Jesus Healing The Blind

Posted on August 25, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Last week we started looking at “the man born blind that Jesus healed” in John chapter 9. This was not the only blind man Jesus healed. When John the Baptist had a crisis of faith, and sent messengers to ask if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, our Lord said:

Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Jesus listed “The blind receive their sight” first, making it more important than “the dead are raised up”. Jesus came to give spiritual sight to whosoever would listen to Him. He illustrated this by “being Light” (“I am the Light of the world” – John 8:12), but also by healing the blind. Jesus healed two blind men in Matthew 9:27-31, one of whom was called Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Jesus also healed a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).

This Passage in John 9 Is The Longest And Most
Detailed Account Of Christ Healing The Blind

The other passages dealing with the blind are covered in about 17 verses of Scripture – but here we have an entire chapter devoted to blindness. The man born blind from birth starts the chapter, and triggers other events. But he is not the only blind person in this chapter.

The Man Is Physically Healed, But Still
Blind To Who Jesus Is

John 9:7 And {Jesus} said unto {the man born blind}, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Jesus made mud out of spittle and clay, and anointed the man’s eyes with it. He then sent him to the “POOL OF SILOAM”. The name “SILOAM” means “that which has been SENT”. The Bible Commentator William Barclay notes:

The water for the pool of Siloam came through Hezekiah’s tunnel, a remarkable engineering feat built in Old Testament times. “It was called Siloam, which, it was said, meant sent, because the water in it had been sent through the conduit into the city.”

Anglican Archbishop Richard C. Trench said:

“It was from the Siloam stream that was drawn the water which was poured over the great altar at the Feast of Tabernacles just past, which pouring out was regarded by the Rabbis (and is still) as typical of the pouring out of The Spirit in the ‘latter days’.”

When Jesus sent the man to Siloam, He was showing us that all healing He did while on this earth was through the Holy Spirit. The water of Siloam (Sent) represented the Sending of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that when He went away, He would send the Holy Spirit to the Church” (John 16:7).

Jesus did not do the miraculous in His own Divine Power. The Bible says that when our Lord came to minister on this earth, that …

Philippians 2:7-8 (ESV) {Jesus} emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Our Lord told the Pharisees,

Matthew 12:28 (ESV) … if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Though Jesus as the Eternal Son of God has the power to do anything He wants to do (even the devil knew He could turn rocks into bread – see Matthew 4:3), Jesus did the miraculous through the power of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit, the Finger of God (Exodus 8:19) by which Moses did miracles in Egypt. It was the Holy Spirit, the Finger of God (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10) by which the Ten Commandments were written on Stone. It was by the Finger of God (Luke 11:20) that Jesus cast out demons, and did the miraculous.

Jesus sent the blind man to Siloam so that we would see him healed by the waters, the same waters that were poured on the altar during Sukkot, translated “Booths” or “Tabernacles” in Deuteronomy 16:13 and Leviticus 23:34. When this was done back in John chapter 7, Jesus tied the waters of Siloam to the Holy Spirit:

John 7:37-39 (ESV) On the last day of the feast {of Booths/ Tabernacles}, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, brings the indwelling Holy Spirit to our lives.

It is the Holy Spirit Who causes us to be born again (John 3:6, 8).
It is the Holy Spirit Who gives the gift of healing (1 Corinthians 12:9).
It is the Holy Spirit Who gives us spiritual sight (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).
It is the Holy Spirit Who “guides us into all truth” (John 16:13).

The Spirit is only received after a person receives Jesus as Lord and Savior. Like Jesus SENT this man to Siloam, He SENDS us to the Spirit, and the Spirit to us.

John 9:8-12 The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

When the blind man asked how he was able to see, the man said “A man that is called Jesus” anointed him with clay and sent him to Siloam. He calls Jesus “A man”. Jesus is a man, but He is also more than a man. The Apostle wrote:

1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Jesus is a man, but He is a Perfect Man. He is the “ransom for all”, the payment for our sins. If Jesus were a sinner like we are, then how could He ransom us? He could not. A sinner cannot pay for the sins of sinners. A sinner is bankrupt before God. But Jesus is our High Priest, representing us before our Holy Father:

Hebrews 4:15 … we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Jesus Christ called Himself “The Son of man” (Matthew 8:20), but declared that as the perfect “Son of man”:

Matthew 9:6 … the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins …

As “the Son of Man” Jesus is the Messiah, the Incarnate Son of God. God become Man, Perfect Man. Jesus said:

Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

When the Woman of Samaria finished talking to Jesus, she went and told her neighbors:

John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

She was saved, She was a believer in Christ. She was blind, but now sees.

This blind man – who now can physically see – is spiritually blind. He has encountered Jesus, but has no idea Who Jesus is. He is still blind in the worst way.

Why Did Jesus Heal On The Sabbath?

The people are curious as to how this man – born blind – could now see. So we read:

John 9:13-14 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

The Pharisees – along with the Scribes or Lawyers – were the Bible scholars of that day. If you have a question about the Scripture, they are the “Encyclopedia Britannica” that you would go to. We are told that Jesus healed this man on “the sabbath day”, what the Jews called “Shabbat”. God gave the seventh day as a day of rest for Israel after Israel was saved from Egyptian slavery. The Israelite as slave had absolutely NO days off, but worked in the harshest of conditions. As it was with circumcision, God gave Israel a Shabbat or Sabbath:

Exodus 31:12-17 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’

The Pharisees and Scribes had taken the Sabbath and distorted it by adding rules that God never gave. Called “The 39 Melakhot” (39 Categories of Work), the Jews were forbidden to plant, plow, reap, gather, thresh, winnow, sort, grind, sift, knead, shear, scour, launder, spin, weave, tie, tear, trap, kill, skin, cure, smooth, score, measure, erase, construct, demolish, ignite, extinguish, carry … and on and on. Neither the Church nor the Gentile was given a Sabbath. The Apostle Paul, himself a Pharisee of the Pharisees (Philippians 3:5), wrote:

Colossians 2:16-17 (ESV) Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

There is no evidence that – after Jesus rose from the grave on the first day of the week (John 20:1; Luke 24:1) – that the Church ever kept Shabbat. The Church worshiped Jesus on the First Day, the Day of His resurrection from the grave (see 1 Corinthians 16:2; Acts 20:6-7). They called that day “The Lord’s Day”. God rested after creating the Heaven and the earth. Once Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, by His resurrection He brought about the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The Pharisees And Scribes Were Spiritually Blind. When they found out that Jesus healed this man on Shabbat, the Sabbath, we read:

John 9:15-17 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. 17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

When Jesus spat in the ground and kneaded a bit of clay to anoint the man’s eyes, this was one of the forbidden Melakhot. Based on that little bit of kneading, they condemned Jesus as “a sinner”, Someone Who purposely violated God’s Laws. Why didn’t Jesus heal on another day? He could have avoided the controversy, and after all, the man had been blind from birth. Why heal him on Shabbat?

Jesus did this because Israel was not only imprisoned under Roman Rule and Law, but Israel was also enslaved by the Pharisaic interpretation of the Law. The Apostle Peter called the Law as given by the Pharisees:

Acts 15:10-11 (NKJV) … a yoke on the neck … which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear …

Under the Law if a person’s ox fell in a ditch, they were allowed to get it out. If their animals needed watering, they were allowed to water their beast (Luke 13:15). It was – according to Jesus – “lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save life” (Mark 3:4). Jesus chastised these religious leaders for:

Mark 7:7 (ESV) … teaching as doctrines the commandments of men …

Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It was a gift from God, not a yoke. Jesus healed on the Sabbath to show the foolishness of the teachings of the Pharisees and Scribes, but also to show the love of God toward His creation. The Pharisees made Jesus out to be “A SINNER”, but the man that was healed that “He is a prophet”.

Jesus MUST have been from God, or else I would not be able to see! A Prophet, according to the Rabbis, was sent of God. Therefore the Prophet could dispense with the observation of the Sabbath, just as the Priest who did circumcisions did, because he was doing the work of God.

Bible Commentator Adam Clarke wrote:

“Works of necessity and mercy never could be forbidden on that day by Him whose name is mercy, and whose nature is love; for the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; were it otherwise, the Sabbath would be rather a curse than a blessing.”

The Pharisees could not believe what they were told. We read:

John 9:18-23 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

The parents of the healed man would not answer for their son. They were afraid that the Pharisees would have them “put out of the synagogue”. A person cast out of the Synagogue was excommunicated for thirty days for the first two offenses. The third time that person could be excommunicated forever, making them much like a leper. This was a formidable threat. The Scripture says:

John 12:42 (NKJV) Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess [Him], lest they should be put out of the synagogue

John 9:24-29 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? 28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

The man who was healed did not try and argue the Bible – or about Jesus – with the Pharisees. He just stuck with what he knew to be true. He said simply, “I was blind, now I see”. Likewise, we as believers do not need to know the answer to every theological or philosophical question in order to tell someone what Jesus did for us. We just need to tell of our experience. “I was blind, now I see”.

John 9:30-34 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

The man who had been blind stuck to what he knew. He knew that the Scripture teaches that “GOD HEARETH NOT SINNERS”. The Scripture is clear on this:

Psalm 34:15-16 (ESV) The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Psalm 66:18 (ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Proverbs 15:29 (ESV) The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Proverbs 28:9 (ESV) If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

The only prayer that God hears from the sinner is the prayer of repentance. The Bible promises that God hears that prayer. “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” (Psalm 116:13). “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).

The only answer the Pharisees had to what this young man said was to “cast him out”. Of course, they insulted him before the excommunicated him. “Thou wast altogether born in sins”. You were a sinner from birth. That’s why you were blind. You were sinful from your mother’s womb. Though we are all born in trespasses and sin – even the Pharisees – that was not why that child was born blind.

It was to glorify Christ. It was to show us great truths concerning our Lord Jesus. It was so that He would be shown to be Messiah, the Savior of the world.

We will come back next week at verse 35. May God move you to live for Christ this very day. Amen and Amen.

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Wherefore, Part 2

Posted on August 22, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bullion-gold-gold-bars-golden-47047/

1 Peter 2:6-10 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But 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.

Sadly, we have yet another scandal in the Southern Baptist Convention. In our paper The Baptist and Reflector I saw the headlines,

MCLAURIN RESIGNS AS INTERIM PRESIDENT OF SBC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

I thought it might be good news, that Willie was being called as President of the SBC Executive Committee. Willie took over as Interim President when it was alleged that Ronnie Floyd was guilty of sexual abuse. To quote another article, “McLaurin … brought calm to a battered organization in the wake of former president Ronnie Floyd’s resignation and to the EC’s handling of sexual abuse claims related to SBC churches. ”

Sadly, that was not the case. Brother McLaurin submitted a resume that – Willie admits – “included schools I did not attend or complete the course of study”. McLaurin wrote, “To the Southern Baptists who have placed their confidence in me and have encouraged me to pursue the role of President & CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, including pastors, state partners, entity servants, colleagues, and SBC African American friends, I offer my deepest apologies. Please forgive me for the harm or hurt that this has caused”.

Though I do not endorse what Brother McLaurin did – it is a violation of God’s Word to lie and misrepresent – I personally am praying for our entire Convention. We are not recognizing elders who are Spirit Filled and God Led, but are approaching God’s Word in the power of the flesh. It does not matter how many degrees you have. The reported Prince of Preachers, C.H. Spurgeon had no seminary training whatsoever. He was God led.

Beloved, are we GOD led, or are we FLESH led?
What is our goal every Sunday at this Church?
What do we expect of ourselves as Christians when we walk out of here?
I don’t care what your resume says –
If you’re not walking in the Power of the Spirit,
If you’re not walking in the LIGHT of Christ,
You’re in the wrong place! Period.

Our Chief Focus Is Not Human Qualifications,
But CHRIST. Jesus is PRECIOUS.

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I {this is God the Father speaking} lay in Sion {actually Zion, a reference to God’s Kingdom} a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

It is IMPORTANT to realize when reading the Bible you are reading the Word of God. It is also IMPORTANT to understand our Bible is translated from Hebrew, Chaldean, Aramaic and Koine Greek to English. It pays to look at the original text, because sometimes the translation may mask a Biblical truth.

Word Study: Take for instance the word “Wherefore”. We saw this word last week in

1 Peter 2:1 WHEREFORE laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings …

We saw that this was the Greek Conjunction oun, found499 times in the Greek New Testament. Oun can be translated “accordingly, consequently, or these things being so”. Now we come to “Wherefore” once more, but this time it is the Greek Conjunction dio. Dio is used only 53 times in the Greek New Testament – about 1/9th of the time that Oun is used. Dio appears to be more emphatic. For instance, it is found in:

Luke 1:35 {Gabriel told Mary} … The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: therefore (dio | διό | conj) the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.

