I Am He, The Light Of The World

Posted on July 28, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Ian Beckley: https://www.pexels.com/photo/scenic-photo-of-rocky-mountain-during-golden-hour-2440078/

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

God Is The Source Of All Light

“light” is a very interesting thing. Light allows us to see colors. Light is made up of different wavelengths or colors, and white light is the combination of every color. When sunlight lands on a colored surface, the reflected wavelengths are what cause us to see the color. For instance, if something is RED, the RED WAVELENGTH is reflected back to our eyes, but all the other colors of the light are absorbed. So you see RED. There are different forms of light, some visible and some not. When we think of light, we think of the SUN as it is the biggest visible source of light. One commentary notes:

“Light waves have different forms: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. Sunlight is a source of visible light and ultraviolet radiation. X-rays and gamma rays are used in medical diagnosis, cancer treatment, and security.”

The Bible tells us that God created light before He created the sun or the stars. God did not create the darkness, but the Light.

Genesis 1:3-5 (ESV) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

God did not make the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars until the FOURTH DAY of creation (Genesis 1:14-19). Light existed apart from these objects because God is the Source of Light. This is why God made LIGHT first, then the stars and heavenly light sources 4 days later. God did not make the darkness, but controlled the darkness with HIS LIGHT.

There were people who have worshiped things they see in nature. Ancient unbelievers worshiped the SUN and the MOON, believing that these were gods who gave us light and life. In ancient Egypt the sun god Re was a primary god who was born, grew, and died every day. The Sun worshipers believed that “the sun sets out as the young god Kheper; appears at noon in the zenith as the full-grown sun, Re; and arrives in the evening at the western region in the shape of the old sun god, Atum”. The true God of the Scripture creates LIGHT apart from the heavenly bodies so that His people do not confuse the created with the Creator.

1 John 1:5 … God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

God is LIGHT apart from the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. God is the Source of all Light. No plant will grow without LIGHT. Plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and sugars so they can live. Things did not evolve – they were created by God, Who is …

James 1:17 … the Father of Lights, with Whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning …

Psalm 18:28 For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

God Is Also The Source Of SPIRITUAL
And MORAL Light

When Jesus said:

John 8:12 I am THE light of the world…

He was claiming to be the only unique Spiritual Light in this entire world. Jesus did not say “I am A Light”, that is, one Light among many. Jesus said “I am THE Light”. There are no other Lights, no other Spiritual powers in the world. Jesus was claiming something for Himself that only God can do. In the Old Testament, the True Light is God and the false light is satan. The Prophet said:

Micah 7:8 … the LORD will be my LIGHT

The ancient Jews knew that spiritual LIGHT comes from God, not from man. The Shepherd David stood strong before Goliath because he affirmed:

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

Jesus Christ – the Son of God, Incarnate among us – declared that “I am THE light of the world”. When Jesus came into the world, many who loved the darkness began to reject Him and find fault with Him. The last words our Lord Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, a high ranking Pharisee, was…

John 3:16-21 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Illustrate: I was sharing with a Pastor friend the other day more of my checkered youth. I remember when I and my friend decided to break into a grocery store at night to rob it. We did break in, but tripped an alarm, and got away in the dark with nothing but misery. Why do I tell you this? Because the devil and his children do what they do IN THE DARK. When Jesus came, they hated Him because He shined the light of God on their evil deeds. The devil and his kind will cloak sinfulness in one of two ways:

1. Do it in the dark, or,

2. Lie, and convince everyone that darkness is actually light.

When I and my friend went to rob that store, we didn’t set up lights around the store. We didn’t do it in the light of day. We waited until a moonless night, snuck in under darkness, and crept about quietly. Those who do evil DO NOT want the Light of God shined on what they are doing. It is so much better for their conscience if they can,

Convince you to be “woke”,
Coerce you to “join the dark crowd”,
Call you to deny God’s Light, and
Croon you into the darkness.

The Bible warns us that …

Isaiah 5:20-23 (KJV) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (21) Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (22) Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: (23) Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Illustrate: It is dangerous to walk in the darkness. The other day our electric power went down at our home – throughout our neighborhood. Suddenly everything that was familiar was dangerous and unfamiliar. I carefully felt my way through the house until I got to my closet where I keep my lanterns and flashlights. What a relief it was when I got the lanterns turned on, and I could walk safely.

The lights are out in our nation, and in many of our local Churches. When a nation and a people can no longer distinguish between good and evil, that people are quickly on their way to destruction. Any nation that is no longer a nation today started on a pathway of destruction when it’s people ceased to recognize the difference between good and evil. We must have a way to determine good from evil. We must have a rule that we live by, a standard, else we are no more than

Matthew 15:14 (KJV) … blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”

Jesus Christ is “THE light of the world”. Just as God was THE LIGHT of the world before there was any Sun, Moon, or Stars, Jesus christ is THE MANIFEST LIGHT of the world. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery:

John 8:11 (KJV) … Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Christ forgave her for her sin because she was REPENTANT. So Jesus told her GO, but not “GO BACK TO YOUR PREVIOUS LIFESTYLE”. Jesus told her “go, and sin no more”. Those who are in Christ walk in the Light. Those who are saved are called to walk in proximity to the will and Word of God. King David said:

Psalm 56:13 (ESV) For You {O God} have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

God saves His people by faith from the bondage of sin and darkness. “Blessed are the people … who walk, O LORD, IN THE LIGHT OF YOUR FACE” (Psalm 89:15, ESV)”. “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” (Isaiah 50:10, ESV). The world walks in the darkness of sin, rejecting Christ and God’s Word. Jesus said of Himself:

John 11:10 (ESV) … “if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

John 12:35 (ESV) … “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.”

Jesus came to this earth to “call sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). Repentance means to TURN from following what YOU think is Light, and to BEGIN following the Light of God in Christ. Jesus said:

John 8:12 (KJV) I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Word Study: The word translated “have” is the Greek echō, which means “to have, hold, possess as one’s property”. The Christian is a creature of LIGHT. We walk TOGETHER in the LIGHT OF CHRIST. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Corinthians 1:7).

The Devil Challenges Christ

John 8:13-14 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. 14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record {martyria, witness}is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

The Pharisees challenge Jesus, claiming that He is a liar! They refuse to receive Jesus as “The Light of the World”. If Jesus is “The Light of the World”, this would make Jesus out to be God. The Pharisees would not receive Jesus as God, but instead said that “He did the miraculous by the power of Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24), the prince of demons”. Jesus challenged the Pharisees, and said “my record {martyria, witness} is true”. Jesus knew from where He came, and where He was going. Jesus knew the scope of His power. The Pharisees did not know this. Jesus told them:

John 8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

The Pharisees judged from the outward appearance. They saw Jesus in His earthly flesh. The Pharisees did not actually keep the Law of God, but kept the portions of the Law that suited them. The Pharisees amplified the Law in areas, and twisted the Word of God out of shape, so as to justify doing what they thought was right. But Jesus came to perfectly carry the Word of God to our world. Jesus Christ is the “Faithful Witness”:

Revelation 1:5 … Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead

Why is Jesus called “THE Faithful Witness”? John Watson said:

“No one has yet discovered the word Jesus ought to have said, none suggested the better word he might have said. No action of his has shocked our moral sense. None has fallen short of the ideal. He is full of surprises, but they are all the surprises of perfection.”

Jesus did not come to this earth with His own agenda, but came to do what the Father sent Him to do. Jesus frequently told His listeners:

John 5:19 Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

Jesus was not limited by POWER from doing anything, but He was limited by PURPOSE. Jesus came to this earth to represent the Father. He told His disciples:

John 14:9 (ESV) … Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus because He shined the Light of God the Father on them, proving that they were NOT following God but themselves. Every human who entered humanity – from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Israel – every human has fallen short of God’s glory and standard. But when Jesus entered this earth through a Virgin, God became Man, and God the Father was visible to fallen man. We are told:

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV) {Jesus Christ} is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high …

Jesus could say “I judge NO MAN” because He did everything according to the directive of the Father. Jesus then said:

John 8:16-18 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

The FATHER that sent Jesus BORE WITNESS OF HIM. How did the Father witness that Jesus is THE One and Only LIGHT of the World?

1. The Father bore witness through John the Baptist, who said of Jesus “This is THE Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29, 36). John the Baptist was God’s Ambassador to present the Messiah to the world (see Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1).

2. The Father bore witness through the works that Christ did. Jesus said, “the works which the Father has given Me to finish–the very works that I do–bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (John 5:36). Even Nicodemus – a Pharisee – admitted this.

John 3:2 … “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

3. The Father DIRECTLY testified that Jesus Christ is THE One and Only Christ. At His Baptism the Father said:

Matthew 3:17 (NKJV) … “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Later, at the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father said:

Matthew 17:5 (NKJV) … “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

4. Finally, the Old Testament Prophesies of Who the Messiah would be affirmed Jesus Christ as the Light of the World. Jesus said:

John 5:39 (ESV) You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me …

The Pharisees studied the Scriptures diligently, “but were not willing to come to Jesus to have life” (John 5:40). The reason people are not saved is because they are comfortable in their sin. They do NOT want to change. Everyone wants to go to Heaven – but no one wants to walk with God. Everyone wants to live forever – but no one wants to work for God.

To Know Jesus Is To Know The Father

John 8:19-20 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. 20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

You cannot know the Father unless you know Jesus. Jesus is the ONLY CONDUIT by which you can come to the Father. Jesus is THE LIGHT of the World. Because these Pharisees would not receive Jesus as the Messiah, they were shut off from God.

John 8:21-24 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. 22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 23 And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Jesus made some very profound statements above. The main point Jesus was making is this:

If you are not walking with Jesus NOW,
You will not go where Jesus BELONGS.

Jesus told them, “I am from above: ye are of this world”. Jesus came from a totally different realm. Every human who was ever born came from this world. We were replicated by sexual activity. But Jesus is unique. Jesus is born of a virgin, born through the power of God the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Jesus’ Father is God Almighty. Jesus told the Pharisees,

if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins

What was Jesus saying? In the Old Testament one of the Names God used to define Himself was “I am he”. God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 32:39-40 See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

When Israel asked the question, “Who is the One and Only God?”, God spoke up and said “I Am HE”.

Isaiah 41:4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. (see also Isaiah 48:12; 46:4; 52:6).

“I am he” is one of the primary names God used for Himself, particularly through Isaiah the Prophet. Jesus told His disciples “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he” (John 13:19, KJV). When Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Temple soldiers came to get Him. Jesus asked them, “Who are you seeking?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth”. The Bible says:

John 18:5-8 … Jesus saith unto them, I am he. … 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, God in the flesh, God become Man to save sinful man by His death and resurrection. Unless you believe that Jesus is “I AM HE”, then you will die in your sins.

The Pharisees were yet blind to Who Jesus is. Puzzled, they approach Him again:

John 8:25-28 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. 27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. 28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

It was only after Jesus was “lifted up” on the Cross of Calvary that many of His detractors realized Who He is. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is The Light of the World. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Witness from the Father. Jesus Christ is The Savior of those who believe in Him. I pray that you know Him, for TODAY is the day of salvation.

Amen and Amen!

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Who Is The Boss?

Posted on July 25, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Philippe Donn: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lightning-strike-on-city-1114688/

Judges 19:30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

Last week we studied the horror that occurred at Gibeah, how homosexual crowds attacked a Levite Priest’s party in an attempt to “know” that Priest. The end result of this sad encounter is that the Levite’s Concubine was molested, raped, and murdered while the men of the family hid behind a locked door. The Levite afterward dismembered the Concubine, and sent the twelve parts to each tribe of Israel. What happened shocked the nation. We are told “no such deed {was} done nor seen” in Israel from the time it was freed from Egypt to that moment. The period of the Judges spans 400 years from the rise of Moses as Israel’s leader to the end of the period. So for 400 years Israel had never seen a thing so shocking and horrid.

But WHAT was shocking to Israel? Was it the open and aggressive homosexuality in Gibeah, the murder of the Concubine, or the fact that a Priest even had a Concubine in the first place?

The reason that Israel got to this horrible place is mentioned four times in the Book of Judges:

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel …

Judges 19:1 … it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel …

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

There was “NO KING IN ISRAEL”. There was no ruling Authority. God had been abandoned. It was a repeat of the Garden of Eden. God and His Word were available, but “EVERY PERSON DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THEIR EYES”. Man and not God established what was right and wrong. I watched a video this morning where a Pastor from Apologia Studios

honestly tells an irate college student “You’re not a Christian. You do not believe in God’s Word. You believe our ancestor’s were fish, and yet you think Christ is your Savior? You don’t believe the Bible. You don’t believe Jesus’ Word. You don’t believe the Word should be the STANDARD.” The young lady was convinced she was a Christian based on what her parents had told her, based on what her church and friends had told her. But she totally rejected the standard of God’s Word.

When every person does what is right in THEIR own eyes, you are not following the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus said of the Bible:

John 17:17 (AP*) Father, set Your people apart from the world THROUGH YOUR TRUTH. YOUR WORD IS TRUTH.

Israel Gathers To Judge Gibeah

Judges 20:1-3 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. 2 And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. 3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?

Regardless as to what action actually shocked Israel, the Tribes come together “unto the Lord in Mizpeh”. Mizpeh or Mizpah means “a place of witness”. The Tribes gathered together to judge Gibeah for what happened, and the courtroom was a place in land owned by the Tribe of Benjamin called “Mizpah”. Later on in its history the Prophet Samuel will erect an Ebenezer Stone, a monument in Mizpah to remind Israel how God allowed them to overcome the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:5-6, 11-12). The first human King of Israel will be Saul, a Benjamite. He will be chosen by Samuel and the people in Mizpah.

Mizpah is, in this case, like the Nuremberg Trials
held by the Allies against Nazi criminals.

