the Blood of Christ. He offers complete salvation by the resurrection of Christ. He offers continuing salvation through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Unanswerable Question

Hebrews 2:3-4 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

There will come a day when we will all stand before God. We will give an account for our lives. When you stand before Him, and have neglected this Great Salvation offered in Christ, what will you say? A certain Welsh minister closed with this:

“Friends, I have a question to ask. I cannot answer it. You cannot answer it. If an angel from heaven were here, he could not answer it. And if a devil from hell was here, he could not answer it. The question is this?

How shall we escape is we neglect so great salvation?”

There is no escape but Christ. There is no anchor but Christ. There is no Way to live but Christ. The parameters to get into Heaven is PERFECTION. We ourselves are imperfect, but Jesus is perfect. We will all be judged before God one day. If we are imperfect, we will go to hell. But God has given us GREAT SINNERS a GREAT SALVATION in Christ. When we repent, and give our lives to Him, He stands in our place of judgment. There is no escape from damnation apart from faith in Christ Jesus. Then from the point of salvation:

TRUTH is what God says is true.
SIN is what God says is sin.
FAMILY is whatever God says is family.
SALVATION is whatever God says salvation is.
HEAVEN is whatever God says Heaven is.
HELL is whatever God says hell is.
GOD is the sole Definer and Determiner of all truth.
GOD is the highest Arbitrator of all truth.
GOD is the Judge of all that is true and what is not true.
And GOD will judge us by our relationship to JESUS CHRIST.
(taken from a sermon by Dr. Steven J. Lawson)

May God move on your hearts today. Do not sit there until you die. Choose to give yourselves to Jesus Christ by faith, and trust in Him for both temporal and eternal life. Holy Spirit, make it so. Amen and Amen.

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The Tenth Commandment: You Shall Not Covet

Posted on March 8, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Michael Steinberg: https://www.pexels.com/photo/gold-bars-366551/

The last nine weeks we have studied a commandment a week. Tonight we come to the Tenth and final of the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not COVET thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

When God gave the Tenth Commandment, He was very specific. The believer is not to “covet” (Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) that which God has given to another. God said:

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbor’s WIFE (or husband)”

This leads to adultery.

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbor’s employees”

This harms another’s business.

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbors vehicles”

Appreciate the tractor or car God has given you.

“You shall not DESIRE anything of your neighbors”

This leads to theft.

It is not wrong to desire. God created us with desire – but we are to desire the proper thing.

We Are To Desire – And Cherish – What God Has Given Us

God created us with desires. When God created the Garden in Eden the Bible says:

Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is PLEASANT (TO BE COVETED, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Word Study: God made things PLEASANT, ḥāmaḏ, right after He made man (Genesis 2:7). God made us with desires, then built a Garden to put us in that would satisfy our desires. Humans are called to cherish what God gave us – but not what God forbade us. To cherish the wrong thing is to commit IDOLATRY, as we are told in:

Ephesians 5:5 (ESV) For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

What led to the first sin, the sin that caused the fall of humanity? It was when Adam and Eve, LISTENING TO THE DEVIL, began to ḥāmaḏ or COVET that which God said was forbidden. The Bible says:

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be DESIRED (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Coveting leads to sinful behavior. James warned the Christian:

James 4:1-4 (ESV) What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Coveting anything other than the GLORY OF GOD leads to war and infighting. If we will seek God with our desires, wanting what He wants us to have, then we would be blessed. Israel never fully settled the Promised Land because they never put God first. Whereas Jesus told His Church to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), God told His Old Testament Israel to put Him first. If Israel would covet God’s glory first, then God promised:

Exodus 34:24 … I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man DESIRE (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

God said “Covet ME first. Desire only what I GIVE you. If you do so, I will protect what is yours. If not, you will lose your blessings”.

Why did the first generation of Israel lose the blessings of Canaan, dying over 40 years in the wilderness? It was because they were never satisfied with what God gave them. They never thanked God for the blessings of His salvation. Anytime the life they were living got slightly uncomfortable, they began to moan, and to accuse their leadership and God Himself of hating them. When God sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land, they came out knowing it was “a land of milk and honey” (Exodus 3:5, 8) just as God promised them. Yet they complained because there were giants in the land. They complained that when God saved them, that He brought them out of Egypt, out of a land of milk and honey (Numbers 16:13-14). Israel did not count their blessings, but began to curse God and the leadership.

Exodus 17:3 … the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

They continued down this pathway until they brought the wrath of God on themselves. The Bible says:

Numbers 14:2-4, 27-38 (ESV) all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” … {God replies} …. 27 I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” 36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

God Is Serious About His People Controlling Their Desires

The first generation of Israel died in the wilderness because of coveting, which is idolatrousness. When God sent the second generation of Israel into the land, God told His people that when they went into the Land of Canaan, they were to never bring the cursed thing into their homes. What was “the CURSED thing?” It was the idols of the Canaanites.

The Canaanite false gods were created from stone or wood, and adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones. When Israel conquered a city they were to DESTROY, not covet the CURSED THINGS, but utterly destroy them.

God warned in Deuteronomy 7:25-26 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not DESIRE (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

The “cursed thing” was anything that you COVETED above your love for God and His glory. The “CURSED THING” is an idol hidden among the people of God. Once Israel settled the Promised Land, if any city of Israel departed from loving God, and started COVETING anything more than God, then the Lord said:

Deuteronomy 13:15-17 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

As the second generation of Israel moved into the Promised Land, led by Joshua and loving God, they defeated every enemy they came against. Israel coveted only God, and His glory.

Then Israel came to the City of Ai (pronounced EYE).

Unknown to Joshua and Israel as a nation, a man named Achan was with Israel as they marched around Jericho. He was there when the walls fell down (Joshua 6:20), and witnessed the salvation of Rahab and her family from the rubble. God knocked the walls of Jericho down. God gave Israel the victory. Their next stop was Ai (pronounced EYE). Jericho was an armed and walled city, impenetrable according to those who knew. Ai was, in comparison, a tent city. It wasn’t much of a challenge. When Joshua decided to attack Ai, he just sent three thousand (3000) men (Joshua 7:4). This was going to be a cakewalk. But it WASN’T.

Israel was easily repelled at Ai. When Joshua attacked Jericho, an armed fortress, he lost no one. At Ai, Joshua lost 36 men. Joshua fell down before the Lord, and began to pray:

Joshua 7:7-9 … Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

How did God answer Joshua? God told Joshua, “STOP PRAYING!”

Joshua 7:10-11 … Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned …

Quit praying. Quit crying out to Me. You have ALL sinned against Me. How did Joshua sin? Before Joshua attacked Ai, he didn’t pray and seek God’s counsel.

Joshua sent spies out, and presumed upon God. God was not being glorified. Joshua was over confident, and arrogant. Then when told “we don’t need the whole army”, Joshua sent just 3000 men without consulting God. Pastor Dave Miller writes:

“Where did this presumption come from? What had Israel done to defeat Jericho? One thing. One thing only. They obeyed. When God said march, they marched. And the walls came a-tumblin’ down. It was not Joshua’s leadership or Israel’s military prowess that won the battle. It was God’s power. But now, Israel was taking credit for what God had done. “A mighty army like ours, having just defeated Jericho, will find little challenge against Ai.” … Remember this: In the power of God, no enemy is too big. Greater is he that is in you… But in the power of self, no enemy is too small.”

Before Joshua could pray, he needed to REPENT. Israel needed to REPENT. God will hear our prayers, but will not bless us until we REPENT. Had Joshua sought God before Ai, then God would have told him sin is in the camp. God now tells Joshua:

Joshua 7:11-12 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

Joshua coveted and took the glory of God, presuming on God. He sinned. Israel presumed on God by attacking Ai without God’s blessing. They sinned. A citizen named Achan stole idolatrous items, and his them in his family’s tent. Achan sinned. When confronted, Achan confessed:

Joshua 7:20-21 … Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

The 200 shekels of silver is worth $52.97. The gold of 50 shekels weight is about 550 grams, or 19.4 ounces. This would be about $38,712 today. What Achan took was under $40,000 in value today – a year’s wages for a middle class worker. It cost him his life. It cost him his family. It cost him everything. God is serious about coveting what He has not given us. We need to run from it!

Love God – Don’t Be Like Satan

Christians are to be like Jesus, not like Satan. The Bible tells us that Satan is the original coveter. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Satan – the fallen Angel originally named Lucifer or the Shining One – made five “I WILL” statements. He coveted Heaven, seeking to enter it as his own. Satan coveted the worship of the angels, to elevate himself high above his brethren. Satan wanted to rule the earth. But most importantly, Satan wanted to depose God, and assume the Throne of Heaven for himself.

Though Satan deceived Eve, and has stolen dominion of the world from Adam, he only led a third of the angels of Heaven in revolt against God. Satan could not assume God’s Throne, though he tried.

Christians, we should covet – but only the things that God wants us to covet. The Apostle tells us to “COVET earnestly the BEST GIFTS” (1 Corinthians 12:31), to “COVET the Kingdom of God”(Matthew 6:33). We are to trust God with our desires. I end with these words:

1 Timothy 6:7-8 (ESV) for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 (ESV) But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Greed and covetousness keeps us from the blessings God wants us to have. Let us be grateful for what the Lord has given us. Remember that “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35). May God bless the reading and preaching of His Word. Amen.

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The Ninth Commandment: Do Not Bear False Witness – Exodus 20:16

Posted on March 3, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Rodrigo Santos: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-lighted-oil-lamp-1585584/

We’ve been working our way through the Ten Commandments. We’ve found out that the Ten Commandments are not just for the Old Testament, but that they apply today.

The FIRST Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), before the God of Scripture, was quoted by Jesus in

Matthew 4:10 (ESV) … You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve …

The SECOND Commandment, “You shall not make an idol to bow down to it” (Exodus 20:4-6) is found in:

1 John 5:21 (ESV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols …

The THIRD Commandment, “Do not take the name of God in vain” (Exodus 20:7) is in:

1 Timothy 6:1 (ESV) … the Name of God and the teaching may not be reviled

We found every commandment but ONE, the FOURTH Commandment, repeated in the New Testament. As Christians we realize some still keep the Sabbath, whereas others celebrate Christ on FIRST DAY, the day He rose from the grave. We are told in Romans 14:5-6 that we are not to judge one another on what day we celebrate the Lord. The Sabbath was a shadow (Colossians 2:16-17) that was fulfilled in Christ’s first coming.

As long as the believer sets one day aside to worship the Lord our God, whether Saturday or Sunday, we have fulfilled the FOURTH Commandment.

The first FOUR Commandments deal with our relationship with God, but the next SIX deal with our relationship to our fellow man. We are to honor our parents (5th Commandment, Exodus 20:12). We are not to murder (6th Commandment, Exodus 20:13). We are not to violate the sanctity of marriage (7th Commandment, Exodus 20:14). We are not to steal (8th Commandment, Exodus 20:15). Tonight we come to the NINTH Commandment:

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

The Commandment Does NOT Say You Shall NOT LIE

The Ninth Commandment is often mis-stated as “You shall not lie”. That’s not what it says. It says, “You shall not lie ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBOR”. The Ninth Commandment is to humanity as the Third Commandment is to God. In the Third Commandment we are told:

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
(Exodus 20:7)

One commentary notes:

“In the Old Testament, bringing dishonor on God’s name was done by failing to perform an oath or vow taken in His name (Leviticus 19:12). The man who used God’s name to legitimize his oath, and then broke his promise, would indicate his lack of reverence for God as well as a lack of fear of His holy retribution. It was essentially the same as denying God’s existence. … There is a larger sense in which people today take the Lord’s name in vain. Those who name the name of Christ, who pray in His name, and who take His name as part of their identity, but who deliberately and continually disobey His commands, are taking His name in vain. Jesus Christ has been given the name above all names, at which every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9-10), and when we take the name “Christian” upon ourselves, we must do so with an understanding of all that signifies. If we profess to be Christians, but act, think, and speak in a worldly or profane manner, we take His name in vain. When we misrepresent Christ, either intentionally or through ignorance of the Christian faith as proclaimed in Scripture, we take the Lord’s name in vain.”