Or when the Centurion sent friends to Jesus that our Lord heal his servant, his messengers told Jesus:

Luke 7:6-7 … Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 For (dio | διό | conj) that reason I did not consider myself worthy to come to you. But speak the word and let my servant be healed.

Or when the Apostle chastised the “Woke” unbelievers in Rome, saying:

Romans 1:23-24 {they} exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore (dio | διό | conj) God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that they dishonored their bodies among themselves.

Dio seems to be a STRONG form of the conjunction. When I see Dio pop up, it is God’s way of saying “What is to follow is VERY important”. What follows the Dio in this instance is a prophecy made some 700 years before Peter’s writings.

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore (dio) also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

This is a quotation of …

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Word Study: The “precious corner stone” is the main stone the building rests on. The word translated “precious” in 1 Peter 2:6 is the Greek entimos, which means “that which is held in highest honor, that which is prized or dear to another”. That which satisfies the Father is His Son.

The foundation Stone of the Church is Jesus Christ, not a Pope or a Preacher. It is God the Father that laid this Stone, not man, nor denomination. Jesus Christ is precious to the Father. The Father said,

Matthew 3:17 … This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 17:5 … This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Jesus Christ is the only way to satisfy God. Faith in Him is the only thing that pleases God. Glorifying Him in your life and actions will always honor Him, and please the Father. Jesus is the “chief corner stone”. Any life that does not align with His is NOT precious. Any work that does not magnify Jesus is NOT precious. The Prophet Isaiah said that Jesus is BOTH:

a precious corner stone, a sure foundation

Jesus is not just the CORNER STONE that aligns the walls to true North, but Jesus is also the SURE FOUNDATION on which the walls stand. When we are here, we are here to magnify Jesus. He is PRECIOUS.

We are saved by coming to Jesus in faith, believing His BLOOD PRECIOUS:

1 Peter 1:18-19 … you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

God has made PRECIOUS PROMISES OF SALVATION to us because of Jesus:

2 Peter 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Our faith before God is PRECIOUS because of Jesus. Our God sends trials our way to prove our faith, to test if our faith is in Jesus:

1 Peter 1:7-8 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Jesus is the FOUNDATION Stone. The Jews believed that the foundation of their faith was the keeping of the Law of God. Yet the Law was never given as a means of salvation. The Apostle tells us that the Law was given to convict us of our need for Christ. The Pharisee believes in approaching God without Christ. The Liberal believes in approaching God lawlessly.

Both are wrong.

Galatians 3:23-26 before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

God saved Israel apart from the Law and apart from Sinai. Israel was saved from Egypt by believing the call of God, and by following Him as Lord.

The Law was only given after Israel repeatedly refused to rely on God, instead wanting to rely on their own abilities and senses. After Israel failed test after test, God took them to Sinai. The Law was given to show Israel that their Foundation Stone cannot be Law, but must be Christ. If you have given your life to Jesus, and He to you, the Law of Moses is not what you follow. You follow Jesus. The Bible says:

1 Timothy 1:9 … the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

The Law of God applies to those who are not saved by faith in the PRECIOUS CHRIST. If Christ is not to YOU PRECIOUS, then you are yet unsaved. He is PRECIOUS. He alone is received of the Father. To those who have found Jesus to be their “Foundation Stone”, you are born again, Spirit indwelt, and want to stand before God in Him Who saved you. He is your FOUNDATION for life.

If You Stick With Jesus, You Will Never Be Shamed

1 Peter 2:6 … he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Word Study: If you believe on Jesus, if you have called upon Him as both Lord and Savior, repenting of your sins – you “SHALL NOT BE CONFOUNDED”. The word “CONFOUNDED” is the Greek kataischynō, which means “to be dishonored or disgraced, to be caused to blush with shame”. This statement Peter made was a common one among the Apostles. We read:

Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (kataischynō)

Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (kataischynō)

The most dangerous thing a person will ever do is not sky diving, nor disarming bombs, nor swimming with the sharks. The most dangerous thing a person will ever do is stand before a Holy and Righteous God without Christ.

We know that Jesus is PRECIOUS and trustworthy because He was “TRIED”. He was TRIED by the devil in the wilderness (Mathew 4:1) before His earthly ministry began. Jesus was “TRIED” by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians. Jesus was tried by hunger and suffering. Jesus was tried in Gethsemane, tried by the Jewish Court of the Sanhedrin, and tried by Pilate in the Governor’s Court. No matter what trial Jesus went through, He never failed. Jesus was without sin.

1 Peter 2:22 {Jesus} did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

Jesus is “Him Who knew NO SIN” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is “our High Priest … Who was TEMPTED in all things as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus Christ “appeared in order to take away {our} sins; and in Him thee is NO SIN” (1 John 3:5).

Illustrate: I was reading an article the other day about the “Death Cap Mushroom”. Called “Amanita Phalloides”, this mushroom grows under oak trees. What makes it so dangerous is that it looks exactly a white mushroom you can buy in a store with one distinction: the gills of the supermarket mushroom are dark brown or black, whereas the gills of the Death Cap are white. You can eat a Death Cap, and be perfectly fine for 24-36 hours. Then the abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea set in. Death comes due to organ damage and liver failure.

It looks good, but isn’t. It is deadly. In the same way, there are many paths that people try to take to God. They look good, and may seem, good for a time. But in time they prove to be deadly. The only place where there is LIFE is in JESUS. Our Lord Jesus said:

John 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Choose carefully. Are you living your life to please YOURSELVES, or to please GOD? We read:

1 Peter 2:7-8 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

The thought that ALL PEOPLE WILL GO – be default – to Heaven, is devilish and foolish. Peter tells us that Jesus is a PRECIOUS Cornerstone, and a PRECIOUS Foundation offering PRECIOUS Promises to those who believe in Him. Jesus is the “stone which the builders disallowed”. The religious leaders of Israel and the architects of Rome and Roman Politicians minimized and mocked Christ. To them Jesus was “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word”. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Roman Rulers all lived by their human traditions. They rejected that which Christ promoted, preferring instead to follow their own false gods. What was the result?

Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. The Roman Empire lasted a bit longer. It died in 476 AD.
When will your Church die?

The Church That Lives With And For Jesus
Will Continue Until The Rapture

1 Peter 2:9-10 But 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.

The Bible now uses a series of Adjectives to describe the Church of Christ, and the Christian in that Church. Because Christ is PRECIOUS, we are PRECIOUS. Because Jesus is “CHOSEN” of God, we are “CHOSEN” of God. Because Jesus is “ROYALTY”, for He is THE Son of God, we who have believed in Him are “ROYALTY”. Because our Jesus is set apart and “HOLY”, we who have received Him are set apart and “HOLY”. When our Lord Jesus walked the earth, He was considered “PECULIAR”. We likewise who believe in Him are “PECULIAR”.

If you will share Jesus’ Heaven one day, you will be bound to Him spiritually every day.

Christians are called to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. We are to live to please Him, not ourselves. We are to magnify Jesus in our lives. We are “now the people of God”, not the children of Adam nor the spawn of satan. We are to walk in the LIGHT with Christ, not in the DARKNESS with satan.

As believers, we live under the umbrella of Jesus’ MERCY. Let us live our lives pleasing to Him, doing what the Word of God says.

For Christ’s sake. For the sake of America. Amen and Amen.

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But Jonah

Posted on August 22, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Jéan Béller on Unsplash

I heard a sermon Dr. Jerry Vines preached years ago called “Jonah”. I liked it so much that I decided to take some of his points, and expand them. Since then, I’ve preached this sermon at three different Churches in two different states. The power of the text is not in me, but in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scripture. Let’s start at the best place – the beginning of Jonah’s story.

Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Oh, how I love the Book of Jonah. I think every Christian should read it at least once a year. Once you read it, it will fix a lot of the crazy ideas that have entered into Christianity in my lifetime. I have been invited to “Pastor Prayer Meetings” where I thought we were going to pray. Instead, when I got there, I listened to the Director of Missions tell us “The reason your Churches are not growing is because …”, and then he has some book or “expert” talk to tell us what we’re doing wrong. I remember years ago when Rick Warren published Purpose Driven Christian and Purpose Driven Churches, nearly every Church in our Association jumped on board with a “40 Days of Purpose” campaign. These rabbit’s feet were going to grow the Churches, empty the saloons and drug houses, and put the pushers and sex traffickers out of business.

It did absolutely nothing.

What grows a Church and changes nations is WHO we see in Jonah.

Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai…

Who was Jonah? He was “the son of Amittai”. Who is this? NOBODY. The Bible doesn’t tell us who this man is. We know his father’s name, but no one knows who his father actually is. You look it up. Look up “son of Amittai”. It will tell you that it’s Jonah. And who is Jonah? “The son of Amittai”. He’s nobody! Nobody!

But what I find interesting is that the Bible says “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah”. In the King James and most translations I see, the word translated “word” is in the lower case, like “word”. I don’t think that’s right. The Bible tells us Who the Word of the Lord is. The Bible says:

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.

Who is the “Word” that was God. We are told later in John:

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The WORD is Jesus Christ our Lord. The Preincarnate Jesus comes to Jonah, this unknown man. This is the same Jesus Who told His Church before He went into Heaven:

Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [20] Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you …

God sent Jonah into a horrible place. God told Jonah:

Jonah 1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me

Jonah was not sent to a comfortable place to share the Gospel, but a horrible place. “Nineveh” is the capital city of Assyria, a nation that persecuted and attacked Israel. They have become so wicked that God says, “their wickedness is come up before Me”. It’s gotten more than our God can ignore. When wickedness became so prevalent in Noah’s day, the Bible says:

Genesis 6:5-6 … God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth …

Eventually God reaches a point of NO RETURN where He will destroy a civilization if it will not repent. Jonah, the clock is ticking.

God does not wish to destroy – but He will. God said “if the wicked will forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts, and return to Me, I will have mercy on them, and will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7, *AP).

Word Study: Jesus told Jonah, “Arise, go … and cry” (vs 2). Each of these words are Imperatives in the Hebrew text – they are COMMANDS. Three commands. God told Jonah to “Arise”, the Hebrew cum (pronounced koom). This means “rouse yourself – let’s go!”. The Lord also told Jonah to “go”, the Hebrew yawlak (pronounced yaw-lak’). This means “as you travel, carry and spread”. Just as a farmer broadcasts seed on prepared soil, God tells us to broadcast His Gospel (see Matthew 13, the Parable of the Sower). Jonah was also told to “cry against Nineveh”. The word translated “cry” is the Hebrew kawraw (pronounced kaw-raw’), and it means “to publish, call out, make known”. God was going to destroy Nineveh if it didn’t repent. Jonah, go!

But Jonah

How did Jonah respond to this call? We read:

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

The Ninevites were a horrible people! When they conquered their enemies they were exceptionally cruel. They made examples of those who stood against them by skinning them alive, or by impaling then on sharpened and greased poles. They would bury their enemies alive in sand. Often when they conquered a village they would behead many of its leaders, and stack their heads at the gateway of that place. They were so cruel that whole towns in danger of being conquered by the Ninevites would many times commit suicide en-mass rather than give themselves over to these terrible people. What a horrible people! Who would love such as this?

God would. The Bible says:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

No matter how horrible a person might have been in their lives, the Lord will call them to repentance. “There is no respect of persons with God – He treats all the same” (Romans 2:11, AP). “God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that Whosoever believeth in Him should NOT PERISH, BUT have everlasting LIFE” (John 3:16). There is no one that God cannot save, if they would but repent.

“But Jonah”.

Jonah decided that – rather than go to Nineveh – he would run from God. Listen, dear one, no one can run from the presence of God. God is everywhere. The Bible says:

Psalms 139:7-10 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? [8] If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. [9] If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; [10] Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

The Lord Jesus did not SEND Jonah to the Ninevites by himself. It was the Lord’s intention to GO WITH Jonah. When Jonah started running, the Lord is right by his side. It’s actually very comical if you think on it.

I’ve heard people say, “Well, if I don’t do it, perhaps God will get someone else”. Maybe He will will. But maybe He won’t. If God wants you to ARISE, GO, and CRY, then you had better do it. Look at this phrase again:

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah … found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it…

When you run from what the Lord commands you do, you will always “pay the fare thereof”. On top of that, you will always “go down” when you walk away from God’s light. The reason many Christians suffer sickness, stroke, paralysis, diseases, and premature death is because they decide to “GO DOWN TO TARSHISH”.

Jonah 1:3-4 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD…. [4] But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken

Word Study: We are told that “the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea”. The words “sent out” is the Hebrew tul (pronounced tool), which means “to take aim, to throw as a spear”. The Lord reached out very specifically. What happened was no accident, no coincidence. Our Lord deliberately took the wind and cast it specifically at that ship. Dr Vines said:

“The same God Who can calm the storm can also stir up the storm”

Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Neither the Church nor the Christian can afford to be asleep. The Mariners – unbelievers by all accounts – see a targeted attack on their ship. They see the ocean around them boiling, while in the distance the waves are calm. Yet Jonah sees nothing.