20:2 … the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

The size of the trial can only be guessed. There are “four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword”, a massive army and a show of force. Humanly speaking there is enough power here to punish the criminals of Gibeah. Following Jewish Law, the Leaders ask “Tell us how this wickedness happened”. The Levite now tells a partial story as to what happened:

Judges 20:4-6 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. 6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

The Levite doesn’t lie – but he doesn’t tell the whole truth. He tells them that the men of Gibeah tried to kill him, but didn’t clearly declare that their intention was homosexual. Further, the Levite did not mention how he cruelly, cowardly, and callously pushed his Concubine out into the enraged crowd to be raped and murdered. He hid behind a locked door while she was horribly abused unto death. The charge the Levite brought specifically was:

vs 6 they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel

Word Study: “lewdness” is the Hebrew zimmâ, which means “a heinous or wicked crime, a wicked sensual act”. This word is used for incest (Leviticus 18:17; 20:14) , for child prostitution (Leviticus 19:29), for adulteries and whoredom (Jeremiah 13:27), for idolatry (Ezekiel 23:49), and for false priests (Hosea 6:9). The word translated “folly” is the Hebrew nᵊḇālâ, which means “disgraceful or profane actions, criminal immorality”. This is the word that the Master of the house in Gibeah told the homosexual mob when they wanted to “know” the Levite:

Judges 19:23-24 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly {nᵊḇālâ}24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so VILE {nᵊḇālâ} a thing.

The Master of the home would rather the crowd rape his daughter and the Concubine than the Levite male. Why? Because God told Israel that homosexuality could cause them to lose the Promised Land. God told Israel:

Leviticus 18:22-25 (ESV) You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. 24 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

God said “I cast out the Canaanites because of their sexual sin. If you do this, the land will vomit you out when you make it unclean, and those who do so shall be CUT OFF FROM MY PEOPLE. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD” (see Leviticus 18:27-30). The Levite has charged Gibeah with doing the thing which God said would cause them to lose the Promised Land. These sexual sins were so forbidden that (Leviticus 20:13-16) the act brought with it the death penalty. To those who believe that this lifestyle is today blessed by God because of Grace and the Cross, I refer you to Jude 1:7; Romans 1:26-28; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; and Hebrews 13:1-5. The Levite now puts the matter before Israel:

Judges 20:7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

We Must DO SOMETHING About This NOW!

Judges 20:8-11 And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. 9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; 10 And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the FOLLY {nᵊḇālâ} that they have wrought in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

Following the trial Israel does a “good” thing and a “bad” thing. First the “good” thing. Israel does not procrastinate. They realize that what was done in Gibeah could cause them to be cast out of Canaan by God. God said that such behavior should be punished. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin was VERY GRAVE (Genesis 18:20). The Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24). Israel did not want to be in this position with God, so they said “WE’VE got to DO something NOW!”

Israel did not pray and seek God. Israel approached the matter “religiously” but not “relationally”.

Israel bound together “as one man” with one another, but not with God as their King. They decided to “go up by lot against” Gibeah. They cast lots (like rolling the dice or having a lottery) to see who would confront Gibeah. This is not what God told them to do in the Scripture. In

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 (ESV) If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

It was not 10% by lot who were to destroy the city, but ALL of Israel. So Israel came together – but not in accordance with the authority of God’s Word. The Leaders of Israel then reached out to the Tribe of Benjamin, asking them to examine themselves, and turn over the children of Belial who committed the evil in Gibeah.

Judges 20:12-14 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? 13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel. 14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

The Tribe of Benjamin came from one of Jacob’s (also known as Israel) favorite children because his mother was Rachel, not Leah. Jacob prophesied of Benjamin:

Genesis 49:27 (ESV) Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.

Benjamin was filled with pride. Though the smallest of the Tribes, Benjamites were skilled warriors who worked together like a wolf pack to destroy the enemy. Benjamin should have remembered the Biblical warning, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Because Benjamin will not do an internal audit and turn over the homosexual mob, there will be over 65,000 deaths in chapter 20.

Judges 20:15-17 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left handed; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

As the sides gathered, there were 26,000 Benjamites who gathered with the 700 inhabitants of Gibeah – a total of 26,700 warriors who rejected God’s Word completely. These could be compared to “woke” Social Justice Warriors who ignore the parts of Scripture that does not suit their feelings. I like what the Free Bible Commentary states:

“God’s people are to live their lives within covenant guidelines which encourage and support long term societal stability, not instant personal gratification!”

Benjamin’s forces are dwarfed by the opposition from Israel, “four hundred thousand men that drew sword”. Benjamin is outnumbered approximately 15 to 1! Humanly speaking, they should easily be crushed. As Israel prepares to go to battle, they finally pray:

Judges 20:18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.

It’s good Israel prayed, and God answered their prayer. “Who shall go first?” God replies, “Judah”. But there’s so much more they should have asked God. When should they go? How many should go? Where should the battle be? When you do a right thing the wrong way, you will make a mess that the preacher will turn into a message! It is good to go to God, but not AFTER but BEFORE.

God will use Benjamin to punish wayward Israel.

Judges 20:19-22 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. 22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

Israel comes to the battlefield like Goliath before David. There are 400,000 of them, all seasoned warriors. What will 26,700 Benjamites do against such a force! At the end of the day Israel lost “twenty and two thousand men” – nearly as many men as there were Benjamites. But Israel shook it off. They “encouraged themselves”. After all, there were still 378,000 of them left. But now they go to God again. We read:

Judges 20:23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.)

They pray. But notice the timbre of their prayer. “Shall I go up again to battle”? Not “Lord, shall WE go to battle – You and I”, but “Shall I”? This is the Church of America today. Let’s see what I can do. Let’s get several I’s together, DO SOMETHING, then ask God about it later. Israel wept crocodile tears, but was not where they needed to be in Christ.

Are you?

Judges 20:24-25 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

The Keil and Delitzsch Commentary (pg 452) notes, “The congregation now discovered … that the Lord had withdrawn His grace, and was punishing them. Their sin, however, did not consist in the fact that they had begun the war itself … but rather in the state of mind with which they had entered upon the war, their strong self-consciousness, and great confidence in their own might and power. They had indeed inquired of God (Elohim) who should open the conflict; but they had neglected to humble themselves before Jehovah the covenant God, in the consciousness not only of their own weakness and sinfulness, but also of grief at the moral corruption of their brother tribe.” (emphasis mine)

If you are keeping track, God is speaking through these defeats. Israel lost 22,000 the first battle, and 18,000 the second battle. That’s a total of 40,000 armed warriors, or 10% of the 400,000 that Israel started out with.

God was telling Israel, “You started out with your human solution, 10% by lot. You cut Me out of the process. So I’ve taken My 10% – WAKE UP!

Judges 20:26-28 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

Now Israel gets right with God. They “came unto the house of God, and wept”. They repented of what they had done before. They came into the Presence of God. We are told “the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days”. The Ark of the Covenant was a chest carried by the priests that represented God and His glory. When Moses led Israel we are told:

Numbers 10:35 (ESV) … whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

God was in every battle Israel fought then, for there WAS a King in Israel, and it was YHWH. Moses gave God the glory, as did Israel. It was only when Moses failed to glorify God that he was denied the Promised Land (Numbers 20:9-12). God will not share His glory with any (Isaiah 42:8). The battle is HIS, not Israel’s. Because Israel honors God this time, the Lord for the first time promises:

Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

The horror of the crime of Gibeah is not just Gibeah’s fault. It is the fault of the nation. Israel has no King in it, having rejected the Authority of God and His Word. The Lord will not bless this. Israel had to be humbled to learn the lesson.

Judges 20:29-35 And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. 35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

The results were much different this time. The Benjamite Army lost 25,100 men. The men of Israel, using subterfuge, drew the Benjamites away from Gibeah so it could be attacked (Judges 20:37-46) and destroyed. We are told:

Judges 20:48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Benjamin did not just lose Gibeah, but over a period of several months lost most of their cities. “As a result of the battle, there remained only a 600 man remnant from the Tribe of Benjamin” (Enduring Word Commentary). Though Benjamin will recover during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 7:8), Benjamin will for a time become a part of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. One commentary notes, “After Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in the early sixth century BC and its population deported, Benjamin as an organized tribe faded from history”. So shall all fail who do not glorify the Living God! May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.

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Temptation And Trials Bring Us To The Target

Posted on July 23, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash

1 Peter 1:5-9 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 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: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Trials come to everyone. If you breath, you will be tried. It is only in a fantasy – or in Heaven in the Presence of God – that you will be free of trials. In our bulletin today we have a grateful note from a member who was tried. It was nothing the member did that brought the trial, but as the member’s Church we reached out and ministered in the midst of that trial.

God allows trials so that we can learn to trust Him, and so that His Church can minister and NOT BE SELFISH.

Another family was tried when a loved one unexpectedly died. Again, this trial came without preamble or foretelling. It was not earned nor deserved, but came anyway. The trial again gave our Church an opportunity to “wash the feet of those in need”. This is what Jesus was illustrating when He, the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8; James 2:1) knelt down and washed His disciples feet. Jesus asked His disciples,

John 13:12-15 “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

We wash one another’s feet when one of our members suffers, and we minister to that suffering. We are most like Jesus when we – like our Lord – lower ourselves to serve those in need. This is what Christ calls us to do every day. We are tried if we breath.

Many times trials come because of the evil of others. I’m sure you all heard how three black Churches and at least one business had KKK fliers placed on them. I never saw the flier, but I understand it was very upsetting. July 13, 2023 two individuals were arrested in connection with those fliers. They could face from 2-12 years in prison for posting the fliers. The adult male suspect claimed he thought he had a First Amendment right to post them. If so, he is ignorant. You do not have a First Amendment right to invade private property, nor to destroy public property. The man also claims that “he is a Christian”, which is a lie. The Bible says:

1 John 4:20 (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

This man “trespassed” to hang those fliers. Trespassing is a sin. This man “hated” to hang these fliers. Hatred is a grievous sin. The Bible uses the term “trespass” to describe the act of stepping outside of rightful boundaries into Another’s territory. There is physical trespassing, and spiritual trespassing.

When we violate God’s Law, doing what He says we ought NOT to do, we are trespassing. This is what unbelievers, not believers, do. In Ephesians 2:1 we as Christians are told “you WERE (past tense) dead in the trespasses and sins”.

It Is The Power Of God And His Word That Saves

Let’s go back and look at verses 5 and 9 of our text:

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

This text says a lot about who is saved. We are saved “THROUGH FAITH”. Through faith in what? This fellow who posted those hateful fliers said he is a Christian – but his faith is not in the Bible. The practicing homosexual or heterosexual sinner – violating God’s Word – profess to be saved by faith. By faith in what?

I believe part of the confusion has to do with so called, self professed PASTORS. A recent study found that only 37% of American Senior Pastors believe the Bible is God’s Inerrant (without error) Word. That’s nonsense! It is the Word of God that saves the Christian. James the Stepbrother of Jesus did not believe his brother to be the Messiah until after the resurrection. Once saved, James wrote:

James 1:21 (ESV) Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Salvation comes when you HEAR the Word of God, the Bible, and REPENTING of your sins “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls”. It is the Gospel in this grand old Book that saves us. When the Apostle wrote to the Church at Thessaloniki, he said:

1 Thessalonians 2:13 (KJV) For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

When the Word of God is RECEIVED as it is, the WORD of GOD, then it “effectually worketh” (Greek energeō, empowers) in us. We are told in:

Romans 10:17 (KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

It is the HEARING of God’s Word that saves us. Oh, that glorious Gospel, that Christ died for our sins! Oh, that wonderful truth, that God so loved us that He sent His Son:

Galatians 4:4-7 … born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

But once saved, brought into the Family of God, the Bible says:

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith …

Word Study: Once saved by receiving God’s Word, the Christian is “kept” (the Greek phroureō), literally “GUARDED from hostile invasion, PROTECTED by careful watch, PRESERVED by a Greater Power”. If you are saved you are GUARDED how? By the “power of God”.

God watches over what He has so preciously purchased. You cost God the Blood of His dear Son. Jesus laid His life down for you. The Bible, God’s Word, says so.

You are saved by His Blood, by His Trials, by His Suffering (that is, if you are saved). And if you are saved you know that your salvation is in progress. Look at the last part of verse 5:

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Your salvation is NOT COMPLETE. If you are saved by faith in Christ, you are on a path we will study about in Sunday School. Salvation starts when you receive the Word of God and turn away from the word of man. Let’s look at verse 9:

Those Who Are Saved OVERCOME

1 Peter 1:9 Receiving the end {télos} of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Word Study: The word “end” (the Greek telos) means “the TERMINATION, the limit at which a thing ceases to be, the GOAL, the FINISH LINE”. Salvation is not ended, but started on the day that you – believing God’s Word – received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Salvation started that day that you were received into the Family of God by the Holy Spirit, being BORN AGAIN. But the TERMINATION or the GOAL has not been reached.

Let me quote our Jesus very carefully. Jesus said:

Matthew 10:17-22 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Christian, you will be persecuted. You are light in the devil’s dark world. You believe the Word of God as opposed to the word of man. Your faith cannot be skin deep. “he that endureth to the end {télos} shall be saved”. The proof of salvation is that you are tried, and continue in your faith with Jesus.

Though what that man did to the three black churches was horrid, on a scale of 1 to 10 it’s no more than a 1 when compared to what other Christians have endured!

In Matthew 24:13 Jesus against said, “he that shall endure unto the end, télos the same shall be saved”. True salvation endures trials. True salvation holds onto what God has promised, as God holds onto us. True salvation proves itself by the fruit of the life. We who are saved no longer serve darkness, but we serve the LIGHT of God:

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end télos everlasting life.

Illustrate True Suffering: On July 22, 1209 a false prophet called Pope Innocent III sent a howling mob through the French city of Béziers (pronounced bes-E-ehh). When the Catholic inspired crusade came to the city, Catholics of that city were told to hand over Protestants. They refused. The Christian History Institute notes:

“Arnald-Amaury, the pope’s representative, wrote complacently to {Pope} Innocent, “Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex or age, and put to the sword almost twenty-thousand people.” A popular account asserted that he was asked at the height of the slaughter how the killers should distinguish Catholic from {Protestant}. He is supposed to have replied, ‘Kill them all; God will recognize his own.’”