We take God’s Name in vain when we misrepresent Him. When we misrepresent our neighbor, bearing false witness against them, then we have violated the Ninth Commandment.

Though some say “Thou shalt not lie” is the Ninth Commandment, it is really “Thou shalt not lie ABOUT ANOTHER HUMAN”.

Though the Ninth Commandment does not say “Thou shalt not lie”, the Bible is very clear that we as Christians are to “speak the Truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We are to be truth tellers, just as our God is. The Bible says in:

Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV) There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

God hates “a lying tongue” as well as “a false witness who breathes out lies”. God says:

Proverbs 12:22 (ESV) Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

Proverbs 13:5 (ESV) … The righteous hates falsehood …

And God’s standard within the Church is:

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

The lying tongue is a mark of the lost person. The WOKE crowd lies when it looks at a man, and say’s “that’s a woman”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “men can have babies”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “marriage is two consenting adults, regardless of their biological sex”. No, that’s a lie. The WOKE crowd says “sex is a cultural construct. You can determine your sex by how you feel.” No, this is a lie.

Lies belong to the lost, because the father of lies is Satan. Jesus told the Pharisees – who often slandered Him – that:

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The Devil, that fallen Angel called Lucifer and Satan, is “a liar and the father of lies”. It is Satan that first lied in the Garden of Eden, telling Adam and Eve:

“If you eat of the forbidden tree, YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE. God knows that the day you eat of this tree, your eyes will be opened, AND YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD HIMSELF, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5, AP)

Adam ignored the truth that God spoke (The Sum of Your Word is TRUTH, O Lord, and EVERY ONE of Your RIGHTEOUS RULES ENDURES FOREVER – Psalm 119:160) and listened to Satan. Doing so, he plunged the world and his progeny into spiritual death. Since Adam brought sin into the world “and DEATH BY SIN” (Romans 5:12-21) humans have played with the truth to their detriment. The HEART OF THE WOKE MOVEMENT is found in Paul’s description in:

Romans 1:24-28 (ESV) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

They “exchanged the truth about God for a lie”. They rejected God’s Bible, His clear teachings. They rejected the Messiah, refusing to repent and turn to Him in faith. Lies belong to the lost. The Bible says to the Christian:

Colossians 3:9 (ESV) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

and again:

Psalm 58:3 (ESV) The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

Those who are saved by faith in Christ should NOT lie. Who will be not in Heaven, but cast into the Lake of Fire on judgment day? The Bible says:

Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

God does not condone lying – and particularly does not want you lying about your neighbor.

The Ninth Commandment Says You Shall Not Lie ABOUT Your Neighbor

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

When in American Law you make a false statement and present it as a fact about someone, you can damage someone’s reputation. The person you hurt can bring a defamation lawsuit. One commentary notes:

“Libel is an untrue defamatory statement that is made in writing. Slander is an untrue defamatory statement that is spoken orally. The difference between defamation and slander is that a defamatory statement can be made in any medium. It could be in a blog comment or spoken in a speech or said on television. Libelous acts only occur when a statement is made in writing (digital statements count as writing) and slanderous statements are only made orally.”

Among God’s Old Testament believers the Lord had a simple method for dealing with false witnesses. We are told in:

Deuteronomy 19:15-21 (ESV) “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

The often misquoted “Eye For An Eye And Tooth For A Tooth” was not about vengeance, but about false witnesses. If someone committed a crime in Israel, and it went before the Ruling Council or the Priests, if a false witness was discovered “then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst”. In short, the false witness got the EXACT PUNISHMENT that would have went toward the accused. If the accused was going to die, the false witness would die. If the accused was in danger of losing property, the false witness would lose the same amount of property. God said, “Do not pit them … life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”. God made an example of the false witness, and purged evil out of Israel.

“A true witness delivers souls, But a deceitful witness speaks lies” (Proverbs 14:25).

“A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies shall perish” (Proverbs 19:9).

God does not want us as believers telling falsehoods about those around us. If we do not know the truth, we should not “speculate” or “postulate”, but hush. What we say about others matters. There is never a time when bearing false witness against another will be blessed by God.

Are There Any Times When Lying Is Permissible?

There is never a time when we can legitimately bear false witness about a neighbor, but it is permissible to speak a lie when saving lives. For instance, in Exodus 1 Pharaoh commands that the Hebrew mid-wives:

Exodus 1:16 (AP) … if it is a son {being born}, kill him, but if it is a daughter {being born} let her live …

When the mid-wives didn’t do this and the Pharaoh asked why, they lied. They said “the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them”. God honored the mid-wives for NOT killing the baby boys, though God did not address the lie. Later in Israel’s history when Joshua sent spies into the land of Canaan, the King of Jericho …

Joshua 2:3-7 (ESV) … sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

Rahab purposefully lied to the King of Jericho in order to save the lives of the spies. Though the Bible does not address her clear lie, it commends Rahab for protecting the lives of the spies:

Hebrews 11:30-31 (ESV) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

James 2:24-25 (ESV) You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Rahab feared God, and protected the lives of God’s spies. She knew where the spies were hidden, and told the soldiers who hunted for them that they had left the city whereas they were hiding on Rahab’s rooftop. She lied to save lives. Rahab was honored for her faith, and is actually in the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5).

Lying to save others lives may be necessary, but be aware there is no where in Scripture where God praises a lie. We need to understand that our God is the God of Truth. Jesus said in John 8:32, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If you tell a lie, you have to remember the lie you told, or else you’ll be tripped up in time. During World War II Corrie Ten Boom as part of the Dutch Resistance helped hide Jews from Nazi soldiers, knowing that these people would be murdered if found. When discovered, Corrie and her family were put in concentration camps. Her entire family died to save the lives of innocent people.

I want to end with this note from one commentary:

“Our goal should never be to wiggle our way around the truth or search for an ethical loophole. When the psalmist describes the person who is privileged to “sojourn” in God’s tent and to “dwell” on his holy hill (Ps. 15:1–5), among the qualities cited is speaking “truth” in his heart, refusing to “slander with his tongue,” and being the sort of person “who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” “He who does these things,” David insists, “shall never be moved.”

May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen.

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Divine Destruction Of Death: Hebrews 2:14-16

Posted on March 3, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by NEOM on Unsplash

Hebrews 2:14-16 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Last week we saw that Jesus was NOT an Angel. Angels are superior to humans in strength and duration. Angels are spirit beings, composed of light. Humans are carbon based, who have limited earthly lives. We saw that:

Hebrews 1:4 {Jesus is} … so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Jesus is God the Son. He is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus is Creator God. Hebrews 1:2 noted that through Jesus God made the worlds. So Jesus is NOT an Angel, He is BETTER than the Angels. But Jesus is also – willingly – LESSER than the Angels. We read:

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Jesus was made LOWER than the Angels. Why?

Jesus Was Made Like Us To Defeat Death

“Monster” movies just don’t scare me anymore. I remember as a child going to see movies like “Dracula” or “Frankenstein”, or watching something produced by a man named Alfred Hitchcock. It wasn’t long before I started noticing that monsters always hid behind doors, in the back seats of cars, in dark places, and always attacked just before the scary music started playing. When I’d hear the music I’d want to yell “Get out! Can’t you hear the music!” But they inevitably went to the wrong spot – the dark alley – and suffered the consequences.

What made the “Monster” movie scary wasn’t the monster, but the fact that the imaginary monster brought with it the real monster we call “death”.

We’re all familiar with death. We’ve been to funerals. We’ve seen unfortunate animals lying in horrid piles on the side of the road. We’ve seen vultures and crows feasting on the sides of roadways. But what actually is “Death”? Is it just the cessation of life? Atheist Richard Dawkins – now 82 years old – said of death “It will be like being unborn, a great nothing. Or rather as much of a nothing as before we were born.” How does he know this? He doesn’t for sure. He also said “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

What is death? Let’s define the word “Death”, not by our experiences or opinions, but by what the Bible says. The first time the word “Die” (Hebrew mûṯ, pronounced mooth) is found in the Bible is in a warning God gave to Adam. God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV) … Of every tree of the garden {the Garden in Eden} you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die {mûṯ}.

God was very specific. Adam had free reign over the Garden, in fact, over the whole earth. God told Adam and Eve “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over {all the earth}” (Genesis 1:28). Humanity had absolute control over creation. In the midst of the Garden there were two trees: “The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). Adam and Eve – along with their progeny – were free to eat of the Tree of Life. But they were forbidden to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned Adam, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die {mûṯ}”.

God promised Adam that death would immediately come on him when he ate of that forbidden tree. Adam, just like all of us, paid little attention to God, and ate of that which was forbidden.

Did Adam “cease to live” or “stop functioning as a human being” IN THE DAY he ate of the forbidden tree?

The Bible says in Genesis 5:5, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died”. Wait a minute. Did God err? God said “IN THE DAY you eat of the forbidden, YOU SHALL SURELY DIE”. But Adam lived to be 930 years old. Did God LIE? As the Scripture says:

Numbers 23:19 (ESV) God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

What God has said He would do, He did. What God warned Adam against was not PHYSICAL death, but SPIRITUAL death. Richard Dawkins is SPIRITUALLY dead. He may still be walking the earth at 82 years old, but he – along with many others – is SPIRITUALLY dead. You see, God is the Source of Life and Light. It is God Who said, “Let there be LIGHT – and there WAS LIGHT” (Genesis 1:3). It is God Who “breathed into Adam the BREATH OF LIFE” (Genesis 2:7), and because of this “man became a LIVING SOUL”. God is the Source of Life. Moses told Israel to be …

Deuteronomy 30:20 (ESV) … loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days …

And the Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

And King Solomon wrote:

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

God was not telling Adam that he would PHYSICALLY die the day that he disobeyed and ate that which was forbidden. God was telling Adam that he would SPIRITUALLY die, that he would be separated from the Source of Life by his sin. When the Bible speaks of Adam’s sin and it’s repercussions, it states:

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

When Adam sinned against God, he IMMEDIATELY – IN THAT DAY – separated himself from God. The Bible says that Adam first tried to cover his sin with fig leaves. Then when Adam heard God coming,

Genesis 3:8 … Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

Before Adam sinned, he walked with God in the cool of the day. After Adam sinned, he hid himself from God. Those who are SPIRITUALLY dead have no thought of God.

Psalm 10:4 (ESV) In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek {God}; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

The SPIRITUALLY dead are dead because they are separated from God. If you are SPIRITUALLY dead you will eventually PHYSICALLY die – but you will STILL be separated from God, the Source of Life.

Illustrate: We see the evidence of SPIRITUAL death daily. I was at Wendy’s just today getting their “two sausage biscuits for three dollars”. I’d been there before, so I knew that the bill would be a certain amount. I had a bunch of change, so I gave the attendant more than the bill, thinking he’d give me a few pennies back. He put the money in the register, closed it, and gave me the biscuits. It wasn’t much money so I didn’t grouse about it. But either that man was lazy and didn’t count the money, or was a thief and stole it. Either way, it is dishonest – spiritual death.