Sleeping in the belly of the boat Jonah was just dead weight. The believer is to be more than dead weight!

Jonah 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

The shipmaster didn’t have a clue that Jonah was a Christian! It is so sad when professing Christians become so much like the world that they cannot be seen. As we read through this section, it becomes apparent to the Mariners that the problem on board is Jonah. “They cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah” (Jonah 1:7). The Bible tells us that:

Proverbs 16:33 NET The dice are thrown into the lap, but their every decision is from the LORD.

When they cast lots – which is like throwing dice – the lot fell on Jonah. Jonah confesses his sin to the men, but not to the Lord. Jonah does not seek God’s face, but instead proposes a human solution:

Jonah 1:12 … Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

God knows our hearts. He knew Jonah’s heart. The Lord knew that Jonah had hardened his heart – even worst than the mariners. The mariners did all they could to save Jonah. But in the end,

Jonah 1:15 … they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

Though Jonah had disobeyed God, God still used Jonah to lead these mariners to Him. After Jonah was cast in the sea:

Jonah 1:16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

If God Wants To Use You, He Will.
He Doesn’t Care How You Feel.

Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Why do bad things happen to God’s people? Sometimes its because the devil or the devil’s world is attacking us. But there are times, dear Christian, when the attack comes because we are disobedient. Notice the wording of our text. “The LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah”. It’s not the Lord PREPARED, but He HAD PREPARED. The Lord Jesus knew the heart of Jonah, and knew what Jonah would do, before Jonah ever did it. The English Standard Version translates this as “The LORD APPOINTED a great fish to swallow Jonah” (also the NASB 95, LSB, RSV, YLT). I kind of like that.

God APPOINTED Jonah to go to Nineveh.
Jonah ran from his APPOINTMENT.
The LORD APPOINTED a fish to eat Jonah.
Jonah kept that APPOINTMENT.

The God Who made all things, and by Whom “all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17), made a fish that could hold Jonah for three days and three nights. This was a real event. Jesus said, “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fishes belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jesus did not see this as a fairytale or an exaggeration. It happened. It is a picture of the tomb of our Lord. Our Lord Jesus went willingly to the Tomb. But for Jonah, his heart changed in the belly of that fish.

Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,

There’s nothing that gets our attention like suffering. Jonah was suffering, so Jonah prayed like he’s never prayed before. He was running to and not away from God. An interesting thing about Jonah’s prayer is that he prayed the Scripture back to God.

Jonah 2:2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

This is actually the text of Psalms 120:1. Several times Jonah quotes from the Book of Psalms. As a son of God Jonah prayed the Word of God back to it’s Author. The exhale of prayer is most sweet when it is based on the daily inhale of the Word of God! As Jonah repents, he promises to obey God in his calling:

Jonah 2:9-10 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. [10] And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Once more (Jonah 3:1) “The WORD OF THE LORD came unto Jonah”.

God Will Bring Miracles To Those Who Do His Will

When people read Jonah, they think the miracle is that a man could live inside a fish three days and nights. No, that’s not a big thing with God. The miracle is that the Lord could use a nobody like Jonah to accomplish His will. The miracle is that a hard hearted people like the Ninevites could be saved. Here we see the miracle:

Jonah 3:4-9 … Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. [5] So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. [6] For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. [7] And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: [8] But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

Here is the greatest miracle of all. God had prepared the hearts of these people. God’s servant preached a very simple Gospel to these terrible Ninevites. Something happened that no one but God could foresee. Nineveh repented.

Look first at the SERMON Jonah preached. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown”. This is eight words in the English language, but in the original Hebrew from which it is translated it is:

ʿôḏ ‘arbāʿîm yôm nînvê hāp̄aḵ

This is a five word sermon. Five words! In the Bible, the number 5 is the number of Grace. Jonah preached the simplest sermon ever recorded. The Bible says that “the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them”. The leadership of the nation, the King repented.

And Nineveh was spared.

While Nineveh pushed against God it was in danger of destruction. It could make some headway, but, sooner or later, God would destroy that nation. When Nineveh turned and walked toward God, He in mercy spared them.

Jesus Christ is the Lion of Judah Who will crush His enemies. Receive Him, and to you He is the Lamb of God that takes away your sin. Receive Him, and He is the Great Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

The Worst Part Of The Book Of Jonah Is Jonah

If we were to outline Jonah, we could say:

Chapter One: Jonah ran FROM God
Chapter Two: Jonah ran TO Repentance
Chapter Three: Jonah ran FOR God
Chapter Four: Jonah ran INTO God

Though Nineveh repented, Jonah was angry. Why? Because Nineveh repented. Jonah says:

Jonah 4:1-3 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. [2] …. I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. [3] Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Can you imagine that? Jonah was mad because God saved these people. Jonah cherished HATE in his heart toward the Ninevites because of the harm they had done to his people. But Jesus tells us:

Matthew 6:12, 14-15 … forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. … 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 5:44-45 … I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven …

God does good to those who do bad to Him every day. He loves people anyway. We are to love even our enemies, even the most hateful. The Bible says:

Acts 10:34-35 …. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: [35] But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Now God wants to show Jonah why He was so intent on saving Nineveh.

Jonah 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

The Lord prepared a gourd for Jonah just like He earlier prepared a great fish. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd. He wasn’t happy that the Ninevites were saved, but he was happy over that gourd. Isn’t it strange how Christians can sometimes be happier over the gourds of life than they are over the greater eternal things? Gourds come in all shapes and sizes, just like the things we allow to come between us and God come in all shapes and sizes.

God prepared a gourd for Jonah, but He also prepared a worm (Jonah 4:7) to eat the gourd. If you ever take advantage of the blessed gourds that the Lord gives you, He may turn around and take it right back.

As that old Prophet Job said, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the Name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). The gourds of life are not what is important. What is important to God is the human soul.

Jonah 4:10-11 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: [11] And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

God called Nineveh to repentance because there were 120,000 children who did not know the difference between their right and left hand. Jonah, you are upset over a gourd. God doesn’t care about the gourds. He cares about the children. He cares about life.

If God can use Jonah to move a city to salvation, He can use you! And, dear friend, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, then come to Him by faith. God is faithful! He is ever ready to save. May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.

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You Are NOT Enough!

Posted on August 18, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Oleg Sergeichik on Unsplash

John 9:1-5 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

How many of you are parents? Grandparents? Do you remember the day your first child was born? The doctor delivered the baby, and that child began to cry. As you stood over your new baby, you counted their fingers and toes. You touched their hair. You looked into their eyes, and prayed that everything was fine.

A baby boy was born. His parents took the child, and counted its fingers and toes. The child looked normal. But in time, it became apparent something was wrong. The baby was blind. Now, this is not today with our medical technology, our advanced society. There were no hospitals to speak of in the ancient world. Many doctors believed if a person was sick, to let a little bad blood out, and it would make them better. Some believed that taking too many baths could lead to sickness, that dirt was what we came from, and dirt is how we ought to smell.

This baby was born blind.

Be Careful With Your Judgments

When the parents realized their baby, their precious boy was totally blind, the first thought was “How can a loving God allow this?” In the ancient world a person born blind could do little more than beg for food. If God is loving, then this baby was born blind because of sin. There must have been something that caused this child’s disease. If God is good, then the child must have been born bad. People made judgments about the child and its parents. Like the disciples asked Jesus,

vs 2 “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”

God is GOOD, and can certainly do not wrong. The Prophet wrote:

Habakkuk 1:13 … ESV {God is} of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong

Sin and faithlessness is foreign to God. The Scripture says:

James 1:13 ESV … Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

God cannot sin. God makes no mistakes. So WHY was this man born blind?

Perhaps God in His omnipotence foresaw
this man would be a great sinner.

The Prophet Job (23:10) said, “God knows the way I will take”. The great King David wrote in Psalm 139:4, “Before a word is on my tongue, You, O Lord, know it completely”. He also wrote, “You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need; my future is in your hands” (GNT). Perhaps God looked into this man’s future and realized that, if he had grown up with good eyesight, he would be a great murderer, or a sexual predator, or some other monster in society. God was doing us all a favor by making him blind from birth.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with the man. Maybe it was “HIS PARENTS”. Perhaps they did something sinful, something evil, and the child suffered because of it. When King David took another man’s wife in adultery, then murdered the man, Bathsheba carried his baby. David thought he had gotten away with murder and adultery. Bathsheba delivered David’s son to him. But then God had the Prophet Nathan confront David. David repented. We read:

2 Samuel 12:13-14 (ESV) David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”

Perhaps Bathsheba was forced into the relationship – the scripture does not say. But David’s action was evil, and punishable. David would not have an heir to his throne out of adultery and murder. That child had to die. The sin of David, the child’s parent, brought death on an innocent.

Sin always hurts the innocent.

The child whose mother was alcoholic is born craving drink. The child whose mother was drug addicted is born with addiction, and defection because of the drugs. The child whose mother is murderous is killed in the womb. The innocent suffer because of sin.

So the disciples ask, “Master, who DID SIN”? Someone MUST have sinned if this child was born without sight. Someone MUST be responsible if that little boy or girl in Saint Judes Hospital is born without legs, or with cancers, or twisted in the spine. Someone must be responsible for this. We cannot put it on God, for God is GOOD ALL THE TIME. So someone MUST have sinned.

This is the problem with MAKING JUDGMENTS. Jesus warned us all, “Take heed that the LIGHT which is in you NOT BE DARKNESS” (Luke 11:35). God deliberately chose to make this man blind.

This man has spent his entire adult life begging on the side of the road. He cannot see Jesus coming. There are no crowds shouting Jesus’ name. As a matter of fact, this man never says ONE WORD to Jesus – at least, not out loud. The man is miserable. The man is hurting. His whole life people have BLAMED either him, or his parents, for his condition.

Now the disciples come along and add another brick to the load.

Take heed that the LIGHT in you BE NOT DARKNESS. You might think you’re a Bible scholar, like the Pharisees, and you may be. But you do not know nor understand the mind of God. God says, “My thoughts are NOT your thoughts, nor are YOUR ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Why was this man born blind? Who sinned? No one sinned. Jesus tells them,

John 9:3 Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

America, We Are Not Enough

Illustrate: People wear t-shirts with messages on them. I saw one that I think I’m going to buy for myself. The message on the shirt is:

Pastor
Warning!
Anything You
Say Or Do
Could Be Used
In A Sermon!

I thought that was cute! I saw a t-shirt the other day that had these words on it:

You Are Enough

This is what the false religion of “Humanism” tells us. “You Are Enough”. That’s not true. We’ve never been enough. We are born broken because of Adam’s sin. When God came to this earth, the Bible says that “The earth was WITHOUT FORM and VOID” (Genesis 1:1-2). It was not enough. It needed God. God filled up the emptiness, and established the light. Though Adam and Eve were put in a perfect environment, and were in perfect bodies, still “You Are Enough” was not true. Adam and Eve still needed God daily. Adam forgot that, and thought that he himself could be god. He could, but only as a little “g” god subordinate to a serpent.

This is the problem with America today. Moses warned Israel, and warns us today:

Deuteronomy 6:10-13 (AP) When the Lord your God gives you great and good cities that you did not build, houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. When our faithful God causes us to eat and be full, take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear.

God told the Church at Ephesus,

Ephesians 2:4 NKJV … I have this against you, that you have left your first love …

You are NOT enough. I am NOT enough. We need the Lord. We needed the Lord BEFORE we were saved because we are not enough. We need the Lord NOW that we are saved because we are not enough. This blind man is a living parable to our need. He is an illustration that we all need Jesus. ALL THE TIME.

This man was made the way he is on purpose so that God could show us what Jesus can do. We need Jesus.

John 9:3 the works of God should be made manifest in him. (in Jesus)

This man did not call out to Jesus with his lips – but in his heart he probably cried out to God every day. He was empty and knew it. In her article, Nancy Guthrie wrote:

“God uniquely works in the emptiness of our lives to teach and train us to trust him. When our lives are full—full of health, full of comfort, full of everything we deem good and satisfying—it can lead to forgetting our dependence on him. It can lull us into thinking we must have these other things to be happy, rather than living as if Christ is the only thing we must have in this life.”

We desperately need God. We are all born broken – but Jesus completes us.

Jesus MUST Work The Works

John 9:4-5 I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

It is Jesus Who gives us LIGHT. It is Jesus Who helps us to SEE. He opens our eyes to the things of God. It is Jesus Who makes us whole. This man can hear Jesus speak, but he does not know Who Jesus is. Jesus said,

I must work the works of Him that sent Me

The Father sent Jesus to this earth to work HIS works. This man is born broken. Jesus will heal him. Here is a key point.