Illustrate True Suffering: On July 17, 180 twelve Christians stood in front of the Roman administrator of North Africa, Proconsul Saturninus. They were told that they were supposed to publicly declare the Emperor to be god. Our Lord Jesus said “everyone who denies Me before men, I will deny before My Father in Heaven” (Matthew 10:33, NLT). The Proconsul demanded that the Christians publicly say that the Emperor is equally god with Jesus and with the Heavenly Father. The leader of the group of Christians, Speratus said “We have never done ill, we have not lent ourselves to wrong, we have never spoken ill, but when ill-treated we have given thanks; because we pay heed to our Emperor.” Refusing to declare the Emperor as god, the twelve Christians were beheaded for their faith.

Those who are genuinely saved are “kept by the power of God through faith”. Those who are genuinely saved are not in unity with the world, but are OVERCOMERS:

1 John 5:4-5 … (ESV) everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

If your faith can be deconstructed, and detached from God and His Word – then you were NEVER SAVED. The SAVED are KEPT! The SAVED OVERCOME.

Every Trial Has A God Designed Purpose

The Christian is KEPT by God. The Christian will OVERCOME. The Christian will not be FULLY SAVED until we get to glory. Understanding these truths, how do we deal with trials?

1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 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:

There are some Christians who never get very far in their walk with God because they whine about everything. They whine about the temperature of the building they are sitting in. They whine about the slightest discomfort. They whine if the Church service goes overtime.

And they miss a great blessing.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:4 (NKJV), “Blessed are those who mourn, for they SHALL BE COMFORTED”. Trials drive us into the arms of Christ. Trials prove our salvation. Several years ago a faithful member of this Church – in the dark valley of death – looked at me and said, “I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really saved”. I came alongside him in that valley – and told him to reach out and, by faith, hold onto the hand of Jesus. He reached out, grabbed that hand, and was carried by the Master beyond the valley of the shadow of death. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO EVIL”. Why will you not fear evil, even as the specter of death looms. “For YOU, My God, ARE WITH ME. YOUR Rod, and YOUR staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

The trial drives us into the hands of our life’s authority. What is your authority? Is it money? Self pleasure? Fame? Good health? Or is your Authority God in Christ?

Illustrate: I love the fairy tales my mama read to me when I was a child – and many of these tales (which are fantasy) relate to the reality of life. Do you remember the Three Little Pigs? That’s a great story! The first Little Pig built his house of straw, the second Little Pig of sticks, and the third Little Pig of brick or Rock. When the “big, bad wolf” came, he said:

“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”
“No, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.”
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”

He makes good on the boast of the house of straw and of sticks – but when the “big, bad wolf” comes to the house of brick or Rock, he has no success. No matter how that wolf huffs and puffs, the house will not fall in. Isn’t this what Jesus told us? He said:

Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Where have you built your life? If you have built your life on Jesus and His Word, then:

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

You “greatly rejoice” (Greek agalliaō), “are exceedingly glad” when you walk through the valleys of life. Yes, it is HEAVY. Yes, there are MANY TYPES of TRIALS. But what you are going through is not without purpose. It comes “for a season”, and with the purpose of making you more like Christ. God is at work in you, dear Christian.

1 Peter 1:7 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:

Did you read this. Your FAITH is MORE PRECIOUS than GOLD. Gold, like all money, comes and goes. But your faith in God GROWS, bringing you closer to God every day. As you go through this life, every trial whittles on your soul, taking away impurities, and making you the child of God the Father wants you to be.

And one day Jesus will comer and get you! When He does, your faith will be found “unto praise and honor and glory” when you meet Jesus on that grand day!

There Will Be Joy Unspeakable When We Are Glorified

1 Peter 1:8 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:

The day we see Jesus face to face – be it through death or through Rapture – will be a day so joyful that words cannot describe it. It will be glorious.

I hope to see you there.

If your salvation will not OVERCOME whatever life throws at you, then you’re not a child of God. A child of God OVERCOMES. What has God declared? I will let Jesus preach the end of this sermon:

Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Will you be in glory with Jesus? What is the Authority of your life? What is the Authority of your life when tried? If it is Jesus, Beloved, the best is yet to come. But if not, all that is left is an empty faith and a burning eternity. I beg you, call upon the Name of Jesus and be saved. Amen and Amen.

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In The Very Act

Posted on July 21, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Spencer Davis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/mountain-peaks-covered-in-snow-5772681/

John 8:1-4 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. {2} And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. {3} And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, {4} They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Our Background Is Found In Nicodemus

After Jesus presented Himself as the Messiah, the Savior of Israel and the Sender of the Holy Spirit, the Chief Priests and Pharisees sent the Temple soldiers to arrest Him for blasphemy in chapter 7. When the soldiers returned to the Temple without Jesus, they were asked “Why didn’t you bring Him?”. The soldiers replied,

John 7:46 (AP*) No one ever spoke like this Man!

As the powerful leaders of Israel condemned Jesus, and mocked the soldiers, a member of that group named Nicodemus spoke up.

Nicodemus came to see Jesus by night – we read about him in John chapter 3. It was to Nicodemus that Jesus told him in John 3:7, “You must be BORN AGAIN”. Jesus told Nicodemus,

John 3:3 (ESV) … “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He covers your sins with the Blood of Calvary. Jesus then sends the Holy Spirit to your life to change you, to make you into a child of God. Once you are a child of God, you stand up for Jesus and for His Kingdom. You do not hide your faith, but you are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). You cannot be an undercover Christian. When Jesus comes to you and you to Him, He saves you. You become “children of God by faith in Christ” (Galatians 3:26). You are different from the lost of the world. You are saved.

Salvation Is Like A Seed – It Must Be Planted!

When Nicodemus met Jesus in John chapter 3, the seed of salvation was planted. When Nicodemus left Jesus, he kept their meeting quiet. He told no one. But now that the Chief Priests and Pharisees are condemning Jesus, Nicodemus speaks up:

John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

The Pharisees and Priests were mad at Jesus because they believed He was breaking the Law by healing people on the Sabbath. However, as Nicodemus pointed out, the Pharisees and Priests were violating the Law by condemning Jesus without a proper trial.

The basis of stability in a nation is the Law. In the Old Testament, when God led Israel out of Egyptian slavery, and He led them to the base of Mount Sinai. There was a reason for this. Israel was no longer just a family with twelve sons, but it was to be a Nation under God. To be a Nation under God Israel had to have a Law. At Mount Sinai God called Moses to come up the Mountain to receive that Law.

The Chief Priests and Pharisees claimed to live by the Law of God. They weren’t living by God’s Law, but by THEIR Law, THEIR Traditions, THEIR Feelings. This is a dangerous path for a people to take.

God’s Law demanded fair justice. He said in:

Deuteronomy 1:16-17 (ESV) ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. 17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

The Law that God gave at Sinai was not Moses’ Law, but God’s Law through Moses. God said …

Deuteronomy 19:15 (ESV) A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

Nicodemus reminded the Levites and the Priests that Jesus needed a fair hearing. That is what caused the events of chapter eight.

Chapter Eight Is A Picture Of Mount Sinai

John 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

The “mount of Olives” is also called OLIVET. Olivet is a ridge that runs outside the city walls east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7). When King David’s son Absalom chased him from Jerusalem, the Bible says “David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up” (2 Samuel 15:30). David’s son King Solomon built an altar to “Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek, the detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:7). When Israel fell to idolatry, the Prophet Ezekiel (11:23) saw the glory of the Lord depart from Jerusalem and rest ON THE MOUNTAIN EAST OF IT (Mount Olivet or the Mount of Olives). The Mount of Olives was a place where God rested, and watched over Jerusalem.

The Mount of Olives was a favorite place that Jesus visited, usually to rest and talk to the Father. As Moses went up Sinai to talk to the Father, Jesus went up Olivet.

John 8:2 … And early in the morning He came again into the Temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them.

Jesus returned to the Temple, probably in an area called Solomon’s Porch (John 10:23). He taught “early in the morning”, right after His time of prayer.

– When God sent Moses to the Pharaoh, saying “Let My people go”, God always told him to go “early in the morning” (Exodus 8:20; 9:13; 24:4; 34:4).

– When God sent Joshua to fight the enemy in the Promised Land, it was often “early in the morning” (Joshua 3:1; 6:12; 7:16; 8:10).

Israel has been taken over by the false religion of the Chief Priests and Pharisees, so Jesus goes to battle it “early in the morning”. He will eventually defeat Satan and false religion on the Cross of Calvary, and rise from the grave “early in the morning” on the first day of the week. As Jesus came to teach “all the people came unto Him”. They wanted to hear a Word from God, and were hungry – not for the swill of the Pharisees and Priests, but for the “Words of Eternal Life” (John 6:68; Philippians 2:16; 1 John 1:1).

Jesus has come down from Olivet with the Word of Life, just as Moses came down from Sinai with the Law.

John 8:3-4 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Word Study: Nicodemus has called on the Priests and Pharisees to bring Jesus to a proper trial. Instead of doing this, they set a trap for Him. They bring a woman into Jesus’ classroom “taken in adultery”. The word “taken” is the Greek katalambanō, which means “to lay hold of, to seize, to take possession of”. The word is used of the boy possessed of a demon, who …

Mark 9:18 … wheresoever {the demon} taketh katalambanō him, {the devil} teareth {the boy}: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away…

This woman was GRABBED and DRAGGED into to presence of Christ. She was forced into the middle of this group of people, probably her clothing torn, her nakedness exposed. They tell Jesus:

Master, this woman was taken in adultery,
in the very act

Word Study: They are first of all HYPOCRITES. They call Jesus “Master”, the Greek didaskalos, which means “Master Teacher or Scholarly Rabbi”. They often called Jesus “MASTER”, though they did so out of sarcasm or avarice (Matthew 12:38; 19:16; 22:16; 22:14; 22:36; Luke 19:39, et. al.). They used shock and inflection to try and get Jesus to expose Himself. Then they drop the bomb:

John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

The thing about traps and bait is that the hunter will put out something that looks obviously GOOD, hoping the quarry will take it and be trapped. The Bible says …

1 Timothy 1:8 … we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

The Law of God is not a bad thing, but a good thing. The Law of God points out that which is SIN, and SIN is a bad thing. The Law of God said that adultery is terrible evil, because adultery tears at the civilized fabric of community by attacking Biblical Marriage. For this reason God decreed:

Leviticus 20:10 (ESV) If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Adultery is a sin that tears up marriages. It is not a ONE PERSON sin. If this woman was caught “in the very act” there should be a man with her. The Bible tells us:

John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

These men were not seeking to give Jesus a fair trial, but were baiting Him, trying to find something, anything that would make Him look guilty. But as They spoke to Jesus, the Bible says “with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not”. In the Old Testament when Moses was with God, it was …

God Himself Who wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger on tablets of stone.

Exodus 31:18 (ESV) {and God} gave to Moses, when He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Deuteronomy 4:13-14 (ESV) … {God} declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God, but the rest of the Law was told to Moses by God, and Moses wrote the Law as God gave it.

Exodus 24:3-4 (ESV) … Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:24-26 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Moses went to Sinai and received the Law from God. He wrote it down and gave it to the people. As the Scribes and Pharisees demand an answer from Jesus, our Lord – fresh from Mount Olivet – begins to write God’s Law down on the ground. As they continue to demand an answer, our Lord looks up from His writing:

John 8:7-9 So when they continued asking him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus said “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”, He was repeating what the Law of God said. Two or three witnesses were required to put someone to death. God decreed through Moses:

Deuteronomy 17:6-7 (ESV) On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

The one who was “WITHOUT SIN” – someone who was a witness who was guiltless in the violation of the Law – was to be the FIRST to cast the stone of death. After this witness did so, THEN and only then were the people to cast stones until the lawbreaker was dead. God said “So you shall purge the evil from your midst”.

These men were conspirators. At the least, they allowed the male adulterer to escape punishment. At the most, they were guilty of conspiracy against Jesus. They were not guiltless!

Jesus returned to writing on the ground – I believe – the Law of God. The Bible says that these men departed, “convicted by their own conscience”, starting at the eldest. After they had all left, Jesus looked at the woman.

John 8:10-11 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

At this point many people misunderstand what Jesus is doing. They believe that Jesus is condoning sexual sin, looking the other way on adultery, a horrible sin. Our Lord is not doing this. The charges against this woman were trumped up, and unfairly levied. Where was the MAN? Was the unnamed woman guilty of sin? Yes, she was! At no point did she protest her innocence, nor did she declare herself innocent after her accusers left. Our Lord Jesus told her, “go, and sin no more”. Jesus believed that she committed the crime she was accused of, and at no point did He excuse her guilt. She was a sinner, a sexual sinner, else our Lord would have not said go and sin no more.

Sin Is Horrid! Go And Sin NO MORE.

Jesus told this woman, “go, and sin no more”. We are given a very DETAILED DEFINITION of what SIN is in the Scripture, and sin is NOT something a Child of God should wallow in. The Bible says:

1 John 3:2-8 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

The Bible tells us that SIN is bad – and children of God purify themselves of sin (verse 3). Sin is “the transgression of the law” (verse 4), to reject what God has said and what is written in the Holy Scripture. Sin is no trifle, but a hateful and deceptive thing. The Bible tells us that “Jesus was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin”. Jesus is not looking the other way on this woman’s sin, her hateful sin! God became Man – Perfect and Sinless Man – to take away our sins.

Jesus came not only to purge the record of our sinfulness so we might have access to God, but also came to make sin distasteful to us. Sons of God hate sin! Period.