Illustrate: We see spiritual death in other ways in our world. We see it in people who murder, in school shootings. We see spiritual death in people who deny their own existence, their own DNA and sexuality. We see spiritual death in broken families, orphaned children, and aborted babies. We see spiritual death in racism and hatred. A young man just the other day – an Airman in the US Air Force – stood in front of Israel’s Embassy and – pouring lighter fluid over his body, set himself on fire. As he died screaming, he cried out “Free Palestine”. To so treat the life God gave you is spiritual death. There is spiritual death in the suicide, the alcoholic, the drug abuser, the child molester. All that is evil and horrid in this world is a result of SPIRITUAL death.

Jesus Defeated Death By Defeating The Devil

Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; {15} And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Who has the power of death? Look at the latter part of verse 14: “through death He (Jesus) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”. Who has the power of death? Satan! Again, going back to the proper definition of “death”, death is “separation from God”. Satan was the very first one to rise up in revolt against God, separating himself from God, dying spiritually as it were. The Book of Revelation speaks of the Angel Lucifer. Created by God as an Arch Angel, it was Lucifer’s job to lead the other angels of Heaven in celebrating the God Who created all things. But Lucifer revolted from God, and led a third of the angels of Heaven in revolt against God (Revelation 12:4). Trying to take over Heaven (a lesson in futility) the Bible says:

Revelation 12:9 … the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Cast to the earth Satan, “that old serpent” was in the Garden of Eden tempting Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden. “You shall not surely die – but the day you eat of it, you’ll be like gods!” (Genesis 3:5). It was the devil who tempted Adam to betray God. Adam took the bait, and brought SPIRITUAL death into the world.

Adam is a sinner, and his children are sinners. Spiritually dead because of sin, Adam and his children are separated from God by our own sin. We cannot make ourselves right with God. We are broken, in a hopeless and helpless situation. The devil, the author of sin and death, continued to egg us on to reject God. The scripture said:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

What hope do we have? We have Jesus. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Jesus took upon Himself “flesh and blood”. He brought Himself into the creation that He made. Though Eternal God Jesus Christ stepped away from glory to become like us. Imagine! The Creator became the created! Though …

Colossians 2:9 … in {Jesus} dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus did not hesitate to take humanity upon Himself. He did not come to this earth in robes and splendor as was His right. He did not come with a crown upon His head, or a scepter in His hand. He did not come with ten thousands of angels heralding His approach. He did not come on a chariot of fire, nor did He come to the applause of thousands. The Bible says that Jesus …

Philippians 2:7 .. made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men …

Jesus came as a Servant. He was born the Messiah in a little town of David called Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy (Micah 5:1-2; Matthew 2:1-10; Luke 2:1-21). Jesus grew up in Nazareth to fulfill Messianic prophecy (Matthew 2:23; Isaiah 11:1). It was a saying in those days “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46), as Nazareth was such a poor and pitiful area. Jesus came from the least and the less. Though He is the “blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Timothy 6:15-16), Jesus came into the world lowly. Why?

The Greatest of all became the Least of us so He could reach the Lowest of us. Jesus took death on Himself so that we could receive life through His sacrifice.

When God told Adam “the very day you eat the forbidden, YOU SHALL DIE”, God was serious. Adam brought spiritual death on himself and on us all. Jesus saves us from this death by being punished in our place. Jesus died to Heaven – separated Himself from Heaven – so that He could reunite us with God. Jesus died to glory – separated Himself from the glory that was rightly His – so that He could “bringing many sons unto glory”. What does the Scripture tell us?

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus Christ took death on Himself for you and for me. All of your offenses and my offenses against Eternal God were nailed to His Cross – and Jesus was then nailed over top of them! The rain of Judgment struck the Son of God on that terrible Hill Golgotha. Jesus bore the penalty for our sin then, though Immortal God, willingly surrendered His physical life. He said:

Luke 23:46 … Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

He suffered SPIRITUALLY for us, then died PHYSICALLY. Laid in a grave, He was sealed in His tomb for three days and three nights. The Devil thought he had defeated the Messiah, but he was wrong.

Jesus delivered us from spiritual death. Jesus crushed the power of the devil. Jesus defeated physical death. Oh, how Satan hated that day when death died! When Jesus Christ took the penalty of our sin on Himself He made a way whereby God could make us alive again through the operation of the Holy Spirit. ALL Trespasses are forgiven the Christian. As The Scripture aptly puts it:

Colossians 2:13-15 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; {15} And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Before you believed on Christ, you were dead in trespasses and sins. You walked apart from God. Once you believe on Jesus, repenting of your sin and calling on His Name, God sends the Holy Spirit to you. You are made alive apart from the works of the Law.

The Christian Is Dead To The Law Of Sacrifice, But Alive To Righteousness

Hebrews 2:16-17 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

When Jesus came, He came by showing us that God keeps His promises. In the Old Testament God promised a man named Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV) “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God promised to give Abraham children, to bring a nation out of Abraham, and to bring the Messiah through Abraham and thus bless “all the families of the earth”. God keeps His promises. When Jesus came to this earth, the Messiah came from “the seed of Abraham”. Jesus came to replace the sacrificial system, where animals were killed to cover or “atone” for our sins. When Jesus died on the Cross, He died as:

John 1:29 … the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Those who are saved are saved from SPIRITUAL death by believing on Jesus. We are saved because we are ransomed …

1 Peter 1:19 (ESV) … with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

The Christian is “BORN AGAIN” or “QUICKENED” because we have received the Word of God as our own. We have heard and believed the good news that, though we are sinners, Christ died to cover our sins.

Dying for our sins as the Lamb of God, Jesus rose from the Grave and is now our Great High Priest. He is “a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people”. His death defeated Satan. His death defeated SPIRITUAL death. His resurrection defeated PHYSICAL death. Satan has no hold on the child of God.

God keeps His promises. Jesus is God. Jesus keeps His promises. He has promised:

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Those who believe in Jesus are passed from death unto life. We are no longer separated from God, but we are intimately bound with the Source of Life. Furthermore, the Christian knows that he or she has passed from death to life. How? The Scripture says:

1 John 3:14-16 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. {15} Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. {16} Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

How does the Christian know that he is a Christian? Life reigns in Him. God the Source of Life is also defined as Love, and He lives in the hearts of those who are His. Dead things exude death, but New Creatures in Christ exude Life. We as Christians are saved to LIVE above death, to LIVE outside the devil, to LIVE in victory. The devil condemns. The world condemns. The spiritually dead condemn. We who have believed on Him are ALIVE!

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Death is dead, it’s Source is defeated, and we who believe have a High Priest Who sits in the Heavens representing us before the Heavenly Father. We are saved to the uttermost. I conclude with this.

Are you part of the Redeemed? Are you part of the Saved? Does Jesus make reconciliation for you? If you do not have a relationship with God by faith in Him then you are yet dead in your sins. The monster is out of the closet, and rules your life with glee. My prayer is that you know Him and the power of His resurrection. That you know death is dead for you. That you know Satan is a defeated enemy because He Who loves you gave Himself for you. And if you don’t know Him, today is a great day to come unto Him and be saved. May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.

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Jesus Is No Angel

Posted on February 27, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-hands-on-holy-bible-267559/

One of the heresies that crept into the Church was that Jesus is a great Teacher, but just a Man. Last week God told us in Hebrews that Jesus is no mere Man – that He is God in the flesh. A mere Man, no matter how moral, could not have paid for our sins on Calvary. We are all born sinners, all, that is, but Jesus Christ. He was born into humanity to save us from the condemnation of our sins.

While some were saying that Jesus is just a Man, others claimed that Jesus was no Man, but an Angel of God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and the Muslim cults teach that Jesus was an Angel or an Angelic messenger. But as we come to Hebrews once more we find out, NOT ONLY is Jesus NOT JUST a Man, but

Jesus Is Better Than The Angels

Hebrews 1:4-8 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

We can read the first verse of today’s text:

“Being made so much better than the angels”

Word Study: That’s very plain. Jesus is NOT an Angel, because Jesus is “so much better than the angels”. The word rendered “better” is the Greek kreittōn, which means “being more advantageous, more excellent, stronger, nobler, best or superior to”. This word is used frequently throughout the Book of Hebrews to show how superior Jesus is. God spoke His Word to the Old Testament Saints often through Angels. For instance, God sent the Angel Gabriel to speak to both Zechariah and Mary of Nazareth:

Luke 1:19 (ESV) … I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

To Zechariah the Angel Gabriel brought the news that John the Baptist, the Greatest Prophet who ever lived according to Jesus (Matthew 11:11) would be born out of his Elisabeth. To Mary of Nazareth the Angel came with the great news that she would bear the Son of God. In fact, the Bible says that

Galatians 3:19 (ESV) … {the Law of God} was put in place through angels by an intermediary

God used angels to bring the good news, and to share aspects of the Law of God with humanity through the Prophets. But angels could not bring what Jesus brought. Angels helped bring the Law, and told of the coming Messiah. But Jesus as THE MESSIAH brought us a BETTER {kreittōn} HOPE

Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a BETTER {kreittōn} hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The Law of God – ordained by angels – gave man HOPE that we could be at peace with God, but the Law “made nothing perfect”, for it relied on animal sacrifices at a Temple on an altar. Animals cannot adequately atone for our sins. But Jesus, God become Man, Perfect Man, died once for all for our sins. Because of His Blood shed for us, we stand justified, righteous in the eyes of God. We are, as believers, sons and daughters of God because of our position in Christ.

Jesus took the animal’s sacrificial position for us, so that we could positionally be made sons of God in Him.

The Law was the Old Covenant, the Covenant of works. Sins could only be covered or atoned for by animal sacrifice. Various ceremonial and cleansing laws had to be strictly followed under the first covenant. But Jesus brought in a BETTER {kreittōn} covenant that offered BETTER {kreittōn} PROMISES. We read:

Hebrews 8:6 But now hath {Jesus} obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also {Jesus} is the mediator of a BETTER {kreittōn} covenant, which was established upon BETTER {kreittōn} promises.

Jesus Is MADE BETTER Than The Angels

Hebrews 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels

Word Study: The words translated “Being made” is the Greek ginomai, which means “to come into existence, to come from one form into another”. We studied last week where Jesus Christ is eternal God alongside the Father and the Spirit. In order to save us, He had to enter humanity. God had to become flesh. When the Angel told Mary that she was going to have the Messiah, he said:

Luke 1:35 … The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

God would, through the virgin birth, become Man. Jesus did not become an Angel, but a Human.

Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels {The Lord our God} saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

This is a quotation of:

Psalm 104:4-5 {God Who} maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

Angels are not like humans. Humans are created from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). But Angels are different in their creation. They are “spirits” (Hebrew rûaḥ, pronounced roo’-akh), which means “like the wind, breath, or spirit”. When Jesus resurrected from the grave the disciples, on first seeing Him, thought He was a ghost or an angel. Jesus said:

Luke 24:9 … a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

Mankind is carbon based, just as the earth is. But Angels are SPIRIT. They are also “a flaming fire”, the Hebrew lāhaṭ ‘ēš (pronounced law-hat’ aysh) meaning “that which blazes and burns but does not burn up”. Angels are like the sun, which is why they are often referred to as “stars” (Revelation 12:4). Angels “excel in strength” (Psalm 103:20), and are so powerful that one angel killed 185,000 armed Assyrian soldiers in one day (1 Chronicles 21:15; 2 Kings 19:35). In the Created Order, Angels are much more powerful than humans. Though Jesus as Infinite God is GREATER than the Angels, in order to become human – like us – Jesus had to become LOWER THAN the Angels.

Humans are LOWER than the Angels. We are not as powerful. They are created of light, and we of carbon.

King David wrote of how God honored humans in creation. He said:

Psalm 8:4-8 (ESV) … what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the {Angels} and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

Humans are LOWER than the Angels, but Jesus as eternal God is HIGHER and greater than the Angels.