Those who came near to Jesus were healed of Jesus. If you come to Jesus, He WILL change you. The murderer will cherish life. The rapist will respect women. The thief will stop stealing and start working. Jesus does not HALF heal or HALF save. But you must REPENT and come to Him. When you do, He will fix your brokenness. If you are gender confused, Jesus will fix this. If you are sexually perverted, Jesus will fix this. But if you thing “I Am Enough”, Jesus cannot fix this. This is arrogance, and foolishness, and confusion.

John 9:6-7 When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Jesus Saved In Different Ways

Jesus could have healed this man where he stood. In Luke 4:40 we read, “all those who were sick were brought to Jesus, and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them”. Jesus didn’t use spit and mud, nor tell them to go somewhere and wash themselves. He just cured them. When a blind man Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus cried out,

Mark 10:47 … Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!

Jesus called for him, and asked “What do you want Me to do?”. Bartimaeus said, “I want to see again”. Jesus healed him immediately (see Mark 10:46-52). In another account, two blind men cry out to Jesus for healing. Again, Jesus asks,

Matthew 20:33 … Lord, let our eyes be opened

Jesus touched their eyes, and they were immediately healed. Jesus told the paralyzed man to take up his bed and walk (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26), and the man immediately walked.

So why did Jesus have this man blind from birth go wash in the Pool of Siloam? I believe it was to show us that Jesus is not only SAVIOR, but He is our LORD. He saves us, but we are to obey Him.

It was right that this man be born blind. His blind birth was ordained and orchestrated of God. None of us DESERVE what we have. Everything we have, we have of God’s Grace. The Father sent Jesus to this earth to “work the works of God”, to teach us that we are NOT enough. We need God every moment of every day. Jesus spit and made mud, and putting this in the man’s eyes said:

Go, wash in the pool of Siloam

There’s no debate here. There’s no, “Let’s vote on it” in what Jesus said. Go to Siloam, wash yourself there. But Lord, there are other pools I can go to. I can go to …

Bethesda (John 5:2)
Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:13)
Hebron (2 Samuel 4:12)
Upper (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20)
Siloah (Nehemiah 3:15)
King’s (Nehemiah 2:14)
Heshbon (Song of Solomon 7:4)
Lower (Isaiah 22:9, 11)

They are all pools, and some have cleaner water than Siloam. Why can’t I go there? Because Jesus said so. Because God knows best. It was right for that boy to be born blind, and right for this man to go wash in Siloam. I truly believe some people are not saved until they are Baptized in obedience to Christ’s command. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe that water Baptism regenerates you. This is what the Holy Spirit does. But God knows your heart. If you are saved, Jesus is not just your Savior, He is ALSO your LORD. The Apostle Peter said of water baptism:

1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

I believe you are saved by faith, not by works, “lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But you cannot be saved in rebellion. If you will not obey Jesus, if you reject Him as Lord, then you cannot be saved. If that man – anointed of Jesus – had went where he chose to be washed – he would have died in his blindness. Jesus said go to Siloam. He needed to go to Siloam. Period.

If you are a Christian, you are saved to serve, not to be served. You are to be obedient to Jesus!

The man obeyed Jesus.

John 9:7 … He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

May God the Holy Spirit speak to your hearts this very day. Amen and Amen.

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Wherefore, Part 1

Posted on August 15, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

1 Peter 2:1-5 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Southern Baptist Theologian and the very first editor of Christianity Today, Carl F. H. Henry stated:

“The Christian experience is always personal, but never private”.

Though salvation is a free gift of Grace from God,
free does not mean cheap.

In order to receive this gift, you lay your life down to Him Who laid His life down to you. Some believe that you can be saved, and yet live any way that you want, regardless of what God has said. This is Biblically unsound.

When you become a Christian you enter into a lifelong partnership with God. You come to God …

Hebrews 11:6 … believing that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

There is a REWARD in DILIGENTLY SEEKING God, in living to please Him Who gave Himself for you. The Scripture says, “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). You are forgiven all your sins because you believe and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Scripture says,

John 1:12-13 .. as many as received Him, to them He gave the POWER {exousia, authority, right, strength to, power} to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Peter spends a lot of time discussing the New Birth with the Church for a reason. When Jesus called Peter or Cephas, Peter initially followed Christ in his own power.

The Holy Spirit had not yet been given to the Church when Jesus walked on this earth (John 7:39), because Christ had not yet died on the Cross.

Jesus told Peter,

Luke 22:31-32 … Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

“Sinners must be CONVERTED to God” (Psalm 51:13). Jesus said “Unless you be CONVERTED, and become as little children, you SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” (Matthew 18:3). Peter did not understand this until the Day of Pentecost. But God’s CONVERSION of the believer is what changes us from sons of Adam to sons of God.

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Wherefore …

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore…

Today’s text begins with the word “Wherefore”, the Greek Conjunction oun. This conjunction indicates that something naturally follows from another necessity. You could translate it as “these things being so”. There were things in front of this “Wherefore” that bring us to this conclusion. What came before?

1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

You have “PURIFIED YOUR SOULS IN OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT”. You have heard the Word of the Gospel. Because you both heard and responded to the Gospel, God the Holy Spirit came to you and caused you to be “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God”.

You were radically changed on the day you came to Christ, changed from the inside out. Whereas before you considered the things of this world to be worthy of your time, and whereas before you chased those things as a dog will chase a car, you have been changed …

from wolf to sheep
from death to life
from son of Adam to Child of God
from idolater to worshiper of the One True God
from darkness to light

You are no longer a cog on Satan’s machine called “the world”, you are a child of God, a priest in the Household of Melchizedek, and Jesus Christ is your Lamb, your High Priest, and your Lord!

Wherefore.

Illustrate: I passed a broke down car on the side of the road one day that had a “for sale” sign on it. The car’s front and rear fenders were smashed. A window was broken. It had two flat tires, all on the driver’s side. I thought to myself “who in their right mind would buy such a car?” Then I realized – this is what God did for me. When I was broken down, useless, unable to go or do any good, my God and Father purchased me with the perfect life of His Son. Jesus Christ bled and died for sinners. He saves those who cannot save themselves. Have you been purchased by Jesus? Have you been born again?

The Born Again Produce A Different Fruit

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

Word Study: That which is translated “laying aside” is the Greek

apotithēmi (pronounced ap-ot-eeth’-ay-mee). The word is translated as “laying aside, ridding yourselves, putting away, putting aside”. You were saved by the Word of the Gospel. Now God demands that the fruit of your life reflect that salvation. You are to be on the lookout for certain behaviors, things which characterize the sons of Adam. If you are saved, you are NOT to be this way. We are to rid ourselves of …

Word Study: all malice: The Greek kakia, it means “that which is wicked, evil, naughty, depraved. A desire to do harm to another”. We who are Christ’s are not to “fight fire with fire”, nor to take “An eye for an eye”. The Christian is told:

Romans 12:19-21 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

We are to speak the truth in love, and are never to compromise with the ways of this world. But we are, inasmuch as we can, continue to be LIGHT in the midst of DARKNESS. Jesus tells us to carefully judge ourselves:

Luke 11:35-36 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Illustrate: Your behavior reflects on your Heavenly Father. If you belong to God, if God is your Father, you will love Christ (John 8:42), and do the things He commands of you. If God is your Father, you will do the works of Abraham (John 8:39). Who you follow proves whose you are!

Christians ought not to be mean. They ought to be kind and loving. When you are mean to one another then you are not a good advertisement for salvation in Jesus Christ.

Illustrate: A little girl had been naughty, so her mamma told her “go upstairs to your room – I’ll be up in a minute so we can talk”. When the mamma got upstairs she found her child – not in her room – but in her mother’s closet. She said, “Why are you in my closet?” The little girl said, “I’ve spit on your clothes, I’ve spit on your shoes, I’ve spit on your floor, and I’m standing here waiting for more spit”.

That child should have gotten a paddling. Regardless as to what that parent did, I guarantee you that the Heavenly Father will punish His children when we are mean and malicious. Mean and malicious people hinder the work of Christ in this world. Their tongues poison the atmosphere of the Church. God is not honored by malicious people. God’s people are called to unity and love for one another.

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

Word Study: The word “all” in this text shows you how the text should be read. We put away all malice. We also put away “all guile, hypocrisies, and envyings”. These three words are all tied together. The word “envyings” is the Greek phthonos (pronounced fthon’-os), and can be translated “envy, ill will because you covet what another person has”.

When you begin to covet what another person has it won’t be long before you engage in guile and hypocrisies.

These two words are closely related. Guile, the Greek dolos (pronounced dol’-os) means “to be crafty or tricky. To be like a sneak thief”. The word HYPOCRISIES, the Greek hypokrisis (pronounced hoop-ok’-ree-sis) means “to play a part, to be an actor, to be of two faces”. Envious people tend to sneak about and have two faces. We don’t need to be envious of one another. If you are born again by faith in Christ, know that God loves you. You have a place in the Body of Christ. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 12:18 … God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

If you are born again by faith in Christ you are part of His Body, part of His Church, and your gift is important. Find that which God wants you to do – and DO IT. Do not be distracted from your calling in Christ. The Lord called Judas Iscariot to be both a disciple and an apostle along with the other eleven. Judas served alongside Jesus for three and a half years. He heard Jesus preach. He was used by Jesus. He slept with Jesus, and ate with Jesus, and was there – first hand – when Jesus did miraculous things. And yet Judas ended up dying a terrible death by his own hand after betraying his Lord. I would call Judas,

“Almost Saved, the Almost Christian”

It was Judas who watched as a woman with an alabaster box of precious ointment approached Jesus. As he and the other Apostles watched, this woman anointed Jesus with the oil. Judas speaks up:

John 12:5-6 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

Judas was filled with what Peter calls “evil speakings” the Greek katalalia, meaning “backbiting, defamation, evil speaking”. As this woman anoints our Lord just before His crucifixion, Judas speaks out, criticizing, mocking, minimizing. What you will not know unless you study the Scripture, that once Judas started the mocking, the other Apostles fell into place and joined him. The Scripture says:

Mark 14:4-5 there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

Matthew 26:8-9 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.

Word Study: Judas Iscariot started the ball rolling with katalalia, but once it started the other disciples chimed in. Darkness grew, rather than light. Jesus told them:

Mark 26:10-13 {Jesus said} Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. 13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Rather than mock her, Jesus commended her. Her actions honored Him as Savior and Lord. Judas Iscariot, an unsaved man in proximity to Christ, infected the others with the evil that was in his heart. And sadly, they followed along.

Many a Church has been destroyed by those
who will not put off the evil!

If you are born again by faith in Christ you are part of His Body, part of His Church, and your gift is important. Do not become distracted as Judas Iscariot did by other things. Put away from yourselves the dark clothes of Satan, and be clothed in the armor of God’s Light! The Apostle told the Church at Corinth that evil speaking is just as bad as sexual immorality:

2 Corinthians 12:20-21 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21 I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

The Born Again Desire The Good Word Of God

1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

You cannot grow in your faith unless you feed on the pure milk of the Word.

It is the Word of God that saved you
It is the Word of God that sanctifies you
It is the Word of God that gave you life
It is the Word of God that will empower you in life

Your faith in the preaching of the Word of God brought you from darkness and into light. Your continual feeding on His Word will keep you walking in the light. Jesus said:

John 15:3-4 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.

It is the Word of Christ that saves, secures, and grows. It is this Bible IN YOUR HEART that cleanses you, and makes you more and more like Jesus. We are told:

Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV) … Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

As water washes the body, the Word of God washes the soul. We as Christians become more like Christ as we do more of His Word.

The reason we have sickly and useless Christians in every age of every Church is because they will not seek God’s Word. You must long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. The Apostle told us:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (AP) All Scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be mature in the faith, completely furnished to do all good works.

We Are Born Again As Lively Stones.
We Are Born Again As A Spiritual House.
We Are Born Again As A Holy Priesthood.

1 Peter 2:4-5 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

The Christian is infatuated with Christ. He keeps on coming to Jesus. As Christ is a Living Stone rejected by men we who believe are Living Stones. We work together as a spiritual house, offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Dr. Adrian Rogers said before he died:

“The curse of [our age] is that we have many Churches filled with baptized pagans. We have a full Church of empty people. They have culture but not Calvary, ritual but not reality, form but not force, religion but not righteousness.”

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Righteous Lot went to Sodom and stayed for fourteen years. If he had just won six people to the Lord over that fourteen year period then Sodom would not have been destroyed. Dear friends, America is falling. God needs His people to bind to Christ. He needs us to imitate the Lord, to tell others about the Lord, to be lively stones, a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

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

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Who Is Abraham’s Seed?