If you can commit sin without any remorse over it, then you do NOT belong to God. We are told that “He that committeth sin is of the devil” (vs 8). Jesus came to this earth to destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus “made us alive with Him, and forgave us ALL our trespasses. He erased our certificate of debt … taking out of the way by nailing it to the Cross” (Colossians 2:13-14, HCSB). If you are yielding your lives to sin, then you are servants of sin, not sons of God (Romans 6:15-18).

You are saved to follow not sin, but the Savior. You are saved to walk with Jesus in the Light of God. The day you received Christ as Savior and Lord, He told you:

Neither do I condemn thee.
Go.
And sin no more!

Are you saved? Are you washed by the Blood of Christ, born again of His Spirit? If you are, you will not walk in darkness with the world. You will walk in the Light of God with Christ and your brothers and sisters in the Church. May God cause you to examine your lives, and be saved from sin this very day. Receive Jesus. Believe Jesus. Call on Jesus. Trust Jesus. Follow Jesus. This is the Way of the Master. Amen and Amen.

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Gibea, Gomorrah & Sodom

Posted on July 19, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Rene Asmussen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-woman-peeking-on-planks-25757/

Turn with me in your Bibles to Judges chapter 19. An ancient preacher named Miguel Molinos stated:

“There are two kinds of darkness, an unhappy darkness and a happy darkness. The {unhappy} darkness is that which arises from sin. … The second type of darkness is darkness which the Lord allows within our inward part in order to establish and settle virtue …”

When I thought about that statement, I thought about what our Lord Jesus told us. Jesus said,

Matthew 16:24-25 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

When we who love the Lord follow our Jesus, we climb Mount Sinai up steep walls and loose rock, shifting sand. We find our God on Mount Moriah, and are told to willingly give up our Isaac on an altar we build there. We are called to walk the Via Dolorosa – the dusty path our Lord Jesus carried His Cross – as the crowds around us mock and jeer and toss stones. We are called to go “outside the camp and bear the reproach He bore” (Hebrews 13:13). Christians are not called to a life of compromise, pleasing the world around us. We are to stand in the shadow of our God, knowing that the darkness is but brief, and that our God watches over “those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). This is why the Scripture tells us who are saved:

James 1:2 (ESV) Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Your faith will be tested as you go through this life. Is your faith genuine? Trials will prove your faith, or trials will disprove your faith.

There Was No King In Israel

Judges 19:1-2 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. 2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah., and was there four whole months.

God’s Old Testament people is Israel, just as God’s New Testament people is the Church. When Israel was saved from Egypt by God through Moses, Israel was supposed to follow God as their King. God told His people:

Leviticus 26:12-16 (ESV) I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. 14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

Israel continued throughout her history – and even today – to reject God as her King. And God recognized this. He said, “Israel has rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

Israel rejected God’s decree in FAITH and DESIGN

Judges 19:1 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.

Background: We are introduced to “a certain Levite”. The Levites were a special tribe among the Israelites. The Levites could trace their heritage back to Moses. God called Moses up into Mount Sinai to receive the Law. While he was on that mountain listening to God, Israel was in the valley worrying and fretting. After Moses had been gone forty days, Israel demanded that Aaron, Moses’ brother, make a golden calf (Exodus 32:1) to worship instead of God. On hearing this, Moses comes down the mountain and cries out,

Exodus 32:26 (ESV) … “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” …

Those who came to Moses were the Levites, Moses’ family. From that moment on the Levites were supposed to inherit no land, but the Lord Himself was their inheritance (Deuteronomy 18:1-2). Yet Israel in the time of Judges has gone so terribly far from God, that even the Levites are tainted. In Judges 17-18 we read of a false Levite who became “Micah’s Priest” in Mount Ephraim. As we come into this chapter we once more see a Levite who has drifted from God. My commentary notes:

“Webster’s dictionary defines “immoral” as: “contrary to the moral code of the community.” The erroneous notion that man sets his own standards of morality goes all the way back to the Fall (Genesis 3). Actually God sets these standards. He does so based on His love and His desire for the welfare of humanity, and He reveals these standards in His Word. When people abandon God’s standards, life breaks down, unravels, and disintegrates.” (emphasis mine)

Application: The Levites are God’s Priests. If they do not hold to God’s Standard, then the people that are taught by them will not follow God either. Christians are also Priests before God (1 Peter 2:5-9; Revelation 1:6).

The Levite in chapter 19 is not behaving as a priest of God. Priests are to honor God’s Word. God established marriage when He made Eve out of Adam’s rib. The standard of marriage is was set in Eden:

Genesis 2:24 (ESV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Our Lord Jesus affirmed this “design” in marriage. He said:

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

God set the standard for marriage, and the Levite, representing God, should adhere to God’s standard. But this Levite, we are told,

Judges 19:1 … took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah.

A “concubine” was a slave woman who was taken into possession by a man. Concubines were legal mistresses. If they had children, their children had no rights of inheritance when the Master of the house died. The Enduring Word Commentary notes that:

“Many prominent men in the Old Testament had concubines. .. Abraham (Genesis 25:6), Jacob (Genesis 35:22), Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46), Saul (2 Samuel 3:7), David (2 Samuel 5:13), Solomon (1 Kings 11:3) …”

Yet this does not justify the behavior. Because Abram went in to Hagar, he brought a curse on Israel through Ishmael – a curse that has lasted to this day! God never blessed concubine arrangements. This woman was forced!

Judges 19:2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there four whole months.

The KJV Bible says that the concubine “played the whore against him”, the Hebrew Qal Imperfect zānâ, which means “committed sexual sin against, was unfaithful to”. This woman was in a forced relationship, and perhaps she was forced away from someone she actually loved. We don’t know, but we do know she went back to Bethlehem to her father’s house. Why? Because a charge of adultery could cause her and her lover to be killed (Genesis 38:24; Leviticus 20:10; 21:9).

Judges 19:3-4 And her husband {the Levite} arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father’s house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4 And his father in law, the damsel’s father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there.

The Levite “Husband” went after his concubine. He spoke friendly to her, and offered to bring her back home with him. Did he love her? No, he just sought to entice her back, to use her as a thing and not a person made in God’s image. Outwardly what the Levite did looked noble. He went after his concubine, taking two donkeys and a male servant. The choice of the DONKEY was very interesting. If a king rode into a city on a STALLION, it was to conquer and destroy. But on a DONKEY, it was a sign of peace. The Levite is virtue signaling – but is not sincere as we later will see! We read that “when the father of the damsel {concubine} saw him, he rejoiced to meet him {the Levite}”. The “father of the damsel” treats the Levite as if this was a wedding feast.

Judges 19:5-6 And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel’s father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. 6 And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel’s father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry.

As the fourth day comes, the Levite tries to leave, but the concubine’s father wants the feast to continue. The Levite stays until late in the day – then decides that he MUST leave. The father begs them to “tarry all night”, and start out fresh in the morning. The Levite takes him up on this.

Judges 19:7-9 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. 8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel’s father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them. 9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

The Levite tried to leave on the FOURTH day, but the father talked him into staying the night. When he rose up on the FIFTH day, the father once more showed GREAT HOSPITALITY, and held the family till the evening. When “the man {the Levite} rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant”, the father tried to get them to stay just one more night, and to leave on the sixth day. Had the Levite done this, the trip would not have descended into horror. But he had been held two days beyond what he wanted to be gone, and so demanded that they depart as the sun set. This was a bad decision. The devil does some of his most evil work in the darkness.

The Devil Does His Best Work In The Darkness!

Judges 19:10-12 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. 11 And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 12 And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

As the Levite, his male servant and his concubine travel, the sun is quickly setting. They come first to Jebus or Jerusalem. When Joshua went into the land, God decreed that the Jebusites – the descendants of Jebus, the third son of Canaan – be cast out of the land.

When Joshua entered the land the children of Judah fought and took Jerusalem or Jebus (Judges 1:8), but the Jebusites would later take it back. King David would totally conquer Jerusalem (see 2 Samuel 5:6-10) in time, and would buy the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:16-25) as land for his son Solomon to build the Temple on. The male servant tells the Levite, “let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it”. This was sound advice. It is possible that the male servant came from that area, and knew some people there. But instead of turning into Jebus, the Levite says “we will pass over to Gibeah”. Gibeah is about 3-5 miles further away – and the sun is setting fast!

Judges 19:13-15 And {the Levite} said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 14 And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. 15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

The sun has set, and the Levite takes his small group into Gibeah. His servant had begged him to spend the night in Jebus, but the Levite was certain he’s get better treatment from the Jews of Gibeah. We are told “there was no man that took them into his house to lodging”. The Levite had food and supplies. He just needed a place to shelter, to get out of the dangerous streets. But these Benjamites refused to help him.

The Levites had compromised their faith in God, and this compromise, like poison, leached out into Israel.

Leviticus 19:33-34 (ESV) When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself… I am the Lord your God.

Throughout the Bible the believer is commanded to show hospitality.

1 Peter 4:9 (ESV) Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Hebrews 13:2 (ESV) Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Strangers in our midst might be ANGELS UNAWARES. The inhabitants of Gibeah were supposed to show hospitality to strangers – and certainly to show hospitality to the Levitical Priests. Yet they were turned away.

Judges 19:16-20 And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou? 18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem Judah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehem judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house. 19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing. 20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

The Levite sees an old man coming home from his work, who was “also of mount Ephraim”. These two men are from the same area. The Levite explains that he only wants lodging for the night, that he has all the sustenance he needs for himself and his group. The Levite highlights this by saying, “I am now going to the house of the LORD”. That is, he is returning to Shechem where the Tabernacle is. The old man invites them into his home.

But the story doesn’t end here, but gets very sickening very fast!

Sexual Sin Is Devilish, Destructive And Deadly!

The Levite took a concubine, a mistress, in the midst of his marriage. This is sin. The concubine was sexually unfaithful to the Levite, and ran away from him. This is sin. Now we see something that rivals Sodom and Gomorrah:

Judges 19:21-22 So {the Old Man} brought {The Levite} into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

Word Study: In the darkness of the night, the “men of the city, certain sons of Belial” come up and start pounding on the door of the old man’s home. This mob of men want to rape the “man that came into thine house”. They said, “that we may know him”. The word translated “know” is the Qal Imperfect of yāḏaʿ, literally “to know CARNALLY”. This is almost exactly what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19.

In that story, God sent two angels to Sodom in the evening to meet with and rescue Lot and his family. When the angels – which looked like handsome men – went into the home of Lot, homosexuals demanded:

Genesis 19:5 (ESV) … “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them….”

This is the exact same Hebrew Word used for “know”, the Qal Cohortative of yāḏaʿ. Though Lot offered his two daughters to these perverted men, they demanded the “men” to rape them. The Enduring Word Commentary notes,

“The picture is clear: During the time of Judges, Israel was as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The Bible is very clear that homosexuality and lesbian behavior is a product or offshoot of idolatry. The Apostle Paul spoke of this evil sexual sin in:

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

The Progressive, Liberal, Humanist mindset pushes sexual sin as something to be “PRIDE” filled over. We should NEVER show PRIDE over SEXUAL SIN.

Judges 19:23-25 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. 25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

Neither the father, the head of the household, nor the Levite loved the Lord. Had they loved the Lord, they would have fought to the death to protect the women. Instead, the women were offered up for degradation and evil. The Levite pushes the concubine outside like an animal offered up to be sacrificed.

Word Study: The Bible says, “they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go”. They “knew” her, the Hebrew Qal Imperfect yāḏaʿ. They “abused” her all night long, the Hithpael Imperfect ʿālal, which means “to severely defile, to ruthlessly abuse”. They tormented and beat on this woman until the sun rose, satisfying their perverseness.

This is murder, a violation of God’s 6th commandment. This is fornication and rape, a violation of God’s 7th commandment.

Judges 19:26-30 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, till it was light. 27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. 28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. 29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. 30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

The God Who loves us recorded this event to tell us how horrible sexual sin is. It is no trifle, no “lifestyle choice”. It is a black, dark road of perversion that destroys its vessel. Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18). Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you (James 4:8). Do not be deceived! Amen.

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I’d Rather Fight Than Trip

Posted on July 16, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Alexey Demidov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/german-shepherd-dog-playing-on-white-sand-10897093/

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.

The past couple of weeks we have been in 1 Peter, reading the Apostle’s directives to the “strangers scattered”, that is, to the Christian, the person saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the operation and movement of the Holy Spirit. We have seen that Christians are:

Chosen and called of God (verse 2),
Set apart by the Holy Spirit (verse 2),
Saved by the Sprinkled Blood of Christ (verse 2),
Born again and adopted of God (verse 3),
Given an eternal relationship with God (verse 4),
and are guarded by God as precious (verse 5).

God paid much for you, dear Christian.
You belong to Him! (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23)

God has given you everything you need to be stable, happy, wholesome, and holy in this present world. But as believers you need to understand this: the battle is not over until we reach Heaven. We have an enemy who stands against us.

That enemy is NOT Republican, Democrat or Libertarian.
The enemy is NOT Liberal or Conservative.

The enemy is the same Serpent that enticed Adam to disobey God in the Garden (Revelation 12:9). The enemy is that same Tempter who came to Jesus in the wilderness, twisting the Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). The enemy is the same one called Legion, who entered into a madman and a herd of swine (Luke 8:30-33). The enemy is the same Satan that entered into Judas Iscariot (John 13:27), enticing him to sell our Lord for 30 pieces of silver.

Though it was “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all” (Romans 5:12), it was Satan and his forces that opened the door. As Christians we are in a battle – not against “flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

We have an enemy who will stop at nothing to stop at nothing. His name is Satan. He is a real Being, a fallen Angel, and he has one play: defeat Christ. Satan will do all he can to bring confusion and mayhem into the world. The nonsense that we see in our world today is Satanic, devilish, evil, inhuman, spiteful, wicked. We are in a battle, dear Christians.

And we’d best wake up!