The Law could not save us. Angels could not save us. So God lowered Himself, becoming “LOWER THAN THE ANGELS” to bear the wrath that we all so richly deserve.

The Scripture says:

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Jesus Who is GREATER than the Angels allowed Himself to be made LOWER than the Angels – just like us – so that He could take the penalty of death in our place. We are told again:

Hebrews 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Word Study: The word “inheritance” is the Greek klēronoméō, which means “he is the HEIR”. The HEIR of something is the one who legally is the “next of kin”, the person who will receive properties or goods from a relative. The Angels are not HEIRS of God. They are created beings. We previously studied verses 2-3 which says that “God appointed Jesus HEIR OF ALL THINGS, through Whom HE ALSO MADE THE WORLD”. Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus is eternal, without origin (John 1:1-3). The Angels had beginnings and endings. But Jesus is God. God the Father said of the Messiah:

Psalm 2:7-8 (ESV) … The Lord said to Me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

Everything created – even the Angels – belong to Jesus. He is the Heir of all things. This is why the Bible says:

Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Both We And The Angels Worship Jesus

Hebrews 1:5-6 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Jesus is “BEGOTTEN” of God:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Word Study: The word rendered “begotten” is the Greek monogenes. My commentary notes:

“According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG, 3rd Edition), monogenes has two primary definitions. The first definition is “pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship.” This is its meaning in Hebrews 11:17 when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham’s “only begotten son” (KJV). Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant. Therefore, it is the uniqueness of Isaac among the other sons that allows for the use of monogenes in that context. The second definition is “pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind.” This is the meaning that is implied in John 3:16 (see also John 1:14, 18; 3:18; 1 John 4:9).”

There are many Angels, and many humans, but Jesus Christ is unique. He is the monogenes, the unique Son of God. Jesus as God was never created (as we have established before), but “became flesh and dwelt amongst us” (John 1:14). When Jesus became perfect Human, entering the world through the virgin birth, the Father said of Him “let all the angels of God worship him”. This is what happened when – that wonderful night in Bethlehem – the Angel announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds. After the announcement:

Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Angels are NOT to be worshiped. Angels serve as guardians of those who are saved by faith in Christ (Hebrews 1:14). When John the Revelator saw an angel in Heaven, he bowed down to worship it. But the angel said, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets. … Worship God!” (Revelation 22:9). Our Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 4:10 (ESV) … You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.

Only God is to be worshiped. Man is not to be worshiped. Angels are not to be worshiped. Taylor Swift is not to be worshiped. Donald Trump is not to be worshiped. Only God. Jesus is God.

And God the Father directed the angels to worship Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is God Incarnate. To hammer this point home we are told:

Hebrews 1:8-9 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Jesus Occupies A Righteous Throne

Humans sit on thrones. The fallen Angel Lucifer sought to take God’s Throne. But Jesus legitimately sits on an eternal throne. The Bible here quotes the Messianic Psalm:

Psalm 45:6-7 (ESV) Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

Jesus sits on a Throne. There are those who say that you can be saved by receiving Jesus as Savior only, and if you later want to do so, you can receive Him as Lord. This is false doctrine. The Bible makes it clear that Christ is to be received as BOTH Lord and Savior. We read in:

Romans 10:9-13 (ESV) … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

In the early Church Christians would never have been bothered by the Romans and the Pharisees and Chief Priests had they just said “We believe Jesus is Savior”. Had you believed that, and kept your belief to yourself, there would never be any problem. The problem was that the early Church believed Jesus was BOTH LORD AND SAVIOR, and preached this as the Gospel. Christians were not only imprisoned, but KILLED OUTRIGHT because they believed Jesus to be both Lord and Savior. In Acts chapter 5 the Apostles were brought before the Ruling Council of Israel called the Sanhedrim. The Council demanded:

Acts 5:28 … Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.

The Apostles did not hesitate, saying:

Acts 5:29-32 … We ought to obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31 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. 32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

The Apostles make some startling claims here. First, “We ought to obey God rather than men”. A “Christian” who claims to be saved, but who will not follow and obey Jesus, is no threat to anyone. I doubt they are even Christian. But second, the Apostles identified Jesus as “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior”. Jesus is both Lord and Savior. Finally, the Apostles said “God hath given to them that obey him … the Holy Spirit”. Those who OBEY Jesus are given the Holy Spirit. The Bible is clear that:

Romans 8:8-9 … they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit of God to those who believe on Him, those who have received Him as both Lord and Savior. Obedience to Christ is the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:

John 14:15-17 (ESV) “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus is both Lord and Savior. We as His people are His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We love Him, and we follow Him.

Hebrews 1:8-9 … a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Those who are saved by Grace – like myself – often fail the Lord. But we do not revel in the failure. When we fail, we confess our sin. We repent, and turn back to the Blood of the Cross.

We as members of His Kingdom do not endorse sin, because Jesus LOVES righteousness but HATES iniquity. His scepter is RIGHTEOUSNESS.

What is “RIGHTEOUSNESS”? It is what God has said is right. God is the Creator. Jesus is Creator God.

Hebrews 1:10-12 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: 11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

People change. Times change. Fashions change. Our earth changes. In my lifetime I have seen public morality change drastically through the false doctrines of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”. I read that a “professor” wrote in Scientific American:

“[T]he science is clear and conclusive: sex is not binary, transgender people are real.”

New Atheist and Oxford Biologist Richard Dawkins (who believes there is no such person as God) replied to the foolish professors article:

“This ridiculous article (shame on the once-great Scientific American) ignorantly misunderstands the nature of the sex binary. … Sex is not defined by chromosomes, nor by anatomy, nor by psychology or sociology, nor by personal inclination, nor by “assignment at birth”, but by gamete size. It happens to be embryologically DETERMINED by chromosomes in mammals. … But it is universally DEFINED by the binary distinction between sperms and eggs. You may argue about “gender” if you wish (biologists have better things to do) but sex is a true binary, one of rather few in biology.”

God created all things. He has given everything order. Though we may try to manipulate right and wrong, God has set all things according to His standard. If you are saved by Grace, you are called to live to honor Him Who saved you. There is not an Old Testament God and a New Testament God. What God said is wrong in the Old Testament – unless He has rescinded it – it is still wrong in the New Testament, and today.

Christians, we are to live to glorify Jesus. Jesus is coming again. Until He returns, we are to live for Him. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I pray that God the Holy Spirit will pierce the hardness of your heart, and lead you to Him this very day. And once in Christ, I pray that you persevere, loving the Lord Who gave Himself for you.

Amen. So must it be, dear Lord. Amen.

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Exodus 20:15: Thou Shalt Not Steal

Posted on February 23, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-in-handcuff-holding-rolled-dollar-bills-6266297/

Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Just four words in the English, but only two words in the Hebrew, the EIGHTH Commandment says:

lō’ gānaḇ (pronounced gaw-nab’)

The words mean “you shall not carry away or steal”. The earliest use of this word is found in the story of Jacob and his father in law Laban. Laban was aging, and wanted Jacob to stay with him and tend to his herds of goats and flocks of sheep. Jacob agreed to do so, but only if Laban gave him all the speckled or spotted goats and black sheep. Laban quickly agreed to this, as the animals that were spotted or the black sheep were considered inferior quality (Genesis 30:32-36). The majority of Laban’s flock was pure white, and the goats were pure white or black. So it seemed as if Jacob was making a lopsided deal. But Jacob was in communion with God, and the Lord told Jacob how to breed the animals so as to birth speckled animals (Genesis 31:10-12). Laban was trying to STEAL from Jacob, and God wasn’t going to have it. In the end, Jacob ended up with a greater herd of speckled and spotted animals.

God knows the DNA of every person, creature, and living thing. It was nothing for God to direct Jacob in the breeding of animals to enrich His people!

Sadly, when Jacob took his leave of Laban, and carried his superior flocks and herds off, his wife Rachel “had STOLEN (gānaḇ) the idols that were her father’s” (Genesis 31:19). Rather than trust in the Lord as Jacob was learning to do, she superstitiously stole Laban’s idols, thinking they would bring blessing upon the household. Jacob allowed Rachel to keep Laban’s idols until Genesis 35:

Genesis 35:1-4 (ESV) God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

By keeping idols, Jacob’s family was STEALING GLORY from God. They had to put away all their theft before God could change Jacob to ISRAEL:

Genesis 35:9-12 (ESV) God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

While Jacob had family members stealing God’s glory and worshiping false gods, God could not bless him as He wanted to do. With repentance comes blessing. “You shall not steal”.

People Rob From God When They Worship Money

God spoke to His people in:

Malachi 3:8-12 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

God gives us blessing every day. He does not want us to worship that which He has given us, but to worship Him. In faith, we return a portion of our time and tithe (our money) to the ministry of God. In the early Church God established Apostles and Pastors who tended to the Church of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 9:7-12 (ESV) Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? 8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?…

1 Timothy 5:17-18 (ESV) Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

When you hoard your money, stashing it away, greedily worshiping it rather than contributing to God’s Kingdom, you have in essense robbed God. Your treasure is not to be your bank account, but God your Savior. Jesus warned:

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

When you leave this earth, your bank account will not go with you, nor will your home, your cars, your four wheelers, your fishing boats, or your businesses. When you stand before God every possession you have held onto a worship will not be with you. All that will be with you is your relationship with the Father through Christ. The Bible says:

Matthew 6:24 (ESV) No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (see also Luke 16:13)

It Is Wrong To Rob God, But It Is Also Wrong To Rob Government

When Jesus walked this earth, a number of groups of people despised what He had to say. One day the Herodians (supporters of Rome and King Herod) and the Pharisees (supporters of the written Law of God and the traditions of the elders) came together to try and trap our Lord. Jesus had been teaching the Jews in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and large numbers were gathered around Him.

Matthew 22:15-22 (ESV) Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

If Jesus had answered “As a Jew, I don’t want to give to Rome”, the Herodians would have reported Him as a traitor to the nation. If Jesus had said, “Yes, we should pay our taxes to Rome”, the Pharisees would have said Jesus was a traitor to Israel. But Jesus merely had them hold up a coin. Every coin minted is minted by the government. Jesus asked, “Whose inscription is on the coin?”, to which they replied, “Caesar’s”. Jesus said:

render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, that is, Pay your Taxes!

render to … God the things that are God’s, that is, give glory and tithe to the Lord!

The government provides services to its citizens to protect them from foreign invasion and internal evil. The government has been given authority by God to protect not only the people of God, but all citizens so that they might hear the Gospel of salvation. When citizens do not pay their fair share the government cannot hire police, fire, and military services. As I am coming up on tax season (as we all are) I am aware that as an American citizen it seems like – at times – I’m taxed to death. However, taxes pay for services that we all need, whether we like it or not. The Bible tells us:

Romans 13:1-4 (ESV) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. … 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

The One Who Steals – The Thief – Is Not Saved

Those who are saved by faith in Christ do not follow their old pattern of life. The Apostle said to the Church:

1 Peter 4:15-16 (ESV) … let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

The thief brings suffering on themselves as well as others. Judas Iscariot, one of the Apostles chosen by Christ, “was a thief” (John 12:6). He started out down the wrong path by stealing from the treasury of the Apostles. After a time, the money Judas so wanted led him to selling Christ for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13; Matthew 26:15; Matthew 27:9). After realizing that he was instrumental in the murder of the Lord of Glory, Judas “hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5) and was buried in an unmarked grave in a place called “The Field of Blood” (Matthew 27:8). Peter said of Judas:

Acts 1:17-18 For {Judas Iscariot} was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

People who steal often believe that they are not hurting anyone – not really – but they are. They are hurting themselves, and those around them. An NPR article entitled “Major Retailers Blame Theft For Their Decision To Close Locations” noted:

“Target announced this week that it will close nine stores in locations where the company has experienced too much crime. Whole Foods and Nordstrom recently closed locations in San Francisco for the same reason. Shoplifting is a problem, and so are looting incidents…”

The largest retailer in the whole world is Walmart. It is closing half its stores in Chicago. One article notes:

“In December 2022, {Walmart CEO Doug} McMillon noted that theft rates at Walmart alone were “higher than what it has historically been” and called it a significant “issue” facing the industry.” Walmart closed 20 locations in 2023 nationwide. “Eight of the closures were in Illinois, two in Oregon, and two more in Georgia, per Daily Mail. The remaining stores were scattered across 12 states, with one closure each in Florida, Washington, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, Virginia, Arkansas, and Hawaii. Walmart is one of 19 other retailers that closed a combined 2,847 locations as of Christmas”.