Posted on August 11, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Nita: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-dandelion-flower-shallow-focus-photography-54300/

John 8:37-42 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Last week we saw that the Pharisees were attacking Jesus. These were sincere people who believed in the Law of God. They were very conservative – and often added to the Law of God, making it more strident and binding. The Pharisees are also bullies, and try to bully Jesus. Jesus tells these religious zealots:

vs 37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed…

These people thought that because they were direct descendants of Abraham, that they were in a right relationship with God. As Pharisees they were physically tied to a righteous man named Abraham. But this is not how you are saved.

To Be Saved, You Must Be PHYSICALLY And
SPIRITUALLY Tied To God The Father

There will be many Jews who spend eternity in hell because they rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These same Jews will believe that they are God’s “Chosen People” because they can trace their lineage back to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. The Apostle Paul – a reformed “Pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5) wrote:

Romans 2:28-29 (ESV) For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

A child of Abraham is not a physical descendant, but someone who has had their heart circumcised by God the Holy Spirit. Those who are spiritual live their lives to please God the Father, not those around them! Paul wrote in:

Romans 9:6-8 … they are not all Israel, which are of Israel 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

The Children of the Flesh – that is, those who can PHYSICALLY trace their lineage back to Abraham, are not necessarily of Israel or of God’s Chosen People. It is the Children born of FAITH, of ISAAC and not Ishmael. Ishmael was created of human works. Isaac was created of faith.

God’s children are created of FAITH and PROMISE.

When a person puts their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God acts on that faith. He causes that person to be “born again of the Spirit”. At that moment that person becomes an heir of the promises made to Abraham. That person becomes a Child of God. The Apostle wrote:

Galatians 3:26-29 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

If you have received the “Word” of Christ,

“WORD of the Lord” (Acts 8:25; 1 Peter 1:25)
“WORD of the Gospel” (Acts 15:7; Colossians 1:5)
“WORD of Truth” (Ephesians 1:13)

then you are SPIRITUALLY tied to God the Father, and become an heir of Abraham’s promises. The Pharisees rejected the Word of Christ (Colossians 3:16). Jesus said:

John 8:37 … ye seek to kill Me, because my word hath no place in you.

They rejected the truth that Jesus was the Messiah, and would not even entertain the thought. Jesus told them:

John 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

Jesus professes to have been in the Presence of the Heavenly Father. He said that He had “seen” (Greek horaō, to have PHYSICALLY seen with the eyes and SPIRITUALLY PERCEIVED with the mind) Heaven and the Throneroom of God, and understood what He saw. Jesus is a Messenger sent of the Father. The Pharisees argue with Jesus:

John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

A tree is known by the fruit it bears (Luke 6:43-45). The Christian or lost person is proved by the fruit of life.

Illustrate: In Genesis chapter 18 the LORD appeared to Abraham while he dwelt in the plains of Mamre. The LORD appeared through THREE ANGELS (Genesis 18:1-18), and shared that He was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham did not chase away or seek to destroy these Heavenly Messengers, but welcomed them as honored guests and fed them. Bible Scholar William Barclay notes:

“Jesus was not simply a man telling other men what He thought about things; He was the Son of God telling men what God thought about things.”

John 8:40-42 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

If these Pharisees are of God, they would do the works of LIFE and not DEATH. Though Abraham was not perfect and failed God many times, He never turned away from the Word of God. Even when God asked Abraham to do the most difficult thing:

Genesis 22:2 … (ESV) “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Abraham did not argue with God, nor plot on how he might find a loophole by which he could avoid doing what God commanded. No, Abraham trusted the Word of God, and did as God said even though he didn’t fully understand the why of it. The Bible tells us:

Hebrews 11:17-19 (ESV) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Abraham was bound to God BOTH Physically as well as Spiritually. God was his Father. He trusted God.

If the Pharisees were God’s Children by faith, they would know Jesus as the Messiah, and would love Him as God the Father loves Him. These Pharisees were lost. Jesus told them:

John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Word Study: The Pharisees could not understand Jesus’ “speech” (lalia), the way that Jesus spoke. It wasn’t because Jesus was from Nazareth, but because Jesus was and is from Heaven. Since they rejected His “word” (logos), that is “His Gospel Message” they were unconverted. They could not understand spiritual things. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

If You Reject Jesus As Lord And Savior,
Your Father Is By Default The Devil

Jesus now gets even more in your face direct! He says plainly:

John 8:44-47 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Jesus challenges the Pharisees to name even one sin that He had committed. They could not. The Bible says of Jesus that …

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Our Lord Jesus was “without sin”. They could never find a single sin that He committed, so they hired false witnesses and manufactured treasons. Jesus Christ as our High Priest is, unlike the other priests of Israel, is …

Hebrews 7:26 (ESV) … holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

The Prophet Isaiah said of Christ:

Isaiah 53:9 (ESV) And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Tempted of the devil, Jesus declared “It is written”. Tormented by the Pharisees, Jesus kept His eyes on the Father. What is the ULTIMATE sin? The Bible says:

John 16:9 … Of sin, because they believe not on {Jesus}

The sin that curses, that damns forever, is the sin that turns from Christ to follow the world. Those who follow the world are “dead in trespasses and in sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Those who receive Christ as Lord and Savior are freed from sin, and bound to God for all eternity.

John 8:48-53 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

As these Pharisees do not know God, and can not accuse Jesus of any sin that He committed, they resort to the same tactics that Progressives and other Humanists far from God do today.

They resort to insult.

Samaritan/ Galilee: Their first insult is “thou art a Samaritan”. These same people insulted Nicodemus (John 7:52) when he defended Jesus based on the Law of God. They said to Nicodemus, a Teacher of Teachers, “Are you from Galilee, too?” Those from Judea were separated from Galilee by Samaria, a non-Jewish territory. Those of Galilee were despised as “country cousins”, unsophisticated, who spoke what was considered a sloppy form of Aramaic. Religiously the Galileans were considered very lax in the observance of the Jewish faith.

For a Jew to call another Jew a “Samaritan” is to call them “dogs” or “half-breeds”. Samaritans were a people who intermarried with the Assyrians, contrary to Deuteronomy 7:3-5. When Israel was released from Medo-Persian captivity to rebuild the Temple, Samaritans did their best to hinder the rebuilding (Ezra 4; Nehemiah 4:2). The Samaritans held that only the Books of Moses (the Pentateuch, Genesis – Deuteronomy) were Scriptural, and rejected the rest of the Bible.

By calling Jesus a “Samaritan” they were saying that He was NOT a Rabbi, but a half breed that rejected God’s Word. By calling Jesus “Demon Possessed”
they were saying He was damned, a child of Satan.

Jesus ignored the statement about Him being a “Samaritan”. Jesus never responded to wild claims and accusations. Our Lord showed us that you do not need to respond to the statements of mad men or deluded fools. Jesus told them that He was a faithful Witness, presenting only the things the Father sent Him to present.

Faith In Christ Is The Only Way To Eternal Life

Jesus then said:

John 8:51 If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death

Word Study: Jesus starts with the word “If”. Genuine faith is tied to OBEDIENCE to Christ’s Word. The word translated “keep” is the Greek tēreō, which means “to observe, to hold fast to, to attend to carefully, to guard or cherish”. When Jesus gave His “Great Commission” to the Church, He said:

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe {tēreō} all things whatsoever I have commanded you …

Jesus is LORD. We are to KEEP His Word, to rest in it, to obey it, to breath it. Those saved by faith CHERISH what Jesus has said for Christ’s sake. To those who tēreō His Word, He promises that you “shall never see death”. The word translated “see” is the Greek theōreō. This is an interesting word. It means to “study on, to watch and concentrate on”. My commentary notes:

“According to Westcott, the sight here mentioned is that of ‘a long, steady, exhaustive vision, whereby we become slowly acquainted with the nature of the object to which it is directed.’”

The great C.H. Spurgeon said:

“while {I am} unforgiven, I cannot help gazing upon {death}, and foreseeing it as my doom. When the Gospel of the Lord Jesus comes to my soul, and I keep His saying by faith, I am turned completely around. My back is upon death, and my face toward life eternal”.

The Bible speaks of three stages of death.

(1) Spiritual Death is when a person is bound to sin and divorced from God as Father and Savior. Spiritual death is what Adam, by his disobedience, brought into God’s perfect creation. (see Genesis 2:17; 3:1-24; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 7:10-11; Ephesians 2:1; James 1:15).

(2) Physical Death is the result of sin incarnate in our flesh. Our carbon based bodies will eventually corrode, and return to the soil of our creation. (see Genesis 3:4-5; 5).

(3) Eternal Death, also called “The Second Death” is the state of those who leave this earth with NO relationship with God through faith in Christ. (see Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8).

Those who receive Christ as Lord and Savior are freed from death. Jesus brings us into union with the Father. Jesus conquered physical death. And those who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior will never experience the place we call “Hell” or “The Lake of Fire”. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life will never “see” death.

John 8:52-56 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

The Pharisees believed Abraham and the Prophets to be dead. Since they died, Who was Jesus to say that He had conquered death? Jesus could not possibly greater than Abraham, Moses, Elijah – or could He? Jesus said “I know him”, that He intimately knows God the Father – and that He would be a Liar if He said otherwise. Then Jesus drops a bombshell:

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Jesus does not say “OUR father Abraham”, but “YOUR father Abraham”. My commentary notes:

“This is a startling statement. Jesus distances Himself from “the Jews,” “the Law” (cf. John 8:17), “the temple,” and even the patriarch Abraham. There is a clear break from the Old Covenant!”

Jesus – though made a Jew through the Promise God made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) – now makes Himself to be Someone GREATER than any Prophet or Person in all of Jewish history. He says that Abraham “rejoiced to see my day”. When Abraham walked the earth, the Father gave him a revelation that Messiah would come through Israel. Though Abraham physically died before the Messiah came, the Bible says:

Hebrews 11:13 (ESV) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Abraham left this life with a smile on his saintly old face, because God gave him a glimpse of Christ. The Jews still did not understand.

Jesus Christ Is God Incarnate

John 8:57-58 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus was probably – as a human – only about 30 years old at this point. There were several thousand years between Abraham’s earthly death and Jesus Who now stood before them. How could Abraham have seen Jesus? Jesus tells them:

Before Abraham was, I am

One of the most Holy Names of God is “I am” (Exodus 3:12-14), the name that God gave to Moses when sending him to Pharaoh. By applying this name to Himself, Jesus was saying that He is co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father (see John 4:26; 6:20; 8:24,28,54-59; 13:19; 18:5,6,8).

John 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Comparing Himself to God is – if Jesus is NOT God – a sin called “blasphemy”. Blasphemy was punishable by death by stoning (see Leviticus 24:16). And yet, they could not kill Jesus. He “hid himself” by perhaps shifting their perception of Himself, or by disappearance, or by blending into the crowd. Christ’s time had not yet come. When He died, He would have to die hanging on a tree, cursed by the Law of God.

Deuteronomy 21:23 (ESV) … his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

God became perfect Man so He could die for the sins of imperfect man. When you receive Jesus as the solution for sin, receive Him as BOTH Lord and Savior, then you are saved. I pray that you are not almost saved, or hope so saved, but saved in reality and truth. May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.

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Being Born Again

Posted on August 7, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Thái Huỳnh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-newly-wedded-couple-3998365/

1 Peter 1:22-25 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Children of Adam are to act one way – but Children of God are to act another way. Children of Adam act the way they act because they are driven by the flesh. But Children of God act differently because they are driven by the Spirit.

Children Of Adam Are Born To Lust
Children Of God Are Born To Love

Though “Lust” and “Love” both have four letters and begin with the letter “L”, no two words could be more different. “Lust” is love INWARD, self satisfaction, self pleasure, self gratification. “Love” is love OUTWARD, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, treating others with respect whether they deserve it or not. We read:

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

What “purifies your soul”? It is to “obeying the truth through the Spirit”. What is “THE TRUTH”? It is what God has said. God is the Source of all Truth. When God passed by Moses He told that grand old Believer:

Exodus 34:6-7 … The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty …

Moses would later sing to Israel:

Deuteronomy 32:3-4 … I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

God is where TRUTH is. God knows what is right and wrong, good and evil. Man does not establish truth, but God does. His Truth is revealed in His Word, the Bible. “The Word of the Lord is RIGHT, and all His works are done in TRUTH” (Psalm 33:4). The devil and the worldly are constantly striving to twist and pervert the truth of God. “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” (Psalm 86:15).