The Apostle Peter (and Peter was NOT a Pope, but an Apostle. Peter had a wife according to Matthew 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 9:5) gives us three commands today as Christians, things that we must do.

Realizing We Are In A Battle, We Must
“Gird Up The Loins Of Your Mind”

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind

Word Study: Peter uses a familiar term to his audience, though it is not familiar to us. “Gird up” is the Greek anazṓnnymi (pronounced an-ad-zone’-noo-mee) which means “to gather and bind long and flowing garments closely to your body with a leathern girdle”. In the ancient world people wore robes and overcoats that hung down around their ankles, covering their bodies from sand, biting insects, and heat. When a farmer or a warrior went to work, they would gather their robes and pull them up to their loins, binding the clothing under the leather belt. This freed their legs so they could move without tripping.

If you did not prepare yourself for the battle by binding those robes, you could end up tripping and dying foolishly.

If you did not prepare yourself for work by binding up your robes, you could trip and die under the feet of the oxen.

Peter tells the Christian to “gird up the loins OF YOUR MIND”. Take charge of your mind. Take charge of your thoughts. Protect the LOINS of your mind. Gather your thoughts. Can you answer the question

“Why do I believe what I believe?”

Illustrate: The devil is constantly attacking and influencing the world around us. The devil is constantly attacking Christ and His Church. Radio Host Jesse Lee Patterson was interviewing an atheist, and asked him, “What is a man?” The atheist replied, “I don’t know. What is a man?” Patterson asked him “Are you a man?”, and he replied, “Yes, I am”. So Patterson said, “If you don’t know what a man is, how can you say you’re a man?”. His reply was, “The word ‘man’ is very vague. It’s not just what our culture has said it is. … You have caught me in this. I am trapped. I’m a man, and I have no idea why.”

If you were interviewed by Patterson, and asked the same question, “Are you a man?”, how would you answer it? How would you justify your answer? If someone says, “gender is fluid – a man can be a woman, and a woman a man”, how would you respond to that? Today people respond with FEELINGS, and they trip over the ROBE of their FEELINGS. Are you a man? Are you a woman? How do you know?

Illustrate: I was listening to Nick Freitas (R), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2015. I like Nick. He was a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and served two tours in Iraq before being honorably discharged. He was talking to a young woman about her upcoming marriage, about how he raised his son to cherish and protect women,when she stopped him and said:

“We don’t subscribe to those types of traditional gender roles”.

He asked her what she meant. She said, “We don’t believe in this whole idea that a man has to PROVIDE and PROTECT”. Nick said, “Oh, okay. Let me ask you a question. You’re leaving dinner with your fiancee, and as you’re walking to the car someone jumps out of the alleyway with a knife. In one of the scenarios {your fiancee} jumps behind you, in the other scenario {your fiancee} jumps in front of you. Which scenario are you more attracted to your fiancee?” She replied, “That’s not fair”. Nick told her, “I think you just inadvertently answered the question”.

Why do we believe what we believe? Is it because of feelings, peer pressure, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In? Why does a Christian believe that there is even life beyond this one?

It is because of WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS.

You are a Christian because you believe what the Bible says. You believe Jesus died for your sins. You believe you are broken, and are broken because Adam failed to obey God and to protect his wife. You believe the Word of God is TRUE. Either the Word of God is TRUE, or the Word of God is FALSE. There is no in between.

If Radio Host Jesse Lee Patterson was interviewing ME, and asked me, “What is a man?”, I would say “I am a man”. If he asked me, “How do you know you’re a ‘man’”?, my reply would be “because Jesus said:

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

Illustrate: I can answer with confidence “I am a MAN” because of what the Bible says, and what my Lord Jesus affirmed. If Sherry and I were walking down the street and some idiot jumped out with a knife, I can say with CERTAINTY that I WOULD JUMP IN FRONT OF HER and then SHOOT THE KNIFE WIELDER DEAD. Why? Because the BIBLE says:

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV) Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

If you’re not caring for your wife, YOUR PRAYERS ARE HINDERED. God will not hear you! Period.

In every case where men who claim to be women enter into women’s sports, they dishonor the women, and those who support that nonsense dishonor the women. Period. You may say, “Well, Preacher, that seems a bit extreme. After all, so and so and the Twitterattie have said that …. blah blah blah”. I could care less. I have “girded up the LOINS of MY MIND”.

You can go insane if you want to. I refuse to smile and say you’re sane when the Bible says OTHERWISE.

Illustrate: Someone asks me, “Why can’t WOMEN Pastor Churches? After all, it’s the rage! The Methodist Church down the road thinks it’s a great idea. Look at their sign! Let’s just get WOKE and go with the BROKE.” I say, I’m sorry, but NO! The BIBLE SAYS:

1 Timothy 3:1-5 … If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?

I as your Pastor am to “care for God’s church”. Why? Because it’s what the BIBLE says.

In every instance where foolishness and confusion prevail, it is because people departed from the Word of God. When Israel was caused by God to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, it was because they rejected the Word of God in place of their feelings. It was by God’s Word that Israel was freed from Egypt. It was by God’s Word that Israel went through the Red Sea. It was by God’s Word the Lord told Israel to send out spies into the land (Numbers 13:1-3), and then God told them to take the land. But Israel refused to obey God’s Word (Deuteronomy 1:28-33). Because of that, Israel wandered for 40 years until that unbelieving generation died out. When Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, God told him:

Joshua 1:5-9 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law {God’s Word} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. {Gird up the LOINS of your MIND!} 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The reason the Church is failing in free America but PROSPERING in Communist China is because the Christians THERE are MEDITATING ON and DOING ALL that God said. The Christians here are COMPROMISING and CONFUSED!

Illustrate: The world wants the Church to join the madness – and many are complying. The Christian group Turning Point USA recently asked college students, “Should we allow adult men who identify as toddlers to compete in preschool soccer? No? Why not? They identify as a child. We want them to be comfortable. That’s a real thing. Having people think they are in a different body is a real thing. People think that they’re dogs. People think that they’re cats. And some people think they’re children still. They never grow out of it. … So shouldn’t we accommodate fully grown 50 year old men who want to play t-ball?” The college students couldn’t answer the question. I can. No! Grow up. Turn to Jesus, and give Him your brokenness. Let Him take possession of your life, and quit being the devil’s stooge!

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind

View all things through the lens of Scripture. Ask yourselves, “What has GOD said”?

It doesn’t matter what AI thinks.
It doesn’t matter what a GUY thinks.
It doesn’t matter what the CROWD thinks.
It matters what GOD OUR CREATOR thinks.

Illustrate: One of my favorite Bible stories is one I rarely hear – and it’s not about a Christian or a great Israelite. It’s about a Syrian Army Commander – a Gentile like us – named Naaman. Naaman was a great general that God used to give victory to Syria (2 Kings 5:1). But Naaman had a problem.

Naaman was a leper.

I love that picture, because it’s a picture of all humanity. I don’t care how much money you have, how much fame, how beautiful you are, or how powerful: everyone has some brokenness. Naaman was a leper. But Naaman had a servant girl who cared for him, and told him to contact God’s Prophet Elisha – that Elisha would fix him. When Naaman went to Elisha’s home, Elisha would not even come to the door, but sent his servant to tell Naaman:

2 Kings 5:10 “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

That upset Naaman! Naaman is an IMPORTANT person, a DECORATED General, and that Elisha would not even come to the door to greet him … how dare he! But here’s the thing. What Elisha told Naaman to do was not HIS opinion, but what GOD told Elisha to tell Naaman. Well, Naaman went away mad – and leprous! When he went home Naaman began to nitpick the Word of God:

2 Kings 5:12 … “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

Naaman did what so many people do today. They want to ADVISE God, instead of OBEYING God.

And Naaman was still leprous. Nothing was changed – nothing at all. Then some people who loved him came to Naaman and said,

“it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (vs 13)

Have YOU done what God said? Have you “GIRDED UP the loins of your MIND”? God has given you a promise. YOU ARE SEVEN DIPS FROM RELIEF. Won’t you just try it? So Naaman went to the Jordan. “Plunk!” he dips himself the first time – he’s STILL LEPROUS. “Plunk!” There is no change. “Plunk – Plunk – Plunk – Plunk”. Six times and no change. If Naaman FEELS it won’t do any good, and stops here, he will remain LEPROUS. But then Naaman goes down for the last time.

Goin’ down for the last time,
That’s how You found me,
Let Your love surround me,
I was, goin’ down for the last time,
Then You came, Callin’ my name.

You got the power to save me,
And it’s made me love You so much,
Well I’m learning to live, You’ve got so much to give,
Lord You fill me up,

You show me the right direction,
And there’s nothing that I won’t do,
Cause with every hour,
I know that You got the power to save me. (Evie)

Naaman was healed on that seventh dip. Every person is seven dips from salvation. Are you there? Have you trusted Him?

Realizing We Are In A Battle,
We Cannot Be Drinking The Devil’s Liquor

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober…

Word Study: The Christian is commanded to “be sober”, the Greek nēphō means “to not lose your wits, to abstain from alcohol, to be calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, circumspect”. The world is drunken on feelings and humanism and false gods and foolishness. If you go into battle drunken, you will be killed! This word is used frequently throughout the New Testament. Later on in this Book the Apostle will say,

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch nēphō unto PRAYER.

While the world listens to the talking heads who care nothing about you, the network media that makes merchandise of you – ignore them and SPEAK TO HIM WHO LOVES YOU. Pray! Talk with your Father. Talk to Jesus. Call on the Holy Spirit. Ask God to rally around you, and protect you as His Child. Peter says:

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, nēphō be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

The devil is always wandering around looking for someone who is DRUNK, who has gotten away from the FLOCK. He loves that! The devil loves to eat up professing Christians who have wandered off the reservation. He loves to watch their lives go up in smoke, while they stagger about with the devil’s crew. The Apostle Paul said:

1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. {nēphō} 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober {nēphō}, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

The world drinks the devil’s liquor, and loves the devil’s love. We who belong to God have a different standard. We are told:

1 Peter 1:15-16 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.

We who are Christians are born again children of God. We are to be OBEDIENT children.

We are to be HOLY, as God is HOLY. We are to imitate God. If God says it’s bad, it’s bad. If God says it’s good, it’s good. Peter is not talking about working your way to salvation. He is talking about living within your Divine Design. You became a Child of God, according to the Scripture, by faith in Jesus.

Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

We who are saved are Children of God, not Children of Adam. We are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Now saved, now justified, now born again, we as Christians are to live within our Divine Design. God made you to be a world changer, not to be changed by the world. You do not fashion yourselves according to the former dead life, but live sanctified, separated, or holy lives as the Spirit and the Word directs you. Are you saved? Then the proof of your inward change is your outward dedication to the Lord. The focus of the Christian must be soundly on His Lord Jesus, and on the Word of God. We are told in:

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The Christian feeds on the Word of God, and imitates the God Who saved us. We affirm what Word God has given us. We live for His glory. “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear Children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

As Christians, We Place Our Hope
In The Lord Who Saved Us

1 Peter 1:13 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

We do not quit. We do not cave. We keep trusting the Word of God, and doing as our Lord has bid. We remember the Scripture:

Galatians 6:7-9 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

In “due season we shall reap, if we faint not”. We as Christians are to “not be weary in well doing” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). In the Parable of the Sower, our Lord Jesus spoke of a man who, in Matthew 13:3-9 “went out to sow his seed”. He sowed the Gospel seed regardless as to the ground or weather condition. The sower just sowed, in hope that his sowing would put seed on fertile ground (Matthew 13:23). We are to trust in God, and keep on sowing. We are NOT to depart from God’s Word for a “better result”. That is foolishness. We are to hope in God, trust His Word, and Sow. May God guide us to do so, for His glory. Amen and Amen.

Posted in 1 Peter, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus Satisfies Our Thirst

Posted on July 14, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Samad Deldar: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-cleaning-hands-under-water-66346/

John 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. [38] He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [39] (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Opening: Every time there is a “assault weapon” killing at a school or public event, the news media is quick to jump on the band wagon and “ban guns”. Yet we are not told about other terrible incidents that occurred as long as it doesn’t fit the liberal narrative. For instance, did you hear about the China Kindergarten Massacre in southeastern China’s Guangdong province Monday, July 10, 2023? A 25 year old man named Wu attacked a kindergarten killing three children, a teacher and two parents with a knife. The attack occurred as parents were dropping their children off for summer classes. The news article noted:

“Firearms are banned in China but the country has seen a spate of knife attacks in recent years, although there was also one incident where the attacker used a chemical spray to injure a classroom of 50 children. The BBC has counted at least 17 knife attacks in schools, colleges and universities since 2010. Ten of those have happened between 2018 and 2023. In August last year, a knife-wielding assailant stormed a kindergarten in south-eastern Jiangxi province, killing three people and wounding six others. In April 2021, two children died while 16 others were injured during a mass stabbing in Beiliu City, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. In October 2018, 14 children were injured in a knife attack at a kindergarten in Chongqing, south-west China. In most of these cases, the perpetrators are male and have expressed a grudge against society. ”

Banning guns, perpetrators turn to knives or chemicals. If knives were banned, people would turn to sticks and stones. When Cain killed Abel, it was not with a gun nor a knife, but more likely a handy rock.

What makes people do evil? It is misdirected desires, sins, ignorance of where true satisfaction is. I remember in 1982 when suspect James Lewis spiked bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol® with cyanide poison, killing seven people. Though Lewis was never convicted of the actual tampering, he was imprisoned 12 years for extortion charges related to the incident. No one has ever found the culprit. Lewis recently died, and stands before his Maker to be righteously judged – just as the actual murderer will be one day.

What causes these things? It is not guns, knives, cyanide, poisons, sticks or stones. It is a soul seeking satisfaction outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Feast Of Booths – A Time Of Celebration!

John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.