Theft by shoplifting and robbery closes stores down in high crime neighborhoods. Bed Bath and Beyond, Party City, and Rite Aid filed for bankrupcy because of theft. When stores close down in neighborhoods, liberals say that it is because of racism. No, it’s because people steal. There is a principal of retailing that states:

If your OUTGO exceeds your INCOME, your UPKEEP will be your DOWNFALL.

Stores have tried combating this by locking up items most likely to be stolen. Sadly, customers will avoid such places. “Thou shalt not steal”. When you steal, you end up not only hurting others, but you also hurt yourself. God tells His Children – saved by faith –

Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

May God touch our hearts with His Word! Amen.

Posted in Exodus, Sermons Preached, Ten Commandments | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Importance Of Walking With Jesus

Posted on February 20, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-opening-a-scroll-5986492/

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…

Why did God give us the Book of Hebrews? Why Is “Hebrews” So Important For Us In America Today?

People are in a constant state of confusion in America. Many children are growing up confused about their sexuality. The vast majority struggling with sexual identity come from broken homes. Their mothers or fathers – or both – abandoned them, abused them in their formative years, and so the child is confused.

A child, like a plant, will only grow and be fruitful in the proper soil and in proper care. Left to its own, the weeds of life take over. Poorly tended, children turn to crime, drug abuse, or confusion of face (furries)!

How are we going to see the rips in American society repaired? Will a political party, some man made “god” do it? No! What will fix the Church in America, the Church that has so compromised that its ministers have become molesters, and it’s mission to fly a rainbow flag? Another denomination isn’t going to fix it.

We need to get back to the Source of Life. We need to get to God. That’s what the Book of Hebrews is about.

Let’s start with the name of the Book, “HEBREWS”. According to Allan P. Ross, the author of the Baker Academic textbook “Introducing Biblical Hebrew” (2001):

“Hebrew belongs to the CANAANITE group of languages. Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages”

That’s fascinating. Our Old Testament is written in Hebrew and Aramaic, both languages coming from Canaan. Though Canaan was a land of “milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8; Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 20:15), Canaan was filled with an evil and idolatrous people. Rather than worship the God Who made them, they created their own gods and goddesses. When God sent Israel into Canaan, He ordered that they “utterly destroy all in the cities” (Joshua 6:21). Why did God want the Canaanites all gone? Because God gave the Canaanites a beautiful and bountiful land. God gave them rain in due season, great harvests, and wonderful weather along with fertile soil. Rather than walk with God, the Canaanites despised God, abused that which He gave, and created false gods that they paid homage to.

And their civilization fell apart. They became savage.

Pastor Don Stewart notes:

“The Promised Land in which the Israelites were to settle was populated by the Canaanites who had corrupted and perverted God’s truth. They had corrupted themselves to the place where they were beyond saving. Had any been permitted to live, they would have infected Israel with their moral depravity.”

Canaanites followed false gods. They murdered and abused their children. They rejected a walk with God. In the midst of all this madness, we see God reach out to a person of Canaanite heritage. A HEBREW by the name of Abram.

Genesis 14:13 (ESV) … Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre …

Abram – who would follow God and become known as ABRAHAM – was from Canaanite stock. “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). God reached out to Abram, Abram didn’t reach out to God. Abram was broken. He had no children, nor any prospect of children. God reached out and called this Hebrew to salvation. God said:

Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV) … Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Abram-Abraham was a pagan who heard a call to salvation, and began to follow the Lord because of it. He separated from his Canaanite family and Canaanite religions to honor the Lord who saved him. What did God promise Abram/ Abraham? He promised Abram a child. God said, “I will fix your broken life and the broken life of your wife if you follow Me”. God promised Abram many children. God said, “I will make of you a great nation”. God promised not only to fix Abram, but to give him a SUPERABUNDANCE OF GRACE. But what else did God promise Abram? God said, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. God would give Abram GRACE, but a GREAT GRACE would come through Abram’s heritage. Now here’s a question for you to ponder.

What did God NOT promise the Hebrew Abram? He did not promise him HEAVEN. And yet, that is so much of the focus of preaching in America today.

It was through the lineage of Abraham – the Hebrews – that God would send the Messiah. Why did God call out to Abram/ Abraham? To lead him out of the mess of Canaanite society, and to invite him to walk with God Himself. Why did Jesus come to this earth? He came through the Hebrews to give us life RIGHT NOW. It’s not about eventual Heaven. Yes, we want to go to Heaven. The Bible tells us:

John 3:16-20 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

If you walk through this life without Jesus, without the One that the Hebrew Abraham followed, then you have CONDEMNATION. Your life is in pieces. You are not living the life God meant you to live.

Jesus came into this world to not just save you from Hell, but to lead you in this life. He came to take your brokenness and, through His Grace, bless you and give you the life the devil doesn’t want you to have.

The Target Of Salvation Is To Walk With God

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets

God has been reaching out to mankind since our start in the Garden of Eden. We’re told in verse 1 that God reached out “at sundry times and in divers manners”. This is two Hebrew words, polymerōs polytropōs. The God Who is “the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28) reached out “at many different times, and in many different ways” to SPEAK or COMMUNICATE with us. God wants us to understand that He is the Creator of life. He is our Maker. When we walk apart from Him, we walk in darkness and in misery. God called out men whom He called “prophets”. The Prophets were the oracles of God. They, like Abraham, were willing to listen to God. These men in turn told others what God wanted them to hear.

God kept His Word, and out of Abraham raised up a nation called Israel that was to introduce the whole world to life with God. But Israel went to Egypt, and there got away from God. They gave their hearts to the gods of Egypt, turning back to the darkness. As a result the nation that was supposed to BLESS the world was CURSED in their world. Pharoah told the midwives, those who delivered the babies of the Hebrew mothers:

Exodus 1:16 … When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

When you get away from a relationship with God, He will often allow troubles to come. It is God Who brings stability to our lives.

Jeremiah 3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

The Pharoah determined that he wanted the male babies of the Hebrew women to be killed. Had this happened, the Nation that God was going to bless the whole world with would have died out. When the midwives wouldn’t do this evil, Pharoah tried working the Jews to death. As slaves, he made their lives more and more difficult.

Israel cried out to the Lord for salvation when the whip of the taskmaster cut their skin. The prodigal son decided to go home to his father while he was eating out of the hog trough. Trials wake us up and remind us of God.

Israel cried out to God,

Psalm 3:7-8 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For You strike all my enemies on the cheek; You break the teeth of the wicked. SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD … Selah!

When Israel called out to God, repenting and trusting in Him, God heard them. God always hears when we cry out. God called to Moses from a burning bush, saying:

Exodus 3:7-8 (ESV) … I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…

Israel was saved by calling on the name of the Lord. They heard the voice of the Prophet Moses. God spoke to His people, saying “Follow Me and I will bless you, I will save you from wasted life.

Psalm 116:13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord …

Romans 10:13 … For WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED …

Salvation has always been by GRACE, by REPENTANCE, by turning from yourself and thrusting yourself by faith into the arms of God. Israel was saved by Grace. Abraham was saved by Grace. The New Testament tells us that:

James 2:23 Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. And he was CALLED THE FRIEND OF GOD ..

Romans 4:3 … Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and {this faith} WAS CREDITED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS (a quotation of Genesis 15:6)

Abraham was not saved by keeping a Law, but by loving and following Him Who made us. We are all broken. We think we know best, but apart from God, we do not. When we hear God’s call and follow Him, He covers our sins, and guides us into His light.

Romans 4:6-8 (ESV) … just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

To Be Saved Is To Follow God. Jesus Is God.

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

God called humans to walk with Him through His prophets. Moses was a great Prophet. But God also wanted us to understand that, though salvation is free to us – it comes at a GREAT COST.

How could God describe the GREAT COST of our salvation? He first did it with the Law, with animal sacrifice. Israel followed the Prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, and there God gave Israel an elaborate series of feasts, festivals, and sacrifices. God established a Tabernacle and later a Temple for worship. The center of the Hebrew’s life was the animal sacrifice. God told the Hebrews to gather

Exodus 12:5 … year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats

The animal was killed as “a sin offering for atonement” (Exodus 29:36). The blood of the blemishless creature COVERED the sin of the people. The Hebrews were to “make atonement for their souls” (Exodus 30:15). The animals were to be killed on an altar to God, then burned to signify the wrath of God being poured out on the blemishless creature for the penitent sinner. The animal suffered the punishment of sin. The animal sacrifice was prophetic, for it had no ability to actually pay the price of sin. Salvation is a gift of Grace, but Someone MUST pay the penalty of sin, which is death.

Some 80 times in the Bible God through the Prophets spoke of ATONEMENT, the covering of sin. In each instance, an animal without blemish was PUNISHED, killed and BURNED to pay for the sins of the people.

Word Study: The word ATONEMENT (Greek katallagē, “Reconciliation with God”) is only found FOUR TIMES in the New Testament (Romans 5:11; 11:15; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:19). In these passages it never refers to an animal sacrifice – but to what Jesus did for us. For instance, the Bible says:

Romans 5:8-11 (ESV) … but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (ATONEMENT (Greek katallagē).

We have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). In the Old Testament, the Hebrew was called to walk with God by faith, and to temporarily cover his sins by animal sacrifices. In the New Testament “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”. The Old Testament Law was a shadow, looking forward to the Messiah. We now walk with God by faith in Jesus Christ, believing that HIS DEATH ATONED FOR OUR SINS.

It was prophesied in the Old Testament that God Himself would come into humanity. The Scripture says:

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (meaning “God with us”)

This Messiah would come forth from God to be born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 (ESV) But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

This Messiah is Jesus. He would come into the world to ATONE for our sins, so that we can, by Grace, walk with God. We are told later in this Book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:5-10 (ESV) Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God was never satisfied with the sacrifices of animals, no matter how spotless they appeared. God never considered the sacrifice of animals to be an atonement for sin. No, the Messiah must come. The Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah.

How Much Does God Want You To Walk With Him?

The Jesus that God sent into the world is no mere Man. We are told:

Hebrews 1:2 {God} Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

The Jesus Who came into this world is co-eternal and co-equal with God. Though He took upon Himself humanity, being made of virgin and Holy Spirit, Jesus is the Eternal Word of God. The Scripture says:

John 1:1-3 (ESV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

When God said “Let there be Light”, and there was Light, JESUS WAS THAT LIGHT (Genesis 1:3). God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit made life. When you walk with Jesus, you are walking with the Creator of Life:

John 1:4 (ESV) In Him {Jesus} WAS LIFE, and the life was THE LIGHT OF MEN …

Before Jesus Christ “the Word became FLESH and DWELT AMONG US” (John 1:14), Jesus is co-equal and co-eternal with the Godhead. Jesus is no mere man, a sinner like us.