When God became Incarnate, when the Eternal Son of God became Perfect Man, the Bible says that “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17). Jesus came to show us the Truth. He came to show us that, as sons of Adam, we were sinners far from God. Yet

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

Our sinfulness separated us from God. Even those who were careful followers of the Law of Moses were exposed as sons of Adam in their behavior. Last Wednesday in John Chapter 8 our Lord Jesus spoke to the Pharisees who thought that by keeping the Law they were right with God. They were not. Why? In the dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees we read (if you wish, turn over to this text with me):

John 8:37-44 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Though the Pharisees were “Abraham’s seed”, that is, physical descendants whose lineage could be traced back to Abraham, they nonetheless were sons of Adam and not Sons of God. Why? Because:

(1) They did not believe on the Manifest Truth of God, the Living Word which is Jesus Christ, and because

(2) Their outward works were those things which sons of Adam would do, not Sons of God. Jesus spoke TRUTH to them, and they would not hear. They were LUST driven, and not LOVE driven. The lost son of Adam will do “the LUSTS of your father the Devil”. The Pharisees plotted murder against Christ. The Pharisees formulated lies against Christ. Religious, they had no relationship with God – they were divorced from Christ, and married to their own lustful pleasures.

Jesus set this criteria in John 8:42:

If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me

The output of LOVE is that which proves salvation or damnation! Jesus Christ came FROM God, the Manifest Truth of God, and so would be loved and treated with love by all those born of God. Those who are born of God, like Christ, proceed forth and come from God. Those who are “born again” are creations of God. Those who LOVE GOD will LOVE HIS CREATION.

Let’s go back to our focal text:

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Word Study: Those who are SAVED are saved “unto unfeigned love of the brethren”. Let’s break this down. The word “unto” is the Greek Primary Preposition eis {pronounced ice}, which means “with the RESULT OF or the PURPOSE OF”. Just as Jesus shared with the Pharisees, if you are “born again” the question is not “Am I religious enough?”, but rather “Do I love and care for my brothers and sisters in the Lord? Do other Children of God matter to me?”. If you have no concern for your fellow believers, then you most likely are NOT saved. If you are more focused on YOUR satisfaction than you are the glory of God and the care of others, then you more likely are NOT saved.

Word Study: The word “unfeigned” is the Greek Adjective anypokritos {pronounced an-oo-pok’-ree-tos}, which means “without hypocrisy or undisguised”. The Pharisees often went to Christ and said things like:

Matthew 22:16 … Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

But after buttering Jesus up, they would ask Him trick questions, like “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?” (Matthew 22:17). Jesus always saw through through this, just as God always sees through hypocritical love. Jesus told them, “Why do you test Me, you HYPOCRITES?” God knows your hearts, and whether your love is hypocritical or not. Jesus called out the hypocrites because He loved them.

If your heart is hardened toward other Christians, if you seek only to RULE rather than to SERVE in the Kingdom of God, you are not serving LOVE but LUST – and God knows it! SEEING you are “Born Again”, you are to be BEING “Born Again”!

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

The sons of Adam love one another’s LUSTS, and endorse one another’s LUSTS, seeking to grow the godless darkness. But the Sons of God “love one another”. We don’t love sin, but we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We care that our fellow believers grow in Christ and in the knowledge of His Word. The phrase “love one another” is found thirteen times in Scripture. Here are a few of these:

John 13:34 {Jesus said} A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

John 15:12 {Jesus said} This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John 15:17 {Jesus said} These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Romans 13:8 {The Apostle Paul said} Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 {The Apostle Paul said} But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1 John 3:11 {The Apostle John said} For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 3:23 {The Apostle John said} And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 John 4:7 {The Apostle John said} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1 John 4:12 {The Apostle John said} … If we love one another, God dwelleth in us

If one professes to be saved, but does not love his or her fellow Christian, then that person’s salvation is suspect. The Bible tells us to “love one another with a pure heart fervently”. The word translated “fervently” is the Greek Adverb ektenōs {pronounced ek-ten-oce’}, which means “with an outstretched hand intently”. Various versions translate this:

NIV “love one another deeply, from the heart.”
CSB “from a pure heart, love one another constantly.”
NASB “fervently love one another from the heart.”
NLT “Love each other deeply with all your heart.”
BBE “see that your love is warm and from the heart.”

We never love sin. We as believers are to “hate even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23). We are never to make peace with sin, as sin is an affront to our God. But we are to love our fellow believers – and treat all people the way that we want to be treated.

Am I A Child Of God?

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

The child of Adam is born of “corruptible seed”. The word translated “corruptible” is the Greek Adjective phthartós {pronounced fthar-tos’}, which means “that which is perishable”. God does not perish, but humans do. You who are here today are made of flesh and blood – and the scripture says:

1 Corinthians 15:50 … flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Jesus told Nicodemus, the Teacher of Israel:

John 3:3, 6 … Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Though Nicodemus, a Pharisee of Pharisees, was considered a “good” man, he could not enter the kingdom of God. Only those BORN to the Kingdom can enter the Kingdom.

That which is born of sperm and egg is a child of Adam. That which is born of Spirit and Gospel, the Word of God, is a child of God. One is temporary – the other not.

1 Peter 1:24-25 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

“all flesh is as grass”. Grass comes, and grass goes. Grass grows, and is green and tall today. It has beautiful flowers for a season. But then time passes on. It’s like the little poem:

Old age is golden so I’ve heard it said,
But sometimes I wonder as I crawl into bed.
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up.
As sleep dims my vision I say to myself,
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get up and go has got up and went!
But in spite of it all I’m able to grin,
I belong to Jesus, for I’ve been born again!
Heaven’s my home, not a hole in the ground,
When you bury this body, I’ll not be around.
For face to face with my Savior I’ll be,
I sure hope you’ll receive the Gospel,
And join US in for all eternity!

Beloved, the “grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away”. Whatever green you have will turn brown. Whatever god you cherish will die away. I hear tell of these “Swifties” who worship the ground Taylor Swift walks on. Whatever talent she has will one day cease to be. Whitney Houston, a truly great artist, died as the grass withered for her at 48 years old. Michael Jackson, an award winning artist, died as the flower faded away at 50 years old. Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, met the King of Kings and Lord of Lords at 42 years old. Guitarist Jimi Hendrix died at just 27 years old.

You do not know when this life will end. But God’s promise is “the word of the Lord endureth for ever”. If you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have been “born again of the Spirit”. And if you are born again of the Spirit, you are a Child of God with purpose. Heaven is your home. But while on this earth, you will love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as you want to be loved.

1 Peter 1:22-25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Are you saved? Does your outward behavior reflect an inward Child of God? If not, TODAY is the day of salvation. REPENT. Turn from being your own god. Turn to the arms of Jesus. Jesus loves you, and gave Himself for you. Turn your life over to Him. Stop trying to be god, and let Him be God. Embrace Him Who embraced your sin on Calvary. Grab His nail scarred hand, and trust in Him. The Scripture promises:

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.”

May God the Holy Spirit move on your hearts today. My hands are cleansed of your blood (Ezekiel 3:18). The ball is in your court. What will you do? What will YOU do? Amen and Amen!

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Disciples Indeed

Posted on August 4, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-reading-indoor-2325729/

John 8:31-36 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in My word, [then] are ye My disciples indeed; {32} And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. {33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? {34} Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. {35} And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever. {36} If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Salvation Is A Free Gift That Changes You

Salvation is a free gift from God. But it is a free gift that, when it comes to you, changes you positionally and progressively. When you are saved, you are positionally a Child of God:

Romans 8:16 (ESV) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God …

When God looks at us, we ARE His Children, if we are saved. This is positional. We are not children of Adam, but of God. But we are also progressively changed, which is what we will look at today. We read:

vs 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him

Word Study: Jesus is addressing BELIEVING Jews. They have BELIEVED (past tense) on Him. The word translated BELIEVED is the Greek Perfect Active Participle of “pisteuō”, which means “to have faith in, to rest in, to place confidence in or rest upon”. According to my commentary:

“The Perfect Tense describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated. Jesus’ last cry from the cross, TETELESTAI (“It is finished!”) is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense, namely “It [the atonement] has been accomplished, completely, once and for all time.””

Salvation is BOTH a GIFT and a PARTNERSHIP between God and man.

When we believe on Jesus for salvation, genuine faith plants the Holy Spirit within the life. Salvation causes a change. It is indeed a free gift. But it is a free gift that changes the recipient. You are familiar with the text:

Titus 3:5-6 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; {6} Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;

It is not our good works, our “righteousness” or what we perceive as our good acts, that bring us into union with God. It is our faith in Him Whom the Father has sent. What are the “works of God that we are to do” (John 6:28)? Jesus said:

John 6:29 … This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Word Study: “The work of God” that pleases God, that brings us into salvation, is that we believe on Christ. When we believe on Christ the Scripture says we are “WASHED” by being born again. We are no longer sons of Adam, but are Children of God. We are “RENEWED” (Greek anakaínōsis, renovated, changed for the better). We are given the Holy Spirit. Not only are our sins removed, as God promises:

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

But out POSITION is removed. Whereas we were far from God as sons of Adam, we are in the family of God as sons and daughters of God. We previously quoted Titus 3:5-6 in support of salvation alone by faith in Christ alone. But the problem with most modern Preachers, Teachers, and Evangelists is they do not examine the full context of a scripture when quoting it. When you do this, false doctrines like “You can be saved, and be a racist, an adulterer, or a hetero or homosexual sinner”. This is not true. The continuing context of Titus is:

Titus 3:7-8 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. {8} [This is] a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Did you carefully read the context? Those who are positionally saved by faith in Christ will also “be careful to maintain good works”. What are “good works”? It is to DO WHAT JESUS SAID, to LIVE ABIDING IN CHRIST AND HIS WORD.

Salvation is a free gift, but it is not a cheap gift. Positionally saved, you progressively act more and more like Jesus. You DO His Word.

Salvation is given freely, but, if you are saved, you will ABIDE in Christ. Consider this text:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: {9} Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation is a free gift, offered freely to whosoever will. You cannot be saved by your good works. But if you read the promise in Ephesians in context you will see:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The whole purpose of our salvation is that we WALK IN GOOD WORKS. What are GOOD WORKS?
It is to DO what Jesus said do.

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand.

The Bible says that our God “is the Potter, and we are the Clay”. The vessel that Christ has put a hand on is the vessel destined and purposed for God’s service. The clay that the Master has put on the potter’s wheel is the clay that will be shaped and molded to His glory. If you are saved, God cares for you. He is a Potter with love as His purpose. God does not abandon us. Our Father SAVES, then COMMANDS, and OVERSEES. God does not call then, like some strange Child play hide and seek with those He called. He calls then He, the Infinite Creator of all that we see, begins to work in the life of those whom He loves.

Illustrate: We know that we are saved when God is at work in our lives. Our salvation is proved by our works! You shall be saved if you call upon the Lord. Some of you may say, “Oh, I wish my name were written down in the Bible, then I could know I was saved”. Listen Beloved, this would bring me no comfort at all. If you do an internet search for “David Buffaloe”, you will find 12,700 people with that name. One is the President of a company called “Vertical IQ”, based in my hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Another is a “a senior-level marketing professional”. Another is a truck driver. David Buffaloe of Garner, North Carolina, is a participant in the 4-H Club swine program. David Henry Buffaloe died the year I was born, in 1958.

Having your name written in the Bible, or in some “Who’s Who”, will not bring you comfort. What brings every Christian who is genuinely saved comfort is that Christ is written, and because of this you want to continue in His Word. If you have come to Christ for salvation, but what you profess as salvation has not impacted your love for and obedience to the Savior, then Beloved, YOU MAY NOT BE SAVED.

Are You Continuing In His Word?

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in My Word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;

Word Study: Jesus is addressing Jews “which believed on Him”. He says, “If ye continue in My Word”. The word translated “continue” is the Greek menō, which means “to abide in, to dwell in, to make yourself at home in”. When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, he said:

John 1:32-33 … I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode menō upon him. 33 … {God} said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining menō on him, the same is {the Christ}…

The Holy Spirit did not just come to visit Jesus, but came and rested on Him and in Him. Jesus in the Parable of the Vine and Branches uses menō to describe our relationship to Him:

John 15:4-5 Abide menō in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it Abide menō in the vine; no more can ye, except ye Abide menō in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that Abide menō in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Saved by faith, the Christian abides – dwells in – makes themselves at home in the Word of Christ. It is not a chore or an irritation or an inconvenience, but a JOY the Christian experiences as they come to the Word of Christ, the Holy Bible.

Change only comes from the Word of Christ.

When God saves you, you come from a life of emptiness and darkness and into the blessings of God. The shepherd boy called of Jesus did not stay in the field with the sheep, but through the Spirit our God changed him to be King David. The displaced Jew named Moses murders a man and, becoming a fugitive, is called by God from a Burning Bush. Through him, God writes Scripture, and leads Israel. Abram becomes Abraham, the father of many nations. A liar and a thief named Jacob meets God and is changed into Israel, the Prince of God and the father of the Chosen People. An unknown fisherman hears the Master call one day and, following Jesus, Peter becomes a fisher of men and an Apostle. Those who followed Christ found themselves molded by God, by the Word of Christ.