The “FEAST” that Jesus is at is the Feast of Booths – also called Tabernacles or Sukkot. Tabernacles was an important and joyous time for the Jews. The Feast was when Solomon’s Temple was dedicated to the Lord (1 Kings 8:2). That Temple was destroyed during the Babylonian Captivity. When Israel was allowed to return to their land under King Cyrus of Medo-Persia, Ezra and Zerubbabel, followed by Nehemiah led a crew back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem.

The Word of God was spoken at Booths when Israel restored the Temple (Nehemiah 8). The Living Word of God now speaks at Booths (John 1:1-3)

Booths was a time of celebration! It reminded Israel that God went before them when they came out of the slavery of Egypt, and that as a Pillar of Fire and Pillar of Cloud (Exodus 13:21). The Bible tells us that God gave them water out of the Rock (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8-10)

Deuteronomy 8:15-16 {it is God Who} led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, Who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

In the Apostolic Text we are told “The ROCK WAS CHRIST” (1 Corinthians 10:4). During first seven days of the Feast of Booths the Priest would carry water from the Pool of Siloam in a golden pitcher to the altar of God. This was a graphic reminder to the people that it was God Who satisfied their thirst in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 16:13). On the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36; Nehemiah 8:17) the people ceased dwelling in booths, and NO WATER was taken from Siloam to the altar, though the Priests would say:

Isaiah 12:3 … With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation …

On that last day there was no drawing of water, but remembrance of the water.

The site Bible-History.com notes:

“On the Eighth day, the last day, called “the great day of the feast” the priests made no procession and poured no water onto the pavement … this too was very significant, because it symbolized the fact that God had fulfilled the promise to their fathers … He had now brought them into this land that was well watered, flowing with milk and honey, they no longer needed the miraculous supply out of the Rock. … It was on this day the last day that Jesus stood and cried out..”

John 7:37 .. Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 

Word Study: We read that “Jesus stood”, the Greek histēmi, which means “to make oneself VISIBLE, a point of focus”. When the Wise Men came to see the young Jesus, we are told “the star STOOD (histēmi) over where the young Child was” (Matthew 2:9). When the devil wanted to entice Jesus to sin, he “STOOD (histēmi) Jesus on the pinnacle of the Temple” (Matthew 4:5). When Jesus chastised the Pharisees for their self righteousness, He said “they love to pray STANDING (histēmi) in the synagogues … that they may be seen of men” (Matthew 6:5). Jesus on purpose and very visibly DREW ATTENTION to Himself.

Word Study: Jesus also “cried”, the Greek krazō. The word means “to CROAK like a raven, or SCREAM so as to draw attention”. Jesus did not quietly say, “Excuse Me, may I make a point here”. He LOUDLY and DELIBERATELY interrupted the Hallel Ceremony, possibly after the Priest read:

Psalm 118:22 .. and You {O God} have become my salvation, the Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone .. and blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus has come in the Name of the Lord. He is the Representative of the Godhead Who comes offering those who are thirsty satisfaction in their lives. Israel was thirsty in the desert, and God the Father met their need. Jesus interrupts the proceeding in a manner many would consider RUDE. What does our Lord shout?

John 7:37 .. If any man thirst

Jesus offers Himself to ANYONE. If you are THIRSTY, if life is not satisfying to you, if you feel less than or left out, Jesus bids you COME. What is the requirement to come to Jesus? It is that you are THIRSTY. God promised to satisfy Israel’s thirst through the Messiah in the Old Testament. He said:

Isaiah 55:1-4 (NIV) Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.

When the Messiah came, it would be to WITNESS salvation to the people, and to RULE His Kingdom. Jesus says, “I am the One the Scripture promised. I am the Messiah. I am the One Who provides Living Water. Come to Me and Me alone”.

John 7:37 … let him come unto Me, and drink.

When Jesus preached His very first sermon, the “Sermon on the Mount”, He preached:

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

We all feel broken, deficient. We all know that we fall short of the glory of God. As the Messiah, Jesus is not just the Provider of our salvation, but He is the Sender of that which satisfies our thirst. Jesus told the Woman of Samaria:

John 4:14 whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Jesus told us:

John 6:35 … I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

When you receive the Savior, you receive Satisfaction.
When you receive the Savior, you gain eternal Salvation.
When you receive the Savior, you receive the Holy Spirit.

Faith In Christ Brings Salvation And The Spirit

Jesus said:

John 7:38 (KJV) He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

To those who are saved, God promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament the Spirit often came to visit individuals, but never came to stay. When God looked forward to the New Covenant He promised:

Isaiah 44:3 (KJV) For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

In the Feast of Booths the people lived in tents, receiving sustenance from the Lord. Jesus promised something greater: believers would become tabernacles indwelt of the Spirit.

John 7:38 (KJV) He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

To those who give themselves to Christ there is the satisfied life. He meets our needs. He slakes our thirst. He gives us RIVERS. What causes rivers? Rivers come from a source called the headwater. The headwater can come from runoff, like rainfall or melted snow. Steady rivers come from underground springs or water sources that continually feed them. When you give your life to Jesus, He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside our lives. The Holy Spirit works in us to make us more like Jesus. We are “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:13).

John 7:39 (KJV) (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy {Spirit} was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)***

Charles Ryrie notes:

“The Spirit “came upon” such Old Testament people as Joshua (Numbers 27:18), David (1 Samuel 16:12-13) and even Saul (1 Samuel 10:10). In the book of Judges, we see the Spirit “coming upon” the various judges whom God raised up to deliver Israel from their oppressors. The Holy Spirit came upon these individuals for specific tasks. The indwelling was a sign of God’s favor upon that individual (in the case of David), and if God’s favor left an individual, the Spirit would depart (e.g., in Saul’s case in 1 Samuel 16:14). Finally, the Spirit “coming upon” an individual doesn’t always indicate that person’s spiritual condition (e.g., Saul, Samson, and many of the judges). So, while in the New Testament the Spirit only indwells believers and that indwelling is permanent, the Spirit came upon certain Old Testament individuals for a specific task, irrespective of their spiritual condition. Once the task was completed, the Spirit presumably departed from that person.”

With the death and resurrection of Jesus – His glorification – the Spirit would take on a new role for every believer. He would come to stay in us. He would flow through us. He would live in us. We are told in …

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (KJV) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV) … What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We are to glorify God in our body – and in our spirit – which belong to God. We are not our own. We are His, and He is ours. The Spirit of God indwells the Christian (Ephesians 1:13-14). We are to let God the Holy Spirit have control of our lives – not sin!

Jesus Is More Than A Prophet – He Is THE Messiah

Following Jesus’ proclamation, the people were divided in what they thought of Christ:

John 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.

Some of the people who heard Jesus speak at Booths knew part of the Scripture. When Moses was about to leave this earth, he told Israel:

Deuteronomy 18:15 (ESV) The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to Him you shall listen…

God Himself confirmed what Moses said, telling him:

Deuteronomy 18:18 (ESV) I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

This was indeed a promise of a New Covenant “Moses”. The Bible says,

John 1:17 …. the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Jesus is “that Prophet” that God would send to confirm His New Covenant. Others saw Jesus as:

John 7:41-42 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?*

Others said, “No, He’s not “That Prophet”, but The Christ, the Messiah”. They did not realize that the Prophet and the Christ were one and the same. Why? Because

Those who should have been teaching them the Bible – the Pharisees and Priests – were instead glorifying themselves!

Yet others pointed out that Jesus had grown up in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. They had no idea that our Lord was born in Bethlehem according to Prophecy (see Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-12).

John 7:43-49 So there was a division among the people because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. 45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? 46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. 47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? 49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

The irony of this text is that when the soldiers of the Temple returned empty handed, they were ridiculed by the Pharisees and Priests for not taking the Lord. But it was not Christ’s time to go to Calvary. Booths would be the last Feast Jesus would attend before He returned at Passover to be crucified for your sins and mine. Jesus satisfies our thirst!

May God lead you to Him Who is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. As the Temple Police said, “Never man spake like this man”. Our Lord Jesus offers you the blessed life, a life filled with and led by God’s Holy Spirit. Come and receive Him today.

Amen and Amen.

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Man Made Religion, Part 2

Posted on July 10, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silver-knight-helmet-289831/

If I “feel” it’s okay, then why should anyone care?

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of the “Titan Sub”, which suffered a catastrophic implosion during its voyage to the shipwreck Titanic. The Titan likely imploded an hour and 45 minutes from its launch. What likely caused the problem? I quote:

“Experts have questioned the use of titanium and carbon fiber for deep diving, as they have different properties. Titanium is elastic and can adapt to ranges of stresses and pressures without permanent strain on the material. Carbon fiber on the other hand is stiffer and non-elastic, often prone to cracking.”

The CEO of the company who died in the implosion fired an engineer who questioned his use of titanium and carbon fiber. Mixing the two would prove to lead to no good. As humans, we love to push the envelope, thinking that we can overcome regardless as to how foolish our actions are. Sometimes there is no recovery.

Just as the engineers created a submarine destined to implode, last week we were introduced to a pioneer in false religion called Micah. Micah and his mother made a “do it yourself” religion, complete with his own store bought “priest”. What could possibly go wrong?

Home Made Hand Made Religion Is Deceiving

Samson’s Tribe, the Tribe of Dan, had been given land by God, land they were supposed to fight for and work in. But the problem with the Tribe of Dan (hereafter called the “Danites”) was that they would NOT obey God. Look at the first few words of:

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

“there was no king in Israel” – not even God. The Judges only rose up when the people repented, which came less and less. Samson only halfway followed God, and ended up blind and dead for it. Micah started his own religion. The Danites refused to work the land they were given.

Word Study: The Tribe of Dan was given a region west of Jerusalem, but would not obey God and work the land, pushing the Canaanites out. Dan – like so many today – prefer welfare to actually serving the Lord. Their inheritance had not “fallen unto them” (Hebrew nāp̄al, pronounced naw-fal’, Qal Perfect verb), literally “laid down for them”. Since they were not on God’s affirmative action giveaway they as a tribe disobeyed God, and began to search for land that was easier to acquire.

To do the work of God takes effort. The lazy believer will never find blessing! The blended believer will never triumph over evil, but will be Satan’s dupes!

Judges 18:2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

It was not that Dan didn’t have the supplies nor the people to settle the land. They just didn’t want to live for God! They had “men of valor”, five men that they sent out to scout for a land more easily conquered. These spies moved northeast into the land apportioned to the Tribe of “Ephraim”. Here they came across the home of Micah and his man-made religion.

Judges 18:3-4 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

We Worship God In Spirit & Truth (John 4:23-24)

Our Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). There is no worship of the God of Israel in Mount Ephraim. Before Jerusalem was conquered and the Temple was built, Israel had a Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting (called in the Hebrew Ohel-Mo’ed) that they worshiped God in. When Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land, the Bible says:

Joshua 18:1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

God wanted the Tabernacle – the movable Temple – in Shiloh, about 19 miles north of Jerusalem. “Shiloh” means “He Whose it is”, and was a prophetic name for Jesus Christ our Messiah (see Genesis 49:10). Joshua often made major decisions for Israel in Shiloh (Joshua 18:8, 10; 19:51). The House of God was not supposed to be in Micah’s home, but in Shiloh. We read:

Judges 18:31 And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

I wish I had a dollar every time someone told me, “Preacher, I can worship God while I’m fishing, or while sitting in a duck hide”. Yes, you can. Yes, you should. But you won’t. When believers come together, we encourage one another to worship – something you will NOT do in the wild! Micah wanted to worship God his own way, with his gods and goddesses, in his home. He didn’t want to do it God’s way.

Likewise we have the Danites. Why were they looking for land? Because they refused to serve God in the way He commanded. They rejected God as King, and because of that were unable to secure the land. God will not bless you if you do not obey God. Period!

The Danites come to Micah’s “church” and, ignoring Micah, talk to the Levite. “Why are you here, and not in Shiloh?”, they ask. The Levite tells them that Micah – not GOD but Micah – “hath hired me, and I am his priest”. This priest is a false prophet. He is not living his life for the Lord, but for Micah, for the pleasure of others. He is like the false prophets that the Apostle warned of in:

2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

The servant of God is not to please people, but to please God. The Apostle said:

If I yet PLEASED MEN, I should NOT BE the SERVANT OF CHRIST! Galatians 1:10

This Levite “belongs” to Micah, not to God.

Like Esau, he has sold his soul for a bowl of lentil stew.
Like Judas, he has betrayed His Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Like Caiaphas, he has lied about the Messiah.
Like Pilate, he has betrayed truth in order to please the crowd.

Foolishly, the Danites ask the Levite if God will bless their journey. This is foolish. Would you ask a blind man to describe the color red, or a deaf man to describe Handel’s “Messiah”? No! But these Danites were already outside of the will of God, so they speak to the false priest:

Judges 18:5-6 And {The Danite Spies} said unto {the Levite Priest}, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go.

What did you think of the “priest’s” prayer to God? There was none.

This false priest did not so much as pray or seek God’s face, but immediately tells them that they will be blessed because “before the Lord is your way wherein ye go”. I love the way my commentary puts this:

“This shows what a spiritually confused time this was in Israel. These Danites on a sinful mission met with a sinful Levite and wanted to know from a righteous God if their mission would be successful. Then the sinful Levite sent the sinning men on their way with God’s blessing.”

God will not bless anything apart from His Word. By His Word He had given the Danites a territory of their own. By departing from His Word, they are traveling a path that will take them farther and farther from God.

Judges 18:7-8 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians {Sidonians or Phoenicians}, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

Word Study: The Spies come to “Laish”, also known as Leshem (Joshua 18:47) and found there a city filled with Phoenicians. These people “dwelt careless” (Hebrew yāšaḇ beṭaḥ), literally “lived in security”. God told Israel to drive these people out of the land (Joshua 13:4). Yet this land was not given to the Tribe of Dan, nor did God send these spies out to Laish. The Danite Spies wanted this land because the people were “quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land”. The people had no ruler, no government to speak of, and no standing military or police. The Sidonians were peaceably living in the land, and appeared to be far enough away from other Sidonians so that they would be easier to defeat. Talking it over with the Danites of “Zorah and Eshtaol”, they decide to build a small army:

Judges 18:9-11 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

Though No One Has Asked God Anything,
They Blame It All On God

The Spies told the Danites “God hath given {Laish} into your hands”. This is what the false priest told them after not seeking God’s face. Building an army of 600 Danites, they head back to Laish – but not before getting their “lucky rabbit’s foot”.