Jesus is Eternal God Who BECAME FLESH so that He could BE MADE SIN FOR US, that is, in our place. “God the Father MADE Jesus to BE SIN FOR US; that WE might BE MADE the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Bible says of Jesus that

Colossians 1:13-17 (ESV) {God the Father} has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom {Jesus} we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 {Jesus}| is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by {Jesus} all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

In Jesus, all things are held together. YOUR LIFE WILL FALL APART IF JESUS IS NOT IN IT!

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

Jesus is the Maker of all things, so He is the HEIR of all things. It is Jesus Who holds all things together. It is Jesus Who “by himself purged our sins”. I read somewhere that in all of the Temple, there was no place, no chair for a Priest to sit down. The Priests worked around the clock, making sacrifices, and had no time to sit. But Jesus, once He purged our sins by dying in our place, He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. When He said from the Cross,

“It is finished” (John 19:30)

He drank the Cup of punishment for us. Instead of giving us a Cup of punishment, Jesus gave us a Passover Table and a Cup to remind us:

Matthew 26:27-28 (ESV) … {take this Cup}, drink of it, all of you; for this is My Blood of the {New} Covenant, which is poured out for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS …

If you have believed on Jesus, then the Bible says:

Ephesians 1:5 (ESV) {God the Father} has PREDESTINED US FOR ADOPTION AS SONS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, according to the purpose of His will…

We are not what we were, but are “new creatures in Christ”. We have received “the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15), and await eagerly for our Heavenly redemption (Romans 8:23). We are not saved by Law, but by the Blood of Him Who satisfied the Law. Now saved, we DO NOT TURN THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS (Jude 4), denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We live our lives following Him Who saved us, pleasing Him in all that we do.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and Spirit. Amen.

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The Seventh Commandment – Love, Not Lust: Marriage Is Sacred

Posted on February 16, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-photo-of-man-and-woman-lying-on-grass-field-265722/

We’ve been studying the Ten Commandments the last few weeks. Tonight we’ll look at one of the most violated of the Ten:

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Sexual Sin Destabilizes Nations, Ruins Churches,
and Cripples Families

Several years ago I predicted that the push for the normalization of homosexuality would lead to other sexual perversions. The “flavor of the day” is now called “polyamorous”. The Colson Center notes:

“… polyamory is the practice of having more than one sexual partner. In other words, it is what was called (until yesterday) “promiscuity.” However, as with each prior stop on the slippery slope of undefining marriage and the family, this one also abounds with creative euphemisms like “open relationships,” “non-monogamy,” “throuples,” “swingers,” and (worst of all) “polycules.” {A} New York Times article listed a bevy of new TV shows, movies, and books promoting polyamory as fun and even beneficial—a journey of “self-discovery” that could liven up your “marriage”.

A bumper sticker reads, “Life is short. Have an affair!”

The Huffington Post ran an article a few years ago entitled “There Are Now Greeting Cards For Cheating Spouses. (Yes, Really.)” that’s the actual title. One card said,

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Forget that I’m married,
I’m hitting on you!

That was the cleanest card I saw – others I can’t read from a public pulpit. If you type in “Greeting Cards For Adulterers” in an internet search engine, you’ll get over 3 million sources and sites where you can order such atrocities. Some of the cards depicted people with animals. Another source mocked the 7th Commandment of God, saying “Adultery is ok!”.

God recognizes (but has never endorsed) that sexual sin exists, even among His people. As Jesus was teaching one day, the Pharisees asked Him, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”. Jesus quickly replied:

Matthew 19:4-6 (ESV) “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

The Pharisees then asked Jesus, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” They were referencing the Law in:

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2 and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Jesus corrected the Pharisees. They asked, “Why did Moses COMMAND a certificate of divorce”? God through Moses NEVER COMMANDED a certificate of divorce. God recognized in the Law the failing and sinfulness of man. He said, in essense, “IF you take a wife, THEN later are dissatisfied and YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE HER a DIVORCE – then once she’s been with another man sexually YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO TAKE HER BACK INTO YOUR BED”. Why did God put these requirements in the Law? Jesus said:

Matthew 19:8-9 (ESV) “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Under the Law – which could only PROSCRIBE (forbid) and PRESCRIBE but not cure – divorce was ALLOWED but not COMMANDED. It is only under the NEW COVENANT that God, because of the shed Blood of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, could the heart be CORRECTED.

God was NEVER for divorce, as Jesus makes clear. God realized that as humans we are broken, and thus our relationships would be broken. Thus God said “In your brokenness I will allow you to divorce THOUGH I AM AGAINST IT”. God condemned His Old Covenant people for their laxity in maintaining sexual purity. He said:

Malachi 2:13-16 (ESV) … You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

God made marriage to be one man and one woman united together in one covenant for life. In Deuteronomy God was actually saying, “don’t divorce … BUT IF YOU DO, and she marries another, don’t make claim on her as you wife again.” To do so would be to take another man’s wife, and THAT my friend IS ADULTERY.

Polygamy, Now Popular, Is Not New.
It Was In The Old Testament World.

Did God’s people follow God’s pattern of marriage? No, they didn’t. Polygamy – the marriage between one man and multiple wives – was common in the worldly culture of the ancient world. God did not endorse it, but it happened.

Abraham had two wives, Sarai and her maid Hagar (Genesis 16:3). This caused numerous problems for Abraham and his progeny, Israel. Israel’s current war over the Gaza strip is because the children of Hagar, the Arabs, want the land that the children of Sarah have, the Jews. Throughout the Old Testament and to the present day Abraham’s poor decision in taking Hagar to wife has plagued his children, both Arab and Israeli.

Jacob had four wives (Genesis 30), King David had many wives (2 Samuel 5:13), and his son Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines or mistresses (1 Kings 11:3). Each man suffered terribly in their lives, bringing wars into their families and among their children, because they violated God’s Law of marriage. As many wives as David had, he actually stole another man’s wife – Bathsheba – then had that man {Uriah} murdered in combat. God told David:

2 Samuel 12:9-12 (ESV) Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.

David was soundly punished for his act of adultery and murder. As he did, it would be done to him. Though David repented, God required the consequences of David’s actions to follow him till he passed from this life. When God commanded:

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Word Study: He was warning us against a terrible poison. In the original Hebrew text there are only TWO WORDS here:

lō’ nā’ap̄ (pronounced naw-af’)

Literally “NO ADULTERY”, or more specifically, “NO BREAKING THE BOND OF MARRIAGE”. God in the Law required that the sin of adultery be treated just as a murder would be treated. If you were caught in adultery, the state (in this case, Israel) was to put you to death. The Bible says:

Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery (nā’ap̄) with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery (nā’ap̄) with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterER (nā’ap̄) and the adulterESS (nā’ap̄) shall surely be put to death.

Both The Law And Jesus Are Against Sexual Sin

One day Jesus was teaching, when the Pharisees brought a woman to Him, saying “Master, this woman was TAKEN IN ADULTERY, IN THE VERY ACT” (John 8:4). They reminded Jesus that the Law of Moses required she be executed, then asked Jesus what He thought should be done. Jesus did not initiually respond to them, but instead said:

John 8:7 … He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Jesus was actually quoting the Law of God. God said in Deuteronomy 17:6-7, “The HAND OF THE WITNESSES SHALL BE FIRST TO PUT HER TO DEATH, and afterward the hand of all the people” (Deuteronomy 17:6-7). If these men “CAUGHT HER IN THE VERY ACT” then, as witnesses, they should cast the first stone. Further, if they caught this woman “IN THE VERY ACT”, then where was THE MAN?

The Law demanded that BOTH the adulteress
AND the adulterer be executed.

Jesus used the Law, and put it back on the “witnesses”.
He caught them in a lie, and they knew it!

After they left, Jesus asked “Where are your accusers?” The woman replied, “None accuse me, Lord”. Jesus then replied,

“Neither do I condemn you: GO AND SIN NO MORE”

Jesus did not justify her act of adultery, but recognized it as sin. Nonetheless, Jesus followed the Law explicitly. As the man was not there, the woman could not lawfully be tried. Jesus told her to “GO AND SIN NO MORE”. This is God’s standard for the believer in Him. God has given us commandments that are for our own good. The Apostle said:

1 John 5:1-3 (ESV) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

God’s commandments – including this Seventh Commandment – are NOT burdensome, but are a blessing. In the hardness of our hearts we often turn away from what God has directed, but we break ourselves when we break God’s Commandments. Sexual immorality destroys lives. The Apostle reminds us of the dangers of sexual sin. He writes:

1 Corinthians 10:8 (ESV) We MUST NOT INDULGE IN SEXUAL IMMORALITY as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day …

The Apostle is referrring to when Israel bound herself sexually to the daughters of Moab, followers of the pagan god Baal (see Numbers 25:1-9). God sent a plague on Israel that killed 24,000 people – 23,000 of them in one day! When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest stood up and publicly brought the death penalty on a high ranking tribal head named Zimri the son of Salu and Cozbi the daughter of Zur for their adulterous activity, God withdrew the plague from Israel.

Beloved, as the children of God we are NOT to minimize sexual sin and the destruction of Biblical marriagew, regardless as to who it upsets.

I recently watched a “Priest” wearing a rainbow painted scarf say “God is gay. God is a lesbian. God is trans. God is gender non-binary. God is straight. God is cis gender.” This is not the God of the Bible. God never endorsed people’s sins. Jesus came commanding that we follow Him, regardless as to how it effected our status with our families. Jesus said in:

Matthew 10:34-38 (ESV) Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

The Scripture repeatedly calls the believer to walk apart from sin. We are called to “live lives worthy of the calling you received” (Ephesians 4:1). We are told “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND” (Romans 12:2). Saved by Grace, as Christians we “declare the praises of Him WHO CALLED US OUT OF DARKNESS, and INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT” (1 Peter 2:9).

As Christians, we honor our God when we live not to please the world, but to please our God (John 15:19; 17:15-18).

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality

and again,

Colossians 3:5 (ESV) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

and again,

Proverbs 6:32 (ESV) He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.

If you will not follow Christ on this earth, you need not believe that you will follow Him in Heaven. Saved by Grace now, we live to honor Him. Dear friend, do not believe that you can reside in sexual sin, and will one day enter Heaven. The Bible is clear:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (ESV) Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:5 (ESV) … you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Revelation 21:8 (ESV) … But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Those who are saved remain in the bonds of marriage, loving the Lord by loving their wives and husbands. May God help us to keep our marriages fully focused on honoring our God and Savior. Amen and Amen.

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The Sixth Commandment: Life Is Sacred

Posted on February 13, 2024 by bibleteacherorg

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Poor Mr. Smith! Let’s Ignore The Victim.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is in an uproar again. The state of Alabama executed convicted murderer Kenneth Smith using Nitrogen Gas, in a procedure called nitrogen hypoxia. Smith was a part of a crew hired to murder Elizabeth Sennett. He and John Forrest Parker stabbed her to death in her home, on instructions from her husband. Convicted of murder, Smith sat on death row over 20 years. He was executed almost 36 years after he brutally assisted in murdering this woman. Alabama had tried to execute him by lethal injection (the procedure used to kill Parker) but failed because they were unable to find a suitable vein. Executed by nitrogen hypoxia, the ACLU said “Mr. Smith shook, convulsed, writhed, and gasped for minutes until he was pronounced dead at least 22 minutes after the execution began, though just how long it took is unknown since Alabama closed the execution curtain before the official time of death”.