Illustrate: Several years ago a dear friend of mine Hoyt Wilson told this story. He said that someone offered to sell his dad a car one day and, after his dad looked it over quickly, he agreed to the sale because the price was so good. Hoyt said his dad paid the man off and then went back to work. Later on that day Hoyt said his dad went back to the car – a nice looking vehicle – and tried to start it. Nothing happened! When he opened the hood he discovered that the car had no engine. It looked good on the outside, but without an engine it was no more than a thousand pound paperweight! Beloved, if you are saved, God put an engine inside of you. That Engine is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus said of the Spirit:

John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth …

Jesus told His listeners,

John 8:31 … If ye continue in My Word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;

Word Study: The mark of the saved is that they CONTINUE or ABIDE or REST in Christ’s WORD. Jesus says that those who do so are His “disciples indeed”. The word “indeed” is the Greek alēthōs, which means “truthfully, surely, in reality”. Those who walk away from Christ’s Word do not bear the mark of the saved, but of the lost. The Child of God walks through this life while following Jesus.

Physical Birth Does Not Bring Spiritual Birth

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Word Study: In verse 31 Jesus uses the ADVERB alēthōs, which meant in context “Genuine or Certain Disciples”. But in verse 32 Jesus switches to the NOUN form of the same word, alētheia. If you are genuinely saved, you will be bound to the Word of Christ. If you are genuinely saved, you will NOT be bound to the Word of Man. Jesus said,

“You who are believers following Me are the only ones who will know absolute Truth, and this Truth shall make you free”.

The Jews do not argue with Jesus about truth, but about their freedom. They are filled with pride, and blind because of it. They say:

John 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

That which makes sin so insidious is that it loves to BLIND its recipient. Israel has been in bondage to Rome, paying taxes and tribute to Caesar, since the siege of 63 BC. An Idumean, a descendant of Esau and not Jacob, sat on the throne of Israel. The Jews were under Roman bondage. They were also under religious bondage, as the Pharisees and Sadducees twisted the Law of God to suit their desires. They are clearly ignoring their condition. Rather than debate them, Jesus obeyed the Word of God:

Proverbs 26:4 (NKJV) Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him. …

Jesus ignored the obvious, and spoke the truth.

John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Sin enslaves a person. If you give yourself over to alcohol or drugs, it will enslave you, making you want one more drink. If you give yourself over to sensuality, you will chase the feelings of pleasure or pain. Those who find themselves in sexual sin are not happy, but miserable people chasing a high they can never replicate. Sin enslaves. Jesus said “the servant abideth not in the house for ever”, that is, the servant of sin may reign NOW. Bill Gates, Whoopie Goldberg, Mark Zuckerberg, RuPaul, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Elton John, Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton …. no matter how famous, how powerful, how great, no matter that they run the house NOW, “the servant abideth not in the house for ever”. Robin Williams is dead. Whitney Houston is dead. Michael Jackson is dead. These were all on top for a time.

but the son abideth (menō) ever

The son of God never dies. Those who follow Jesus, though they may be relative unknowns in this life, are known of God. Those who are sons or daughters of God “ABIDES or REMAINS in the House of God forever”. The pretend believer, like Judas Iscariot, is with Christ for a time. Then Judas, finding another god that satisfies his passion, departs from the Lord. They show up for a while, then leave. They love neither Jesus nor His Word. But to those who are genuinely saved,

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

If you have received Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are not enslaved to sin or death. Jesus defeated both on the Cross and in the empty Tomb. These people are not free, but enslaved, blinded by sin. It is shown in their actions.

Physical birth as “Children of Abraham” does not make you a saved person. King Ahab (1 Kings 21:25) was the most wicked person who ever lived, and he was a child of Abraham. King Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28) encouraged idolatry in Northern Israel. King Baasha (1 Kings 15:28-16:11) murdered all of Jeroboam’s children. King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:1-2) taught Israel to worship Baal and Baal-Zebub, false gods. These were all sons of Abraham, and all terribly lost.

Physical birth as a son of Abraham does not make you a child of God. You must be born of the Spirit, born again. If you are born of the Spirit, you may sin at times. But you do not SERVE sin. Sin is not your master. Salvation in Christ breaks the chains of sin. The Apostle said:

Romans 6:20-22 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. {21} What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death. {22} But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

We who are Christ’s are saved to serve God. We are not saved to serve SELF, nor SIN, but the One Who saved us. May God draw you, through His Spirit, into a right relationship with Him this very day. Amen and Amen.

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Confess, Cover, and Correct

Posted on July 31, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/human-standing-beside-crucifix-statue-on-mountain-415571/

Turn with me in your Bibles to Judges chapter 21. Last week we saw Israel go against the Tribe of Benjamin, specifically over the problems that happened at Gibeah. During their third attack on Benjamin, the tribe was reduced to around 600 fighting men. We read:

Judges 21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

“Mizpah” was the great Trial {Nuremberg}
Where Israel gathered to judge Gibeah.

When Israel judged Gibeah {and Benjamin}, they were to stay within the scriptural realm,that is, with what GOD has written to us in His Word. The Bible says that “Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of God’s Throne” (Psalm 89:14, AP*). “The very essence of God’s Words are TRUTH – all His just regulations will stand forever” (Psalm 119:160, AP). It is God Who establishes right and wrong. It was RIGHT for Israel to purge the sexual sin of Gibeah out of the land. However, Israel went too far.

Israel shut off Benjamin to where they could neither REPENT nor be RESTORED.

There are times when believers must stand against errant believers. When this is necessary, it is never done in a spirit of vengeance or self righteousness. The Bible says:

Galatians 6:1 (ESV)Brothers, if anyone is caught (prolambanō, surprised or overtaken by) in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Word Study: Sin is like a net – it can “catch” us in its grip, and drown us in death. If a brother or sister is “caught in any transgression”, we are to lead them back to a right relationship with God through the proper application of God’s Word. We are not, as the Pharisees often did, become self righteous and overbearing.. We are to be humble. If someone’s sin is DIRECTLY against you as a believer, Jesus gave us steps to repair the breach. He said:

Matthew 18:15-17 (ESV) If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

We usually do this in the reverse. If we are sinned against, we get on the phone and telegraph it throughout the Church, never speaking to the accused. But the accused cannot be corrected if that person is not informed. We must TELL them what they did wrong. We are not to allow sin to run rampant through the Church, effecting the fellowship of the believers. This is what happened in the Church of Corinth. Paul told them to address it because it was destroying the Church.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

The Apostle told the Church to “deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”. (1 Corinthians 5:5). Turning this lost person out of the Church, he later repented – and the Apostle said he was to be received again into the embrace of the Church.

2 Corinthians 2:6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. … 7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

The intent of punishing a brother or sister for violating God’s standard is NOT to destroy them, but to bring them to a state of repentance. Israel went too far when saying they would no longer allow their daughters to bind together in matrimony with a Benjamite man.

Do Not Blame God For Your Failure To Obey God

Judges 21:2-3 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?

Israel was blaming God because they had made a foolish vow. It is certain, the Bible does tell us if we make a vow to God, it should be with the intent of following it through. We read:

Numbers 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

To make a vow to God was a serious thing, as God never forgets. Yet our Lord knew that, at times, we would make vows that we would not keep. Humans are fallen and fallible. Therefore, God put a stipulation in the Law if someone made a foolish vow. God said:

Leviticus 5:4-6 … (ESV) if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; 5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, 6 he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

If a foolish oath is made, the first step is CONFESSION. To tell God that you messed up. We also call this REPENTANCE. We do not cover up the sin, but acknowledge it. This is the first thing that is ALWAYS done when someone sins against God – we REPENT. We acknowledge we should have never done that thing. Then we cover the sin with the blood of the innocent. In the Old Testament before Christ came the guilty brought a “TRESPASSor SIN OFFERING”, which was a “LAMB” or a “KID OF THE GOATS”, or “TWO TURTLEDOVES” or “TWO YOUNG PIGEONS”. If you were poor, you could bring “A TENTH PART OF AN EPHAH OF FINE FLOUR”, about 3 liters of flour to be burned on the altar. The blood shed represented the Blood of Christ. The flour represented the Person of Christ.

1 Peter 1:19 (ESV) {we are saved by} the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot…

1 Corinthians 5:7 …. (ESV) Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed …

Revelation 7:14 (ESV) … They have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb …

The flour that the poorest were to sacrifice represented the humanity of Christ (John 6:35, “I am the Bread of Life”). The foolish vow could have been repented of, and covered by the Grace of God. As to vows, Jesus warned us against making vows in Matthew 5:33-37. Jesus said “Let your YES be YES, and your NO be NO. Avoid vows.

Judges 21:4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

When you make a foolish vow, you are to CONFESS your sin, and then COVER your sin with the Blood. Israel is COVERING but not CONFESSING.

Israel will now seek a human solution to fix the “Problem with Benjamin”. There’s a problem with human solutions as opposed to God’s solution. Remember the Garden of Eden, and the fig leave wardrobe that Adam designed. Humanism and human solutions – though well intentioned – just lead to more problems.

Human Solutions Make More Misery,
And Fall Short To Fix Anything

Judges 21:5-9 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the Lord? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? 8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly (of Mizpah). 9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.

Illustrate: Human solutions always start out with “I feel bad for what I did. So WHO did worse, and WHO can I punish in my place?” Again, this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When God asked Adam why he disobeyed a clear order, Adam said “The WOMAN whom YOU gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). It’s not MY fault, God. YOU gave me a defective woman. When the woman was asked why she sinned, her response was “The SERPENT deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13). God didn’t ask the serpent why he did what he did, because God knew the serpent had no one to blame!

Israel looks around to see WHO they can blame besides themselves. They then remember ANOTHER FOOLISH OATH they made, that “whoever does not come to Mizpah and participate, they shall surely be put to death”. They discovered that the men of Jabesh-gilead had not attended Mizpah.

Judges 21:10-14 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest (Hebrew bēn ḥayil, young men of valor), and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, (600 hid here) and to call peaceably unto them. 14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.

The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“After having asked themselves (not the LORD), “What are we to do?” (v. 7; cf. v. 16). They should have confessed their mistake in making their “wife vow” (v. 1) and asked for God’s solution. They discovered that the men of Jabesh-gilead had not been present in the battle against Benjamin. Jabesh-gilead (meaning “Well-Drained Soil of Gilead”) was about 48 miles northeast of Shiloh, on the east side of the Jordan River. Next, the Israelites commanded 12,000 valiant soldiers to attack and completely destroy the uncooperative Israelite town (vv. 10-11). The only people to be spared were virgin females. This was another sinful plan born out of self-will and vengeance. Note that it was the decision of the whole congregation of Israelites.”

When the 12,000 “young men of valor” (Hebrew bēn ḥayil) went to “Jabesh-gilead” to destroy it, they were told “Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword”. The words “Go and smite” are the Hebrew yālaḵ (Qal Imperative) nāḵâ (Hiphil Perfect). The Free Bible Commentary notes:

“This is “holy war” terminology. The citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who were probably a mixture of Canaanite and Israeli backgrounds, will all be killed, except the virgin young women”.

Rather than repent of the foolish vow, and give their daughters to be wives of the Tribe of Benjamin, they murdered a city on the pretext of “punishing evil”. Yet there was a problem. “they sufficed them not”.

There were 600 Benjamite warriors in need of wives, but only 400 virgins to be wives. But not to worry – self righteousness and silliness will come to the rescue!

Judges 21:16-21 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

The Tribes of Israel had made a foolish vow that they would not GIVE their daughters to Benjamin. But what if Benjamin TOOK them? Here’s a hypocritical loophole.

Every year in Shiloh there was a “Feast of Yahweh”, probably the Feast of the Passover. After the first Passover, when the Forces of Egypt were drowned in the Red Sea, Miriam the Prophetess (Moses’s sister) led the women out to dance and praise God for His deliverance, singing:

Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider God has thrown into the sea!
Exodus 15:19-21

This had become a tradition among the women of Israel, to dance and praise God during the Feast of Passover. Since Israel could not GIVE daughters to Benjamin, they told Benjamin to lie in wait during the next Feast of Yahweh. When the women came out to dance, the 200 remaining Benjamites could TAKE the women as their wives. I do not believe this was a kidnapping per se. I suspect the women knew, and were willing to do this so that the remaining 200 Benjamites could get wives. “Rather than go through this charade, they should have simply confessed their sin of making a foolish oath and done the right thing instead of trying to make two wrongs equal a right.”

Judges 21:22-24 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

If anyone did not “receive the memo” as to what was going on, if the fathers and brothers of the women abducted came to the leaders of Israel, they were to be told to look the other way. In this way, the 600 Benjamites received 600 wives, and the Tribe of Benjamin could recover from their catastrophic destruction.

Good And Bad Lessons Learned From Benjamin

Benjamin came from the youngest son of Jacob. Spoiled, Benjamin though that – as a tribe – they were impervious to destruction. Yet they were very nearly destroyed because they allowed unrepentant sin in their midst.