Judges 18:12-17 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. 17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

Illustrate: The Danites had long since ceased following God. They wanted to be sure that God blessed them, and went before them. How did they ensure this? They stole a bunch of Qurans, a pile of Vedas, some Books of Mormon and Jehovah Witness New World Translations. They grabbed the Buddhist Tipitaka, and a whole bunch of rabbit’s feet and buckeyes. They were going to battle, so they wanted something religious with them to insure that God would go before them.

This is how Roman Catholicism started. The Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus (Constantine the Great) had a dream in which he was told to mark ‘the heavenly sign of God’ on his soldiers’ shields. He did as instructed, had the sign – the Cross – inscribed on the shields of his army. When he died in 337 AD, Roman Catholicism was the state religion of Rome.

Like Constantine and his armies, the Danites wanted a lucky mark on their shields so they could overthrow Laish. After grabbing all the idolatrous paraphernalia that Micah had cast, they decided they also needed their own priest. So they offer this priest a promotion!

Judges 18:18-20 And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? 19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? 20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

Illustrate: They knew the priest was open to bartering, as he stood by while the Danites robbed the false temple. It reminds me of another time several years ago during the Los Angeles riots, when a reporter came across three people looting a store. Questioning them, the first two cursed him and ran away. The third man told the reporter, “I got some Gospel music! I love Jesus!”. You do not love Jesus if you do not obey Jesus (John 14:15; 15:10). God “shows mercy to the thousands that love Him, and keep His commandments” (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10). God has always said:

Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

God’s people have a King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

The Danites offer this false priest a promotion. He can stay with Micah, and be just a small family priest – or he can play the BIG TIME with the Danites. He can be the Danites own personal priest. This man was being offered a MEGACHURCH, an amazing upgrade! So he defects along with all the religious paraphernalia.

Judges 18:21-23 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. 22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

You Can’t Steal My Religion!

When Micah realized that his false god and false religion were stolen, he went to rescue his own gods. This is the folly of idolatry. Any god that you make, you must also protect. Any god that you make is no stronger than you are. Idolatry is, at heart, no more than self worship. God forbade idolatry in the 2nd commandment:

Deuteronomy 5:7-10 (ESV) You shall have no other gods before me. 8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The True God of Scripture never needs to be rescued. His Servants need not seek “better employment”, for God is the best Employer! The Psalmist mocks idols as foolish things:

Psalm 115:3-8 (ESV) Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

The trust in a false idol or a false priest is the height of stupidity! It is idolatry that leads to homosexuality and lesbianism (Romans 1:18-32). It is only the pagan that chases after idols (1 Corinthians 12:2). Idolatry is vain, useless, without power. God’s Word to His people is:

Colossians 3:5-8 (ESV) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away …

The Christian has a High Priest that can never leave us nor forsake us. We have Jesus Christ! Jesus will never abandon us for someone or something greater. He is the “Good Shepherd Who gives His life to His sheep” (John 10:11) . Jesus Christ is the “Good Shepherd Who knows His sheep, and whose sheep know Him” (John 10:14). Pastor John Piper stated:

“Idolatry starts in the heart: craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God. … What is an idol? Well, it is the thing. It is the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, enjoyed more than God. It could be a girlfriend. It could be good grades. It could be the approval of other people. It could be success in business. It could be sexual stimulation. It could be a hobby or a musical group that you are following or a sport or your immaculate yard.”

Judges 18:24-26 And {Micah} said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? 25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. 26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

When Micah came with his ragtag army to rescue his idols, they told him to SHUT UP and GET OUT or die. The Danites refused to return Micah’s idols and his false priest, so Micah turned around and headed home, defeated and looking utterly foolish. The Danite army continues to Laish. We read:

Judges 18:27-31 And {the Danite Army} took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon {Sidon}, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

The Bible is very careful to tell us that the Danites defeated Laish – not for the glory of God nor through the power of God – but because Laish was a weak area unaffiliated with Sidon (Phoenicia). Laish was much like the protesters who took over several city blocks in Seattle during the June 2020 riots. Calling that unlawfully occupied area “CHAZ” (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), it wasn’t long before lawlessness took over. The Danites destroyed Laish, and rebuilt it, calling it “Dan” after the name of the Tribe.

The city was not God conquered, but man conquered. It was not God honoring, but man honoring. Once Dan was named, the city of Dan made Micah’s stolen priest and idols their “State Religion”.

This is the FIRST established idolatry in Israel in the Promised Land. Though the people had been individually idolatrous at times, this is OFFICIAL idolatry.

Though the Levite false priest’s name was not revealed earlier, we now see his name revealed. “Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh” was a descendant of Moses:

“A direct descendant of the man {Moses} most responsible for securing Israel’s unswerving commitment to Yahweh played a major role in leading the Israelites away from God!”

What is the significance of this? I have often heard it said that “God has no grandsons, but only sons”. Just because a person is related to a great believer in God is no assurance that the relative is saved. This false prophet “Jonathan” not only agreed to stand in a man made temple as if he were a high priest, but he agreed to pass this priesthood down to his own children. Man made religion not only infected the Danites, but it infected Jonathan and his children for ages to come. May God save us from man made religion. Amen and Amen!

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Praising God For Salvation

Posted on July 9, 2023 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash

Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1. Last week we discussed the importance of being born again. This is something that only God can do FOR you. Jesus said:

John 3:6-7 (AP*) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I tell you, you MUST be BORN AGAIN.

So many people think “I’ll put off coming to Jesus, giving my life to Him until later in life”. Beloved, TODAY is the day of salvation. Consider these statistics:

There are about 7.8 BILLION people on the earth, and around 36 million have died this year. Every year, 40-50 million children are murdered through abortion. As people despair of their very lives, there have been 700,000 suicides. Others try to escape depression through drugs. 246 Billion Dollars were spent on illegal drugs so far this year.

We all need Jesus!
We all need God’s Spirit to give us life!

Author Mark Twain wrote before his death:

“A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;…they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; …those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. {Physical death comes, and} … they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.”

Both I and God – along with Peter – want better for you. As Peter looked at the failing world around him, and compared the glory of the Christian life with the darkness of the lost world, he sang praises unto God! Hear this wonderful Word from a lowly fisherman:

1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Thank God For The Abundant Mercy Of Salvation!

Though the world – which lies in darkness – curses the name of God and of His Son Jesus, the Christian LIVES FOR God.

Word Study: Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. That word “Blessed” is the Greek eulogētos, which means “to adore, to sing praises to”. The believer PRAISES the Heavenly Father. We PRAISE God for “our LORD Jesus Christ”.

Jesus is LORD.
Jesus is LORD of our salvation.
Jesus is LORD of our situation.
Jesus is LORD in our salutation.

Jesus is not a part-time LORD, but a full time LORD. And our LORD Jesus is driven by what drives God. He is driven by …

abundant mercy

Word Study: This is the Greek polys eleos, “many faceted, huge in volume mercy”. Salvation is GREAT because we have done nothing to earn nor deserve it. Some of you will receive this teaching in the mail, and toss it out as junk mail. You will reject Christ until you MUST have Him. If you are hurt, hospitalized, in a nursing home, then you want Jesus. But we all need Jesus every day. We are all born into this life separated from God by our sins. The Scripture says:

Romans 3:10-12, 23 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. … 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

God through Christ made the world complete and perfect. Scripture says:

Colossians 1:16-17 For by {Jesus} were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by {Jesus}, and for {Jesus}: 17 And {Jesus} is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Jesus was in the beginning with God, and was God (John 1:1-2). The Bible says:

John 1:3 All things were made by {Jesus}; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Our Lord made a perfect Man called Adam, and placed him in a perfect Place called Eden. Adam was given a perfect Wife called Eve, and given a perfect Job of tending a perfect Garden without weeds. Adam was given dominion over the world. Though Adam was NOT GOD, Adam was given the AUTHORITY of God, and given the POWER and OWNERSHIP of creation. God gave Adam perfection and happiness. Adam’s Best Friend was God, Who walked with him in the cool of the day.

But Adam did not hear God’s Word, did not obey God’s Word, and by his actions brought death on himself and on his progeny. The Bible says:

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

Adam brought sin into the world. The children of Adam all sin, because they take after their father Adam. The inheritance of the sons of Adam is spiritual and physical death, separation from God both now and into eternity. The Bible says:

Romans 5:15 … through the offense of one {Adam} MANY be dead

People walk in darkness, apart from God, because of spiritual death and separation from God. But God was not satisfied with this. Our God is MERCIFUL and loving. So our God sent His Son Jesus. The Son Who was with the Father in the beginning and from eternity took upon Himself humanity.

Jesus did this to free whosoever believeth in Him from the chains of sin and Satan. The world without Christ is bound to DARKNESS, bound to SIN and SATAN. But God sent His Son into the world to be the Sunrise of a New Day. Jesus is the “Dawn from on High Who visited us” (Luke 1:78, CSB). Jesus Christ came into this world to:

Luke 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

As the Holy Spirit made the eternal Son of God into perfect Human, the Holy Spirit turns imperfect humans into sons and daughters of God.

That’s what is meant by …

1 Peter 1:3 … hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

“begotten us again unto a lively hope”. Our Lord Jesus died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. “In Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). If you are born again, you are born again unto a “lively hope”. You do not live in sin nor for Satan, but for Jesus. The Christian walks with God:

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (ESV) For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Those who are saved “live for Him”, live for God. We do not walk following the darkness of this world, but walk with Jesus, one step at a time, one day at a time!

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Sons Of Adam Walk With The gods in Darkness.
Sons Of God Walk With The God In Light.

Peter begins to speak of the “inheritance” of the Born Again. You are Born Again …

1 Peter 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

As Peter speaks of the Christian’s “inheritance”, most people think this is a reference to HEAVEN. It is not. It is a reference to the PRESENCE of God in your life. This is the GREATEST THING God can give anyone, to know that God is ALWAYS with you.

Illustrate: When Israel got ready to go into the Promised Land, God told them:

Exodus 33:2-3 (AP) “Go into the Promised Land. I will drive out your enemies, but I will not go with you, for you are STIFF NECKED. You will not worship Me – and if I stay with you, I’ll destroy you!”

When Moses heard this, he immediately prayed:

Exodus 33:15-16 (AP) “Lord, if you will not go with us, WITH ME into the Promised Land, Lord don’t send us there. If I have found Grace with You, Lord stay with me where ever we go!”

Moses learned that the greatest thing in life is to know God, to walk with God as we travel through this earth. When Peter spoke of the blessings of New Birth, of our “INHERITANCE”, he was not speaking of HEAVEN but of WALKING WITH GOD NOW AND FOREVER.

Word Study: The Christian walk with God is first of all “incorruptible”, which is the Greek aphthartos, meaning “not subject to decay”. Everything in life is corruptible. The Prophet said:

Job 17:1 (AP) My breath is corrupt, I am becoming extinct. The grave is ready for me.

Our bodies were all meant to break down. This is normal – though sometimes frightening. However, your LIFE need never cease. The Child of God is …

1 Peter 1:23 … born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, {aphthartos} by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

As God told Moses, “I will go with you”, He tells the Christian “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5). The Christian – male or female – are Priests before God. We represent God to man. Our inheritance, our Portion is God Himself (Numbers 18:20). God tells us:

“I am your Portion and your Inheritance”

King David, considered the Greatest King that Israel has ever had, was known as a man after God’s own heart. With all that he had, David said:

Psalm 16:5-6 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Word Study: Those who are “Born Again” have an inheritance that is “UNDEFILED”. This is the Greek amiantos, which means “unsoiled, deformed, or debased”. SAVED, WE DO NOT WALLOW IN SIN! Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is

Hebrews 7:26 For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, {amiantos} separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Does God “Love The Sinner, BUT Hate The Sin”?

I have often heard “God LOVES the sinner, BUT HATES the sin”. Is that true? Jesus said:

John 8:12 … I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Those who are “Born Again” do not WALK IN DARKNESS. We do not PURSUE SIN. The Bible is VERY CLEAR on this point. The Apostle said:

1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Jesus did not tell the crippled man at Bethesda that He healed, “continue in your sin”. On healing that man, Jesus said:

John 5:14 (AP) … You have been made whole. SIN NO MORE, lest a WORST thing come on you!

When Jesus forgave the woman taken in adultery, He did not tell her to go back to the defiling bed. He told her,

John 8:11 (AP) … GO and SIN NO MORE!

When you do what God tells you NOT to do, this is SIN.

James 4:4 (CSB) You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God..

God NEVER says sin is all right, and neither should the Child of God. When you say:

“God loves the sinner, BUT hates the sin”

You are implying that God will love you REGARDLESS as to your sin. That’s not true! If it were true, there would have been no Noahic Flood. If it were true, there would be no Cross of Calvary, nor a Savior nailed to it. What the Bible actually teaches is…

“God loves the sinner AND hates the sin”

If you are a Child of God by faith in Christ, you have an UNDEFILED (amiantos) walk with Him. That doesn’t mean that you don’t sin. It does mean that – if and when you sin – you realize GOD DESPISES SIN. “God loves the sinner” by sending Christ to pay for our sins. AND “God hates sin”. So if you reject Christ and rest in sin, know this.

Know this.
Know this.
Know this.

Without Christ, you are presently UNDER THE WRATH OF GOD.

Psalm 5:4-5 (ESV) For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers.