I wonder how long Elizabeth Sennett “shook, convulsed, writhed, and gasped” as Smith and Parker drove knives into her body? Did those men deserve to die because they callously took her life? Does the state have the right to execute murders? The answer to both questions is an emphatic YES!

Tonight we’re going to look at The Sixth Commandment, and what this commandment entails. The world’s oldest profession is farming, as Adam was placed in the “Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

The first sin ever committed was to ignore the clearly presented Word of God (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7) in order to follow self. The second sin committed was when Cain ignored God’s Word as his father Adam did, and murdered his brother (Genesis 4:6-8).

Murder and killing has been with humanity since our beginning. The prohibition on murder is the one command that everyone agrees with, though not everyone agrees with how murderers are to be dealt with. Three well known characters in the Bible, Moses (Exodus 2:11-15), King David (2 Samuel 11), and the Apostle Paul before he was saved (Acts 8:1; 22:19-20; 26:9-11) were guilty of murder. Moses killed an Egyptian Taskmaster. King David killed Uriah, so he could take his wife in adultery. Saul, before he was Paul, murdered Christians. All three – though never executed – suffered horribly because of their actions.

God told David that “the sword will never depart your house because you despised Me, and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife” (2 Samuel 12:10). It is a universal Law of God …

Galatians 6:7 (ESV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

David’s conscience bothered him his entire life. In Psalm 51 he wrote “my sin is ever before me” (vs 3) and “deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation” (vs 14). Not only did David have to contend with his conscience, his son Absalom rose up against him, and sought to murder his own father so he could take the throne of Israel. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness of Midian a fugitive because of his actions. The Apostle Paul never forgot what he did, saying “I am CHIEF OF SINNERS” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Murder is a sin that demands the greatest of punishments. Though the first murderer, Cain, was not executed for his sin, he was marked for life (Genesis 4:15) as a living sign that God despises murder! Life is a sacred gift from God.

In America, someone is murdered every 30 minutes. In 2023 there were 18,450 people murdered in the United States, close to half the population of Maury County. Though the ACLU would have you believe that America has the highest homicide rate, we have about 7.8 homicides per 100,000 people. Any murders are too many, but third world countries like El Salvador, Jamaica, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, etc, have 4 to 6 times higher numbers. The farther a people get away from the God of the Holy Bible, the more cavalier they are about the value of life.

Slide 4

Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Children are fed a diet of video games simulating murder and mayhem, and television often glorifies the taking of life. One source I found noted that by the time an American youth reaches 18 years old, that child will have witnessed 80,000 murders by television, movie, or video games.

What Does The Sixth Commandment Forbid?

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Word Study: The Sixth Commandment is only 4 words in the English, but just two words in the Hebrew: lō’ rāṣaḥ (pronounced raw-tsakh’). Literally, these words mean “No Murder” or “No Assasination”. The word is only found 47 times in 40 verses in the Bible. There are other Hebrew words in the Bible for “kill”, but rāṣaḥ refers to unlawful killing.

Not all killing is unlawful. Some killing is decreed of God, Who is the Giver of life. Murder is when you take life outside of the will of God.

For instance, God allows you to defend yourself and your property. The Bible says:

Job 24:14 (ESV) The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

Exodus 22:2-3 (ESV) If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay.

If someone sneaks into your home and tries to do you or your family harm, you are allowed to kill that person. If the sun is up, and you can thwart the invader without killing him, you should do so – for life is precious. But God does not expect you to allow others to sneak in and hurt your family.

In the Book of Esther, there was a plot against the Jews. The King of Persia allowed Mordecai to write an edict of protection for Israel, saying:

Esther 8:11 (ESV) … saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods …

The purpose of government is to protect the lives of its citizens. When King David directed that General Joab “set Uriah {the husband of Bathsheba} in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15) David was guilty of murder for hire. As leader of Israel, it was his responsibility to protect the citizens of Israel (and Uriah was a good citizen), not to us his office to murder a man to take his wife in adultery. God condemned David, saying:

2 Samuel 12:9 Why have you DESPISED THE WORD OF THE LORD, TO DO WHAT IS EVIL IN HIS SIGHT? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites …

Was it wrong for Alabama to execute Kenneth Smith? Is this murder, and forbidden by the Sixth Commandment? Absolutely not! Government is ordained of God to protect the lives of its citizens. God told humanity when Noah disembarked from the Ark:

Genesis 9:3-6 (ESV) Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

God established human government to protect the lives of its citizens. When a person violates the will of God, God has the right to receind the life that He gave. God told Israel as they gathered at Sinai for the giving of the Law:

Exodus 19:11-13 (ESV) … be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

God demanded that His Presence and His Word be respected. If anyone treated God’s Presence in a cavalier manner, God demanded that the COMMUNITY TAKE THAT LIFE. The Apostle Paul talks about the responsibility of human government to exercise CAPITAL PUNISHMENT in:

Romans 13:1-4 (ESV) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

God ordains government to “BEAR THE SWORD”, that is, to execute capital punishment on those who threaten the life of its citizens. We are not to avenge ourselves (“do NOT avenge yourselves; leave room for God’s wrath … vengeance belongs to God, He will repay” – Romans 12:19). We are to allow God’s government to avenge murder. In the same Book that God forbade MURDER, He said:

Exodus 21:12-14 (ESV) Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

In the Law of God, the Lord differentiated between MANSLAUGHTER and MURDER. Murder was intentional. Manslaughter was accidental. Those guilty of manslaughter could run to a city of Refuge, and would not lose their lives. But the willful murderer was to die! Period!

In Numbers 35:9-34 God told Israel to set up six …

Numbers 35:11-18 (ESV) cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. 14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. 16 “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 17 And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

The MANSLAYER who accidentally and unintentionally killed someone could go to a city of refuge, and there have his or her case examined. If the action was unintentional, the person stayed at that city of refuge – kind of like a better class of prison. But if it was intentional, God decreed “The murderer shall be put to death”.

Accidental deaths were considered MANSLAUGHTER, but deaths that could have been prevented but were not were also considered acts of murder. For instance, in the holy land the people of Israel often spent the hottest days on the roofs of their homes. God told the Israelite:

Deuteronomy 22:8 (ESV) When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

A “parapet” is a low, protective wall or guard rail along the edge of a roof, bridge, or balcony that keeps someone from accidentally walking off the side. If you failed to put up a parapet, then you brought “the guilt of blood upon your house”, that is,you could bew considered a murderer. You knew better, and heard God’s decree – but ignored it and someone died. One Jewish Commentary notes:

“The parapet had to have a minimum size of 10 hand-breadths. The law of the parapet applies only to flat roofs on which people can walk. The Talmud (Bava Kama 15b) records that the second-century teacher, Rabbi Nathan, extended the law of the parapet to prohibit keeping a vicious dog or a precarious ladder in the home.”

Again, the difference between murder and manslaughter is based on intent and deliberation. The Bible says:

Exodus 21:28-29 (ESV) When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. 29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

If a person owned an ox – which was commonly used to plow fields – if that ox gored someone and killed them, the ox was to be put down while the owner was fined (see verses 30-32). However, if the ox had gored someone before “and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in”, then BOTH the ox and the owner were to be executed. Why? Because the owner showed the same carelessness for life that a common murderer would have. It was a preventable death, and hence was MURDER.

Why Does God Require The Death Penalty For Murder?

God is the Giver of Life, and so God has the right to remove life any time He desires. When God takes life, He is not murdering – He is just removing the gift He gave. When the earth became so filleds with evil that God determined it was unredeemable, the Bible says:

Genesis 6:11-13 (ESV) Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

The Bible says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). God can do what He will with His creation, just as you can do with what belongs to you. But Beloved, your soul is the Lord’s. He says, “BEHOLD, EVERY SOUL BELONGS TO ME” (Ezekiel 18:4). You were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and were made to glorify God. When you murder someone, you are taking something that does not belong to you. As Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). God can do what He wants with what is His – but we have no right to take life outside of the will of God.

As we have said before, the taking of life inside of the lawful government of nations is not murder. Divine punishment is not murder. The soldier who takes life under the direction of lawful government authority is not a murderer. Accidental killing is not murder.

Murder is to unlawfully and unbiblically take a life. Suicide is self murder. Abortion is murder (Psalm 51:5; Luke 1:15; Psalm 139:6). Murder is horrible, because it robs God of His property, and fails to honor the God Who gave that life. God can forgive the murderer, because He has forgiven murderers. God forgave Moses, King David, and the Apostle Paul.

God can use the murderer for His glory. But unless God intervenes – and He has the right to intervene – the murderer is supposed to pay life for life under capital punishment.

God can use the murderer. God used a murderer named Barabbas to execute His Son for our sins. The day that Jesus died for us on Calvary, the Governor Pilate offered to release Jesus and execute Barabbas. The crowd cried out:

Luke 23:18 (ESV) … Away with this man {Jesus}, and release to us Barabbas…

The Lord of Life died instead of Barabbas who deserved it. The Bible says “{Pilate} released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.”

Barabbas was a known murderer (Mark 15:6-7) but Jesus, Who had done no wrong, went to the horror of the Cross. Peter preached:

Acts 3:13-15 (ESV) The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Jesus was murderered in a murderers place (Acts 7:51-53) for our sins, according to the Will of God (Acts 2:23-24; 4:27-28). Murderers do NOT go to Heaven (Revelation 21:8) unless they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. He died for us all, so that we might all find life in Him.

Life is precious. The root cause of murder is selfishness, and self centered lovelessness (Matthew 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15-18). Jesus died on the Cross so that He might defeat the sin that so enslaves us, and ruins our lives. Life is precious. God does not want us squandering the great gift He has given us. Jesus was murdered for us, so that rising from the grave He could offer us lives that we cherish and enjoy. I will close with this passage from Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV) … you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

When Abel was killed by Cain, his blood cried out for vengeance. God said to Cain, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” (Genesis 4:10-11). But when Christ was murdered, His Blood cries out in a different way. PastorDan Shambro wrote:

“Abel’s blood cried out, ‘Let my murderer be cursed in payment for my death’. Jesus’ Blood cries out, ‘Let My death be the curse in payment for My murderers.”

Murder must never be justified by the state. But those on death row have hope, the same blessed hope we all have. They have Jesus. If they would but turn to Him, repenting, their next chapter will not be eternal punishment but everlasting life. Oh, that all people would discover the joy of life in Christ. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ this very day. Amen and Amen.

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The Fourth Amen

Posted on February 13, 2024 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lonely-woman-crying-with-closed-eyes-4471316/

2 Peter 3:14-18 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of {of Christ} in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. AMEN.

The Fourth Amen Sums Up The Christian Way Of Life

Peter’s last letter to the Church closes with the word “AMEN”. Amen is an interesting word. It is a UNIVERSAL word. “Amen” in the Greek text, the text of our New Testament, is amēn. “Amen” in the Hebrew text, the language of the Old Testament, is āmēn. “Amen” is found in every language on the earth, though it is pronounced differently. It is a unique word that means “let it be fulfilled” or “so be it” or “this is truth”.

When you say “Amen” you are not only agreeing with what is being said, but are claiming ownership.

In Peter’s first letter to the Church, he used the word “AMEN” three times. In the first “AMEN” he gave all glory and power and praise to Jesus Christ. When we SPEAK, our words are to MAGNIFY CHRIST and not ourselves:

1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. AMEN.

1 Peter 5:11 To {God} be glory and dominion for ever and ever. AMEN.

The life of the Christian is to glorify God, not ourselves. In the third “AMEN”, we glorify God by loving one another and lifting up one another – by PUTTING OTHERS AHEAD OF OURSELVES.

1 Peter 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

Jesus Christ is THE AMEN, the Faithful and True Witness – The Beginning of the Creation of God (Revelation 3:14). We glorify Christ when we put God and others FIRST, and ourselves LAST. The essence of Grace is that God must be glorified by the lives we live.