No one is too big to fail!

Because Benjamin worked together as a wolf pack would (Jacob prophesied “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf” – Genesis 49:27), though small the tribe was able to conquer much greater armies. But Benjamin, no matter how skilled, cannot defeat the God Who made it.

To be small is not a hindrance, but a blessing. Great people came from Benjamin. Judge Ehud, a great warrior who delivered Israel from Moab (Judges 3:12-30) came from Benjamin. The first King of Israel, King Saul, came from Benjamin (1 Samuel 9:15-27). When Israel was in danger of being destroyed by Persia, Mordecai and Esther – both of Benjamin – saved the day (Esther 2:5-7). One of the greatest of the Apostles, Paul was of Benjamin (Romans 11:1; Philippians 3:4-5). Benjamin as a tribe will grow. In Revelation 7:8, 12,000 mewn from Benjamin will carry the Gospel into the world during the Great Tribulation. When our Lord Jesus rules on this earth during the 1000 year reign we call the Millennium, one of the gates of the future city of Jerusalem will be called “Benjamin” (Ezekiel 48:32). When the New Heaven and New Earth are created by Jesus, the eternal New Jerusalem will have a gate called “Benjamin” (Revelation 21:12-13).

God doesn’t see as we see. We look outwardly, but God looks inwardly. God saw a Tribe of Warriors in Benjamin, a wolf pack. Israel saw a small tribe. Two Sauls came out of Benjamin. One Saul, King Saul, never learned to trust in God, and died a dishonorable death. The second Saul, known as the Apostle Paul, learned that there is great strength not in us but in God. So Paul, unlike the foolish King that was his namesake, said:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 {God told me} “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Let us therefore put away our desire, our will, our glory, our desire – and cling to our God and His Word. When we cling to Him, we cling to infinite Power and Protection. Lord, teach us to follow you as our King. Let us not be as Israel during the Judges was:

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

For that is the way of folly and foolishness! May God teach us these great truths. Amen and Amen.

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Are You Ready?

Posted on July 31, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/strong-sportsmen-ready-for-running-on-stadium-3764011/

Two weeks ago we studied:

1 Peter 1:13-16 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

During that sermon we discovered that – though a person is saved, in the words of

Titus 3:5 (CEV) {God} saved us because of his mercy, and not because of any good things we have done. God washed us by the power of the Holy Spirit. He gave us new birth and a fresh beginning.

It is not the “good” things that we do or have done that save us. The “work of God” is that “You believe in Jesus, Whom the Father has sent” (John 6:29). It is the work of Calvary, the Cross of Christ that covers our sin. It is our belief in Jesus as He is that brings us into a right relationship with God. Once we believe in Christ, drinking of His mercy:

Psalm 116:13 (NKJV) I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD.

REPENTING of our sins, we turn to Him Who alone can save us. But listen Beloved: Once saved, we are to live as “OBEDIENT CHILDREN”. We are not to be like the world. We are to live so as to please our Heavenly Father.

Jesus Christ died horribly to secure your salvation.
He took your hell so you can take His heaven.
The Holy Spirit came, and caused you to be “born again”

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit worked TOGETHER, and worked through HORRORS to bring you to the family of God. You are no longer slaves to sin, but SONS of God, and HEIRS of Heaven (Galatians 4:6-7).

Now we come to today’s text. Though we are not saved BY our works, once saved we are in God’s Family. We are saved TO work. Read with me:

1 Peter 1:17-20 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you …

Compare God’s Work With Your Work

In these verses, Peter compares the WORK that God did for you as Christians with the WORK that we as His Children do for Him. What did God do for you? Let’s start at the end first. We read:

1 Peter 1:20 Who {speaking of Jesus} verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

I have had people ask me, “When God created people, did He create them defective?” The answer is, “No. God made man and woman VERY GOOD” (Genesis 1:31). God made man and woman “in His image, and in His likeness” (Genesis 1:27). Being in the image of God, man and woman had the power of choice, of free will. Billy Graham wrote:

“The opening chapters of the Bible tell us that the Garden of Eden was perfect, a place given by God to Adam and Eve so that their every need would be met. But listen: The reason it was perfect was because sin had not yet entered the world. When Adam and Eve listened to Satan and turned against God, however, then sin entered the world and their perfect Garden was no longer perfect. God banished them from the Garden, never to return. Since that time, the human race has been searching for the peace and perfection the Garden of Eden provided but without success. The reason is because sin, like a deadly cancer, has ravaged our world and our hearts. That’s why this world is not perfect and never will be. As Jesus warned, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).”

God created the world “very good”, and made Adam and Eve like Himself. But was God surprised when Adam and Eve fell into sin, and dragged the world into a mess? No! The Bible tells us that Jesus was “foreordained before the foundation of the world”. Before the world was ever made (FOUNDATION – the Greek katabolē, the founding of, the conception or deposition), when God said on that first day “Let there be LIGHT” (Genesis 1:3), He knew that the man and woman He would create would fall away from Eden. God knew that Satan would tempt them, and that Adam would listen to that which is not god.

Jesus was with God the Father and God the Spirit from eternity, from before the katabolē, the conception of the world. Jesus was “loved of the Father BEFORE THE FOUNDATION (katabolē) OF THE WORLD” (John 17:24). Before the world was conceived by the Triune God (Ephesians 1:4) God knew what Satan would do, and knew what Adam would do. Before the world was created Jesus agreed to go to the Cross for man – before we were ever fallen.

God’s plan of salvation through Christ Jesus
preceded the creation of all things. Knowing man would fall, Jesus agreed to give Himself for us anyway.

Jesus Christ existed as God from all eternity (John 1:1-2, 8:57-58; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:6-7; Colossians 1:17; Revelation 13:8). God the Son became the Son of Man through Incarnation in Bethlehem according to Bible Prophecy (Micah 5:2). Jesus Christ came and died for “for ALL”, though He knows that not “ALL” will receive Him.

Romans 6:10-11 (ESV) … the death {Jesus} died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

God knew Adam would fall – and before ever creating anything, God the Son agreed to die for our sins. Jesus’ Blood was shed to cover the sins of those who believe in Him.

1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

When Adam sinned – freely and willingly – he gave himself and all of creation over to sin. The Scripture says:

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

Adam’s poor choice brought sin into the world. Sin became mankind’s taskmaster, our slave driver. Sin brought with it death and destruction. “Death reigned by Adam” (Romans 5:17), for “Adam’s disobedience made us all sinners” (Romans 5:19). Jesus Christ died on the Cross for us to “redeem” us from sin and death. The word translated “REDEEMED” is the Greek lytroō, which means “to be released from a kidnapper because of a ransom paid, to be liberated from slavery by another purchaser”. When Adam sinned, he not only brought sin on himself, but on all his children. Sin then began to rule unto death. But Jesus freed us from sin and death. We who are saved are freed from a “vain conversation”, the Greek mataios anastrophē, “empty manner of life, poor and useless standard of conduct or deportment”.

We who are saved by faith in Christ are not sinners headed toward Heaven. We are sons and daughters of God, living in the light of our salvation.

The salvation you have is very costly. God purchased you from Satan. God purchased you from the slave master called “Sin”. You belong to God. Therefore,

1 Peter 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

Are You Prepared To Go To Heaven?

The Father expects you to live in a way that pleases Him. Beloved, if you are a Child of God, your every work and every word will be judged. We are “sojourners”, pilgrims and travelers on this earth. This earth is not our home, but Heaven is.

Illustrate: When I was in the military, we had to keep a “go bag” or a “mobility bag” on the base in our duty station. This bag contained toilet items, military and civilian clothing, rope, clothes pins, chemical warfare masks and gear … anything we might need at a moment’s notice. When I went to work each day I’d tell Sherry, “I’ll see you when I see you”, because there were times I’d get to work and have to get on a C130 with my mobility bag.

I had to stay ready to go. I didn’t just make up the bag, and forget it. Periodically I would add other items to the bag that would make my deployment better and more enjoyable (if you can call it that). If my bag wasn’t ready when I was deployed, THE PERSON THAT SUFFERED WAS ME.

Christian, are you ready to go?
Is your mobility bag ready?

You may be saved by Grace, but once saved God the Father expects you to work for His glory and His pleasure. The Father “without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work”. The works of the believer will be judged. While we are on this earth, we are to pass our time here “IN FEAR”. Some of you are entirely too cavalier about your walk with God. Some are so flippant it makes many wonder if you’re even saved in the first place.

Christians are called to live their lives for Christ. Not to please ourselves, but to please God. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:24 (KJV) … If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

If you’re going to “COME AFTER JESUS”, to go to Heaven, you “DENY YOURSELF”. You turn away from the flesh, and turn toward the One Who loves you and keeps on saving you. You “take up his cross”. I often have people say,

“I don’t want to give to that poor needy person, because they might take advantage of what I give them, and use it for the wrong thing.”

Well, haven’t we all done the same thing? When you should be willing to gather and praise God for His glorious gift of salvation, aren’t you often ignoring your obligations to God and pleasing yourselves instead of Him? We sit at home and watch television, storing dribble in our minds, instead of reading our Bibles, praying, and doing good to the glory of Christ. Don’t we all, at times, take advantage of God. And yet Jesus, knowing that a relative few would follow the narrow way to salvation that He alone would offer (Matthew 7:14; Luke 13:24), went to the horror of the Cross anyway. Why?

Because it pleased the Father. (2 Peter 1:17)

Saved by faith in Christ, we are “ordered to do good works”. This is what we are told in:

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Just as God FOREORDAINED that Jesus would go to the Cross for our good, God has FOREORDAINED that we who are saved WALK IN GOOD WORKS.

Illustrate: We are to live lives that please our God – not the world. I was mildly amused at the uproar over the Jason Aldean song, “Try That In A Small Town”. Some said the song was racist. It wasn’t. I took it to mean that we are to protect one another – that we should cherish life. If someone were to come into this Church to harm us, I will lay my life down to stop them. That was the sense I got from that song.

But others looked at the song as if it were promoting vigilantism. That is decidedly unChristian. The Bible tells us who are God’s Children:

Romans 12:17-21 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

As Jesus did, we are to do. Jesus spoke harshly, but lovingly when He had to. Yet Jesus “turned the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29) when offended. Jesus never justified sin, nor tolerated it. He turned over the moneychangers tables (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15) and cast out evil from the House of God. Jesus loved the least and the less, and always offered Himself as the Way to salvation for whosoever will.

Jesus was not racist. He loved all people, for as Creator God He had a hand in making all people. Jesus did good works where ever He went. He brought light into the midst of darkness.

We who are His are to do the same.

1 Peter 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

Your works will be judged. When the Apostle Paul was judged by others as he served God, Paul replied:

1 Corinthians 4:3-4 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

When the Lord comes for you, your works shall be judged. He will examine what you have done – and not done – for Him. The Apostle called this the “Judgment Seat of Christ”, and spoke extensively of it in:

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

It is required of stewards, that we be faithful. Are you? Are you ready to see Jesus? Are you prepared for His judgment, so you can “receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done”? Every day you live is a gift from God, another day in which we can please our Heavenly Father and glorify our Lord Jesus. He has been so good to us. Let us live for Him!

You Do Not Belong To The Devil Or The World.
You Belong To God!

1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

The Christian works with God. When we “obey the truth through the Spirit”, our souls are purified from this world, and our lives protected. My commentary notes:

The Gospel is a PERSON (Jesus) to welcome,
The TRUTH about that Person (Jesus) to believe, and
A LIFE like that Person (Jesus) to live.

You can be saved by faith in Christ, but wander away from DOING what He says. When you do, you lose all the present benefit of salvation – as well as the opportunity to better glorify God in eternity. “Everyone who hopes in Jesus purifies themselves as Jesus is pure” (1 John 3:3).

The saved are called to walk in the Light with Jesus. We are to treat others with value, knowing that Jesus gave His life for all. And we are called to “love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again”. The “born again” love one another with a pure heart. The two words that describe Christian love is “unfeigned” and “fervently”. The word translated “unfeigned” is the Greek anypokritos, which means “without hypocrisy”. The word translated “FERVENTLY” is the Greek ektenōs, which means “to honestly stretch out the hand”. Christians are called to serve one another, to lift one another up to God. We are not called to endorse evil, but to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) so that our Fellow Believers and ourselves will grow to be more like Christ.

Are you ready to see Jesus? Is your bag ready? Or is your mobility bag empty. Life is so fleeting – learn to follow Jesus no matter what might come.

1 Peter 1:24-25 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

God’s Word and God’s Promises stand sure. Are you ready? Is your bag packed? Or will you arrive at your Heavenly destination with no works to commend your life … or worse! Make sure you are ready. Make sure daily. Amen and Amen.

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