Psalm 11:5 (ESV) The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Pastor John Piper clarifies this by saying:

“infinite disapproval is what the Bible means when it says God hates sinners. He infinitely disapproves of them. Sin is not sinful except as committed by sinful hearts. Sin is an expression of anti-God, human corruption in human hearts. Sinful volitions are owing to sinful hearts. Sin doesn’t just hang out there with its own existence; it is in hearts or it is nothing. Sins do not suffer in hell; sinners suffer in hell. I wonder what people who make that misleading statement believe about hell because {God} is not punishing sin in hell — {God} is punishing sinners in hell.”

The clearest statement on salvation is given by our Lord Jesus. Read with me:

John 3:16-21 (ESV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

There are many who will not receive Jesus because they want to DO WICKED THINGS and ABIDE IN THE DARKNESS. Humanism teaches us that God loves us just the way we are. Christianity teaches us that God loves us through Christ, and through Christ draws us FROM sin and INTO the Light of God. “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil”. Those who reject Christ as Lord and Savior are “CONDEMNED ALREADY”.

You cannot be a Christian and wink at sin!
You cannot be a Christian and be “woke”!
The “Broke” are “Woke”!
You are BORN AGAIN, dear Christian.

1 Peter 1:4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Word Study: If you are a Child of God, your Inheritance, your walk with God, “fadeth not away”. This is the Greek amarantos, which means “perennial, that which endures not just for a season, but starts now and lasts forever”. This word is found only here in the Bible, but it emphasizes to us as believers though life has its ups and downs – our relationship with God in Christ is never ending. We have a place “reserved in heaven”. God has a place at the Table for every one of His Children. Jesus promised:

John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. When I think of the “mansion” that the Lord has for us in Heaven, I think not of a place with four walls, but a glorified body to hold our eternal souls. We will be given a “mansion”, a place to be, because we are members of God’s Family. We are His Children, both now and forever.

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.*

I love the word “kept” in this text. This is the Greek phroureō, which means “to guard, to protect by a military guard, to watch over the protect from hostile invasion”. God watches over His Child.

Are you His Child? If not, today is the day to call on Him. Jesus Christ died on Calvary to make payment for your sins. He died for you, to bring you into the Family of God. Will you believe on Him? Jesus is with us. He is calling. Will you come? Will you cry out to Him, and beg Him heal you? If you call upon Him, you have His promise. He will send the Holy Spirit and through Him effect your New Birth. Blessed be the Name of Jesus! Amen and Amen.

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Jesus Is Not Afraid – And Neither Am I

Posted on July 7, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

John 7:13-14 Howbeit no man spake openly of {Jesus} for fear of the Jews. 14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

Israel enjoyed three great Feasts every year, commemorating great points in their history where God blessed them as His people. There was Passover, Pentecost, and Booths. Every Jewish male was expected to go to Jerusalem during each of these Feasts to worship God. In John 7 we are in the Feast of Booths. Last week we studied how Jesus refused to go to Jerusalem with His earthly Family during the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. Jesus would go to the Cross during the Feast of Passover, not Booths. Our Lord knew that – if He went with His brothers to the Feast – that the priests, Sadducees and Pharisees would prematurely kill Him.

Jesus waited to go to the Feast of Booths. Jesus was NOT FEAR driven, but OBEDIENCE driven

Word Study: We read that the people – though divided in their opinions about Jesus – did not openly discuss the Lord Jesus because of “fear of the Jews”. The word translated “FEAR” is the Greek phobos, from which we get our English word Phobia. The word is used 47 times in 44 New Testament verses.

Phobos can make you “CRY out” (Matthew 14:26).
Phobos can make you “PASS out” (Matthew 28:4).
Phobos can make you “GET out” (Matthew 28:8).
Phobos can make you “HIDE out” (Luke 2:9).
Phobos can make your heart “FAIL out” (Luke 21:26).
Phobos can often make you “MISS out” (John 7:13).

The Messiah is walking among His Creation, in such a way that you can physically TOUCH Him, HEAR Him, SEE Him. Jesus Christ is RIGHT HERE and – Phobos has stolen people’s tongues.

Cancel culture has always been around demanding we shut up and line up, affirming evil as politically correct.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to sit at Jesus’ feet as Mary did, and hear Him teach. What a blessing it would be to be able to ASK Him questions, and HEAR His answers, answers from Heaven. And yet FEAR, Phobos has silenced any discussion of Christ. Evil has control of the narrative, much like evil has control of the narrative in America today. Misplaced Phobos is a terrible thing! The Bible tells us as believers that we are to have FEAR of the Lord.

Job 28:28 … Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

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

What is amusing in this text is that the people DO NOT FEAR JESUS, Who is Creator God (Colossians 1:16), but FEAR PEOPLE whom Jesus created! This is as silly as talking to a snake instead of God in the Garden!

God does not want us to have misplaced Phobos or fear. This is why we as believers are told:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind

We are to have the proper Phobos in the proper context. The Bible says:

1 John 4:18 (ESV) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

We as believers are not to fear God as if He were a spider or a bad Spirit. We are to love Him with all our hearts – but always keeping in mind that He DOES punish disobedience. “fear has to do with punishment”. Let’s put it this way: growing up, I never feared my daddy coming home and beating me “just because”. If I was whipped, it was because I failed to show proper respect to him as my daddy.

You need not fear anything – ANYTHING – while you are walking in step with your Heavenly Father.

John 7:14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

Jesus did not avoid going with His brothers to the Feast of Booths from fear, but because He was being OBEDIENT to the Father. Jesus said,

John 10:18 (NKJV) No one takes {My life} from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.

Had Jesus been motivated by Phobos or Fear, He would not have went to the Feast of Booths at all. But instead, Jesus went to the Feast. Then Jesus “went up into the temple”, ground zero for the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Priests that hated Him. Jesus then stood on Solomon’s Porch and “taught”, making Himself the center of attention. As He teaches, a crowd gathers around Him.

Evil Cannot Succeed When Light Is Cast On It:
The World Will Steal Your Rainbow If You Let It

The reason evil so often succeeds is because we ignore it, or look the other way. We allow evil to grow like a mushroom, in the darkness. Since no one will speak up for Jesus, Jesus will now speak up for Jesus – loudly, in the middle of a great crowd, in the center of the Festival called Booths. The Pharisees and Sadducees cannot openly kill Jesus (the Roman Empire would not stand for it), so they do what evil often does.

They murmured. They picked. They found fault.

John 7:15-17 And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? 16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

When Jesus first started preaching, the “Jews” (a term John uses to describe the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Priests) would often ask Him:

John 2:18 (NLT) What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.

They were always asking Jesus “show us a SIGN from God that You are the Messiah” (Matthew 21:23). Jesus had no pedigree. He had no rabbi who vouched for Him. Jesus had no degree. “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”. Jesus had not been to any type of seminary. How could Jesus know ANYTHING if He had no seminary training, no Rabbi to vouch for Him?

The “Jews” were puzzled, because “Jesus taught as One having AUTHORITY” (Matthew 7:28-29; Mark 1:22). Jesus taught as if He had direct input from the Source of all Truth. They knew that Jesus had not come from the School of the Rabbis – so attacked Him for His lack of documentation! Jesus told them:

vs 16 My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me

Jesus Christ came from Eternity, from the Throneroom of God, and taking upon Himself humanity entered His own creation. Jesus did not come of His own accord, but was sent of the Father:

John 5:23-24 (ESV) … Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:38 (ESV) I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ..

John 8:28 (ESV) … I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John 12:49-50 (ESV) … I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.

My commentary notes:

“Jesus was an eloquent, gifted teacher, but He was not self taught; Jesus was God taught. His authority was not from any man, but from His Father. … Jesus didn’t claim to be self-taught; He claimed to be God-taught, practically inviting His listeners to examine His teachings according to the Scriptures”.

This is a common theme throughout this Gospel. Jesus came to this earth as the Father – the Head of the Trinity – decreed. Jesus said:

John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

Jesus said “If any man will do his {the Father’s} will, he shall know” whether Jesus was making up things, or if His Word was a mirror of God’s Word. What was the “will of the Father”? That we “believe on Him Whom He hath sent” (John 6:29). If Christ was received by faith as He actually is, God would send His Spirit to that person – and they would know the Lord Jesus to be true.

Jesus Called The Jews Out On Their Hypocrisy

John 7:18-19 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?

Jesus compared what He is doing OPENLY to what the Jews are doing SECRETLY. Jesus was given the Word of God, and He speaks the Word of God OPENLY and OBEDIENTLY so that others can profit from it. But the Jews are given the Law of Moses, a Law they are well acquainted with.

Exodus 20:13 (ESV) You shall not murder.

The sacredness of human life was established in Noahic Law once the Great Flood departed:

Genesis 9:6 … Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Sins like murder and adultery brought with them the state sponsored execution of the law breaker.

The state was given the “power of the sword” by God to maintain peace and protect life. Life must never be taken in a carefree manner. God demanded that Israel “purge the guilt of innocent blood shed in Israel” (Deuteronomy 19:11-13), that murderers themselves lose their lives for the good of the nation.

The “Jews”, well educated, seminary trained, knew that murder was forbidden. Yet they secretly plotted to take Christ’s life. Jesus called them on it. “Why do you sneak about, trying to kill Me?”. They replied:

John 7:20-21 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

Jesus exposed their hypocrisy, bringing it to the light of day. How did they respond? “Thou hast a devil”. Rather than acknowledge Jesus’ great knowledge and power was from God, they made it out that Jesus was demon possessed or demon influenced. At the least, Jesus is paranoid. At the most, Jesus is touched by evil spirits. This is not the first time they will falsely accuse the Lord. In the next chapter they will tell Jesus:

John 8:48-49 (ESV) … “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

They not only accused Jesus of being demon possessed, but using a racial slur they called Him a “Samaritan”. The Jews despised Samaritans as half-breeds, traitors who compromised with the infidels. To them, Jesus “had a demon” (John 8:52). Yet this is not true. In contrast, Jesus said of Himself:

John 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

Jesus said, “I seek the glory of Him that sent Me”. Jesus patently did not seek His own glory. When the people would make Jesus King of Israel:

John 6:15 … (ESV) Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself …

Jesus told His disciples:

John 18:36 (ESV) … My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.

Though Jesus deserved to be King of this world (John 12:12-15), in His first coming He came to cleanse us from our sins, to grant us entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. He would do this through the Gospel of the Cross. Jesus declared Himself “TRUE”, the Greek alēthḗs which means “genuine, true, without flaw”. There are many who declare themselves messiah’s, but only One Messiah or Christ. Jesus is the “real Deal”! Jesus also said of Himself:

no unrighteousness is in him

Jesus is not just a Rabbi – He is the “Holy One of God” (John 6:69). Jesus asked His listeners:

John 8:46 (ESV) Which one of you CONVICTS ME OF SIN?

Though Satan rules this world through sin, Jesus said of Himself:

John 14:30 (ESV) … the Ruler of this world is coming. HE HAS NO CLAIM ON ME …

Though the whole world lies in darkness, Jesus is the Light of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake GOD made Christ to BE SIN WHO KNEW NO SIN, so that IN HIM we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD …

John 7:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

The one “WORK” that Jesus did which started the Pharisees and Priests hating Him was the healing of the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9). Jesus told the man to “take up your bed, and walk”. The Pharisees and Priests were incensed because that was done on a Sabbath Day.

John 7:22-23 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. 23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?

God told Moses (and Israel):

Leviticus 12:3 (NKJV) And on the eighth day {following birth} the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

The Law of circumcision was first given to Abraham in Genesis 17:10-14, “Every male child among you shall be circumcised”. This was a covenant that God gave to the Israelite. Those males who were NOT circumcised were “cut off from Israel, for this violates God’s covenant”. Circumcision was not a sacrifice that led to salvation, but a marking of the Israelite male. As the child was to be circumcised at the Temple on the eighth day following birth, children were often circumcised on the Sabbath Day by the priests.

Why?: Children were circumcised on the eighth day because circumcision causes bleeding, and the eighth day is the best day for blood clotting.

“The human body has 2 blood clotting elements. One of them is called Vitamin K. Vitamin K is not formed in the body up until the 5th to the 7th day. … The 2nd clotting factor which is essential is called Prothrombin. It surprisingly enough develops to 30% of normal by the 3rd day of life and after that with seeming in-consequence, peaks at 110% on the 8th day, just before leveling off at 100% of normal. … If vitamin K is not present when a baby boy is circumcised, the baby will bleed to death. The reason why Yahweh established Day Eight for circumcision is that vitamin K peaks in a newborn at 8 days of age. … Today when baby boys are circumcised within a couple of days of birth, they are administered vitamin K to help with blood clotting.”

God required Israel to circumcised males on the eighth day following birth for the health of the baby. When Jesus healed the man who had been crippled 38 years, His actions were just as warranted for the health of the man as circumcision of a child on the Sabbath.

<span style=”background-color:yellow”><strong>John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.</strong></span>

Jesus warned His critics to judge Him based on the Scripture, on what the Bible said is right or wrong, and not based on what they feel. Yet the listeners refused to hear Jesus. Why?

If You Will Not Hear Jesus, You Are Hell Bound

John 7:25-30 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. 28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. 30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

Jesus continued to reason with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Priests, but they refused to believe that He was the Christ. They continued to seek to kill Jesus, but “no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come”. Though they had made up their minds to reject Him, Jesus continued to reach out to them.

They refused to hear. They murmured, and mocked. Jesus told them:

John 7:33-36 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. 35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? 36 What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?

Jesus will go back to the Father, and “Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come”. Where is Jesus going where they cannot come? Heaven. You get this lifetime to call upon Jesus, to receive Him as Messiah and Lord. If you leave this life without Jesus, you will never see Jesus again. You will, dear one, see only eternal damnation. You will experience weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. You will experience eternal separation from Him Who sent Christ.

Because you rejected Jesus. Oh Lord, draw every soul to Christ’s side while there is time. Oh Lord Jesus, glorify the Father by saving the sinner, just as you saved us. For today is the Day of Salvation. Amen and Amen!

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