The fourth and final AMEN is at the close of Peter’s second book. He says:

2 Peter 3:17-18 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. AMEN.

Before the AMEN there is a warning against “being led away with the error of the wicked”. We who are Christians need to be very careful as to who we follow. Then we are told “But grow in grace”. We are warned not to be led away by the error of the wicked, BUT to GROW IN GRACE. There are two things put before us.

Anything NOT of GRACE is ERROR.
We are to GROW in GRACE.

We as Christians are to be focused on growing in Grace. Now first of all, we are not told that Grace grows. Grace doesn’t grow. I have heard – and have said myself – that an acronym for GRACE is

God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense

I believe that’s a good definition in once sense. It is the Grace of God that came to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are told in:

Titus 2:11 For the GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION HATH APPEARED TO ALL {PEOPLE}

God manifested Himself through Christ, bringing Grace to whoever believes in Him. But Grace does not just save us – Grace changes us. The Apostle went on to say:

Titus 2:12-15 {this GRACE} TEACHES US that, DENYING UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, we should LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY, AND GODLY IN THIS PRESENT WORLD; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US, THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY, and purify UNTO HIMSELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE, zealous of good works.

Grace does not just save from the wrath of God, but creates children of God who want to follow Christ. Grace is not just something that gets you into Heaven, but Grace is something that gets Heaven into YOU! Our Lord Jesus “was made a little lower than the angels FOR THE SUFFERING OF DEATH …. that HE BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD TASTE DEATH FOR EVERY PERSON” (Hebrews 2:9). It was Grace that paid for our sins. It is Grace that leads us to walk with Christ. As the Apostle addressed the Church of Corinth, a Church that seriously misunderstood Grace, he wrote:

2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Christians Are To GROW IN GRACE, Not In SELF

2 Peter 3:17-18 beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in grace

The phrase “grow in grace” presupposes that you are a living creature. A rock cannot grow. A dead thing cannot grow. A branch cut from a tree cannot grow. Grace is first found in the first book of Scripture. Grace is God’s undeserved goodness on us all. God created a man that He called “Adam”, and gave Adam a beautiful wife called “Eve”. Adam was given undeserved life, and placed in a perfect Paradise called the Garden of Eden. Man and woman was given the directive to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Everything that Adam and Eve had was a blessing. It was a gift of Grace, something undeserved and unearned. They just had to follow God. They had to do what God said. What did they do?

They were led away with the error of the wicked.

The devil, in the guise of a serpent (Revelation 12:9), convinced them to depart from Grace and satisfy themselves. To put themselves above God. To make themselves gods, rather than love the Lord Who gave them Grace. God told Adam, “in the day that you eat of the forbidden, YOU SHALL SURELY DIE” (Genesis 2:17). Adam heard and understood these words, but followed the devil rather than God. Being “led away with the error of the wicked” Adam and his progeny DID DIE. Beloved, “The WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH” (Romans 6:23). As the Scripture says:

Romans 5:12 … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

The error of the wicked one spread through humanity. But the Grace of God was still there. Though God could have destroyed Adam, and with him his progeny, God clothed Adam and Eve, and sent them from the Garden. But Grace gave them life.

The evil one is always striving to lead us to walk away from Grace, and to make ourselves the center of all things. He whispers to us, “you are gods”, and bids us reject the Grace of God for our own glory. Those who are lost in sin follow the darkness of the evil one. Christians are not to do this. The Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AP) Therefore, is ANYONE IS IN IN CHRIST, they are NEW CREATIONS; the old has passed away, the NEW HAS COME!

Christians are to GROW IN GRACE, not to imitate the world. If you are not growing in Grace, you may yet be dead in your sins. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “This is GOD’S WILL, your SANCTIFICATION”. Sanctification is a technical term for growing to be more like Jesus, more like a child of God. You as believers are commanded to GROW IN GRACE. God would not command that you do something impossible.

God has given us His Spirit and His Scripture and His Sanctuary. Our eyes are to be on Him. Jesus said “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12). He said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness” (John 14:26). We GROW IN GRACE, not in sinfulness. If we are saved, we walk loving God our Father. We walk surrendered to Christ and his Word. You are saved, a DELIVERED PEOPLE:

Colossians 1:13-14 {God} hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

God Has Given Us Beautiful Pictures Of
Growth In Grace In His Scripture

As I thought and prayed, “How can I explain GROWING IN GRACE”? the Lord spoke to my heart. “I’ve given you all you need – use it!” The first time the word GRACE is found in the Bible is:

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

God looked at the world, and all the world had ignored Him, and had been led away by the wicked one into evil. The Bible says that “Noah WALKED WITH GOD” (Genesis 6:9). Noah was saved by Grace, because he laid his life before the Lord. Noah didn’t follow the crowd, but followed the Lord. A recipient of Grace, Noah was fully saved. Then God came to Noah.

Noah, build an Ark of gopher wood. Make it the way I tell you. I’ll guide you, but you GROW IN GRACE. Rely on Me. Do what I say, for a flood is coming. Trust Me no matter what, and I’ll see you through.

Can you imagine the ridicule that Noah went through? He built an Ark, and told others that God said a flood was coming by RAIN. No one had ever seen rain, as the earth was watered by a “mist from the earth” (Genesis 2:6-8). Pastor Andy Manning said:

“There are {only} two options. You are either being led away, or you are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is no standing still in the Christian life. There is progress, or regress. The spiritual life is a steep mountain; you are either ascending or descending. It is a battle, you are either advancing or retreating. It is a race; you are either winning or losing. You are growing, or you are backsliding.”

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The only way to avoid falling in the Christian life is to advance. The only way to avoid slipping back is to go forward. There is no such thing as being static in the Christian life ..”

What if Noah had said, “Well, I’m saved, so I’ll just REST IN GRACE. God said to build an Ark, but its too hard. I think I’ll just sit here until I drift into Heaven.” Do you know what would have happened had Noah done that? He would have drowned with the rest of the world, he and his children. All would have died – including you and I – if Noah had not GROWN IN GRACE.

There’s another person that comes to my mind when I think of GROWING IN GRACE, and that is the shepherd boy called David. When King Saul failed to honor God, abusing His Grace, God rejected him as King and sent the Prophet Samuel to the home of Jesse the Bethlehemite to find a more suitable King for Israel. As Samuel examined each of the children of Jesse, strong young men, to Samuel they all looked powerful enough or smart enough to be King. But God told Samuel:

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV) … Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

The Lord looks on the heart to see if you have surrendered to His Grace. Are you following the evil one, or seeking Him? Seven sons passed by Samuel, and to each son God said “I do not want this person – he has rejected My Grace”. Samuel asked if Jesse had any other children, and Jesse said “I have one other young son – my eighth. He is watching the sheep.” When Jesse brought David to Samuel, God said “Anoint him as King – he is the one” (1 Samuel 16:12). What made David special.

David loved the Lord. David received God’s Grace.

Did David ascend to the Throne of Israel right then, or did he seek out a following to help promote him to the Throne? No! David relied on the Grace of God. David GREW IN GRACE. He went back to the field to watch the sheep until King Saul called for David, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:19). David went to the court of the King, and waited on the King, playing the harp for him.

To grow in Grace is to be like David. Though anointed King, he served the King because it pleased God his Father. David waited, and grew in Grace.

When you wait on the Grace of God, glorifying the Lord Who saved you, in time He will give you other opportunities for growth. When Israel went to battle the Philistines a giant by the name of Goliath came out and mocked Israel. This Goliath was arrogant, and brash, crying out “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together” (1 Samuel 17:10).

The armies of Israel quaked, fearing every man to go forward.
King Saul refused to fight. He was not willing to grow in Grace.

Then David came along. “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26). The children of Israel hid. His brothers mocked him. Who was David to criticize them? Well, David was a nobody who knew Somebody great. While in the pasture guarding the sheep – the lowest job in the household – David used his sling and sword to kill predators. David told Saul,

1 Samuel 17:34-37 (ESV) … Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Growing in Grace means to not make everything about YOU, but about the Lord. Growing in Grace means to step outside your comfort zone, and live to glorify God. David grabbed a lion by its beard and killed it. David killed bears with his sling and a stone. He did it to glorify God, and to honor his father. David was anointed King, but was content to wait on the Lord, to trust in Him until the time was right.

When David got ready to fight Goliath, Saul tried to give him his armor. David said, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them” (1 Samuel 17:39). David did well by trusting in the Lord, by growing in Grace. He knew that Grace would give him all he needed to defeat Goliath. He was God’s man. Hear what it sounds like to grow in Grace. David told Goliath:

1 Samuel 17:45-47 (ESV) … You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.

What if David had cowered with the rest? What if David would not go forward until he had a Sherman Tank, or a machine gun, or the skills of a Ninja warrior? That’s not growing in Grace. Growing in Grace is living surrendered to the will of God, to the glory of God. What was the outcome? David killed the Philistine with a sling and a stone – using Goliath’s own sword to cut off his head. And when David won that battle and King Saul asked, “Whose son are you, young man?”, David simply replied:

“I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
1 Samuel 17:58

I am nobody. I am a recipient of Grace. I am growing in Grace, honoring my father and my Lord.

Growing In Grace Often Requires Suffering

As Peter talks about growing in Grace, he speaks about the Apostle Paul.

2 Peter 3:15-16 … account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Before he was Paul, Paul was SAUL, a Pharisee commissioned to hunt down and destroy Christians. Saul was very religious. He knew the Law, and was trained by the famed Rabbi Gamaliel in the Torah and Talmudic writings. As he traveled the Damascus Road one day, seeking to imprison more Christians, Jesus knocked Saul down and reached out in Grace to him. God said of the newly saved Paul:

Acts 9:15-16 (ESV) … he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

Wait a minute! I’ve heard the televangelists tell us that the whole purpose of GRACE is to RELIEVE SUFFERING, to keep us from Hell. Beloved, they have lied to you. Grace certainly saves from hell, but Grace demands you follow Christ. Following Jesus will put you on a different path from the world. The world walks in darkness. The world is “led away with the error of the wicked”. The world follows self and Satan, sin and silliness. But we who are recipients of Grace are to “Grow in Grace”, to learn reliance upon the Lord more and more.

As God used Paul to preach the Gospel of salvation, God used him in a mighty way. But Paul never took credit for that. He said,

1 Corinthians 15:10 … by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Paul was fully reliant upon the Lord. He GREW IN GRACE. One day, the Bible says that God intentionally sent trials to Paul. We read:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 … lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Growing in Grace is only possible when God takes away your own strength, your own abilities, your own self. Paul realized this. Like the Shepherd David, Paul was saved by Grace, and grew in Grace. Every day of his life he relied upon the power of God.

Some of you have thorns in the flesh. You can give in to the thorns. You can cry over what you have lost. Or you can use the time of suffering as a time to grow in Grace. If you are saved,

1 Peter 2:9-10 … ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

As recipients of Grace – the undeserved mercy of God – let us follow Him and love Him, no matter where life may lead us. When we suffer, let us draw near to Him in prayer. When we do not understand, let us increase our knowledge of Christ.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

As Christians, let us live to learn more about Jesus. Jesus is not just our Savior, but He is “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. Let us live to bring glory to Him – not to ourselves. For one day we will see Him face to face. On that day we will either receive reward for honoring Him through the Grace He gave us, or damnation for rejecting His Grace, “being led away with the error of the wicked”. It is “the TRUE GRACE OF GOD wherein we STAND” (1 Peter 5:12).

We stand with Jesus, because Jesus stands with us. Amen and Amen.

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